New-York tribune., 1908-07-18


st. Mary's. and will give the full story OF her
career rs 4 schoolship
Two more volumes In the beautiful New
York Edition" Of the novels and tales OF MI
Henry James have Just been issued by Charles
Scribners Sons the eleventh and the twelfth
The first Of these contains what Maisie Knew"
I'm the Cage" and 1.-The Pupil" The twelfth
volume Is made up Of four pieces. THE Aspern
Papers," "rhe Turn of the Screw" THE LIAR
and "The Two Faces" In his prefaces Mr..
James continues his unmIstakably agreeable
task of turning his old works Of art about in
his hands, caressngly examining their every
curve Or angle, and expressing as subtly as he
can the emotions they inspire In him to-day.
He let's us how very much an observer he
has been finding in this that fragment Of
actual human life the starting point for his
most imaginative flights.
Thus he traces the germ Of What Maisie
Knew to an incident brought to his attention
by a friend. 1.-The accidental mention had been
made to me-" he says. "of the manner in which
the situation OF some luckless child of divorced
couple was affected. under my informant's eyes.
by the remarriage Of one Of its parents-I forget
which; SO that, thanks to the limited desire for
its company expressed by the step parent, the
law Of its little life, its being entertained in
rotation by its father and It's mother, wouldn't
easily prevail" Mr.. James knew that he had
come upon his opportunity. This figure" he
adds, could but touch the fancy to the quick.
and strike one as the beginning Of story-a
story commanding q great choice of develop
ments.' He grows and more ingenious.
though scarcely more Illuminating, he goes
on to reflect upon his Developments" He has
more than one instance to record of themes
adopted in the same way. The revelation al
hoo IN into h1rfo he
obscurity deepens the readers curiosity Ian
gushes. Mr.. James has a good deal to say
about the origin OF "The Turn Of the Screw"
by all odds the best thing small scale that
he did. but again his talk is rather tantaliz
ing. He says Of it that sit is piece of ingenu-
ity pure and simple, of cold artistic calculation.
an dMnycttc to catch those not easily caught
(the fun Of the capture Of the merely witless
being but small), the jaded, the disillu-
stoned. the fastidious. Otherwise expressed, the
study is Of conceived tone the tone Of
pected end felt trouble. of an inordnate and
incalcuIabIe sort-the tone of tragic yet of ex-
quisite mystif1cation" There is more in the
Same vein. It leaves wondering, little, II
Mr.. James might not better have let 1.-The Turn
of the Screw" alone.
Mr.. ]. J Bell. author Of the Wee McGregor"
Stories has written a novel, the hero Of
which is a merchant prince who conquers every
thing save the thing he most desires This
book Thou Fool" will be published next month
by the Baker & Taylor Company.
An English translation is soon to be published
OF "The Diwan of Abu1 Ala" the work OF the
blind poet of Syria. who born forty-odd years
before Omar Khayyam, and has been called the
Voltare and Heine of the East. The translator
is Mr.. Henry Baerlein It is hardly to be
pected that he will do for Abu'l Ala anything
like what FITZGERALD did for Omar but it Will
nevertheless be interesting to his book
Apropos OF F1tzGerald, may note that q
Mr. James Blyth has recently published in Lon
don little book about the friendship between
the poet and Joseph Fletcher. the East Anglican
fisherman whom he befrended and nicknamed
"Posh." It seems that this worthy is now in his
seventh year, and has fallen upon evil days.
FitzGeralds letters to him have been sold, and
q small "Posh fund" has been got together for
his benefit by number Of FftzGerald enthusi-
asts, but he is not yet permanently fixed In an
absolutely comfortable position. This gives Mr..
James Byth precious opportunity. If he cam
not zee his way to handing over to "Posh the
proceeds OF the book he has made about him he
ought at least to offer the old man a modest
royalty on each copy sold.
While not OF those who go in for the amuse-
ment Of fagellatns organized Christianity with
the handiest whip, DR.. Washington GLADDEN. is
aware Of faults in the present day church tCo
big to be passed over peccadillOes. In "The
Church and Modern Life OHoughton, Miffiin &
Coz 1t IS the American Church in particular
whose problem is considered Among the notes
Of weakness DR.. GLADDEN. finds unbelief that
swallows creedal metaphysics and strains at the
simple morality OF the Sermon the Mount;
an orthodoxism disposed to regard true only
what has been prescribed and ticketed by au-
thority; sectarianism that debases Christian
service into ecclesiastical competition, and a
materiaism ready to sacrifice truth for the reve-
nues Of the rich the friendship of the strong
Taken II stands. the diagnosis might be de-
pressing but the author is convinced that there
is prevalent among moral expectancy which
both demands and propheses reformation. Real
izing the obligation to meet the needs Of modern
society the Church will enter upon a new career
of power. There hostile and suspicious races
to be reconciled with one another and Industrial
classes to be pacifed. Attempts must be made
to moralize business, to extirpate social vice. to
purify politics and to simplify Iife DR.. GLADDEN.
has doubt that as the Church gives herself
to this vast enterprise of social redemption she
will find great allies, and she will lack neither
sagacious leadership nor spiritual dynamic.
The Macmillan Company will publish In the
autumn the first volume of the History Of Rome
in the Middle Ages which Mr.. F. Marion Craw-
ford has been writing In collaboration with Pro-
fessor Giuseppe TOmassetti. From the same
firm will the second volume of Professor
Edward Channing's History of the United