Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], September 28, 1916, Page 8, Image 8

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

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8
BOOKS and AUTHORS
ON THE ENGLISH NOVEL
A SKETCH OF ITS “ADVANCE'’
NEW WORK BY PROF PHELPS
flood-Humored and Entertaining
Comment on Many Writers
Prof William Lyon Phelps's witty,
good-humored, usually sensible and al
most invariably haphazard comments
on English novelists will undoubtedly
be welcomed by a large public, but.
presented in book form by Dodd.
Mead & Co, they hardly merit the
title "The Advance of the English
Novel" ($1.50). What one expects
above all from a professor of English
literature is system, and system is
•What Prof Phelps lacks—at least so
far as one can judge by this enter
taining book. But, of course, system
la not an end in itself.
Many would contend that, while a
professor may be as capricious as he
pleases, the holding of a professorship ;
should be the guarantee of a vast
amount of erudition. According to tins
view, the capriciousnes of Prot
Saintsbury would be tolerated on ac
count of'his abundant learning and
versatile scholarship. There is a good
deal to be said for this view, though
cne needs to recognize that there is
another conception of a professorship
of literature, namely, that its purpose
Ie to encourage students to read good
books, and to point out to them what
It is possible to enjoy in good books.
In other words, a professor serves
his purpose if he stimulates, delights
and casually instructs his pupils, borne ,
years ago one would have said that
this idea of the function of a pro
fessor of literature was confined to
the United States. But the appoint
ment of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch to
the new King Edward professorship of ■
English literature at Cambridge shows |
that a similar method of improving the
literary atmosphere has been adopted
Prof Phelps appeals not merely to
undergraduates, but to the public that
reads the magazines and attends lec
tures. He writes and speaks with this
public In mind, rightly refusing to pre
suppose anj' greater amount of intel
lectual "preparedness" in it than in
the undergraduate body. "I know
this is a commercial nation." he
aeems to say. "and no doubt
manv of you think that litera- *
tune is a dull and effeminate and stu
pid affair, requiring an Intellectual |
equipment below that of the man of’
business, and on the whole suitable
only for idle women and 'freak' men.
Well. I will admit that many literart
men are ‘freaks': but. If you will kind
ly give me your attention for a half .
hour. I will show you that literature is
rather jolly and decent after all. and
you will see that those of us who de
vote our time to it are good fellows
like the rest of you." And then,
thanks to his genial disposition, his
personal attractiveness, his w it and his
ready oratory, Prof Phelps proves his
case.
“The Advance of the English Nor
eens our confidence in the substance
of what Is being told to us by word
of mouth. Tn short, it is a question
of artistic method. Yet no one will
deny that artistic reality is a very
different thing from painstaking real
ism.
Take his observation regarding the
Intrusion of the writer's personality in :
Ing’s spontaneity and sense of life less :
apparent to the reader because he in
trudes himself upon the reader as
"master of the show"? This habit of
the English novelists has been wide
ly condemned —at least, since Taino
assailed it. But. after all. does one
feel any less belief in the persons of
either Fielding or Thackeray because
the author continually reminds us
that it is he who is telling us about
■ are in a world of absolute reality."
This is perhaps true, but it needs ex
planation. Does the reader of “Tom
Jones" feel aware of any conscious ;
"attempts" at realism? Are Field
executed realism: in ‘Anna Karenina.'
English fiction: "The difference be
tween sincerity in Russian fiction and '
in English fiction may be expressed i
by saying that in 'Tom Jones' we ad
mire the carefully-planned and well
them? If it makes us aware of the au
thor’s existence, that no more detracts
from ou.- belief in what he is telling
us than the narrator's presence les
e!” is good Prof Phelps, but a
very sketchy account of the "advance"
of the English novel. It is full of
Jests and “topical" allusions, but it
does anything but trace the novel sys
tematically from the Age of Anne to
to-day. It is rather a collection of
pleasant foot-notes that might accom
pany a methodical study of the En
glish novel. Yet Prof Phelps says a
good deal that is worth saying, even
If his generalizations sometimes fall
■“hort of the weight of true critical
dicta.
Prof Phelps is keen enough to see
that there is a moral taint in much
of Galsworthy’s writing, due probably
to excessive sentimentalism, and he is
pointed in his comment on a con
temporary phenomenon among young
persons who suddenly find themselves
Interested in letters:—
’’Not one of these American men
and women who ridicule the work of
Mr Howells and Mr James has ever
written anything that approaches it
In literary distinction. We ought not
to be ashamed of the American rev
erence before the mystery of passion;
we ought to regard It with pride. We
have scarcely any outrageously inde
cent authors, whose work, common
enough in Europe, bears about the
same relation to true art that a boy's
morbid sketches on fences bears to
Michel Angelo's frescoes. Indecency
is not necessarily sincerity.”
Prof Phelps means to be al
ways on the side of good -work,
but he is, perhaps, too impa
tient with Meredith's idiosyncra
sies. One sees the limitations of Prof
Phelps's method in his chapter on
Contemporary English writers. Half
Of them he does not consider at all;
and in writing about Mr Locke he
omits mention of the earlier works.
Such as “Derelicts'’ and “A Study ir
Shadows,” which some hold to be
greatly superior to the “popular” later
novela. It is desirable that someone
In America should make a study of
contemporary English writers of fic
tion. for a transatlantic point of view
■will be more helpful now that English
(Criticism is at so low an ebb. But
to ‘survey these writers w-ill require
Snore assiduous study than Prof
Sheins has yet given to the subject.
.FTof Phelps’s pungency so often hits
the null on the head that one wishes
lie would subdue it to a more resolute
literary purpose.
“BATTEBY'FLASHES"
intimate Aeeeant of a Trench Fight
" Battery F^h^V^agger" (E.
