The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14
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IRENE cIeverness the story is told. not b!
word of mouth or by the author. but in
long letter. or diary. written by the Dis
ciple in prison, and sent by him to hi!
master for scientific comment and advice
This journal while revealing in every linz
I the individuality Of the youth. and be
trayinG the fact that his assumption o
the role of philosopher is partly one o
those youthful masquerade OF mentality
TO which all are liable in the days wher
mon and women are busy in discovering
the possibilities Of their own natures, ye
keeps the cooIness, the unimpassioned anC
distracted style, Of the rest of the book
NJ. Bourget has never written a better
thing.
How far the young man got In his an
bition to be On analytical psychologist
may be seen in his cain analysis of his
own character, the traits which he de
rived from his father and his mother, re
spectivcly and the influence each hat
over him. 1t is in part, as follows:
Il believe YOU have seen exactly what
] owe 10 my father; the taste and the
facility for abstraction. the love Of the
intellectual life. faith in science and
the precociOus management of method
iittSe LOT llaS ullAla lDI itlt tildA dNttt,
the first diYination Of the pride of in
telIeCt, and also an element slightly
morbid, this difficulty of action which
has as its consequence the difficulty in
resisting the passions, when one Is
tempted.
I visit also to mark distinctly what
| owe my mother. Ana from the first
! perceive this fact that this second
influence acts upon me by reaction,
while the first had acted directly. To
speak truly. this reaction only began
when she became a widow and wished
to direct my education. Until then she
had entirely given me up to my father.
1t may seem strange that, alone in
the world, she and |, she so energetic,
so devoted, and SO young, we did
not live, at least during those years, in
perfect communion of heart. There eX-
lists in Tact, Tudimentary psychology
for which these words-mother and
son-are synonyms of absolute tender
ness of perfect agreement of soul. Per
haps ii is so in the families of ancient
tradition, although in human nature
/ believe very little in the existence
of entire sympathy between persons of
different ages and sexes
in any case, modern families pre-
sent under conventional etiquette the
most cruel phenomena of secret di-
vorce OF complete misunderstanding,
sometimes of hate, which are too well
understood when we think of their
origin. They come from the mixture
for a hundred years of province with
province, race with race. which has
charged the blood of nearly all of us
with hereditary oppoSiteS. So people
find themselves nominally of the same
family who have not common trait
either in their moral or mental struc-
lures; consequently the daily intimacy
between persons becomes a cause of
daily conflicts or of constant dissimu
latlon. My mother and l are an eX-
ample OF ii which | would qualify as
excellent. If the pleasure of finding
very clear proof OF q psychologist law
were not accompanied by keen regret
at having been its victims.
My father, / have told you, was an
old pupil of the Polytechnic School,
and the son of a civil engineer. / have
also said he was of Lorraine race.
There is a proYerb which says: 'Lor-
raine traitor to its King and even to
God This epigram expresses in a
unique form the idea that there is
something complex in the mind of this
frontier population
The people of Lorraine have always
lived on the border of two races and
OF two existences, the German and
the French. What is this disposition
to treachery If not the deprayity of
another taste. admirable from the in
tellectuaI point of view, that of SEN
timental complication? For my part,
/ attribute TO this atavism the power
of doubling of which ] spoke at the
beginning of this analysis ] ought to
add that. when / was a child, l often
felt strange pleasure in diSinter-
ested stimulation which proceeded from
the same principle. i recounted TO my
comrades all sorts of ineXact details
concerning myself, about my place of
birth, my fathers birthplace. about a
walk which 1 was intending to take,
and this not to boast, but simply to be
some one else.
II found singular pleasure later in
advancing opinions the most opposed
TO those which / considered the true
ones from the same bizarre motive.
To play role different from my true
nature appeared to me an enrichment
Of my person, so strong was the in
stinct to resolve myself into a char
acter, a belief q passion.
My mother is woman of the
south, absolutely rebellious against all
complexity, to whom ideas of things
alone are Ineligible. In her imagina-
tion the forms of life are reproduced
concrete, precise, and simple When
she thinks of religion, she sees her
Church, her confessional, the commun-
ION cloth, the few priests whom she
has seen, the catechism in which she
studied When she thinks of a career,
she sees positive activity and benefits
The professorate. for example, which
she desired me to enter was for her
NJ. Limasset, the professor Of mathe-
MATES, the friend of my father, and
she saw me, like him, going across the
city twice day, in an alpaca coat and
Panama hat in summer, and my feet
protected in winter by clogs. and my
body in a furred overcoat with a fixed
salary, the perquisites of private tut
ton and the sweet assurance of a
pension.
Il have been able by studying her
TO learn how completely this order of
imagination renders those whom IL
governs incapable of comprehendng
other souls. II is often said of such
people that they are despotic and per
sonal, or that they have bad charac-
tiers. IN reality, they are before those
with whom they associate like child
before q watch He sees the hands
move, he knows nothing of the wheels
which make them move. SO when
those hands do not go to suit his fancy
there IS the stupidity of impatience to
force them and warp the springs
So far as this goes it is an admirable
bit of analysis. and many people viii rec
ognize its realism.
The nicely of phrasing and deiicacy Of
touch to be found in this book are thor
oughly French, bat otherwise it hardly
answers to the ordinary phrase French
novel" 1t is not spicy after the manner
of Zola or decadent after his fashion
either. 1t is almost purely scientific in it's
fascination. New York: Charles Serb
ners Sons. a.5O)
Sailors Yarns.
DOG Watches at Sea" by Stanton II.
King, is a record, In straightforward and
unpretentious language, Of the authors
twelve years Of experience in the mer-
chant service. Unlike the fiamboyant ef-
fusions contained in the recent books of
Mr.. Frank Y. Bullen. which are quite
unlike the one which made his reputation,
the sixteen chapters in this little book
contain no rhetoric and no vanity. 1t