The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-12-03
NEH nooKA
MA, Reviews Of Important and Interestina
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-. ~ NJ being plunRed in hopeless mystery
W, unpleasant, far from IL. only hopeless. he
s,sports himself for a time and then issues,
ll,nd. undisturbed. without visible dtsappolnt-
nspt. as much as to say: " have had a shy at
,ou anyway and have discovered for myself
hoU perfect a mystery you are, and have added
=. vonr reputation. II / do not deceive myself.
n vbst have reported about You" To say
,h,t sneh essays are often delightful is not to
-, disoredit upon those essayists OF holder
,nirit who scorn and out mystery. who are
,,nsrior to doubt. strong to confront any prob
- NJ life. incapable OF modification and at
,.nuation and ready always to say the definite
thing.
~ Work aud Culture tDodd, Mead i COL
avs. There Is in the work Of every great sculp-
nor %pain,er. writer. composer. architect. a dis
,,,c,ive and individual manner so marked and
unmistakable as to identify the man whenever
and wherever his work appears" This Is
,omethlng to grasp; this Is definite and not
tnid; this makes nothing Of the Shakespeare
doubtful" plays. Of the Cibber interpretations,
and OF the questions as TO who wrote Tho
Bread Winners" and Beautiful Snow" 1t
disposes Of all sorts Of awkwardnesses in the
several walks OF art.
Mr. Mabie goes on: III q statue Of Phidias
we're to be found without any mark Of the
sculptor upon II there would be no delay in
determining whose work 1t was; no educated
musician would be uncertain for a momenk
about a composition OF Wagner's II he heard
II for the FIRST time without knowledge OF its
source: nor would a short story from the hand
a, Hawthorne remain unclaimed o day after
ts publication"
All this Is confident and reassuring. It
makes one feel. among other things. as though
the work OF schliemann and Brugsch. Mas
pero and Miss Edwards had been quite easy.
II makes one feel as though what are called
shakespearean scholars had had a more kindly
lot in life than has sometimes been supposed.
Every humane person must be thankful to
have from Mr.. Mabie the assurance that such
has beer the case. OF course there could be
no chance for a spurious Phidins or an imita-
ton Apeles. The earmarks OF the authorship
Of those eminent statues. the Apollo Belvedere
and the Venus OF Milo. are unmistakably
upon them. The humorists who have as
sumed for years that all sorts OF I'M
studied noises are certain to be mistaken for
Wagner-that when savages yell. when horns
and steam whistles dlscordantly welcome the
new year, when there Is a riot, or a skinner
ton, or a meeting OF a church sewing society.
some student Of music lifts his head from his
occupations and says with emotion. All. WaS-
ner!"-these misleading Mediterranean OF lit
erature are overthrow by q single stroke
from an authoritative pen. 1t will be remem-
bered that that domestic and neighboring pre-
tender. the Cardiff giant, speedily achieved q
ruinous reputation.
Mr.. Mabie goes on to speak OF " this individ-
ual manner and quality" as so evident that
1t is impossible not to recognize 1t whenever it
appears"
OF course. II all the pictures OF the world
we're to be iumbled up and the labels de-
stroyed. it would still be possible to make out
Immediately that Lucius Cranach did not paint
The Roll Call" and that Mr.. Burne-Jones
was not the author of any fat and squatty peo-
pie. Aubrey Beardsley could be differentiated
instantly from Thomas Mast and Hogarth
from Mr.. Zogbaum.
There is Mr.. Remington's picture OF the
charge OF the rough riders up San Juan hill.
which hundreds Of people are now studying
with deep interest through a Broadway
show window. This would never be mis-
taken for a Wouvermann: 1t would need no
expert to detect 1t instantly for q Reming-
ton. No other painter OF battles ever painted
asky so much by itself. trees SO much by them
selves. grass SO much by itself. soldiers dead
and living so utterly by themselves. Nobody
else ever put these several things together with
80 much detachment and independence. The
sky might have been detained by reason Of the
imperfect transportation marking the move
nent OF Gen. Skaters army and clapped on
after the battle-a vivid. simple sky. not diff
cult to paint. presumably. unless the artist
should happen to bs out Of bright blue. and
suitable. We should think, for q sky in the
moon, where there is said to be no atmosphere.
OF all these things Mr.. Mabie. a comprehen-
slve observer. is aware. He sees Col. Roose-
vot, arfn n Az afraF onIIADfr~
OF in a corner OF Mr.. R~emington's picture,
holding q revolver in his hand. and apparently
shooting rabbits. He sees that the Colonel has
come to be very tail and thin. looking more
Ike Col. Astor than like himself. under the
painters daring art. He sees a rough rider ~
ing stark in the precise middle OF the picture.
and made by Mr.. Remington's venturesome
crush to resemble exactly a ball player sliding
desperately for first: and with q warranted as
Surance he says what he does OF this indi-
Vidual manner and quality. so evident" and
declares that a statue by Phidias would pro-
claim itself in any circumstances instantly.
In the essay called Tool or Man p Mr.. Ma
bic again refreshes US with downright and deh-
mite speech. 1t is written apparently in the
American consciousness that a man can do but
one thing well. . . He must select one
tool. and with that tool he must do all the work
fbONlbo ~ III OlhCI ~ Liz 81 VA
look at him askance. One man. one pursuit. is
the burden of this essay. and Mr. Mabie la
nents that there hould be this disposition to
limit achievement and to check the production
Of the perfected man.
This essay corrects an impression that had
come to be rather common. namely. that in
America 1t was expected Of d man that he
should turn his hand to a dozen different and
eontrasted things-be a jurist and a doctor.
preach. edit a newspaper and engage in the ice
BUSINESSMAN impression. 1t will be observed.
exactly the opposite OF the fact, as Mr.. Mabie
mas now revealed it. For the first time, through
this essay Of Mr.. Mabie's. is the knowledge
conhded TO the world that really the Amer
lean is a person VINO is expected TO stick
10 his last, who is checked In the exer-
else OF his versatility. and who Is made to
ieel rather more than anybody else that a Jack
OF all trades is master Of none. "Pericles
would be discredited among u.s." Michael
Angelo would be compelled to repress his tre-
mendous energy or face the suspicion OF the
critical mind OF the age" One recalls Elihu
burrltt. I. {. Stedman and F. Hopkinson Smith.