Datum * Co. W). la a book of war
sketches interesting chiefly for their
intimacy. The book is really a series
of letters written by a volunteer Brit
ish artilleryman to members of his
family. “Wagger,” the meaning of
whose peculiar pen name is not made
entirely clear, views the actual ex
periences of training camp and firing
line life through the eyes of a culti
vated man. used to many of the little
things that make life easy.
As with so many of the sterling
English fighters of to-day, these
months probably have given him his
first taste of anything like real hard
ship. That fact, however, in the over
whelming turmoil of such an exist
ence as the trench fighter leads, comes
to have little significance. The man
who can stand up under a year of
such tremendous strain must be every
bit as good as though he had been nt
something similar all his life. “Wag
ger” seemingly is. Probably, having
the intellect to understand what it is
all about and means, he and his class
are the best warriors of all. once they
become inured to the physical de
mands.
The bodk itself strives to explain,
to those who "must” know but do
not. the day-to-day existence of the
soldier. It intertwines with brief
technical explanations of this and that
phase of fighting numerous bright
touches of trench atmosphere and col
or, recurrent outbursts of personal
“opinion of the Bosches” and snatches
of philosophy. It is quite like hear
: ing from some friend at the front —
i something that every one would de
light in were it possible.
“THE MEANING OF MONEY'’
Principles of Banking and Ex
change Attractively Set Forth
Hartley Withers’s “The Meaning of
Money,” which comes in a new edi
tion from E. P. Dutton & Co ($1.25),
is a clear, accurate and attractively
written account of the common, but
little understood, facts of banking and
exchange. The book has gone through
many printings, and it deserves its
success. If any one wants to under
stand the methods of banking and the
laws governing currency, the rate of
exchange, etc.. Mr Withers’s book will
afford as good an introduction to the
subject as can be obtained. Not be
ing designed as a textbook. "The
Meaning of Money” is less concerned
with economic principles than with
the actual operations of the world of
finance, which Mr Withers is well
fitted to describe in a lucid and reada
ble manner. The instructiveness of
the book is nowise impaired by the
fact that Mr Withers chiefly describes
English conditions. In fact, in view
of New York's present place in the
I world's money markets, the book is
। perhaps the more valuable for its de
| scriptions of London's supremacy,
’ which has now passed to New York.
Although Mr Withers is an expert
' financial journalist, he writes with a
'humane touch, being in this true to
his Oxford training. The fact is that
> he is a better economist for doing so.
las will be seen by examining what
I he has to say abcut Italy’s export : —
“Italy’s economic progress has been
> remarkable ever since ner ambitions
in the direction cf colonial expansion
i and world-polities received a timely
I check on the Red sea. Since then
she has developed her internal re-
I sources with great success, and she ;
I has been assists! by the possession of •
: an inexhaustible asset which she ex
; ports continual!:’, or rather lets other
■ people come and enjoy. For Italy
i holds the world in fee as ao exporter
of beauty—beauty of scenery, beauty
I in buildings, sunshine, association and
a hundred other things, besides her
art treasures, which it would be ab-
1 surd to call priceless, became to think
•of price in connection with them
would be a vulgar irrelevance. Every
; year an increasing number of trav
elers from all lands pours into Italy
' to see these things, bringing circular |
notes and other forms of drafts i
j wherewdth to pay their way; and. in ,
' order to meet these drafts and to feed i
i the balances with their Italian agents I
•on which they are drawn, the other |
; countries have to send Italy go-ids or ;
i services or securities.
: Some sections of he book —such as j
i the account of England’s “invisible I
■ exports"—are so ably written as to be
: of value to the student as well as to
the general reader. The work can be
' recommended from any relevant point
I of view.
BY A GERMAN PACIFIST
Dr Alfred H. Fried's “The Restora
tion of Europe’’
We have- heard so much from the
leading pacifists of the allied nations
and neutrals that an argument from
a German lover of universal peace is
welcome. Dr Alfred H. Fried, the
winner of the Nobel peace prize in
1911. is a worthy exponent of pacif
ism. For 15 years the pubhsner of
the Friedens-Warte (the organ of
the German peace society) of Berlin,
he has continued its publication in
Zurich since the beginning of the
war. Consequently his new book.
"The Restoration of Europe." recent
ly translated by Lewis Stiles Gannett
(Macmillan company. New York
city), should attract many readers.
But it contains very little that is
different from the theories of other
pacifist thinkers. Dr Fried writes:
"Hate, the atmosphere which justifies
the methods of force, must be done
away with." How is this to be done?
"By destroying the foundations for
international misunderstanding,” But
that is the problem.
Of course, force cannot be Justified
in theory unless it is demonstrably the
agent of the ethical will. It is ap
parently that disinterested co-opera
tive will which Dr Fried has in mind
when he appeals to force in the fol
lowing passage: "A beautiful treaty
for world organization could be made
in 24 hours, if only the will were
there ... to enforce it." Dr
Fried’s solution of future European
difficulties by a "co-operative union"
modeled on the pan-American union
and pan-American bureau, does not
intend that the federation should be
political: the bonds of self-interest
may be strengthened by economic
association. And yet Dr Fried has
earlier pointed out with great truth
the interdependenev of economic and
political lit-. If this "co-operative
union” is tn be restricted to the
economic field, who is to preserve
the integrity of these limitations and
by what means?
The pacifism of Dr Fried hardly
answers these questions. “The res
toration of Europe" cannot be ac
complished by simple logic. More
compelling is the petition of the
French women naci fists to the House
of Deputies in December. 1915, seem
ingly more rational because more
emotional. __________
OUR DEBT TO HOLLAND
H. A. van C. Torchlana Jog* lb«
Memory of Americans
In “Holland, an Hls'xrical Essay’
(Raul Elder & Co; H. A. vat
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN; THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1916
Coenen Torchiana suggests that if
Washington Irving could have fore
seen the result of his “Knickerbocker
History of New York,” which he him
self styled his • literary joke,” it is
doubtful whether he would ever nave
written it. To this book it is that
popular misconception of the 17th
century Dutch ‘s largely due. With
many illustrations and quotations
from contemporary authorities, the
author contends that “in governmental
structure, in religious toleration, in
freedom of speech and of the press,
in popular education, in charitable in
stitutions and prisons, in land dis
tribution and legal code the people
of the United States are as much the
teacher of the great British nation
as they are the pupil of the Nether
lands.”
