Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-06-19
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Maxim Gorky's autobiography, as
outlined by himself: Shoemak-
er's apprentice; 1S79-pattern makers
apprentice; 1SS0--helper In steam
ship kitchen; 1SS4-porter; 1886
baker; 1SS6-chorus singer in an ltln-
Grant opera company; 1SS7-street ven
der; 1SSS-serlously contemplated sui
eide; lS90-clerk in lawyers Office A.;
lS91-made trip through Russia on
foot; 1S92-publlshed first novel be-
ginning Of career.
Gerard Hauptmann's 'Hannele" has
recently been translated by an AmerI-
can, Mr.. Meltzer. Mr.. Meltzer reports
that Hauptmann Is a poet with more
than the usual amount of temperament
and with a perfect horror of the COM
monplace.
Once In speaking to Mr.. Meltzer as
he strayed (rather than walked) down
Broadway, he said "In many ways
am not unlike child If / saw a cake
In a bakers window which was denied
to me- In some moods | might be cap
able to doing an injury to myself"
Had Hauptmann been an Eddie Guerin
or Pat Grove he would, of course,
have been capable of injuring the
baker.
TolstOy's eIghtieth birthday is to be
celebrated next September. Mr.. Car
negie Is to give half million dollars
for the buying up Of the copyright to all
Of Tolstoy's writings, so that the world
may profit freely by them. Yet we
were under the impression, says the
New York Evening Post, that Tolstoy
consistently refused to copyright his
books at least his latest ones. "As for
the earliest writings, for which the
world cares most, he has repeatedly de-
clared that they belong to the class of
useless or mischlevous literature with
Shakespeare, Dante and Goethe. Dis
semlnatlng Anna Karenina' or ''Kreut-
ger Sonata would be a dubious way of
honoring the master who repudiates
Them" The honor might seem dubious
to the straitlaced or dlsIngenuous. For
ourselves, we would like to have as
many people as possible made free of
Anna Karenina" and "Kreutzer Son
ata." They represent q Tolstoy to
whom no one is so unjust as the pres
ent Tolstoy, except perhaps, the Peck
shifts.
Who has interpreted Chicago In let.
ters2 An answer is offered by the
well-known English critic, Charles
whitley, in Blackwood's Magazine. Mr.
whitley Is an author of considerable
distinction as well as a person whose
tongue has a tang. 1t was his life of
Thackeray that received so much praise
some years ago. He Is also the biog-
rapher of Pitt, and one of his incest
services to belles-lettres was his com
pllatlon, in conjunction with the late
William Ernest Hanley, of a book of
English prose, a rare and scholarly Sc
lection. The two writers whom he con-
siders have expressed the social history
of Chicago are, as one might expect
Miss Edith Wyatt and Mr.. Henry b.
Fuller Says Mr.. whitley: "That con-
siderable literature should come from
Chicago is Of itself a paradox. 1t is
still more surprising that the best writ
ers Of Chicago should display the quail
ties Of tranquility and reticence, which
you would expect least of all to find
In that monstrous city. Yet 1t is char
acterlstic of Miss Edith Wyatt and H.
B. Fuller, who have painted the man.
ners Of Chicago with the greatest skill,
that they never force the note. They
look up their fellow citizens with an
amiable sympathy; they describe them
with quiet humor. 1t is true that
they have excellent opportunity. 1t is
true also that they rise to the occasion.
Within the limits of Chicago are met
the most diverse Of men"
A lazy man makes a strenuous EFFORT