The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-10-17

has confessed that. There is, to be
sure, a wide rang= in literature, and
much of 1t Is the expression of the best
minds 1t frequently mixes, too, with
politics. This is very distinctly shown
in the life of Maeaulay. He thought lit
erature the more exalted of the two pro-
LESSONS. And why? Because in the
great books he saw better quality If
intellect than in the measures of poll
ticians. HIS conviction of this was
easy, for Macaulay was pr minently
a writer, and he knew 1t. But both de-
partments, government and books, are
brilliant with thought. The rule dS that
to excel in eith=r man must have his
diploma. Is he a professional or a no
vice? That question arises, whether
propounded or not. In the early days
of the republic especially in the pres
Dental line, writing prevailed over ora
tory, and some of the presidents of the
first half century practlced composition
till ii became with them something of an
art Then came the blaze of oratory.
That has gone out, 1t is said, and today
the pen and the rostrum are pretty well
balanced, the public msn who write ex-
pressing themselves chiefly in the perl
odicals. Now and then some one writes
book, as Benton, Cox, Blains and Sher-
man did, giving an exhaustive congress
siona1 history from an early time.
Gen. Harrison also has undertaken to
write book That, however, has been
known for some time. He is now well
on towards the end of 1t, and hopes to
have 1t in the printers hands early in
the winter. 1t would be we'll for him to
look to the size of it, He will readily
see that the volumes of Blaine and Grant
are too large for the matter that is in
them, which Is about the only criticism
of either. Seldom has any one shown
his yigor and felicity to better adyan-
tage than Blaine has in his book. And
he was a long way from professional
writer. Gen. Harrison has given some
intimation of what he may do in this
way in ladies' magazine. So rs is
not altogether unknown. His subject,
This Country of Ours" is decidedly
comprehensive, and just how he will DIS
pose of so huge thing with taste and
finish is not a littls puzzling. There is
certainly material enough for one of the
big books of the world. He might write
tome on tome, and die in the perform
ance, as his fsllow-townsman, Mr.. Eng
hsh, did not long ago with a. history of
indiana. But as the ex-president is
now on the last chapters, it will not be
ponderous, being nothing of a life work
that will stand for the man. In this
particular kind of writing Jefferson con-
find himself to the commonwealth of
Virginia, while Monroe embraced the ma
ton in a comparison with all the other
republics that had ever lived and died.
Jefferson's work was succ S.; Monroe's
was a failure.
If Monroe had known the foreign part
of his subject as well as the home part
his book of nearly 300 pages would no
doubt have BEN highly creditable. Gen.
Harrison, 1t is true, has much bigger
country to talk about than Monroe had,
and nobody questions his acquaintance
with it. In writing his book he departs
from the practice of the time, and with
a lawyers sense of precedent, goes into
the past for example. In the constitu-
tional age he sees that the presidents
had much pretension to b. called men
of letters. Washington was good and
busy writer, and what he wrote is val
liable in double sense-it Is In itself
history, and out of 1T histories have
been made. He was a man of truth,
and the manipulate tors of his material,
who have adhered to strictly logical de-
auctions. have come pretty near 1t. AS
Bulwer intimates, it may not be well al
WAYS to insist upon truth absolutely.
And what an open man was John Adams.
Whatever he said was so, according to
his view No greater men have we in
integrity than the two first presidents.
Adams d=arly loved to write out what he
thought, and formed the habit early.
He was surprisingly vigorous, too. for
ons-who scrubbed so much. Toward
the last he complained of his brain be-
ing inert which came from excessive
reading. He presents the very singular
spectacle of man drifting into incom-
potency through knowledge.
On the ruin of Adams and his party
rose the Virginia dynasty, inaugurated
by Jefferson. His whole power was
through his pen and what speech he had
in conversation. His papers have given
him a relation to American liberal SIN
not unlike that of Burke to the same
principle with the parties of England.
Simply as writer, Jefferson's influence
still holds. He hasn't done for the Eng
lish language what Pascal or Rousseau
did for the French, for he had no such
opportunity but there Is grac@ful pre-
cision in what he says that makes MS
language good for a long time. After
Jefferson, Madison was probably uhe
ablest political writer given to the coun-
try by thu old republicans. john Quincy
Adams wrote much, chiefly in the way
of diary, and his writings, running
through a long life, have been made ac-
cessible by his son. The interest at
taching to tn: m is that of experience ana
direct personal association. IN TINS tlss
second Adams is like the first. Van
Buren, devoted the leisure of his latter
vars to literary work, Monroe wound up
his career with 1.-THE People Are Sow
ereign." and Buchanan, who was copl-
Gus letter writer, put form huge po-
litical pamphlet as an apoio5y - .
position at the crisis of his country's MS
tory These men were all more or less
ambitious in literary sense. SO, no
doubt, Is Gen. Harrison. Grant was
not. His book seems ths simplest ex-
preston Of the man possible.
Washington took much interest in his
writing, and did great deal of 1t. 1t
is O. mistake to suppose that he WASH
used to composition H commenced the
habit when young, and practiced 1t as
siduously till the end of his life. HIS
education was somewhat defective, but
his style was not altogether wanting IN
elegance. and he knew when his Thoughts
were clearly expressed His chief aim
was to speak directly and with empna-
sis. And his early preparation enabled
him in a great mass of writing, forming
a complete commentary on the history OF
the country through the whole period OF
his mature life, to give his views OF pass,
ing events in most simple, manly ana
excellsnt language. This collection or
papers the government purchased or me
Washington family. One of the pest
selections made from 1t Is that of Jared
Sparks, who had access to the manu-
script as early as 1892 1t Is interesting
as history and as showing the structure
and resources of Washlngton's mind and