Our Pilgrim fathers, he would have
us believe, came to this country well
schooled from their sojourn in Ley
den in Dutch thrift, cleanliness and
respect for womanhood How very
different all this was from conditions
in England at that time the author
takes pains to snow. In other words,
in the majority of traits in which we
are and have been un-English, we are
Dutch. Thanksgiving day, Santa
Claus, the supreme court, our much
vaunted .town-meeting (which he as
serts to be Frisian), stoves, buck
wheat, singing schools, the saw-mill
and numerous pet institutions of this
country are, according to this author
ity. of Dutch origin. What is of more
significance, the author illustrates how
all these became establ.shed in this
country through Dutch influence or
by direct example.
For the general vagueness in Amer
ica regarding the extent of our debt
to Holland, winch became embroiled
In war with England on our account,
and which literally supplied us with
ammunition while it was yet at i«ace
with Great Britain. Mr Torchiana has
several explanations. Among others
Is the fact that American patretism
Is apt to disclaim or overlook any
foreign influence on English or Amer
ican civilization. The founders of
American liberty, however, clearly
recognized their indebtedness to Hol
land. Commenting on this, John Ad
ams said that 'the originals of the
two republics are so much alike that
the history of one seems tut a tran
script from that of the other,” and
Franklin. "In love of liberty and in
defense of it. she has been our ex
ample.”
“PIERRE NOZIERE"
One More Addition to the Series of
Translations of Anatole France
"Pierre Noziere” ($1.75) is the lat
est of Anatole France’s works to be
added to the series of English transla
tions published by John Lane com
of the moods and fancies and child
hood. The mature man thinks of his
earliest years, and distils from his
remembrance a fragrant sentiment.
Impressions of his parents, his nurses,
the ideas that he derived from the
Bible and the teaching of the priests,
the feeling of growing consequence as
he gains in years—all this is bathed
In irony, but irony that is free
from wilful sophistication, from harsh
rationalism, from every taint of un
kindness; in short, irony that is a
gracious sentiment. The reader
revels in the delicacy and good-heart
edness of it all. There are traces of
broad humor in the recollections of
the nurse who was deserted by her
husband, in the account of the ill
fitting tunic, in the sketch of the bib
ulous editor. But the chapters chiefly
prove that a man may be both wise
and tender in thinking of his youth.
The only trouble with these memoirs
of youth Is that they end too soon. M
France takes his character into young
manhood and leaves him. perhaps for
despair of preserving the same in
nocently delightful vein. The middle
section of the book consists in part of
genial sketches of characters associat
ed with the bookshops; in part of
random reflections of the young man.
which, it is not strange to say, are
very much like the reflections of M
France on other occasions. For ex
ample:—
"Reason, proud reason, is capricious
and cruel. The sacred simplicity of
instinct never betrays. In instinct
dwells the sole truth, the only certi
tude. that man may ever call his
own in this life of illusion, where
three-fourths of the ills we suffer
proceed from our own thoughts."
After the immersion in mordant
iconoclasm—half-truths which you
do not need to take seriously at all—
you come out upon a broad margin
of sentiment. Here M France indulges
in description and legends of ancient
French towns, whose exquisite fea
tures are graven on his memory
graven with the enriching tracery o'
affection and fancy. As you read,
you love these fair faces of France
as the author loves them. Still the
book hardly gathers momentum as it
proceeds; it needs to be read piece
meal. The translation is by J. Lewis
May. and is always pleasant to ths
ear. though once or twice at some
slight sacrifice of the logic of Eng
lish structure.
“HANDEL”
Biography and Estimate by Romain
Rolland
Romain Rolland, since the publica
tion of “Jean Christophe," has been
pre-eminent as a novelist. But so I
good a judge as W. J. Henderson of
the New York Sun calls him “the most
interesting of living critics of music
and musicians." It is in the latter
capacity that we find him in a new
book of which Henry Holt & Co are
the publishers—-“ Handel" ($1.50).
“Hander’ is both a biography and
a critical appreciation. It is written
with enthusiasm, but with judgment
as well. The story of Handel’s life
is told simply, but with feeling and
alacrity of phrase, which the transla
tor. Dr A. Eaglefield Hull, has pre
served. The annotations are numer
ous. and bring the results of research
—other biographers’ research as well
as M Rolland's —suggestively before
; the reader. It is a brief, popular life,
but for that reason it should be the
more widely read. Handel’s story will
repay reading.
Most of us think of Handel as the
highly-honored British musician—for.
। though born a German, he became,
| as M Rolland says, “the national mu-
I sician of England.” But security
; came to him only after years of strug
i gle. He had the ill-luck to offend
; some fashionable people, who formed
: a cabal against him. He was seized
I by bls creditors and threatened with
Imprisonmant. But with "The Mes
siah” came a turn in his fortunes,
though he had troubles enough after
that.
In his estimate ot Handel's genius
M Rolland says:—
"Handel is a kind of Beethoven in
chains. Under the classic Ideal with
which he covered himself burned a
romantic genius, precursor of the
Sturm und Prang’ period; and some
times this hidden demon broke out in
fits of brusque passion—perhaps de
spite himself.”
