New-York tribune., 1874-10-15
BOSTON.
MOTIFS.

sPIRITUALIsIIC INVESTIGATIONS mo-
DIR. JEFPRIEs wYMAN, BY DIR. OLIVER pl "hNpAD
uo,urs-A NEW POEM BY JOHN IT, Whiiih"
- ror, An CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.I |
posrny Oct. 18.-The Atlantic Monthly for
,s.v.,or will omen with the conclusion OF Henry
lanes ir,s Eugene Pckering"-a bright ana ceVer
80 The German charmer turned out deuson
knew she would. because, in the first chapter tnousu
her eyes we're bright her white gown was not ceah'
Charles Warren stoddard gives us rather painia.
.nmnse NJ theatrical rivalry Behind the Scenes;
showipe how the stars won't shine pleasantly on INC
other people and how actors often' IN 'neir n"'"
jealousy embarrass and hinder, where they ought " ~
each other; but he concludes after all that actors "
as good as other people. IL not better An mr. oouu
you th,nk II is but poor world we i've in uon 'ou
No wonder you sought solace among the 'sou'h oea
pacaus whom civilization had not yet ruined
v,,b avery successive number a Foregone Conclu-
sion becomes more powerful ana more iu'eres"nS'
Good as all Mr. Howess previous stories have been this
seems to me outrank them in strength and intensity
while IL yields to Of them in poetlcai charn ior
Howes is always prose poet. He produces his enects
by the delicate touches; you can hardly pu' 1o
enger on them but you feel them Don ippoho Is 'no
most prominent figure in this instament, as he was "
the last-Don Ippoo, with his strange weakness anu
his equally strange strength, with his aDsoutey en
,sh simplicity and his mans passion and ardor' VI
course he loved Florida vervan and OF course ne
that TO her he had been but priest az
WAYS priest And then-"there was nothing "
,pacpations had fallen into dust at word; no magic
cond rebuild it, the end that seems the END had
somev And OF course Florida loved Ferris, ana Ferrs
loved Florda-that wasA Foregone Conciuson-out sue
thinks Ferris indifferent and he thinks she loves Don
Ippolto; and they both very uncomioftaoe' IN
the next number Mr.. Howells must smooth away all
these difficulties for it will do for him to end
another story unsatisfactory TO his feminine pubic
he did "a Chance Acquaintance" albeit that ending
was full OF "cean grit and human naur as Lowell has
a. and was great deal more iketactual life than the
eau suerte finale the women would have preferred
John Fiske's essay on "Ahenan and American
Life" is one which thoughtful people will be glad TO
read through and again. 1t full Ofhe}frut OF
ripe scholarship and liberal ideas MI Fiske dscFim-
mates very happily between learning aud culture The
Aheuians had far less TO learn than the peope'O the
nineteenth century They had not whole ages OF oooK
makers at their backs with libraries full OF things that
they must know something about oriseem very lsnor
ant so they had time for the highest intel
lectual activity, in other directions beside mem
ory Says Mr.. Fske 1t is not only true that Athens
has produced and educated q relatively larger NUMBER
Of OF the highest caber and most complete culture
than any other community OF like dimensions whichhas
existed but it is also true that thereihas been no
other community OF which the members have, as a
general rule been highly cultivated have attained
individually such completeness OF fe BY culture MI
Fiske does not scholarship: for that begins only
with an accumulation OF by gone literature. The culture
Intercourse with the facts of nature and OF life,
and with thoughts of rich and powerful minds orally
expressed. We mOderns are ant to confound culture with
book knowledge and TO forget the innumerabe ways In
which the highest intellectual faculties may be dis
epined without the aid of literature. Even in our day
OF many books how much powerful is the direct
influence OF an original mind upon than its reflection
IN book. That is why TO do good work one
should live in literary center There is sort OF mag
netism OF culture in the air. The mere fact that
Socrates lived and taught he did, finding fit audience
any goes far 10 show the deep and gen
eral culture of the Athenian people Still further proof
is furnished by the exquisite literary perfection OF
the Greek writings Mr. Fiske doubts il even the great
modern writers fairly sustain comparison in
the Of literary expression with such Athe-
mans as Plato or Lyslas This excellence OF
the ancient books is in part Immediately
due 10 the fact they not written in hurry,
or amid the OF busy existence; but yet
more TO the indirect consequences of leisurely life
Tue great advantage OF the Athenans over the Amer
cans was in the greater leisure and the greater sim
pcty OF their living As Athens was the most lesurely
Is the United States the most hurried community
known in history. But may not a time come when
the of expense Will exceed the demand for it
when the human will have some surplus capital
Then there will be less rivalry and more leisure; and
then, having "ransacked the ages and spoiled the
cimes" may hope for race In America as learned
scholars cultivated and finished as the Old
Athenian.
"MIss Georgines husband" is ghost story. purport-
Ing TO be told by old darkey woman who had once
been a slave. Oddly enough, in this same number
Mark Twain tells what he calls "a True story Repeated
word for heard " which he processes to have
written down from the lips of another old darkey
woman once a slave or the two cOlored racon-
te,us I like the who tells the ghost
storv best-but don't much about either Of them.
Mark Twain be very funny that we are as natu
rally dissatisfied with him. when he Is not funny at ALL
he with a "a
rose that had odOr Mark be- too, an he will, at
once funny and pathetic he has proved in the cap
tally drawn character of Col. Sellers in the Glded
Age"
"A Rebels Recolectious" are unusually interesting
In this number and they always, by the way, chap
ters history quite worth reading. Mr.. Howes gives
us long review Of Mr.. Parkmans Histories speaking
of many OF the points which were some time ago
discussed In THE TRIBUNE.
Perhaps the article OF most general interest is Mr.
Owens Chapter of Autobiography. entitled How L
Came TO Study Spiritual Phenomena" 1t was IN Mr.
Owens 55th year. when he had been already two years
and a half Minister to Naples, that his attention
fret seriously directed TO spirituastic manifestations
OF had heard Of the Rochester knockngs and
IN passing through London the TO Italy he had
been TO three sttugs with his father whose in
terest ia the subject ane-dated his own; but
still at the time Of which have spoken, he believed
spirituam. soealled. TO be impOsture, or else self
deIusiOn. He spending quiet evening at the house
of the Russian Minister the subject came up, and
circle formed lady, herself unbelever proved
70 possess the power of writing and wrote
in reply 10 a question from another skeptic, answer
Unexpected aud singular as TO challenge Mr. Owens
interest and attention "Who gave these gold pins g.
was the question: referring to some gold pins in the
front OF the questioner's gown and the answer was
The one that gives you maid and cook" 1t proved