New-York tribune., 1907-12-14
THOMAS DAVIDSON.
Friendly Memories Of "the Wander
ing Scholar"

MEMORIALS OF THOMAS DAVIDSON. THE
WANDERING SCHOLAR Collected and edited
by William Knight. Svo pp. BAL. CHM q Co
In reading the "reminiscences Mr.. knight has
gathered from various sources about that para
doxical, impetuous man whom many persons
still remember with mingled admiration, amuse-
ment and uncertainty one impulsively wishes
that biographer might arise to weave a char
acter study of Thomas Davidson worthy OF the
man himself That the Glenmore philosopher
and teacher merits a biography is evident to all
who know what a bundle of miscellaneous en-
ergies chafed for action in his body and mind'
and to the stranger the value Of this life his
tory appears as soon as he learns the contra
dictory opinions Davidson's friends held about
him, the enterprises the wandering scholar un-
dertook, and the people he drew to himself Mr..
Knight has confessedly avoided even the show
of biography in the present volume; he thinks
It impossible for any one man to deal adequately
with such q complex character in the conven-
tional form of biography. The observation is
correct, so far as it applies to biography not
written by a genius; an ordinary life of David
son. would be but the SCOT OF a burned out nre-
AS most of Davidson's intimates have con-
tributed all they chose to publish TO this DOOR,
and as the wandering scholar" is already seven
wears dead, the world will probably nave TO
pleasure
drawn sketch of one of the most curious char
acters America has ever seen. Mr.. knight gives
us lust enough Information and deft delineation
from, n,anv pens to tantaIize lovers Of a well
rounded living study and to deter possible
biographers.
Davidson was perfect type Of erudite rude
ness Carlyle minus indigestion, tyranny lnho-
Gently masquerading as individuaiisnl' lofty
altr1Iisun aiming at clods and hitting drearners
or curio hunters; one might say, without dls-
rosnect p Don ouixote among philosophers.
After his graduation from Aoeroeen' tiie
Young scotchman roamed Europe from cape
~ cane nicl,iug I'D languages with astonishing
ease and flching tag ends Of lore from every
,svr sce-1e conversati ton and book. A passionate
classicfst he delved into excavations in Greece
with Schiemann and conversed Win the rope
IN Latin In the Vatican garden. Like ihahS
another European his ardor toward personal
freedom drove him to America: coming over
here he met Longfellow. who secured Ior MN
an examinershp at Harvard University posi-
tio, the wanderer could not hold long, so abb
horrent to him was even the slightest restraint
of institutionaIism. The whimsical hostility
r,.1i6son bore toward schools. churches and
ol;,ical organizations reflects his inconsistencies
"a weaknesses more sharply than any other
single trait
His own deepest impulse seems to nave oeen
IN found societies for the promotion or lnteii-
cent individualisrn but the impulse could not
work itself out save by drafting creeos ana pro-
prsr,n1es and quite unintentionally making Ihe
founder something of an autocrat witInn MS 90
,,,o;r Earnestly striving to teach only by sug-
gestion and debate, Davidson found the oco'ch
neasant in himself shouting good natured ana
.,,a,,,o. srovvlfng. ctiding and sometimes round
,v ond soundly cursing people who could NOT
ca. the world through his spectacles. Much as
cow. of his followers have wished TO call him
q nineteenth century Socrates. the comparison
does violence to history; for the evidences MI
Knight has collected from such keen Judges ds
William James, Havelock Ellis and feiiX Adler
show that Davidson was a medieVal cosfna'iS'
and zaa,ot dressed in the loose, flowing robes or
q modern ethical socialist The history Oh the
New Fellowship in London. the New LiTe fei-
1o1-e,in in New York the Pennington and Glen
more Schools of the Culture-Sciences ana the
New yor,, Settlement for Russian Jews. The
-,.s;nere, College" all of which were
founded by the wandering scholar reVeai an
aa,,, contradictory blend of religionist, phloso-
nhor reforner, bigot, Hberalist, and. above all,
strenuous enthusiast.
Mr. Knight supplements anecdotes WITH eA-
tracts from Dayidson's philosophical ana edu-
cational writings. The student VIII discover In
,boea ,,erhars the explanation OF the wander
ing scholars strength and fralties. for mere
he sets forth in philosophical detail the almost
fantastic doctrine he eXpounded IN one ShoI1
sentence To Havelock Ellis in these words: 1T
&c al, in vain to imagine that we can nave cor
rect practice without correct thinking, ana cor
rect thinking irlplies correct metaphysics II
vas this patheticaly hopeless theory that must
have given the man his ambition 10 teach 'he
masses philosophy and to organize 10 this emu
on ,,is,ocracy of perfectionists Without 1t ne
-, have heen either a commonplace yellow
faneed socialist or a heroic Settlement worker.
THE student of human nature, however prooaoiy
reioices that Davidson's mind was pierced py
this poisoned arrow. For Davidson as DAVID
SON is too interesting symptom OF the tiii'eS'
as a specimen Of genuine nobility ana as
demonstration of the dangers OF playing Win
.,,,,o.oubv,s fire Mr. knights volume made
ouate as il is as biography, reveals enough 70
prove this much.
IT A