ELEMENTS OF THE WAR
A Second Series of Hilaire Belloc's
Studies
That the arrogance and stupidity
of the Prussian commander were so
reflected in his military tactics as to
bring about his defeat at the Marne
in September, 1914, is one of the
most striking intimations one re
ceives from Hilaire Belloc’s book on
the "Elements of the Great War;
Second Phase” ..Hearst’s International
library; $1.50). In his clear and en
tertaining, but somewhat overspecula
tive. style. Mr Belloc shows that it was
the German's contemptuous under
estimation of French fighting quality
which caused the removal of troops
from the Grand Couronne. before
Nancy and Verdun, ca assist Von
Kluck in his attempt to flank the
French left. The Prussian, seeing his
advance checked in the southeast,
supposed that the whole Fiench army
was opposing him there
What less couid have upset a plan
of the general staff? So the Germans
moved northwest, expecting to find a
hole, and were met to their surprise
by the French Oth army.' The German
war scheme was overturned, and the
general staff was so caught off its
guard as to find it necessaiy to with
draw troops from the center to sus
tain Von Kluck m the northwest. This
withdrawal produced what Mr Belloc
calls the "gap of dislocation.” into
which Foch rushed on .September 9,
saving France from immediate de
struction and determining the nature
of the war as we now see it.
Much has been said of the wonders
of German military strategy and too
little of the skill of the French in this
matter. Mr Belloc’s book makes it
plain that the French higher com
mand is eminently the more to be
commended. The German plan of at
tack. calculated with the aid of spies
and strategists during the past 10
years, broke down at Hie Marne be
cause of the Prussian inability to re
construct his theories to meet unex
pected facts. Germans had been tola
in books that the degene-ate French
would collapse in the face of superior
force. When the French did not do
as the general staff expected the
Prussian was dismayed and then de
feated.
The French, on the other hand,
abandoned their cherished theory of
fortifications and adopted a new one,
all in the short interval between the
fall of the Belgian forts and the at
tacks upon Verdun and Tours. The
remarkable ability of Joffre and Foch
and Castelnau io take advantage of
the “breaks” makes the Trench army
the most effective in Europe. It is
not a machine; lather it is r. brain. To
that fact we owe the salvation at the
Marne.
“THE SOLILOQUY OF A HERMIT”
Theodore Francis Powys Shares His
Vague Meditations With the Public
A fairly new name in American
letters is Powys. There are three at
least whose names are on new title
pages. John, Llewellyn and Theodore,
some of them brothers, perhaps all.
and all Englishmen, one believes. The
odore Francis Powys is author of
“The Soliloquy of a Hermit" (G. Ar
nold Shaw; $1). which meanders
along for 143 pages without a break
into chapters. Wouldn't even a her
mit stop occasionally in so long a
soliloquy and resume the monolog in
the next chapter?
Furthermore, the book would be
more readable If it were more intelli
gible. It is a volume of “original re
ligious psychology,’? too original for
the average man to comprehend. Even
a careful reader is not always quite
sure whaS Mr Powys is driving at, or
whether he Is to be taken seriously
and literally or by contraries. One can
always, of course take refuge in the
verdict that the book is one more proof
of the eccentricity of genius: we can
not understand it, therefore it is "big
medicine.”
The difficulty lies in She fact that
this hermit, quite likely a hermit only
in his spiritual relationships and not
otherwise solitary, looks at life and
religion from an unconventional an
gle. There are many such men. but
they do not all write books, for which,
in a majority of cases, may heaven be
thanked. But one would like t» un
derstand Mr Powys a little better: his
book sharpens one’s curiosity. At times
one has a feeling of genuine com
radeship with him. which is what
the hermit really wants; every soul
wants sympathy and lacking it. be
comes a hermit. And yeti the hermit
must always have himself to blame
because he does not or cannot so ex
press himself as to draw others into
Intelligent fellowship. This hermit ad
mits it.
One is not quite sure whether he
glories in his eccentricity of thoughts,
but that. too. is a mark of the her
mit. to pity the world for its lack of
appreciation and intelligence. And if
Mr Powys is confirmed in his views
by this failure to comprehend the
whole of hi's “Soliloquy,” so be it.
“WAITFUL WATCHING”
A misleading satire on the Wilson
administration is afforded in "Waitful
Watching." by James L. Ford (Freder
ick A. Stokes company; GO cents). It
is written In the same style as R. G.
White’s "The Fight In Dame Europa's i
School.” which dealt wjth the Franco-I
Prussian war of 1870-71. It concerns |
the great war and Uncle Sam’s part i
in it.
Uncle Sammy is pictured as a school- ,
boy attending Dame Columbia's met- j
cantile academy, while his big broth- I
er, Johnny Bull, goes to Dame Eu- '
ropa’s classical school, across the pond.!
A schoolboy fight starts and Sammy :
hesitates to help Johnny, because, as
he says. “I have decided to wait an
watch, for to fight I am too proud!
Besides. I must finish these orders for
my customers.”
To the person who takes a purely
idealistic view of International rela
tions, and who thinks that a nation
may properly engage In war when Its
interests are not directly affected, the
satire of Mr Ford's will commend it
self. But to cast scorn on Mr Wil
son because the American public pre
ferred business to gratuitous slaugh
ter, is somewhat lacking in sound
judgment. And to Imply that th«.
forces seeking Mr 'Wilson's defeat tako
the idealistic view Is worse, for the
clear presumption Is that the finan
ciers who are strongly backing Mr
Hughes are doing so because they de
aire a conquest of foreign markets—
even more trade, not less.
“SCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION”
"The Struggle Between Science and
Superstition” (Charles H. Kerr &
Co, Chicago; 50 cents), is the title of
a book made up of a series of popu
lar lectures by Arthur M. Lewis. It
is a historical study, from the stands
point of scepticism, of notable
struggles against accepted religious
beliefs in ardent and medieval times.
