Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-07-10


| n chanter on the Man in the Iron MASK
and it appears that he has adopted VOL
taire's version of the subject, version
long since exploded. Considering the ex-
tent to which the matter has been ois-
cussed, and especially the thoroughhess
with which Mr.. Funck- Brentano over
| hauled ii. some five or six years ago.
| il is certainly hard to understand no"
any author could go wrong where the
famous prisoner of PignerOl ana the
Bastile is concerned. That he was no
body more important than Count Ercoie
Mattioli who got into trouble through
playing fast and loose with Louis SI"
and his master, the Duke OF Mantua, ana
that his iron mask was really light
affair, made of velvet, everybody knows
who has taken the trouble TO glance at
be problem The incident of Lieutenant
Colonel Haggard's failure to get abreast
of modern scholarship is amusing as
showing how long it takes picturesque
legend to die. Also in exciting our wond-
er, it incidentally leads us to reflect on
the slight excuse which any one has now
adays for slipping up en- questions OF
this sort Time was when there were not
many historians in the world, but now
there are hordes of them, in and out Of
the universities, and they are always
busy in clearing up disputed points. The
good men of the past are constantly hav-
ing their laurels clipped and the evil
doors are often treated to coats Of
the most deftly applied whitewash. These
books may not be read as novels are
read but SO much is said about them in
that the truth, or at least the latest
guess at the TRUTH ought to be, and gen.
orally is. common property, says the
New York Tribune
The question whether beauty, intel
lect or piety is most to be desired in
woman is brought up again by Nine.
WaddingtOn in her new book, Italian
Letters of a Diplomats Wife," in way
that serves to introduce a characteris-
tic anecdOte of Nine. de Stael The
author, remarking how her pretty travel
ling maid manifested an extraordinary
faculty for getting whatever was wanted
-"an excellent trait in travelling
maId'-declares that it merely carried
out her own theory that good looks is
the most important gift for woman. Il
daresay 1t won't bear discussion" she
adds, and l ought to say goodness but
my experience points the other way. /
have often heard my father quote Nine
de Stael (who was Very kind to him
when he was young man in Paris), who
at the very height of her triumph. as
the great woman's intelligence of her
time, said to him one evening at a big
party in Paris looking at Nine Reca-
nier, who was beautiful, and surrounded
by all that was most distinguished and
brilliant in the room, Il would give all
my brains for her beauty"
/ Secretary Hays death reviyes the dis
cusSion concerning the authorship of The
Breadwinners, a study of practical poli-
ties published anonymously 20 years ago
in the Century Magazine, and in its day
among the best sellers. To the present
time it continues to be read, though nat
uraily it is unknown to the mass Of the
new generation of novelreaders. Mr. Hay
never publicly said anything either to
affirm or deny the authorship though he |
had abundant chance, as several writers |
We're apparently quite willing to be ac- |
corded the credit. But in most of the |
book
is catalogued with the rest of Mr. Hay's |
writings, whether he wrote it or not |
Possibly now that he is dead. somebody |
will make an authoritative statement.
short story by Rudyard Kipling en-
titled An Habtation Enforced" will ap-
pear in the August issue of The Century
cfpk inO ~
wick writes to the Atlantic Monthly upon
The Literary Mob" which, he saws, is
unable to fix it's attention upon work
of art. When the crowd reads Hamlet"
he says. "or stares at the Mona Lisa.
II acts in obedience to authorfty-to the
authority of the critics: it has ceased
to be a mob. 1t recognizes the word of
command. given by Lessing, Sainte-
Beuve. Matthew Arnold or Ruskin, and
marches. as to military music, rank upon
rank, in orderly sequence, and salutes
the worlds masterpieces. Discipline
whether it proceeds from the presence of
a general. an archbishop, or a critic is a
certain sign that the crowd has passed
beyond that stage of homogeneous inco-
herence. as Herbert Spencer would say,
which is essential to a mob. This trans
formation is normal; n mob must either
turn into a disciplined body or resolve
itself into its constituent elements AS
regards the reading mob. the transforma-
ton into an educated body of readers is.
of course. infinitely slower than the change
from a street mob into an orderly group
of burghers; it will depend on the number
of artists who shall furnish artistic ex-
perience. and on the number of crities-1Rhc1
shall speak with authority. The public
schools. and our general system of edu-
cation. to which we ordinarily turn in
such difflcutesi unfortunately supply
the conditions that make reading mob
possible. and do not offer any hope of
cure. Art and authority are the only
remedies Where there is so much vigor,
energy and will as American writer's pos
sess, provided there be any truth that
grace is meted according to our needs,
artists will come; but they will require
sympathy, comprehension, support. and
these can be made ready only by the
critic His first task must be to tame the
turbulent mob spirit. in which we Amer