New-York tribune., 1908-12-05
Holiday Tolumes of 1mcric0R Let
fers and Essays.

Ihh y - TsItei by Elizabeth Deerng
Hsnscom. Phi. Z. l6ino, Pr xiv. S6l- Inc MAJ
BY THE CHRISTMAS FIRE BY Samuel McChord
croihers. Illustrates lemo PIP y. Housn'o"'
MifHin Company.
IL a NEW CENTURY. BY Edward y5a'PrsIra ssndd@re
Martin. 12mo pp. IL 81 tharles ScI'"'
Sons
In having Mr. T. Y Lucas the compliment oI
imitation Miss Ranscom engages in transac-
+ion which nevertheless has about 1t no oh-
fortunate SAVIOR OF mere plagiarism. AFTER aii'
- an epislosry anthology was 10 be lnaoe' io
better model could have been found thah '-3'
s,nnl,es in The Gentlest Art" Miss Hansoom
did well TO take a leaf from fer predecessor
book in regard TO system. chapter headings. and
e,7en 3,-norrspfical arrangement If the intro
s.rte-, lines scattered through The Friendly
.,rser- s-e not quite 80 witty as were MI
Iucss-s. II must be remembered that that disci-
yle o. Lamb has way with him "h'ch no "iie
,lse since Lamb has developed. II. moreover
thie n.y. hocN is in substance nothing Ike SO
rich - was the old one. that is because 'ie
American arthologist car draw upon no such
resources as are availabie in English literature
NJ I.ucass hardest task must have been iha'
=. omission With Miss Hanscom the difficulty
--7,.s- 1-evp becn 10 get a volume Of thoroughN
GOOD letters together and, indeed. she mas ha"
% include some which have no charm what
ever This may not he hatterlng 10 our ''a-
t5o,ai pride but patriotism does not enter into
critical questions " is idle 10 repine. we
have never had letter writer who couia De
mentioned in the same breath with CoWpef u
FftzC1erald. Lamb or Byron, and there Is an emu
"a The matter on the other hand. We have mao
,e.+.- writers who were h. no means dun. aud
Miss Hansoorn's book demonstrates me lac' I'D
delightful fashion.
Il serves. Incidentally To give us some inter-
se+5nr side lights on the history Of American
manners Phases OF social life in other Gays
come vfvidIy before us as We read the letter IL
which Washington offers negro OF his TOT SSie'
or one conveying good advice from Aaron hc'.
10 his daughter. Miss Hanscom gives plenty OF
sr,sce though not at all toe much to the eien-
seenth century. one of the gems OF the peIiou
is this marriage proposal made by Judge Se"e"
70 Madam Mary Gibbs Widow. at Newtown
MADAM. ro,rr Removal out Of Town. and the Sc
verify Z the Winter. are the reason % n hH ,s ! re
ner) You Nef minded that si3euld marrY so53, ag,
sa - - ms intended Respect abides with ne stu,
and puts upon enQuirirS Whethet 70 YOU ,-,,in. ~
1ss15r Husband: Aged. and feeble, and eTFausIeo eTl,
IS an, your favorable Ansv?r 10? 70 t,s cF nbiirs
Madans your humble ser7t. d
one may see good deal here Of the American
genius disciplininz itself and growing oatoeh''s
IN books and experience and expressing rsvli
with something Of the zest Of the explorer. ih's
strain comes out in the college letters OF more
shan one writer afterward to win fame. and It Is
mace manifest even more conspicuously IN 'he
communications from Americans travelling
abroad In fact. Miss Hsnscom's volume simply
eo-,l6 not have been made without the obserFa-
.jons Of those authors like Washington Irving,
Prescott Motley Lowell. Leland. Bancroft En-
e-son and so on. through whose eyes we are per
mitted to look al the European or at least the
English spectacle. or them all it IS perhaps,
Irving n fo leaves the most lasting impression
He a any rate. has in fullest measure the fac-
ult,- - preserving both the naturalness htting
10 private correspondence and the quality of
charm which belongs literature He is capt
,sl in his letter from. Abeotsferd and in another
from London. both raying tribute to Scott.
Worthy Of association with these is Bayard
Taylof's report Of his visit 20 Tennyson in 1867.
The portrait he draws of the English poet is
,yorderfllIy vivid. and * the background
Miss Hanscorn has not unnaturaIly sought out
much nf her material in such correspondence as
exhibits clever people in contact with celeb
rites The literary or artistic motive Is
stautIy in s1ha foreground. We have Margaret
Fuller describing George Sand. or Lowell de
rounciag Svinburnes early poetry. and score
At either similar incidents. There is one beauti-
fully dron passage on ? matter OF art in 2 letter
or Tom Appleton's to LGngfellow. telling him,
in 1856. how the writer is struck by the pre-
Raphaelite school. "une thing he says. Il find
not stated Of it-hov much il owes To the daguer-
rotype. The fine. minute finish and the breadth
at the same time ;hcy Give. and absolutely they
manage TO have the sama iefccts-edgfness and
want Of rcundness." Ia this in humorous on
slaueht upon Wasncrs music by Bret Harte-
unfortunately toe long TO quote-and in many
.snother candid passage. We are allowed "a see
hat our letter writer's nave made Of the things
encountered iu their Uanderings- II is often
~ery amusing But Miss Hanscom does not
neglect the grsver issues she cites freely from
our older statesmen and in specimens like
Fraakiin's famous note 10 Strshan. renouncine
bis friendship. like Lincoln's letter 10 Greeley
declaring his resolution To save the Union she
reminds US Of the higher power TO which the
eFistolary art ,an he raised. For al the differ
ences between them this anthology and Mr.
Lucas's ~fl nevertheless he priced together l-
the sensitive reader
Mr.. Crothers is true essayist. He has the
touch which only comes by nature. the touch
which win carry of an observation though it
may not by any means. be as deep as :, well
or as wide a church door. The five ESSAYS in
his new book. By the Christmas Fire ar.
MADE up Of cheerful moralizings never in the
least profound. but always saved from being
merely commonplace. Mr.. Crothers would stin1-
ulste Us Ia aba adGn s:ereotrped ways OF think
ing and feeling. he would warn the idealist to
avoid tine pitfai al the bottom OF which one be-
comes SNUG doctriTTa ire. he would incuIcate
2 generous cathclicity- q sane optimism and
charitableness founded on justice. In short Ia,
IS firmly the side Of the angels. and deep
devotion TO the things Of the spirit is easily
dsoerned betwesn the lines on every page But
never was there writer o. religions convictions
who lznev, how to sernonize in a m8nner more
he 4 he