About half of the book Is uken up
with the stories of Bruno and Gaflees
A GROUP OF NEW NOVELS
SYLVIA LYND'S “THE CHORUS”
Much Cleverness and Artistry Ex
pended Upon a Somewhat Trivial
Subject
It is difficult to believe that so
brilliant a story as "The Chorus,”
(Dutton; $1.35) by Sylvia Lynd, is a
first novel, for in character-drawing,
dialog and psychological analysis, it
betrays a high degree of maturity.
One is struck by its perfect propor
tions, and the even balancing of two
dominant elements. These are first,
the clever, shallow life that goes on
daily at "The Height." the beautiful
home of Anthony Hamel; and, second,
the poignant tragedy that grows out
of Hamel’s surreptitious love affair
with pretty Nelly Hayes. The end
ing is logical, though vague. It is
obvious that Hamel deliberately de
serts Nelly in her greatest need, and.
when we leave the girl on the door
step of a London house, "in an atti
tude of graceful nonchalance, hand
on hip. gilt shoes crossed, head tilted,
leaning all her weight on one thumb
and that thumb op the stud of an
electric bell,” intuition suggests the
pathway in life she has chosen.
But events leading up to the final
scene are so cleverly detailed that
criticism at this point would be
gratuitous. Hamel is a fortunate man.
He is handsome, wealthy, an artist,
clever and original in designing houses,
Interiors and articles of adornment,
but his basic character is thus sum
marized: “He could be frank with
himself about certain things, but he
was too kindly a man to care much
for the cruelty of truth." "The
Heights" is something of a show-place,
where his shallow, self-centered and
beautiful little wife queens it in her
languid manner. The beauties of
"The Heights” are described with a
sense of artistic appreciation; and the
chatter and behavior of the brilliant,
cynical group that gathers there for
week-ends are spiritedly reproduced.
Nelly Hayes, an untrained, half
savage mysterious little beauty, is
brought into this exotic environment
rather arbitrarily; but friendship for
her on the part of Hilda Concannon.
one of Hamel's assistants, affords a
suitable excuse. Hamel takes her up
and finds every excuse to have her
at the studio. It is not unnatural
that Nelly feels the lure of Hamel's
fascinating personality; but possibly
Hamel himself experience- a surprise
equal to the reader's on finding the
girl in his arms one day. However,
his nebulous feelings have already
crystalized and he proceeds secretly
to enjoy the girl's -holehearted devo
tion.
Neither takes heed of the future,
and Nelly, at any rate, is content
with the present. But Hamel soon
recognizes that the situation is inde
fensible. and Mrs Lynd very artfully
portrays his fluctuation between in
clination and self-interest. Finally
he seizes as a means of escape ac
ceptance of an inv’tation to deliver
some lectures in America. Nelly begs
him to take her away and a meeting
place is arranged. Hilda Concannon,
however, discovers this plan before
Nelly can get away, and attempts to
thwart it; but the latter reaches Lon
don just in time to see Hamel board
the boat train alone, and, save for the
final scene already referred to. the
curtain is rung down on her little
tragedy.
Meanwhile, Hilda betrays to the
"chorus" at “The Heights" that Nelly
and Hamel have gone away together,
but It is soon learned that the latter
had sailed unaccompanied to America.
On his return, despite the fact that
the “chorus” ‘.s fully acquainted with
the affair, they continue to gather at
the studio, where the chatter is as
brilliant, and the adulation of "that
dear, clever Mr Hamel” is as honeyed
as of yore. "The Chorus” is a book of
rare literary merit, conceived and
developed with skill, but artistry can
not save its subject matter from a
lack of significance.
“JULIUS LE VALLON”
Algernon Blackwood’s New Fantasy
Deals With Reincarnation
Perhaps the most striking feature of
Algernon Blackwood's new novel.
"Julius Le Vallon" (Dutton; $1.50). is
the air of solidity and reality that he
throws about its intangible theme. Ir.
even greater degree than heretofore
Mr Blackwood invades that realm
which lies beyond the ken of normal
consciousness. In all his stories the
author speculates in phenomena out
side material things, but generally
heretofore he has sacrificed to this in
clination the clement of narrative. In
this book the reader never loses sight
of the thread of narrative, which is in
the nature of an adventure into the
“spirit world" of 30 centuries ago.
Lest “adventure” convey a wrong Im
pression of the book’s character, it
should be said that "Julius Le Vallon"
is no bizarre creation of a superficial
imagination, written for the diversion
of the moment. Mr Blackwood Is a
deep student of the mystical, and he
Is at pains to reason out his thesis
with liquid clearness. This, with his
pure English, graphic descriptive pow
ers. and ability to give the unreal a
semblance of reality, commands the
reader’s attention.
Reincarnation is the theme. The
situation is fantastic, but under Mr
Blackwood’s clear reasoning it takes
i on the appearance of plausibility. The
I soul, he believes, is eternal, and goes
■on and on. Present-day material
■ ism. resulting in our neglect to “feel
with" Nature, makes it Impossible to
I recall or remember details of prevl
[ ous existences. The story concerns two
i men and a wom^n who were closely
I associated GO centuries ago. The
i spirit reincarnated in Julius Le Val
i lon was, or is, the dominant member
iof the trio. John Mason, the other
: man-, tells l the story. In a previous
existence the trio "made use of an un
conscious human body to evoke those
i peculiar powers that exist behind
Wind and Fire." and thus “upset the
balance of material forces.” They
“must readjust that balance" by re-
Invoking those powers In the manner
employed in their “Temple days” or
“suffer accordingly." And the trend
of the story is toward the day when
the three shall again be united, anl
conditions be right to permit their ex
piation through the terrifying experi
ment. Mr Blackwood skilfully keeps
the reader’s anticipation on edge.
“SECOND CHOICE”
; Win N. Harben’s Pleasant Tale of
Georgia and Sentiment
Wynn Dunham, the hero of "Second
Choice'’ (Harper; $1.35). bv Wilt N.
