The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-11

not prayi Does q fragment Of genius corrupt
tho aesthetic sensei IL writing . hardening
processi Must you wear shabby boots and
carry o baggy umbrella just because you can
writoi Not q bit Of It. Little az some Of
you mon may think It, literary women have
souls." A portrait OF Miss Bell faces
the title page.
The Spirit of Peace. wbite.robed and ex-
q~uisitely decorous. broods in tho drowsy atmos-
phere Of Mr.. uowolls's idyll OF Saratoga A
open.Eyed Conspiracy" tHarpersl. The cool
waters bubble In the spring, the fountain hinRs
q sheaf Of spray into the duh air, a small boy
cats peanuts In the pavilion, and Mr.. How.
ellis, in the person OF Mr.. Jocelyn Marsh,
editor and part proprietor of the maya
zine Every Other Week. mornllzes on all
these things In his ever pleasant manner.
A goddess in white duck. whose features are
Greek and whose father 10 a bank President, IL
wooed and won BY the young man Kendricks, q
pleasant young writer for the magazines, who
"never forgot the gentleman In tho artist and
was as true to the c~onpendnecs a. II they had
been principles" Hence, es Mr.. Howells tells
US, his editors wife liked his stories moro than
the stories OF some people who wrote better.
This ostlmabls youth, who evidently has q long
and prosperous career before him. hirts mildly
with the goddess, while the band plays popular
march music, tho nursomalds push peranbula-
tors about, and, as We remarked before, over
all broods the spirit Of Peaco-beautiful. white
robed Peace.
In the latest addition to Messrs. Harpers'
Series Of American Eesayists 10 . volume en-
titled "Some Accepted Heroes, and Other
Essays" by Mr.. Henry Cabot Lodge. In the
first Of these essays Senator Lodge stripe the
Honeric heroes OF the gorgeous trOppings with
which he believes that modern ignorance
has adorned them. and shows them, a.
Miss Lillian Bell would put It. Gin the
raw" "As literature" ho says. "the Ho-
meric poems are % great that the world
hAs fallen very easily into the habit Of as
euming that because the poetry 10 noble and
beautiful the people whom II dopicts are noble
and beautiful also" In Q brief outline Of the
story Of the niad he shows that Homer's Greeks
were trearherous and cruel savhgos, whose
mere physical courage 10 not 70 DO compared
with that Of the Englishmen who fought at
Hastings. the Scotch OF Flodden Field. or the
Americans who died at the Alamo. 1t may be
that there 10, as Senator Lodge believes. o large
class OF modern readers that seeks TO thrust
amid tho lmpcriShab o beauty Of the Homerio
poems q set Of pers ne who have no business
the o.: but. II 90. It 10 certainly n class that has
no knowledge OF the poems themselves. No
glamour Of mere sentim ntall y that may have
been cast yer the characserS I tho lliat and
the OoyBeoy nhn nAG lo origin AZ tue FOUNTAIN
head. where Eo!s and heroes alike . Q shown in
oil their childish petulance and udo avagery.
We see tho Thunder, T. love i'm elf. ~hrawliny
with the Queen OF Heav n. and when Paris Of ais
the wife OF his absent friend and host he 10
shown as q plain. ordinary thief. actuated by no
mere romantic motives. but careful to load up
his ship with all the portable property in sight
Tho Last PlAntagenet" 10 an interest
Ing study OF the character OF Richard
I'LL. and An tempt TO show hat he was
by no means so black as history and Shake
speare have painted him. Yet" says the Sen.
ator. the helplessness OF history when 1t comes
la conflict with the work OF u great i'm Igi.
nation has never been more strikingly
shown than In the case Of the third Richard.
The last Plantagenet will ever remain
fixed in the popular fancy by the unsptring
hand OF genius. . . . He will be forever. not
only TO the EnRlish.speaking world but to the
people OF Europe. to whom Sh kespeare's Ian
guage In an unknown tongue. the crook-backed
tyrant" The titles OF the remaining essays are
Shakespeare Americanisms." "Chatterton."
"Dr. Holmes" "A Liberal Education Tho
Home OF the Cabots." English Elections" and
Our Foreign Policy" OF these the last Is,
perhaps. the most interesting to the ma
!ority OF readers. The Venezuela question.
the Monroe doctrine, our relations with
Japan and Hawaii. with Spain and Cuba. and a
number OF other subjects are here discussed In
a firm and diGniied spirit that will appeal TO all
true Americans and will be cavilled At only by
the Mugwump or by one or two editors who. a.
the essayist says, have abandoned the country
OF their birth without acquiring any other. and
are therefore as well able to Judge OF patriotism
as q blind man Of q picture"
A judicious selection OF extracts In prose and
verso has been made by Mr.. volney Streamer
a.. ~ .a,.-. .Ce;~~. - raukt 49, r.,..
tBrentano's). wherein are many can
did expressions Of the Souls Search for Truth,
ranging from the darkness Of hopeless Doubt
10 that radiance that dis the heart in sublimest
Trust" Many classic writers. from Marcus
Aurelius and omAr Kayyam to Emerson and
Walter Pater. are represented. while In some
cases fragments by less known writer's are
rescued from obscurity and brought into a
prominence they are well worthy Of. An excel
cellent little volume In every way.
Ono or two numbers in Mr.. Bliss Caravans
Ballads OF Lost Haven" Lamson. Wolfe &
Co.. Rre about the best things he has written,
and some OF the 9th 70 are neither above nor be-
low the average Of magazine poetry. Nearly all
are marked skill and care III workmanship.
and in some cases he has succeeded In producing
fine effects Of atmosphere and Light and sound,
and pictures OF great stretches OF open sea and
desolAte. w~ind-swept wastes OF sand and marsh.
But tho personal note is sometimes irritating,
and there are moment when the voice 10 as the
voice OF the lonRshore sailorman. piping = stave
that echo 8 with the yo-heayeho OF the ordi.
nary light baritone mariner who r ans tho
painted canvas seas. ct. SHADOW Boatswain'
is one OF the best OF the ballsds. and these lines
from The Gravedigger" have vigor and swing,
Oh. the shAmbiing sea IL . sexton old.
And woll his work 10 done.