The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-10

open-a air man. when | am very old and
very respectable citizen. with white hair and
bland manners and gold watch he writes
to Mr.. Baxter. II shall hear three crows
cawing In my heart, as I heard them this
morning"
"Oh. the quiet gray Tickets and the yellow
butterflies and the woodpcckers, and the out
look over the plain as It were over seat
in letter to Mrs, Sitwell the chief conf
dante OF his developing mind And once
more to the same lady: The whole country
is mad with green. To see the cherry bios
som bitten out upon the black frs, and the
black frs bitten out OF the blue sky, was
a sight to set before a king This was
apropos of his going on a convalescents
| drive with Mr.. Henley. then, in April. 1876.
just out OF hospital
| The picture of Mr.. Henley as first seen by
stevenson in hospital is worth quoting:
(Leslie) stephen and sat on couple Of
chairs. and the roor fellow sat up in his bed
with his lair and beard all tangled. and
talked as cheerfuly as II he had been ia a
kings palace or the great Kings palace Of
blue air H, has taught himself two Ian
guages since he has been lying there"
~
For those interested IN the QeNelopment oil
literary artist, or interested in the literary
personalities OF the day. the book is no less
packed with interest. shall ever learn to
do anything well?" he eXclaims despairngy
at %. At 20 he Is no less argry with his
own "feebleness." but resoute none the less
Never mind: ten years hence. II live. /
shall have learned. SO help me God" one
thinks Of Keats II think / shall be among
the English poets after my death" and one
echoes Matthew Arnolds HE is. he is with
Shakespeare"
OF his contemporaries he has many things
lexcellently said. How good is this of Troll
lope. whom / suppose nobody reads now
aday-and certainly not |: "He is so nearly
wearying you. and yet never does" 1t hardly
seems worth while to read n novelist for the
purpose of making narrow an escape from
boredom. No doubt Stevenson found his ex-
ctement in the narrowhess of his escape.
George Eliot was not one of his goddesses.
Yet after depreciation OF Daniel Deronda p:
Hats off all the same, you understand" he
says, "a woman of genius "Kipling,' he
admits to Henry James, lis too clever to
live" - and yet! and yet! II look on,
admire rejoice for myself. but In kind of
ambition we all have for our tongue of litera-
ture / am wounded"
~
Woman was subject on which Stevenson
was always reticent. He confessed In his
"Vailima Letters that he steered clear OF II
for the reason that it meant all to much for
him He Just dared not write about woman
lest he should write too much But now and
again he unlocks his heart on the subject IN
these letters. III one could love woman
like that once. he writes in one OF them
"see her once grow pale with passion, and
. once wiring your lips out upon hers. would II
not be a small thing to de?' AS we know
the time came when he did love woman
like that" and there are no more fascinat
ing letters in the volume than those in whict
he describes his voluntary struggle with pow
erty and ill-health and his painfully devel
oping literary gift. while waiting IN san Fran
cisco for the day when no could make NJ
} own the woman Of his heart.
MIR. Colvin has something rather nice Il
saw lust here: "A writer of his stevenson
quality can not help striking notes from tn
| heart of life and the inwardness OF thing
j. deeper than will ever be struck or ever ap
| pretended by another who abors. with neVe
a smile either for his own or for his reader S
:, tic fiction, but is born without the magician
touch and insight" One for you "eors
Moore Mr.. Colvin evidently Yields nea
fist on occasion.
: No stevenson is all right OF course W
8 must occasionally read somebody else ana
l is. / should imagine one of the great com
u forts of being classic that there is no nee
@ TO go on "booming'-as though you were
o say, Hall Game. Depend upon 1t that IN IN
= kingdom OF charmed and charming spirit
r stevenson will hold his well-attended oour
II till comes that dread day prophesied by u
: ley Imagination of Mr.. Wells, that squail
II dies rae' when men no longer read at an
= nor love. nor look at pictures, nor even a
d newspapers-any more. Well. we at leas
II shall not be there to If our hearts mus
y be broken. let it be some other way An
n at all events. for the present, none OF you
IS realists are going to rob us of our Stevenson
e 49,
II How they hate the man with charm
And yet what wouldn't they give TO posses
5 it. / remember once certain well know
realist reading me passage from the manu-
: script of q forthcoming novel, and wa
y touched to note that II was not from IN
y qualities one expected from and really value
u in him-close observation, strong statemef
Il and so forth--that he seemed anxious
u secure my very unimportant Appreciation nc
u 1t was lust little lonely bit of pretty writln
l. among the realism that you could see 4
really cared about. How wistfully he rea
10 lit, 1t was the one thing | should have CT
= out. vet it would have been wilful murd'
'e to say So Like Scott, he could do the b
bow WOW. but you could see his heart Wi
really set on tying pretty ribbon OF phras
ID and no doubt he would have given all
10 cubrous realism back 10 the dustman TO
J. able to send up little rocket OF brigl
" words.
" have known men angry at the attent's
l. shown to a beautiful woman-'vain htt
lie breath of sweet ose-coIored dust. God ble
10 me, she is beautiful but she is nothing els
ie Perhaps II one were beautiful one wonid NJ
" feel the need OF being anything else. Al
ie events. the world has not so far insist
al on the need So with a lasting writer "
ID are far more clever! Look at your depth
10 thought, your range of observation yo'
learning and all the rest! Whereas this otn
~ fellow hasn't yet begun to think, ana kho'
next TO nothing The most you can say