The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-02-24

! berries and buns. But those things
! were In the eternal American note,
| tho note OF tho gregnrious, the cons
centric, ind pervaded moreover by tho
| rustic OF petticonts too distinEuishn-
| bio from any garment hem Of che sn-
| cred nine.''
CRITICISM or NEW YORK.
On New York. his native city, he
makes this criticism: Tho ncwness of
New York, unlike even that Of Boston,
had this mark of Its very own, as hnv-
Ing treated itself as still moro pro-
visional. II possible, than any poor dear
little interest of antiquity 1t may have
annihilated. Tho new Paris and tho
new Rome do at least propose, / think,
to be old one OF these days; the new
London even, erect ns she Is on lease
holds destitute Of dignity. yet does. for
the period. appear to believe in herself.
The difficulty about Now York Is to be-
1icvo that she Is over serious about any
form Of architecture whatever or about
anything but that passionate pecuninry
purpose which plays with all forms and
devours them. No, this is the tuno to
which the whip Of commerGalism seems
fiourished: there is no step at which
you shall rest; no form, us I'm con-
stantly showing you, to which consis-
tently with my interests you can. I
build you up but to tear you down, for
II were 10 let sentiment and sincerity
once take root, We're to let any tender
ness of association once accumulate, or
any love OF the old once pass unsnubbed,
what would become Of us. who have our
hands on the whip- tock 2"
AS LIE SEES AMERICAN WOMEN.
Mr.. James, who has SO much to OBJ
serve and give expression to about
America, comments. Of course, on the
American woman. He quotes concerning
her: "The American woman?-why, she
has beguS>d, she has conquered the
globe. Look at her fortune everywhere
and fail to accept her il YOU can!
She has been accordingly about the
globe, beyond all doubt, huge success
OF curiosity; She has at her best---and
far beyond any consciousness and inten-
ton Of her own, lively as these for the
most part usually are--inflnitely amused
the nations. 1t has been found among
them that, for more reasons than we can
now 80 into, her manner of embodying
and representing her sex has fairly made
of her new human convenience, not
unlike fifty Of the others, Of slightly
different order. the ingenious mechanical
appliances, stoves, rcfrigerators sewing
machines. typewriters, cash registers,
that have done so much in the household
and the place OF business for the Amer-
can name"
RICHMOND CHAPTER.
The chapter on Richmond may be
something of a shock to Richmond peo-
pie, who, nevertheless, will be curious
tn IT. To,,,
city and It's people. Mr. James looks
around when he first arrives in the city
and asks himself, rs it practically but
a question, then. of a poor Northern
city? Where, otherwise, are the old
Southern mansions, on the wide verandas
and in the rank. sweet garden of which
Northern resources had once been held SO
cheap?'
His reference to tho Confederate Mu-
scum shows how different things may
appear when viewed from an alien
standpoint. In describing the historic
exhibition Of the Museum, he mentions
the different rooms as being tragically,
indescrbably sanctitied, but as contain
ing not, SO far as he remembered, a
single object Of beauty, scarce one, in
fact, that was not altogether ugly, and
that spoke only of the absence of means
and of taste, of communication aud re-
sourcc.n
COMPLIMENTS MISS MAURY.
But the author and critic finds only
unstinted praise for one Richmond in
dividual. That Individual is woman,
known and esteemed as Miss Isabella
Mhury. the house-regent. of the Museum.
Mr.. James shows himself still an adcpt
in the art Of paying pretty compliments,
for he thus records his meeting with
NiGc 80
third person: He had not exchanged
ten words of civility with little lady.
person soft-voiced, gracious, mel
liliuous, perfect for her function. who.
seatN' by her fire in sort of official
antcroom, received him as at the gate
OF some grandly bankrupt plantation.
lie had not surrendered to this exquisite
contact before he felt himself I'D to his
neck In delightful, soothing, tcpid me-
dium, tho social tone of the South that
had been. | said that nothing in the
Museum had beauty; but the little lady
mad 1t, with her sectional good manners,
ana that punctuality and felicity, that
it''iii,la'iiltF, one must again say of the
Sou'h III her, which transported me as
no enchanted carpet could have done
No little lady OF the North could for
the high tone and the right manner have
toucheG her. ard poor ben,,nbed Rich
mond might now be MS dreary as IT
liked; with that small observation made
my pilgrimage couldn't be a failure"
WHAT HE SAYS OF MONUMENT.
lie brings his Richmond chapter to an
end by writing paragraph on the Ice
monument, which also Impressed him.
This Is how he gives ntterance to his
impressions: ''rho equestrian statue of
the Southern hero, made to order in far.
away Paris is the work OF n master.
The very high, ford pedestal IS of The
last French elegance, and the great SOL
der, sitting his horse with 6, kind of
melancholy nobleness, raises his hcnd-
some head as he looks off Into dcsoate
] space lie does WE'LL we feel to sit as
hleh as he may and TO appear, In his
lone survival to see rs far and to over
look as many things; for the irony OF
tate rrowning the picture, is surely
stamped In all sharpness on the scene
about him. The place is the mere vague
centre Of two or three crossways With
1 out form and void, with circle half
sketched By three or four groups OF
| small, new, mean houses"
/ The Charleston and Florida chapters
Will possess for the Southern reader an
equal amount of vital interest as those