Harben. has difficulties that would
I probably discourage anv but a man
!of the highest moral courage. He is
the second son of a poor Georgia
farmer. He loves a girl whose fami
ly, though impoverished, is connect
ed with some of the best southern
families, and who, consequently, is
regarded as belonging to a higher
i cial stratum than the young farmer,
i Despite this, however. Edna Wtenn
feeb a very warm attachment for
der brother George is serving
n. sentence in the penitentiary
for forgery, and Is guilty of
other felonies. Edna’s family is op
posed to Dunham’s attentions to her,
and her mother endeavors to Influence
the girl to look favorably upon the
attentions of another young man
whose material prospects are brighter
than Dunham’s.
Some time after George is released
from prison he robs his brother of all
his savings through a forged check,
and at about the same time Dunham
learns that Edna, has become engaged
to his rival. He disappears. After
five years we find him in a western
boom city,' where he has accumulated
a large fortune in real estate. In
the meanwhile Edna's younger sister
Cora has remained loyal to Wynn’s
memory, and when the young Geor
gian decides to return to his home
town, he is quick to discover that his
loss of Edna was merely the loss of
an Ideal that has become a reality in
Cora.
The story is told in Mr Harben’s
characteristic style—that is. it favors
the sentimental style of an earlier day,
and has little in common with the
pert modernisms of present-day fic
tion. He introduces several quaint
characters whose humorous digres
sions and actions are a nleasant ele
ment of the tale, which compares
favorably with Mr Harben’s best
stories.
“LOVE’S INFERNO”
An Anti-German Novel Which Is Far
From Formidable
"Love’s Inferno" by Dr Edward
Stilgebauer (Brentano’s; $1.35), ad
vertised as “a terrible document of ac
cusation” is another of those anti-
German tirades delivered by a native
German. Greeks bearing gifts! Its
feebleness is suspicious. Report goes
that the book has been banned from
Germany, and that the author had
expatriated himself in order to write
it After reading the story, one asks.
“But why the ticket to Switzerland?"
The author’s confidence in being of
fensive is truly wistful.
Unfortunately, then, the story is
both commonplace and poorly
achieved. For a purposeful novel of
this sort one has only to turn to
“Waften nieder” by Bertha von Sutt
ner for contrast. Even in unpatriot
ism the author fails. He is no Shaw
certainly. Possibly a resident of Ger
many. or of Switzerland is handi
oapped for much real information
damaging to the kaiser; this may ac
count for the hectic atmosphere and
the raucous shrieks of most of the
charges. So poorly balanced is the
novel, moreover, that the reader has
properly finished the tale when the
book is but half done.
Crude execution cannot be charged
wholly to the translator, C. Thieme,
who seems to have done creditably. If
the author feels so badly about Ger
man militarism and the personal am
bition of Emperor 'William as he would
have vs believe, he should feather hls
shaft in other wise—certainly not with
“the grey goose quill.”
THE MURDER OF ARMENIA
H. A. Gibbons’s “The Blackest Page In
Modern History”
For some years past there have
been spasmodic attempts on the part
of Turkey to exterminate the Ar
menian people. These attempts culmi
nated in the massacre in 1915, during
six months of which, according to re
port, nearly 1.000.000 met their deaths
at the hands of the Turks. That this
report is true. H. A. Gibbons. Ph. D..
apparently proves in his book “The
Blackest Page of Modern History—Ar
menian Events of 1915” (G. P. Put
nam's Sons).
For some seven centuries the Turks
and the Armenians had been living
together in harmony. According to Mr
Gibbons it has only been since a cer
tain Eurpean country took an interest
in the commercial prospects of the
Turkish empire that the Armenians
had to go. As to the 1915 massacres.
Mr Gibbons says: “The German gov
ernment could have prevented this ef
fort at exterminating the Armenian
race, but has chosen not to do so.
There is grave reason to believe the
German government has welcomed, if
not encouraged the disappearance of
Armenians from Asia minor, for the
furtherance of German political and
commercial design on the Ottoman
empire"
SEPTEMBER
Now September 'round us falling
Hears her sylvan voices calling
Come and share our holiday.
Summer s grains nnd fruits are over,
Gathered In are hay and clover,
Now has come the time for play.
Come, while in the meadows sunny
You may drain belated honey
From the Insects gauzy race
And amid stone walls and hollows
Squirrels darting swift as swallows
Challenge us to give them chase.
Fresh greeu turf will soon be sleeping.
Come, while yet the scythe is reaping
Tardy grasses here and there
Along the struggling edges
On the way-sides and the hedges
There the wild grape scents the air.
Come, before wild storms advancing.
Whirl away the leaves now dancing
To the wind harp's elfin strain.
Come, before the bare earth's wooing
Tempts them to their own undoing
And they tall like helpless rain.
Lay aside our books and teachers
Come and learn from forest creatures
Simple ethics of delight.
See our little woodland neighbors
Happy In their busy labors
Flying, skipping, till the night.
While our dear September lingers
In her beauty loving fingers
To the fields we'll hie away.
Sun and shower nre In earth's keeping
Man with seed and toll Is reaping
Nature's harvest ev'ry day.
Mint E. Fouwm.
Springfield. September 15. 1916.
HER THOUGHT AND HIS
The gray of the sea and the gray of
the sky,
A glimpse of the moon like ft half
closed eye,
The gleam on ’.tie waves nnd the light
on the land,
A thrill In the Heart and my sweet
heart's hand.
She turned from the sea with a wom
an's grace,
And the light fell soft on her up
turned face.
And I thought of the flood tide of in
finite bliss
That would flow to my heart from a
single kiss.
