New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-09-09
MAGAZINE NOTES.
ARTICLES IN THE SEPTEMBER NUM-
BERS

ARTICLES IN THE SEPTEMBER NUM-
BERS.
Mr. Maurice Hewlett's story The Duchess
Of Mona" appears in complete form IN the cur
rent "Lippincott." and Is. without question the
most original and fascinating piece of fiction
the month has far offered US. The figure If
sweet English Molly Lovel-"honest red
checked pretty shy simpleton Of lass
thrown against the dark background If Italian
intrigue and assassination IS one 70 bewitch
the most careless reader The story moves in
the very air Of old Italy. and commonplace in
deed must be tho reader who does not surrender
n it's charm and forget the nineteenth century
and the prosaic world about him.
Professor Munsterberg declares in The A.
lanfic" that the Germans and the Americans DO
not Ike each other He Is German. and We
nav therefore allow him 70 maintain his opin-
ion unchallenged. so far as his own side Of the
matter IS concerned As for the feelings ~
Americans we believe that hts observations are
true ~ a corlpa ratively small class. and that
IN the nation at large little Of the antipathy he
/ mentions exists to-day In some particulars h.
does full Justice 70 the American Combating
the German conviction concerning Brother
Jonathan's faults in the direction of selfish
realism he asserts that hepfulness and hon
I estv seem 70 him the most essential character
istics Of the American" Helpfuness shows IT,
self in charity in hospitality in projects for
education or for public improvements or in the
most trivial services ~ daily life while silent
confidence in the honesty Of ones fellow men
controls practical relations here in way which
s. not known in cautious Europe, and could not
have been developed II that confidence were
not justified"
DO the Americans and the English Ike each
other? That Is a question which Mr.. William
Archer considers in The Pail Mall Magazine ."
Most Englishmen he remarks. still guilty
II thoughtless captiousness toward Ameri-
cans which is none the less CALLING because n
manifests itself in the most trihing matters.
A friend Of my returned few years ago
from short tour In the United States, declar-
ing that he heartily disliked the country. and
would never 60 back again Inquiry as to the
grounds Of his dissatisfaction elected no more
definite damning charge than that they
"a collective pronOun presumed 70 cover the
whole American people, hung up his trousers
instead Of folding them-or vice versa, for am
/ heather enough not to remember which is the
+ orthodox process Doubtless he had other and
possibly weightier, causes Of complaint, but this
vas the head and front Of Americas offending.
4 Another Fnglishman Of education and position,
feng asked why he had never crossed the At
1ovfic graVelV replied that he could not endure
10 travel in a country where You had ~ black
vopr own boots, Such instances Of ignorance
and pettiness may seem absurdly trivial but
they are quite sufficient TO act "a grts in the
machinery Of social intercourse. Americans
are very fond OF citing as an example Of Eng
nsh manners the legend Of a great lady who,
/ at an American breakfast saw her husband de
clinjnR a dish which was offered 10 him, ana
/ called across the table. Take some my dear
II isn't half as nasty as 1t looks Three DIFF
/ ferent people have vouched 10 me for the ruth
of this anecdote. each naming the heroine ana
each giving her a different name. True or false,
Il is held in America To be typical. and II wOul1
scarcely be so popular as 1t is unless people
had suffered a good deal from the tactlessness
, which II exemplifes. The same vice, in a more
/ insidious form appears in a remark made 10 me-
the other day by an Englishman Of very high
+ intelNcence who made long tour IN America
i and was in the main, far from unsympatheilc
! What I felt" he said was the suburbanisIn
Of everything II was all Chaplain or Gambler
! well on a gigantic scale. Some justice or on
sorvation may possibly have IAN oenna nn,T
remark though ] certainly failed 70 recognize
IT. But IN the form Of its expression II eXern-
pliNed that Illusion Of metropolitanism whicn
is 70 nv mind the veriest cockneyism IN MS
guise and which cannot but strike Americans
as either ridiculous or offensive.
The frank. CHEEKY and hearted letters
~ r 7, Stevenson rresistitly invite the first
attention of the reader NJ "Scrihner" H'
writes Of his own work in spirit that is most
attachine-with n keen conception Of what h.
means to do and with an underlying humhenes'
and simplicity that rare He Is as franz
about others as about himself He writes e
. Henry James Of the enjoyment lie finds IN read
ing the Americans story, Frederick Hudson,
and having offered hearty praises h" ADDS
81 May | beg you the next time Frederick IS
printed of. TO 60 the sheets - the last few
/, chapters and strike out Immense and tire
: mendous? You have simply dropped then
there like your pocket handkerchief all yo'
have to do is to pick them up and pouch them
( and your room-what do say?-your cathe
dral, Will be swept and garnished. Per
haps II is pang Of causeless honesty. perhap
, ] hope 1t will set value my praise Of Rod
, erick perhaps It's a burst Of the dia bolic but
, must break out with the news that can't bea
the Portrait Of a Lady | read 81 all. and
, vept too: but can't stand your having writer
il. and beg you Wi write more 81 the Ike
, Infra. sir. below you. ] can't help TIT ma,
he vour favorite work. but in my eyes It's below
= YOU to write and to read. thought Rod