New-York tribune., 1910-07-30
A GOOD AMERICAN
Washington GLADDEN. and His
Studies of Public Affairs.

RECOILECTIONS BY Washington Glad
den. With portrait. Svo, pp- vi, ADO.
The Houghton Niffiin Company
II would be difficult to find a more I'M
personal autobiographical record than
these "Recollections,' whose author
does not even indulge in the quite leglti-
mate vanity of placing behind his name
hon the title page the initials of the hon
orary degrees bestowed upon him by
more than one educational institution
The book is the record of busy ana
successful career, strung on the berest
of personal data. To Mr.. GLADDEN.
causes are of more importance than the
personalities who did battle for them,
more important even than his own. So
far does he carry this objective note
that he refrains from the fond dwelling
in erteTs0 upon the story of his books,
SO common in the "reminiscences OF
authors. He writes in detail of only
three or four of the thirty-one works TO
which he has signed his name during
| the last forty-two years, for no other
reason than that they We're part of the
(
Of the practical application of Christian
ethics to the social and economic prob
lens of the age
Born at PottSgroNe, Penn. on Febru-
ary II, 1886, washington GLADDEN.
started in life in the surroundings and
circumstances whence most of the sue
Cessful Americans Of the passing genera
ton have sprung. His father was the
teacher of the district school, his grand
father had been d shoemaker and
farmer. his great g1 andfather d soldier
of the Revolution and, according TO d
tradition OF the family, a member of
washington's bodyguard. The family
was of New England origin. The
author gives us still another picture of
permanent value of the daily life Of the
America Of the first half Of the last
: century, laying particular stress, in view
of his later career,su religious condi-
tions then existing. Especially does he
devote himself to a portrayal of what
PuritaniSm had become in New England,
fer lIe spent part of his boyhood in
his srandfather's Massachusetts home.
Christian ethics were neglected. 1t was
the preachers business TO fill the hearts
of men with fear of the hereafter, to
concentrate their thoughts upon them
selves. their own danger of the fires OF
he'll the difficulty of attaining personal
salvation. Duty toward ones neighDor
had but small place in this teaching.
The awakening came with the temper
ance movement and the sweep Of the
anti-slavery sentiment, whose progress
was far more rapid, Mr.. GLADDEN. holds,
than is generally known. The ethical
and altruistic note was being struck
now, in many pulpits, with clearness and
vigor.'
Mr. GLADDEN. earned his first wage by
work in the harvest fields. but at six
teen apprenticed himself to the editor
and publisher OF THE Owego Gazette
as (rnay we use the phrase?) printers
devil. soon rising TO the dignity Of oc-
casionaI contributor as we'll. The eth
ical awakening appealing to him from
the first he Joined the Congregational
Church of the town, which was most
active In the spread of the new ten
dency. and thus was decided the ques-
ton Of his career. He was graduated
from Williams College in 1859. was or
dained IN 1850. and called to his first
pastorate in the same year, in Brook
lyn. During Jy61-'65 Mr. GLADDEN. was
pastor Of church in Morrisania, from
which he went TO North Adams in 1866,
reeigning his charge five years later to
accept an editorial position on The In
dependent" He held the pastorate Of
the North Church OF Springfield, Mass.
during the years 1S34-'82, going thence
to his present pulpit. that of the First
Church Of Columbus. ohio. Ills first
book was published in 1868.
Throughout the record is one of events,
causes ald movements rather than of
men. The leaders, even, are but briefly
referred to; there are no full length pen
portraits, no anecdotes of them here to
be added TO those given us by others
IN their "reminiscences. Mr. GLADDEN. was
too far removed from the centres of af-
fairs during the SOS, and the Civil
WaT he watched from his Morrisania
rectory, with occasional visits to New
York. But his Tecollections of those days
OF struggle and hopes ard Sears are vivid
and informing.
AS early as 1877, the year of the
great railroad strike at Pit.sburg, Mc
GLADDEN. nad begun IL take an interest
in the great social pro6iems that had
risen into prominence since the war II
was the Hooking Valley strike OF 1884
that started him On tie aold az activity