But my sweetheart was ahy, so 1
dared not ask
For the boon, >»o bravely I wore the
mask;
But Into her face there came a flame—
I wonder could she have been think
ing the
BOSTON LITERARY LETTER
OF PEACOCK AND MEREDITH
Novels in General—Their Fleeting
Fame—Profusion an Element of
Permanence — Meredith’s Life—
Peacock, Thoreau and Meredith
From Our Special Correspondent
BOSTON, Tuesday, September 19
How the world got along so many
centuries without novels must be a
wonder to the present, age, long so de
pendent on them for amusement, in
struction and indoctrination. But the
puzzle will diminish if we reflect that
the epics of Homer, Virgil, Statius
and the rest; t>he medieval romances,
the long poems of Ariosto and Tasso,
of Chaucer and Spenser; and even the
dramas of Greece and Rome, the Book
of Job, the Nlbelungen Lied, the Kale
vala, the “Arabian Nights” and “Pil
grim’s Progress," were in effect novels.
It is by shutting off several forms of
literature, especially in verse, that we
have got so great an extension of the
prose novel; which takes by tprns the
function of history, epic, drama
(comic or tragic) metrical romance,
allegory, etc., until we are losing much
of the ancient historical substance of
literature, in most of the languages
that the young used to read. This
fact makes the modern novel appear
more modern than it is and throws
back the poet more and more upon
lyric and descriptive verse. Shelley's
"Revolt of Islam," for example, and
T. L. Peacock's “Ahrimanes.” which
he never could finish, are poems now
inconceivable as possible exercises for
poets as gifted as Shelley and his
friend.
Most novelists are soon forgotten;
their fame is very fleeting, and some
times their works can be revived and
plagiarized without the recent world
becoming conscious of the fraud. This
was easily possible as between Greek
and Latin; for we have lost the lyrics
of Alcaeus and Sappho bhat Horace
turned into Latin; nor do we know
even the name of the poet who in
Greek originated the idyll of Catullus,
bhe “Wedding of PoleUs and Thetis.”
Virgil made over much of Apollonius
into bis Aeneid; and we know where
Ovid and Statius got their best things,
if not bhe melodious Latin in which
they gave them forth. Profusion is
one of the secrets of permanence in
fame, although there are authors who
survive by the scantiness of their
product, like Collins and Gray; though
we do not always know how much of
their work went to feed the appebite-of
Oblivion. Shakespeare is handed
down to us in part by his abundance;
which has led contemporaries to fancy
him. as Mrs Malaprop describes Cer
berus, “three gentlemen at once.”
George Meredith, of whom there is
now much remark, cannot be com
pared with Shakespeare, except for
productiveness; for I suppose he wrote
and printed as many pages as did thab
“sweet swan of Avon”—if we may rep
resent swans as reading proof and
waiting for a second revise—
after one of them had been
Making such flights upon the bank of
Thames
As so did take Eliza and our Janies.
The number of pages of verse and
prose printed by Meredith, before and
after his first book of poems in 1851,
is as yet quite uncounted,—but some
thing enormous. The verses them
selves began to be written before lie
was 20, and were dedicated, before he
was one and twenty, to "Thomas Love
Peacock. Esq., with the profound ad
miration and affectionate respect of
his son-in-law." And. although a life
of Peacock was published five years
ago (following the printing in Boston
of his Letters and Fragments in 1910).
we still need to explain to many read-,
ers who Esquire Peacock was. He
was about the age of Meredith’s
father, who w r as himself t.re son of the
great Melchisedec Meredith, naval out
fitter at Portsmouth in southern Eng
land; while Peacock was born at Wey
bridge not far off, in 1785. He died
in 1866, and his collected works were
published in 1875, with a sketch of
his life by his granddaughter, Edith
Nicholls, who was a daughter "f the
first Mrs Meredith by a lormer hus
band. Peacock lad passed through
the characteristically English stages
of young radical and friend of Shelley,
lively satirical novelist, India house
clerk, and conservative country squire.
His daughter, Mlary Ellen,' born in
August, 1821, and therefore seven
years older than George Meredith, who
was born in the spring of 1828, was
the widow of a naval lieutenant when
Meredith married her in the winter of
1848-9. They had but one child, who
lived to be 37, but was separated from
his father, as his mother had been for
years at her death in 1861. She left
his humble abode with another man.
but under what circumstances is not
very clear. He afterwarc married a
Miss Vallamy ot Huguenot descent,
who bore him a son and a daughter,
and died in 1885. By that time Mere
dith had written all his best novels,
and more poems than he ever collect
ed. His style as poet was at the very
opposite of Peacock’s, though in their
satirical romancing there was „ cer
tain similarity. But Peacock could
never quite finish anything, and
Meredith, once started on a romance,
had much difficulty in ever leaving off.
His works, taken as a whole, have
been oddly compared to the copious
Dialogs of Plato. The resemblance is
rather in their being vehicles of the
speculations of the author, than in
anything dramatic in Plato’s language.
Plato’s men do not all talk alike, as
Meredith's men and women mostly do;
but the Grecian contrasts their char
acters dramatically; as Meredith sMll
more dramatically does with his far
more numerous characters. Both deal
with subjects usually avoided, and in
a manner apt to be misunderstood; but
there the resemblance ceases. There
is little that is Grecian in She genius
of Meredith, except the wit; in that he
approaches Aristophanes rather than
Plato. His style, regarded from an
English standpoint. Is often intoler
able, —in “One of Our Conquerors,” for
example; In reading which I have had
a singular experience. 1 had been
reading Meredith for some years, in
the Boston edition of Roberts Broth
ers—which meant Thomas Niles, the
patron of Miss Alcott, had gone to
Greece and Scotland, Germany and
Italy, and got home again—when there
came out to me this singular story
of English life, connected with the
stuck market and bigamy. For some
reason, at present not remembered, it
was put on the shelf unread and there
forgotten. Twenty-five years sped
away, and lately, hearing much talk
about this novel, I borrowed and was
wading through its verbal charades,
when I discovered my own copy, in
better print, where it had been tucked
out of sight, on an unfrequented book
shelf; and I finished the tragic catas
trophe on my own pages. Henceforth
I shall know faintly what it all means.
