The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-06-13
CONCERNING BOOKS.

most Interesting volume. and written con
amore. The men with whom It deals
made deep impression; upon the world
OF literature, science and neral culture.
and the Boston Of that day stood for all
that was best In letters and In social
ethics. Such men ns Lowell, Longfellow,
Agassis, FELTON,, Edward Charming,
Holmes. Norton and others formed brill
liant coterie which can hardly be excslied,
and 1t Is no wonder that their biographer
looks back With pride upon the time
when these were the ruling SPIRITS Of the
Athens Of America.
A Harvard graduate writes to met
During my senior year at Cambridge
I had the great pleasure of being with
others) Lowell's pupil In what was nomi-
naily 'Spanish'-but in reality was in
struction In the world of 'Bellss Lettres >
When. on the first day of the term, he
met us In the class room, he found per-
haps six or eight Of us who had chosen
Spanish as an elective study The
table made out for recitation hours
called for two or three each week. With
an apologetic air MIR. Lowell suggested
that 1T might prove agreeable to you IL
we should meet one evening in each week
at my library and when unanimous APP
plause followed the suggestion, he set the
time, and you may be sure we never re-
GREETED the change Of method or place.
How wildly ! recall those hours can
soc the bookshelves, the little bronze
statue on the library table 1.-THE Mercury
Of John of Bologna) with an ivory chain
hanging In loops from the out-strectched
arm; and. as the evenings grew cooler,
the fire In the CRATE, around which we sat
in comfortable chairs. Smoking was
permitted, and our host and instructor
moved around or Eat with his short
meersohaum pira under his moustached
lip.and over his curly brown beard. More
than once 1t was one a. In. when that
class in Spanish left his hospitable
home"
Those were the days when the Harvard
professor had personal knowledge of his
pupils, and personal influence ON them,
as well.
Mr.. Hale's interesting volume opens
with description of Elmwood, Lowell's
birthplace fine old colonial mansion
where his daughter, Mrs. Mabel Lowell
Burnett, has recently died. Following we
have an account of his college days, apro-
pos of which Mr.. Hale tells a very good
story showing the lack Of interest in
science at Harvard, except SO far as 1t
came in by way Of pure mathematics. He
says. Sin the year 1910 was at West
Point for the first time, with William
Story, Lowell's classmate and friend; and
with Story's sister and mine. We en-
joyed to the full the matches hospitality
of West Point seeing it's lions under
the special care Of two young officers of
our own age. One day when Story and /
were by ourselves, after we had heen
talking of our studies with these gentle
men, Story said to me; Ned it's all very
well to keep'a stiff upper lip with these
fellows, but how did you dare tell them
that we studied about projectiles at Cam
bridget?
" because we did, said I.
"'Did ever study projectilesi asked
Story, puzzled.
Certainly you did, said 1. You
used to go up to Pierce Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons In the summer
when you were junior, with blue book
which had white back
4 know did, said Story, and was
l studying projectiles thenP This is the
first time that l ever heard of it,
And tell that story" comments DR..
Hale, because 1t illustrates we'll enough
the divorce between theory and faot
which is possible In education"
In the present volume We have Lowell
as poet, man of lsttsrs, public speaker,
editor, and as minister to Spain and to
England. interviewer with all this is
much concerning the famous and interest
ing men and women with whom he was
associated. One Of the most delightful
chapters in the volume is en- titled Boston
in the Forties, a time when the little
| town had become the headquarters for
New England, and in a measure for the
| country, Of ievery sort Of enthusiasm,
not to say fanaticism. and Cambridge
was essentially Boston, or part of it.
"LowellIcould talk with Wendell Phillips
or applaud him when he spoke He could
go into Garrison's printing.office with
communication. He could discuss met
aphysics or ethics with Brownson.
He could hear Latter-Day church
preacher on Sunday. He could listen
while Miller. the prophet Of the day, ex-
planned from Rollins's History and the
book of Daniel that the world would
come to an end on the twenty first of
March, 1s42. He could lounge into the
Corner Bookstore where james L. Field
would show him the new Tennyson, or
where the Mutual Admiration Society
would leave an epigram or two behind.
Or he could hear Everett or Holmes or
Parsons or Webster or Lilliman or Walk
er read poem or lecture at the o deon. He
could discuss with a partner in dance
the moral significance of the Fifth Sym
phony of Beethoven in comparison with
the lessons Of the second or the seventh.
AH1kha. ,.awk,.av In va-k --~l-sfa.