The age-herald., 1899-01-15

[ Browning said. measure the minds Height by the shadow it casts" And to make an application of the thought, if we would estimate the mind of w. D. Howells, He must judge him by his creations. Un- like most writers of fiction he has swept the whole horizon of his time and in con- Aidering his work it must not only be as novelist, but as an essayst. poet. and last, but by no means least, a searching and suggestive critic of literature.
 It Is a combination of all these attrib- ptes-his artistry, his power of dehneation, bis mastery of detail, his unerring keen ness of observation and his humor which has made his last book, "The Story of Play" such an exquisite piece of work. MT. Howells is the one living writer in America, I believe, with the possible exception of Henry James, who could have made such an artistic literary success of "The Story Of Play"
 certain English essayist writing of the difference of the English and American poyel, defines the English novel as work ing from within outwardly, and the Ameri- can novel as working from without inward ly.The definition is surprisingly accurate as 1t applies to MT. Howells' latest work In HThe Story of a Play, the author, with out the faintest suggestion of plot or in- cident invites the reader to look and listen, and then with extraordinary charm inter- ests by the vgor and vvacity with which phases and situations and persons are han dled He takes the mere fact of the writing of play and also an actor who wants that play and presents to the reader the chief motive of the story. Little by little the reader finds himself not spectator merely but behind the scenes, and looking deep into the most sacred springs of life-the motive for human action
 MT Howells, with mature wisdom, avoids the excesses of analysis, withholds the weakly recurring descriptive and caressing epithets, and allows the characters to sui hce for themselves.
 If Addison performed no small task when be made morality fashionable, Howells has performed likewise commendable feat in that he has made married people interest ang-in books, of course, mean.
 MT. and Mrs. Maxwell are no more re- markable than many married people of our Wtimate acquantance notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Maxwell is endeavoring to write the American drama; they indulge, too, in tearing at each others heart-strings which Is so proverbial of the marital state and yet in spite of this, they are intensely Interesting from first page to last. The chiefest charm of the work, as a piece of fiction, is the fact that the three characters EtMr. and Mrs. Maxwell and the actor, MT. Fodolphin-live, actually live, in the pages before us.
 The ordinary commonplace occurrences or life are the only incidents of the story and though the speeches and actions of fhe characters, alone, we learn the com- plexfty of motives, which we find in all the puman beings we know. They are per- fectly natural and artless, yet nothing proves so completely the intellectual grip the author has upon his characters as the feeling the reader so often experiences of kinship with the character Mr. Howelps possesses so quick an eye for what is strik- Ing in individuals or in life and such O Ehrewd insight into human motive that no doubt the human element in his charac- ters will make many a reader see his own foibles and weaknesses portrayed.
 
 It Is remarkable that MT. Howells should naEe written a whole book with so slender q tread of central interest as the writing o1 a story. Yet, in truth, it is a real pleas ure and source of qualification not to have the mind distracted by the unfolding of the plot, or the blood curdled by the excitement of incidents but to be left free to enjoy the full artistic literary ability of the author as he manipulates his human machinery. In 'The Story of a Play" one often de- tects the lightness of touch and the subtle humor which made the farces of Howells so irresistible. The mature thought and conscientious principles of the earnest critic of literature is in evidence, also, In Max wells aspirations and endeavors. While the realst of fiction who gave us MT. and Mrs. March to remain with us as the most cherished of friends here creates MT. and Mrs. Maxwell to be their worthy successors eQually human and real to us.
 Howells somewhere observes that when you are told of a certain man that he Is named Andrew Jackson, you can get pretty clear idea of the sort of people who named him, and therefore, of the sort of en- Sronment in which his early years, at least, were passed The thought which inspired this remark is true to a marvellous extent, and the actor in "rhe Story of Play" who in casting about for a stage name chose s.Launcelot Godolphin," revealed in the choosing much of the subsequent character portrayed Just here MT Howells says s'his name was Godophin, for he had in- stinctively felt that in choosing name he might as well take handsome one while he was about it, and that if he became Godolphin there was no reason why he should not become Launcelot, too. He did not put on these splendors from any foible, but from professional sense of their value In the bills. As Launcelot Godolphin he mas simpler than he would have been with a simpler name."
 i Apropos of names" that charming writer, Harry Thurston Peck, or as he signs himself when in familiar mood-H. IT. Peck, who, as I've said before, can write h perfectly charming article on any subject, even cookstoves, recently wrote about s.names" Their significance and particu- Iarly their selection by discerning authors. Some people possess an intense perception of the value of names. Balzac, you know, had it, and spent days and days wandering from street to street scanning shop signs, and searching for just the name he needed.
 Thackeray, being true artist in his char acter- r-drawing, was an artist also, in his nomenclature. Prof. Peck says, "A name, indeed, is as much factor in ones per sonality as any physical attribute-as much so, for example, as his height, the color of his hair the expression of his face and the meditation of his voice. In forming an opinion of person whom we meet, the name he bears is never wholly unimpor-