The times., 1898-10-23
A Neu Lie of Grnnt.

subject which has yet been seen.
II IS new illustration of the principle
that a novelist is needed for the writing
of successful biography. Autobiography
is sometimes instinct with the life of the
man himself as a letter is: but when a
man writes of the life and character of
fellow-being ne must have the insight
and descriptive power OF the writer OF
fiction or his biography will be a lot of
dry bones dressed in old clothes
Mr.. Garland possesses great patience,
thoroughness and enthusiasm; he knows
the life of the Middle West as few literary
men know it. and his understanding of
that life is equaled only by his love for
it. Men like Jesse Grant and John Simp-
son, transplanted Yankees, Southern from
tiersmen, and Old World peasants, are IA
miliar 10 Garland; he was brought up in
the pioneer life q the West and can de-
scribe 1t without exaggeration and with
out apology. He is at home with Grant
With all this, he has a breadth of intelIi-
gence and sympathy which enables him to
see the political aspects of Grants life,
and the way in which the hand of that
great soldier was felt in the destinies of
the nation. He Is not a mere Boswell
nor is he mere critical analyst. He is
interested in his hero, personally and po-
ltically, and does not neglect either the
domestic or the public side of his charac-
ter. The book is well balanced. the author
has mind of his own and knows how to
speak it, and while he Loyalty stands by
his hero against the enemies who charged
scandal and corruption against Grants s
second administration, he finds another
way TO construct his defense than to
splash black paint and whitewash about
the landscape Most of the Grant biogra-
pliers whose work has been strewn broad
cast over the land have disposed of ca
lumnies by the very simple method of re-
ferrinE them all to the innate depravity
of the calumniator. Garland pursues n
different method, and 1t is very effective
one.
The impression which this book pro-
duces upon the mind of the careful reader
IS one rarely achieved by a biography
The figure of Grant appears upon the can
vas with all the clear and definite fea-
lures, and all the carefulness of finish, of
portrait from life, and withal is drawn
with the psychological completeness Of i
hero of fiction. Every thoughtful reader
OF ordinary lives of famous men has
been struck by the fragmentary and dis
5ointed nature of the work. One must
read between the lines in order to know
what the man really was Usually those
records are best in which the man is per-
mitted to reveal himself by letters or
Journals. The conscientious. unimagina-
tive, painstaking author has often taken
such pains to record facts that he has
forgotten the soul of the man. At best
II he is an ordinary friend of his subject
he knows but one phase of the nature
which he is trying TO delineate, and If ht
has been SO unfortunate as not to know
his subject at all, save through the vary
ing opinions of other men, his achieve
ment is a sort of patchwork man, neither
brute nor human, but ghoul. On The
other hand, the imaginative biog-
rapher often makes his subject
bend to a preconceived idea, and
creates z type instead OF a man,
because he ruthlessly weeds out all the
facts which do not suit his purpose. This
IS the kind of biographer who has beer
let loose on Washington, Lincoln anC
Grant. and he has created a sort OF
amorphous angel in the clothes of Z
human being-a hero without any human
faults or follies. 1t has remained fol
the novelist and poet who is also biog-
rapher TO show what can be done by &
combination of the best elements of tht
two methods, together with sort OF
welding fire of insight which Sits out th'
refuse and picks up the good. That /!
Garland's way of doing his work. and th'
result is gratifying. He may never dt
another piece of writing good as this
In fact, II is extremely doubtful If h'
ever does, but he may at least return Il
the creation of novels with the gratifica
tion of knowing that he has written on
of the best biographies in American lit
erature.
The book is illustrated with grea'
many pictures of Grant al all ages, pho
tographs of every house in which he liv
ed, facsimiles of his autograph and othe
documents; pictures of his mother, fath
er wife and family. and of various scene
in which he figured. There are not to
many of these pictures, and each has 1t
place in connection with the narrative.
The author begins his work by sketch
ing the life into which Gen. Grant wa
born This occupies part of the open
ing chapters, and, with the story o
Grants childhood and youth, is draw
with just sufficient care to correct som
of the exaggerated stories of earle
lives" There are no fairy tales in thi
book 1t is all fact. but fact presente
with skill and taste in the arrangement
and told in well-chosen language. In II
quiet, reserved young farmer. given with
out exaggeration and without idealizatior
but with hints here and there of the grea
man he was to become. Without sayin
II in so many words. Mr.. Garland ofte
contrives to bring out some trait in tn
character of the boy which showed tn
man in making and to indicate the natu
raj blindness of his neighbors and friend
TO these indications. One feels that
Mr. Garland had been writing a histor
of the ancient Jews he would not. lik
medieval historians, make them out nor
sters because they refused to believe br
would have shown in n quiet way ho'
much like other people they were in nc
believing. The opening chapters of thi
book may possibly help some perplexe
parent to understand his particular du
lard the better.
The idealistic temperament of Mr.. Gal
land, while kept well in hand, shows her
and there in bit of something like fata
ism, as when he says of young Ulysses
appointment that the cadet who first r,
ceived 1t ''mysteriously failed" maxim
way for Grant 1T was TO be-" the oil
adjutant's clerk said, with mystic gleal
In his eye. Another thing subtly brougf
out by the novelist-biographer is Grant
unwillingness to enter upon an army lif
and here again the fatalism appears. ''
was TO be- that Grant should have II
training in early life which should enab
him to control great armies. That W.
his business in life. Fate had reserve
him for that. She did not care VIII.
happened TO him after he had got Il
training, or after he had accomplished Il
task Perhaps Mr.. Garland is hardly co..