The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-06-06

Bile Of modern critical works, Inter
nreters Of Life and the Modern
Shirt" Mark Twain,' and his au-
thorized life of Bernard Shaw; all Of
which have provoked international
comment and have placed their author
in the first rank of living critics. The
reviewers of his books do not all agree
with DR.. Henderson's conclusions.
some ever are inclined to dissent in
sharp and u~nmistakable terms; but
all recognize the power and import
ance Of his work and o are en-
phatic in their praise OF it.
Perhaps for the average reader his
MARX Twain will prove the most en-
tertaining of the trio. ("Mark Twain
bv Archibald Henderson. Frederick A.
Stokes Company, New York; A few
critics have objected to this work On
the ground hat 1t is too eulogistic,
and it must be admitted that the au-
thor displays too strong a tendency to
deal in superlatiVes. But in spite OF
this defect, the book is written in a
style, simple, clear and direct, and the
story is old in a way that holds the
readers interest from first to last
The reader turns the last page with
distinct regret He feels that he has
been brought into close personal touch
with the great hu1morist, n his first
impulse is to go at once, as the writer
of this review did, get down limo
cents broad" from the library shelf
and nee more go rollicking through
Europe and the Holy Land with the
"1nnocentS."
Mark Twain is treated from Jour as
pects-the Man, the Bumorist, the
World-Famed Genius, and Philoso-
pher, Morafist, Sociologist. An appen-
dix contains a complete photography
Of books, essays. and articles dealing
with Mark Twain, several Of which are
from DR.. ~Henderson's own pen. North
Carolinians will be Interested In noting
phonso Smith, Scholar, Good Eel
low. Friend"
Until yesterday" says DR.. Hender-
son, In his INTRODUCTORY" 'MarA
Twain We'd with Tolstoy for the place
Of most widely read and most genuine.
ly popular author IN the world. In
sense not easily misunderstood MARI
Twain has a place in the minds AND
hearts of the grea. mass Of humanity
throughout the civilized world, which
IT measured In terms of affection. sym.
pathy, and spontaneous enjoyment Is
without a parallel. The robust nation
allsm of Kipling challenges the de.
fiant opposition of foreigners
With all his incandescent wit ant
comic irony, Bernard Shaw makes his
most vivid impressions upon the up
per strata OF society; Tolstoy,!
works are Russia'S greatest literary
contributions to posterity; and yet hi:
literary fame has suffered through
his extravagant ideals, the magnifi
cent futility of his inconsistency, AND
the almost maniacal mysticism of hi:
unrealfzable hopes.
If Mark Twain makes a more deep
~ more Complementary popular ap
peal, it is doubtless because he makes
use OF the universal solvent Of hui
NOR. Mark Twain first opens tn
eyes Of many a boy to the power o
the great human book warm with tn
actuality Of experience and the life
blood Of the heart. BY humorous IN
version he points the sound mora
and WHITES the right principal for tn
youth to whom the dawning CONSCIOUS
hess OF morality is the first real psych
oiogcal discovery of life. With heart!
laughter at the stupid irritations O
self-consciOus virtue, with ironic scorr
Tor the frigid Puritanism of mechan1
cal morality, Mark Twain enrapture:
that innumerable company Of tn
sophisticated who have chafed undel
the Omnipresent influence of a 'goot
example and stilled the painless pang'
OF an unruiy conscience. With splendid
satire for the base, with shril1 con
demnatlon for tyranny and oppres
sion, with the scorpion-lash for tn
equIvocal, the fraudulent, and the in
sincere. Mark Twain inspires tn
growing body Of reformers in all coun
trieS who would remedy the ills o
democracy with the knife Of publicity
me sdo OF human and of saga
c,oos tolerance informing his books 70,
me young, provokes the question
whether these books are not more ap.
poslte to the tastes Of experienced ag'
than to the fancies of caIlow youth.
Youth and age, true levers of adven
tafe the artist, the m0ralist, "an ma,
rejoice In h sp~ontaneity and refresh
ment OF truth, spiritually cooperate IL
fortnight condemnation of fraud, pc