The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-17
JOHN BURROUGHS ON WHITMAN
A. CONAN DOYLE'S NEW ROMANCE
AND OTHER HISTORICAL
NOVELS.
MEMOIR OF ARTIST HAMERToN
''The Beginning of Nation
'ParakiteS"-'Dayb
Book Notes.

of that very successful and delightful
book An Experiment in Altruism," is
outWardly a study of artist life in
New England city. but it is much more
than that. 1t is a sympathetic study in
character-characte Of that essentially
modern type which feels the weight of
the whole world laid upon one pair of
willing shoulders. All of Miss Sher-
woods chief characters save one are
trying to carry the world in one fashion
or another. The one exception, a girl
who believes herself to be born to paint,
achieves the self-expression she seeks,
only to realize that life means getting
away from self, and to say in the end:
IF l can only keep out of my own
way, l can do something" The story
of these young people, their love and
their work is more than interesting. 1t
is suggestive. stimulating The Bo-
hemia in which they live is land
of pure air and high thoughts, where
they wrestle with life and art as they
conceive them. and ultimately learn,
each in his or her own way something
OF the divine meanings which are
wrought into the substance of these
things. That the hero should make at
the beginning of the first chapter the
self-same statement to one maiden
which he makes at the end of the last
chapter to another, is a detail, and
is not so ironic in intention as it seems.
The action of the story takes place
chiefly in the inner world and is ex-
pressed in the long conversations about
yesterday, today and forever" the
practical and ideal aspects Of life and
art, which all frequenters of studios
know and love. But happy are the
frequenters of studios who are used to
such good talk as this. Our grand
mothers used to talk of silk so rich
that it would stand alone" The pages
of this little book are so thickly en-
crusted with epigrams that they too,
will stand alone" There is no leaf
that cannot show a phrase worth not
ing and remembering. Where all is
so "ri! "-Orth while selection seems
invidious, but here are a few random
passages which illustrate the authors
resource and her insight:
Lack of life is life's best interpre-
ter" 1t used to be bad boy who ran
away from home. Now it is the good
grin search of philanthropic ad-
venture"
The child is brimful of that vain.
hungry, ungenerous idealism of the
young. Heaven deliver US all from the
abstract wisdom of the utterly I'M
triedr'
L want to be senuine-not like other
Women. Most women wear their ca
reers as II they were jewelry.. Work is
only new species of ornament They
aren't great enough to lose themselves
in it"
Isn't there a little dash of longing
Tor excitement in Helen's yearning to
do good? The Lord made her for
great crises. but unkindly forgot to
make any crises for her"
Here's an artist whose cOntempt for
nature Is apparently not the result of
familiarity"
The meanest device Of those who
nave not been able to stir your nature
10 It's depths is to suggest that it has
no depths
CA Puritan Bohemia BY Margaret Sher-
wood. Macmillan d Co. 10 cents For sale
by the St. Paul Book and Stationery com
panyJ
Some writer's are better after distil-
l3tiOn through another writer's mind.
as some forms of spirits are improved
by dilutiOn. To say that Whitman is
better taken in the medium of John
straight would be saying a great
deal, perhaps too much, but the fact
al least remains that Mr. Burroughs
IS not only a cordial admirer, but an
excellent reflector of the cosmic poet
His new book Whitman; A Study"
considers the poet in almost every DOS
slbIe connection. His relation to art
ana literature, to culture to his cOun-
try and his times, to life and morals
TO science and to religion. are all duly
STUDIED. Il have accepted Whitman
entire and without reservation" saws
the author, and in some two hundred
and fifty odd pages of exploratory Gu
Icy shows due cause for his admir-
alton. For purposes of conversion a.
shorter argument had been a better
ore, for only confessed admirers of
w Eltman will undertake to read so
considerable a volume, while an ESSAY
the length of Burroughs first publish
ed article upon the fact would attract
many otherwise outside the circle of
the influence.
The book is full of good things. but
the gist of all its criticism and commen-
dalton is contained in a paragraph in
the last chapter which is wholly salts
factory as chara cterizatiOn and. had
1t been written first, might almost have
made all the preceding pages unneces-
sary:
AT times / feel as if | was almost
as much at sea with regard to him as
when | first began to study him: not
at sea with regard to his commanding
genius and power but with regard to
any adequate statement and summary
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