The San Francisco call., 1901-12-08
pnETECC
NHTON

~ ALIFORNIA is very far from
n olympus! To us 1t is not given,
III except at rarest intervals. TO
" look upon the faces of our di-
~ whites We are all more or
less the readers of books, and
yet the writer's of books cross
our paths but seldom. Our literary loves
dwell in the distance. We must be con-
tent with worshiping from afar, accept
ing the good things that they send US
very much as children accept the offer
ings Of Santa Claus; the greater our de-
ngnt with that which is accorded US. the
greater our regret that the gracious giver
must always be invisible. He is a beauti-
iul old man." every natural child has
thought Of Santa Claus, ''but oh, to see
nlm- TO touch him and to hear him speak,'
Most OF us with emphatic literary affec-
mons are thus child-like toward our loves
to see them, to hear them speak-there
is real thrill in the prospect! An idle
hero-worship, this sentiment is sometimes
called but why? We may read BIZ
ographies at length and be anything but
Idle; we may righteously peruse chapters
that tell Of Wordsworth's or Of Tenrv-
sons personality; it is an indication of re-
fined taste to spend hours in the National
Portrait Gallery studying the faces Of
those who have made literature and his
tory. Should an interest in the personali-
ties Of those who are making literature
and history be less righteous or less re-
fined?
Mrs Alice Meynell. at present visiting
IN San Francisco, is one Of the makers
Of the literature of our time. No less
an authority than George Meredith has
classed her among the great English
women Of letters. People who are famil-
lar with her writings and with the praises
bestowed upon her by such men as Rus
kin and Coventry Patmore, or those who
have read the beautiful tributes in verse
by Francis Thompson, will expect much
OF her personality and much will be full
filed A profound intellectually COM
bined with the simplicity of child, an
acute interest in all life, in all things
both great and small, with occasionally
the paroOnable abstraction of the poet;
a saint-like spirituality, and withal a
sense of humor that asserts itself in a
well governed smile around the corners
Of her mouth, are characteristics Of Mrs.
Meynell. Her friend whom she is visiting
remarked TO me concerning her: "She is
a beautiful combination of genius and
saint" I had long been acquainted with
the genius. the saintiness OWNED at the
first meeting and was grateful for its ex-
istence. Without the saint 1 might have
been afraid Of the genius. As it is. This
oelght1ul combination OF qualities rem
ders Mrs. Meynen the sweetest the most
approachable Of women Never posing
herself, she requires no pose from those
who meet her. Her physiognomy is a
tempting one to artists and yet a difficult
one; the heavenly light" that illumines
her countenance is not easily caught by
pencil or brush.
A sketch Of her by viii Rothstein, that
recently appeared in the Critic is gimnlv
a caricature, conveying no suggestion Of
the qualities that distinguish her Even
the portrait by Sargent hardly does her
justice, although containing much Of her
beautiful spirit. There is an interesting
bit Of history connected with the Sargent