The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-07-15
IIEHS OF aIRk THIIN.
PerssaaI Rs~sls~etIsas an.l oplaIsas -
EnGli<h " FtterN


Snm- personal r~colleCtion- and opin o.
ions - Mark IVAN ~ fngli-h men Of
letters appear IN a recent number %
the BookprH - Londnn Arnold Bennett
Cpn-ld.'r- the humorlst a divine amateur
I never Saw Mark Twain h- writes.
Personally am CONVINCED that his bsst
work i to hc found IN the first half %
Life on IN. Mississippi The second half
Is not on the same plane
-Eptsodically both 'HuCkleberry Finn
and Tom Sawyer are magnificent. hut
a. complete works of art they are Of
quite inferior quality Mark TWAIN Vas
always divine amateur. and We never
would NJ never could appreciate the fact
Ito which nearly all Anglo Saxon writers
are half or totally blind that the most
important thing in any work Of art " lts
construction
He had no notion ~ construction
and very little power 20 self-criticism.
lie Vas great IN the subordinate business
of decoration as di-tin guished from
construction. hut he would mingle to-
geth"r the very hest and the very worst
Decorations
The praise poured out on his novels
seems to me exceedingly exaggerated.
like his travel sketches. BY their direct
disdainful nAIvete they remind me Of
Stendahl's. should he disposed TO argue
that he has left stun which will live for .
long time among W Anglo-Saxons. but
not that he was complete enough to
capture Europe
nj interest equal to this opinion 81 Mr.
Bennett Is Jerome X Jeromes account
II Araf Ia
humoTtst
living ~ London savs Mr. Jerome
Our little girls mot a. a gymnasium and
reveale 10 one another the secret Of their
pareutAge ~ that ! wrote To him. and
he avi his daughter his Nite. always q
sufferer was too ~ To accompany him
ram" aud Tirei with lIs IN little house
that lookei out upon Hyde Park.
1t was our first meeting | hal
snrIcIpate !. Ia confess the truth. feeling
slightly IN awe of hITn. and was In conse-
guenCe somewhat shocked AZ the attitude
Of hail fellow well met that my little girl.
after staring at him for good half
minute. assumed toward him for the rest
of the "ycrinS We sat talking. lookin &
out upon the silent park Till pretty late
and u struck me as curious. turning
hack into the house after having se~r
him and his daughter into their cab that
told funny story
/ met hun perhaps some half a dozen
times after that. hut We were never alone
AGAIN In pubnc he always carried a
litil" YEARLY. - ~ seemed Ia me- the
blgr len 81 the professional humprist. and
at such times I thought Nlsttully Of the
NAV II Deep feeling and broad sym
pathIe~ Of N" grave carr est shrewdly
whimsical thinker should like 10 have
mo- AID ialk"t with again
SOME wonder whether he'll he read
For long Nethtnhs - swseter
To wonder what his spirit said
10 tickle grave IT. Peter.
say- J . Bel MARX Twain did much tn
break ths. duin~Ss Of drab enou On world
for millions IT p.-nple | cannot conceive
81 his uuIcS kIndiy hImor beng lost
m a hrighter plar"
MARI Twain was ALWAYS bigger than
hlS hooks HIS books did not make han
what B." was There must b- countless
I~opI" who knew him ant will remember
hum s,fuply from things he said
Wien tho tunaTder LLzltania or
was u IA" Mauritania reached New
ork on hsr maiden voyaS" he was shown
over the wonderful vessel. and IN the end
no remarked Well I guess ! must tell
Noah about thus or words tn that effect
No one hat Marx Twain could have put
~ that way. and the remark rc-ms 20 me
worth the volume Of an ordinary comic
paper And nov ! can imagine Noah
deeply Interested IN the man who made tn"
only really good joke out Of hundreds in
with the ark