New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-20
rHONAS BAILEY ALDRIoH.

The long career Of Thomas Bailey Aldrich was
that of a versatile writer, with gift for acfiev
ing in absolutely everything that he did a GER
tain even excellence. In mis- death there Is
broken another link with past the memories
of which are cherished with peculiar feeling by
all those who care for American literature. He
stood in an interesting relation to the men who
in one way another formed our nineteenth
century classics. He was Of their circle, and
yet was, in a sense. detached from them through
his greater preOccupatiOn with one phase Of the
craft they all practised. We think Of Haw-
thorne as the romancer, Of Emerson as the phi
losopher and moralist, of Thoreau as the student
of nature. Of Holmes as the wit and Of Lowell
as the critic and poet, with touch Of the pro-
fessor OF Aldrich, growing up as a brilliant
young heir to their tradition, we think as the
man of letters, exercising his pen in many diff
ferent directions, but always with an essentially
artistic purpose
There were moments in which he was poet
for the best of all reasOns-beCause he could not
help himself When the lyric impulse visited
him he gave expression TO it in sweet, melodiOus
lines. His best verse is distinguished by ten
derly romantic feeling, and it is as delicate In
color as 1t is pure in form. Purity Of form he
practically always gained, whether his mood
was that Of enforced inspiration or that of con-
scious art The steadily persistent note in him
Is one Of fastdOus taste. He loved neatness
and polish. In respect to dainty technical finish
he OF the school of such men as Locker
In occasional verse he was slnguarly happy,
celebrating the theme set before him by some
incident of friendship or the like with the light
touch and the tact SO indispensable to this form
Of literature. If his characteristic strain was
one Of grace of playful tender reverie, he
nevertheless was stirred at times by graver
ambitions and sought TO fill his poetry with a
tenser emotion. These more strenuous thoughts
OF his found their outlet chiefly in compositions
Of dramatic nature
he was editor and romancer as well
as poet and in those characters he was true
to his instinct for reticence and for careful
workmanship In fact, wherever he Is found
he Is the same type of literary conscientious
ness. Those we'll remembered books 'eThe Story
Of a Bad Boy" Marjorie Daw" and From
Ponkapog to Pesth," are nothing If not sponta-
neous. and there were occasions on which he
appeared to let his humor run riot AS mat
ter Of fact, his fun never carried him away.
never affected his sense OF proportion or caused
him to lose sight Of the right word, the In
geniousIy clever turn OF phrase. He had too
much respect for truth and for his art TO ex-
aggerate the key in either comedy or tragedy
II might be said that he possessed the dignity
OF the old school II 1t were not that that sug-
gests a shade Of heavinesss utterly foreign TO
him. His dignity a writer signlled rather
the polse of a man OF the world. He had ceased
some time ago 10 make frequent excursions
into literature. The poem on Lougfellow re-
Gently printed in The Atlantic" was the first
break IN fairly long silence But it was char,
acteristic of him TO maintain In everything that
he did publish, down to the very end, the stand
ard which he had made his own In his prime
The example that he set was useful, for he
was faithful to high ideal amid all the new
and feverish methods come to plague American
letters in the later years Of his life