"Beauchamp's Career" is more easily
perused. It opens with a lovely bur
lesque of Gussie Gardner's prepared
ness panic of the past and present
years—told of England in Louis Napo
leon's day, and now worth reading for
the light it throws on New England's
temporary frenzies and State street
jobs.
Meredith survived bls 80th year, and
was visited a little before death by that
modern Greek, Photladea, whose
French book has been put into Gallic
BSSHBHE
in- this country by Charles Scribner a
Sons. It speculates on the philosophy
of Meredith, which he sets forth not
alone in his novels, teaching what G.
M. Trevelyan terms the "philosophy of
sanity," whatever that may chance to
be —but also in his paradoxical breatlse
on "The Comic Spirit," which as I
have not yet read, I will not further
criticize. I find a certain resemblance
between his philosophy and Thoreau’s
—far apart as their real worlds and
humors seem to have been. In Mere
dith, both the Welsh and the Irish
element were strong, giving thab gift
of profuse language which runs into
every form of allusion and symbolism,
and sometimes becomes mere rigma
role, as in many passages of "Ono of
Our Conquerors." But he had also a
love of nature, quite as strong as Tho
reau’s, and a piety in her direction u
little less Puritanical than Thoreau’s,
and expressing itself in more formal
terms. His criticism of society was
nob less seachlng than Thoreau’s; but
with more allowance for sinners than
Thoreau had, and at the same time
less serenity of patience, and great in
firmities of temper. There was In
Thoreau’s relation to nature a con
stant thought of utility, nob that mere
expansion of the ego which a young
critic who has not half learned his les
sen (Van Doren) finds in Thoreau be
cause he has it in himself —as Thoreau
did until he had patiently worked him
self out of It.
Somewhere between Thoreau and
Peacock, a broad space must be found
for Meredith, who could not exist
without the constant st mulus of a
highly civilized society, leginning to
be corrupted, and needing all the
tonics of outward nature to keep it
self on the track prescribed by altru
ism. Peacock, es he grew older, fell
into the easy rut that good society in
England cushions with ease, as we
pad the wheel with its tire, so it can
run smoothly on any toad. Meredith
was forever darting out, this way
and that, for the mere sake of shun
ning the rut. Thoreau, avoiding the
jostle and conformity of the thronged
marketplace, finds room and play for
all the needful human qualities, in
the simpler American conditions; and
who shall say that he was wrong? He
certainly came nearer the Greek ideals.
England still rejoices In the Mere
dith literature; but only a part of 11
is likely to survive; it ie excessive
and overdrawn, and its dialect, like
Carlyle's, soon fatigues by its rather
awkward vivacity. Had he written
half as many books, he might have
been longer remembered, as Goldsmith
has been by writing one book that
everyone must read. To supply the
literary market is one good thing, and
a very pleasant one, as times go. But
to write a few books that are read
in the next century, and sometimes
20 centuries, is a much belter thing.—
and that may chance to be Meredith’s
fortune yet, as it now promises to be
Thoreau's.
FROM THE GOLDEN BOOKS
“For Love is High in His Divinity”
[Nicholas Breton: "The Longing of a
Blessed Heart,” 1601.]
Men talk of love that know not what
it is:
For could we know what love may
be indeed
We would not have our minds so led
amiss
With idle joys, that wanton humors
feed;
But in the rules of higher reason
read
What love may be, so from the
world concealed. ’
Yeb all too plainly to the world re
vealed.
Some one doth fain love is a blinded
god;
His blindness him more than half a
devil shows:
For love with blindness never mado
abode,
Which all the power of wit and rea
son knows:
And from whose grace the ground of
knowledge grows:
But such blind eyes, that can no
better see,
Shall never live to come where love
may be.
Some only think it only is a thought
Bred in the eye, and buzzeth in the
brain
And breaks the heart, until the mind
be brought
To feed the senses with a sorry vein.
Till wits, once gone, come never home
again;
And then too late in mad conceit do
prove
Fantastic wits are ever void of love.
And somo again think there is no such
thing.
But in conceit a kind of coined jest,
Which only doth of idle humors
spring.
Like to a bird within a phoenix's nest.
Where never yet did any young one
nest.
But let such fools take heed of blas
phemy,
For love is high In his divinity.
But to be short, to learn to find him
out,
’Tis not in beauty's eyes, nor baby’s
hearts;
He must go beat another world about.
And seek for love, but in those living
parts
Of reason’s light, that is the life of
arts.
That will perceive, though he can
never see.
The perfect essence whereof Jove
may be.
It is too clear a brightness for man’s
eye.
Too high a wisdom for his wits to find.
Too deep a secret for his sense to try:
And all too heavenly for his earthly
mind;
It is a grace of such a glorious kind
As gives the soul a secret power to
know it,
But gives no heart nor spirit power to
show it.
It is of heaven and earth the highest
beauty.
The powerful hand of heaven’s and'
earth’s creation,
The one commander of all spirits'
duty.
The Deity of angels’ adoration,
The glorious substance of the soul's
salvation;
The light of truth that all perfection
trieth
And life that gives the life that
never dieth.
It is the bight of good and hate of 411,
Triumph of truth and falsehood's
overthrow;
The only worker of the highest rill;
And only knowledge that doth know
ledge know;
The only ground where it doth onlv
grow:
It is in sum the substance of all
bliss,
Without whose blessing all thing
nothing Is.
A big lottery is one of the posses
sions "of the Danish West Indies which
will become Uncle Sirin’s if the nego
tiations for purchase of the islands go
through. There seems to be no lot
tery about the purchase itself, and
the little excrescence can easily be re
moved.
Books and Art
RARE BOOKS
Purchased for people who nre too busy
1 on I tend to ’he G>rri»'i oLJlbrerias.