New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-03
EDV4RD ETERETT HALE AI SCI H'' ~

EDI 1HD ~ EHEIf mann -
ON the Sd dav of April 1922, the author OF
" 4 Man Without Il Country" himself began 10
have 4 country. 80 if figures are rs conNcleh-
tious rs they have the reputation of beng ne
is seventy years old this spring sunday Arm
mctic is arithmetic but those who know MN
best without meaning any dlsTcspcct 10 tha'
popular science feel to insist that there Is ii
mistake in the reckoning. For DR.. Hale *
distinctively and cmncntly young man
one of the boys. in fact, whom his neigh
bor. DR.. Holmes, loves 10 celebrate. lake
1s22 from 1892 and You get 40, according
10 conventional subtraction As taught IN the
schoolbooks All the same. on this latest birth
dav Hale cannot possibly confess to more than
twenty.
GRAY temples at twenty ycs, white. II you please
Where the snow fall, the thlchcst there's nothing can
freeze.
What Lowell wrote Of Emerson when En-
crson was siXty-iyo may with equal Felicity
be applied to Colonel lngham to-day: " hat
an antiSeptic is pure life He has that prv-
ilccc Of the soul which abolishcS the calendar
and presents him TO us always the unwasted
contemporary Of his own prime"
\ wear ago Dr. Hale was introduced To an
audience on the Pacific Coast n the best be-
loved Of American authors. That Is his proud
distinction. and he has won if by steadily cm-
blowing his art ~ novelist and story teller,
not for arts sake. but for humanty'> sake. In
hi, recent admirable address upon James Rus
sell Lowell MIR. Curtis pointed ont that the
master impulse of Lowcll's literary activity
was not aesthetic but moral. The character
ization fits Hale still more closely. He l., first
Of all. a moralist. a philanthrop,t. teacher, in
the highest ard broadcSt sense of these terms,
and hi, vast and versatile laborS out of his
pulpit with his pen just as surely rs those IN
his pulpit with bis tongue have been carried
on in obedience - that most practical and
bcncticcnt of injupctiona neither there
fore We eat or drink, or whatsoever We do do
all - the glory of Cod II is the general
recognition Of this fact which has 50 greatly
cndcarcd him 10 his countr!mcn. They re-
member with all gratitude and affection a, they
, greet him to-day that this Is he who has rem
dcrcd large and important services ia
mankind as a man Of letters; that
thi, j. lee who has been model
If what an earnest believer IN the
brotherhood 81 man and Of what citizen WHO
is truly public spirited should be. They be-
levc they understand why ii is that he Is but
twenty now that lac is seventy. Their cXplana
ton il that because OF his generosity of soul
he ha, found the service Of truth rs of beauty
ucrfcct freedom. and 50 has gone on from
strength to strength with an optimistic virility
| bcgotten of freedom II they refrain from
naming him second Abou Ben Adhcm 1t Is
because they have "A strong suspicion that Abou
would be proud TO be named the Edward Ever
! cit Hale Of his age.
TIE TRIBUNE, whose columns have ire
qucntly been enriched by contributions from
his brilliant, incSiyc pen, tenders pr. Hale
the assurances of its distinguished consideration
| May his days be very long in the land which
is so greatly indebted to him Our country
yes, the wide. wide world, is better and brighter
because OF the power and beauty Of his life.