Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-12-10


knows what be is going TO say next. And
| vet there IL perfect order In 10 ali--Mr. Wen
| delis own instinct was right These 81
| essays and addresses. while not writer
connectediy. all have one common feehnt
| running through them. MIR. Wendell love-
| to deal with seeming paradoxes; 1t givei
| him real enjoyment (for he IS wrong u
| persist in his fn.de-siecle belief that he Is
really incapable of enjoyment and enthu
| siasm) TO prick bubble aud create iiu;'
| ter. and he enters with evident Zest upon
| the operation; and then, while he praises
| the past and surrounds il with halo, II
| allows him all the more readily, besides
being unseen, to maintain his superiority
1 and personal attitude OF disdain toward
the present. As Mr.. Wendell IS perhaps
the most popular professor OF letters ~
Harvard we may expect deeper swell OF
| imltators very soon.
| But back OF IT all does this really imply
| an impotence on the part OF New England
| men that the empire OF government mas
moved westward, and that other Ideals.
| other ways-the future will tell how
| benefcent now controll Is II really
| characteristic Of the mental attitude of the
ultramontanes in nigh all the original
thirteen Statesl
| But to come to the essays more den-
| nitely. -Four American Centuries" was
| delivered before the public schools. OF
| Worcester on ColuLlbus-Day. October.
| 1892. Here is the confession. in tho face OF
| the past four hundred years: There are
| moments when the matertalism, the base
| ness. the corruption that at any moment
| mark human existence anywhere. make
| one sick at heart. The dominant faet Oh
| our rational history, too, the fact OF De-
mooracy, is sometimes terribly dishearten-
| ing; for. with ell its splendid generosity
! TO the people at large. Democracy at heart
must always be the sworn foe OF excel
| lence." ,
| The second essay. Some Neglected
| characteristics of the New England Purl-
| taus,n was a paper read before the Amerl-
can Historical Association. Both IN TINS
and IN the next, Were the Salem Witches
| Guiltless 2" Mr.. Wendell is able 10 make
use of bis researches pursued at the time
| of writing MS Life of Cotton Mather.
| He believes in the grossness of the Salem
witches. attributes their lll-doings 70 hvp-
motto states, aud holds that the Puritan
conscience did boon TO New England IN
crushing out the thing accursed.
The paper on American Literature Is
perhaps the longest-it is also one OF the
most suggestive. Starting with the SIX
stars of New England-Emerson. Long.
| fellow. Lowell. Whittier. Hawthorne, and
| ID. Holmes-he yet is in doubt whether
American literature has struck any note SO
different, so original, so individual, that
| the world would be distinct loser were
| It not il. possession The two of whom
alone it may be said that their work IS
distinctly different from what we feel IS
| Enthusiastically English are Hawthorne
ane Poe. IF 1t be something 10 have
added a new note 20 literature. then we
Americans must respect tie memory OF
Poe" There is a great deal Of truth IN all
4 that thp writer 0lGcnGglnO THIS
| point, though we think even here. per,
haps, his lines are drawn too rlgldly and
with some lack of sympathy.
The two concluding themes are more
personal they touch on Whittier and on
Lowell. The one is prepared paper writ
| ten by request for the American Academy
Of Arts and Sclences-and. we think,
shows this or perhaps Whittier IS so DIS
| tinotly Puritan and New Rngland-whlch
means at the same time narrow in his
sympathles aud attitude towards other
and complex phases of life-that it gives
one who is not New Highlander and not a
Puritan this feeling. On the other hand,
nothing could be more delightful than the
magazine article on " Lowell called forth
spontaneously by the occasion Of his
death. II shows US Lowell the man as he
was as Lowell the teacher. 1t IS q noble
tribute of students heart-yes, we take
il back, Mr.. Wendell Is not afraid TO show
that he has enthusiasm, that he hos sentl-
ment, that he appreciates and values the
manly 10 living form. But even he, alas :.
| the gifted. fascinated Lowell-ls now
classod among tho StellIgeri."
For sale by j. W. RANDOLPH x Co.
SOME ARTISTS AT THE FAIR. By
Frank ID. Millett. Will. II. Low, j. A.
Mitchell. ". Hamilton Gibson. aud F.
Hopkinson Smith. New York. Charles
Scribner's Sons. 1913 pages, Price Sl.25.
The authors in the order named treat
respectively of The Decorations of the
Exposition" TYPES and People at the
| FAR" The Art of .he White City"
Foreground aud Vista at the fair and
THE Picturesque Side" There are forty
| one illustrations, and the general makeup
| Of the book is very handsome.
For sale by j. ". Randolph d Co.
| NISBY'S CHRISTMAS. BY JACOB A. Riis.
aauthor of The Children of the Poor.
New York: Charles Scrlbner's Sons. 81
pages. Price SOC
There are really three stories in this lit
tie volume which is delightful reading for
small children.
For sale by j. W. Randolph & Co.
MISS STUART'S LEGACY. BY Mr..
steel. Mcmillan & Co. New York and
London. 1893. Price. 500
The plot of this story is laid in British
India. 1t is well written. and interesting.
Like all the books which are published
bv Mcmillan x Co, 1t Is gotten up IN
excellent style.
From West, Johnston & Co.
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STU
DIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLlTl-
CAL SCIENCE. Herbert Il. Adams,
Editor Local Government in the South
and Southwest, by Professor Edward
~ ~.
Students In Vanderbilt University.
Popular Election OF United States Sana-
| tors, by John Haynes Graduate Student
in Johns Hopkins University. Balti-
more: The Johns Hopkins Press. lis
| pages. Price, 81.
| RECOLLECTIONS OF THE REV. JOHN
| MELHENNEY, d. D., by his grand
| daughter, Rose w. Fry. 90, Good, Gray
| Head Which All Men Knew" Rich
| mond, Va, Presbyterian Committee o.
| Publication, 1898. Price. 1875; postpaid
pp. 29l.
The perusal OF this work has given u
| great pleasure. and we bespeak for 1t
wide and remunerative circulation.
DR.. McElhenney was a remarkable man
| and did a remarkable work la a region a
| time that needed just such a man. II,
served faithfully the people Of Lewis
| burg for sixty-two years, during whicl
| his Illustrations extended from the ALE
| ghanies to the Ohio river He was Z
strong friend OF education. both academic
| and collegiate. He started. taught In
| and established n good academy In Lewis
| burg He instructed and retained fo
| their lives the love and respect Of Ruff
ner, Stuart Robertson, and DR.. Plumer
| "clarum ct denerabile nOmen."
He was so acceptable at funerals anC
weddings that he was sent for from Ions
distances Once he began TO preach {
| funeral sermon over a Mr.. T.. who wa
actually alive and listening. lady
| near him whispered that II was Mistress
| T., who had departed. He quickly resumed
| BY saying that all he had so far spoken o
| the sorrowing survivor might be as truly
| said. IL not more so. of her in whose mem
DRY they were called together on this
mournful occasion; ard he proceeded L
preach her funeral.
When an octoGenarian he was called Il
endure the brunt OF the late war right II
and around Lewlsburg, which be did with
Christian fortitude and heroism. a
length, in his S9th year, he wore out un
der his long and useful labors and depart
ed this life for the unending one above
January 2, lS1.
=. l. L