New-York tribune., 1908-03-28

afteru'ard stood in the way of thorough educa
ton Those he surmounted in such a fashion
that "a certificate of church membership was
withheld from him by the of tire congrega-
tion on the allegation suspicion that he had
acquired his learning through a compact with
the devil His keen sense of humor would have
enabled him 10 relish his great -grandsons re-
mark the subject-'That astute parsonage
would not have employed him on the Greek
Testament" That great-grandson. our DIR.
John. had all his ancestors persistence and all
his love of letters. Some of his most cherished
friendships with the authors of books in
which he delighted For Thackeray he felt
something like worship. THE great man has
come he in 1851. "and is great man as
well writer. He is. in fact, greater as a man
tnan writer, and he is big well as great,
six feet two and built largely. with big, happy.
sflrewd head and as natural in his ways as you
yourself There included ii this volume
several letters written by Thackeray to DR..
John-letters of no special Importance. but char
acteristc alike In their gayety and their nelan-
choly and in their afectionate thoughtfulness
A number of letters from Ruskin are perhaps
the frankest and most vehement of his epistolary
Gutbursts thus far published. He writes 10 Dr.
Brown in 1862:
Wholly and TO the very root (as hitherto taught
i9tterfV and ~ fhe fovses+ pr conSen1ed az Cod
and His Angels that the Devil or Betrayer of
4bev Men mas yet inTentsd except his stae pevlls
this alone tthe Professed and organized pursuit
| say All The Monastie Theory is at an end
Church corrupts the household life, destroys
honor. beauty; and life throughout the universe
so-caIied science Of its pursuit is the most
cretinous speechless- paraiysing plague that has
There is no state of mind indicated in my
saying this. | write IL the cool, resolute re-
I
square Of the hypothenuse
On the inject OF the German language Rus
kin is tart the subject OF political
economy:
German isn't .!anguase' at all. but only
SPb 5sf of t Gshy Of w9lys oTs snd 6s n
the middle like wasps and ants. or ass panniers
mostly drunk. so that they didn't know the tops
from the bottoms Of them
Not much r1ilder was the Rusknian report
Of his experience during visit Hawarden in
1878. y cannot now go into society" he wrote
People perpetuaIy trying TO discuss things
with Of which I know the bottom and all
round, and have told them the bottom and all
round twenty years ago; and the deadly feeling
of the residence and immortality of the undint-
able caoutchouc of which most peoples heads
are made is TOO much for me" Another char
actertstic note is apropos of Carlyle gossip: Il
told FToude just what you say months since
that the world had TO do with Carlyle's
life than with his old hat. But Froude felt too
deeply, and besides had promised this and that.
/ don't care old hats brim whether it's
printed or not nor whether the public swears
or hoV'ls, or squeaks or blazes, only I don't like
Froudes wasting his time old love affairs
las If there weren't always enough hand,
and 1 cant waste mine on anything now, it's
running so short There is quaint reference
10 the love Of dogs which he shared with DR..
Brown:--A darling little hairy terrier who got
kicked and killed by a clumsy horse the other
day because he was too good for this world.
will certainly get between St. Peters legs as
he lets me In