The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-12-15

! and querulous wrath preaching to the
end the duty he could not do to those
who could not do it-hopeless, CROP
ing, wrapped in the memories OF heroes
he deemed would never be again, and
laying his poor old body down to die.
Glittering in the trappings of the great
est imagination of our time, little
Frederick the Great and man named
Cromwell and trembling king or SO
shall file down the years with him, but
past their wonderful phantom figures
shall move on the conquering, in the
name Of the hero that Thomas Carlyle
left out. Like wise man of the east,
in the night he loved he followed the
star, but he turned to the infinite at
last with spirit that was sad for US,
because the star grew dim and he
could not see it in the dawn"
= = =
To most of us Matthew Arm old was
scholar and only scholar, q man
who took everybody not only seriously
but coldly. 1t was the good fortune of
the writer to meet Mr.. Arnold several
times when he was on his tour of lect-
uring in this country, and it certainly
wes our view Of him that he unbent
very little, and, above all things, had q
dislike of American manners and
American affairs. -
His was a noble mission, however,
whatever his personality; but it is
rather fine to be told now that he had a
kindly and even playful side, as we
learn from the editor of his letters:
"a more genuinely amiable man
never lived. Nature had given him a
sunny temper, quick sympathy and in
exhaustible fun. But something more
than nature must have gone to make
his constant unself1shness, his manly
endurance of adverse fate, his buoyan-
cy in breasting difficulties, his unre-
hitting solicitude for the welfare and
enjoyment of those who stood nearest
to his heart. Self-denial WAS the law
of his life, yet the word never crossed
his lips. He reveled in doing kind
ness, never more than when the recip.
lent was little child, or an overworked
schoolmistress, or struggling author.
He taxed his ingenuity to find words
OF encouragement and praise for the
most immature and unpromising ef-
forts. He was even passionately loyal
to old association, and to have helped
or cared for those who were dear to
him WAS sure passport to his affec-
ton. The magnificent serenity of his
demeRnor concealed from the outside
world, but never from his friends, his
boyi sh appreciation of kindness, of ad-
mira ton, of courteous attention"
= y =
Mr.. Jam es Payne writes thus of the
plotless novel:
"The decadence of plot in modern
fiction is very remarkable. There are
many novelists, but very few story
tellers. 1t is rather q rare experience
to be led on from chapter to chapter
by sustained interest. We have
strings of adventures; tales with a
moral and (much oftener) tales with
out one; snippets which have really
no space for the author to spread him
self in any direction, published in
washing-book covers, rivulsts of texts
in meadows of margin; but the three
volume novel plot has almost disap-
pea red"
y = =
The Speaker, London, thus treats
Mr.. Howells' views of good society:
"Money is treated by Mr.. Howells as
an insignificant factor. and rank is not
mentioned at all. The Vanderbilt motto
"A dukes duke for a. that has not