The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-19
From the New York Post.

From the New York Post.
 TN most of what is written about the
 Thackeray centenary there is evident - a sort of personal affection unwonted in such celebrations. It appears to be not so much a mighty shade that is commem- orated as an intimate friend that is greet ed. Many literary centenaries are ob- served in perfunctory spirit. We do the thing because it is expected of us, yet without much heartiness. But somehow Thackeray's personality has so project ed itself across the 4S years since his death that he still seems very human and very near; and the articles and ad- dresses concerning him in this his hun dredth birth-year have an air of spon- taneity and zest, such as one seldom meets on like occasions. It would appear as if thousands of people were simply glad of the chance to express once more their sense of grateful obligation to him and their persistent feeling of admiring affection for him.
 Thackeray has unquestonaby fared well in the lapsing years. His appeal was never of the widest, but it was all  to be deepening. That he had good carry ing quality is attested by the things we have spoken of. and also by the steady interest in his writings and in all that re- lates to his private life. Though no for nal biography of him has been produced, as he wished that none should be, vast amount of reminiscence and anecdote concerning him, with large body of his letters, has been published, and in all of it he has been singularly fortunate whimsicalties have been revealed, but no meannesses. His friendships were stanch, and his love for his girls unaf- fected and almost a form of piety with him. Nothing that has leaped to light has given any friend of his cause to blush, and the whole texture of his life and activity, as we now know 1t so fully, appears singularly fine. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that his personality stands before us today as engaging as it was when he was a part of this breath Ing world.
 If we ask what it is in his writings that has made them wear so well, the atten- tion is first caught, of course, by that great preservative, style. Thackeray's English has often been praised, not al- ways perhaps with entire discretion; but as frequently happens swith conventional laudation, certain reaction is provoked. Irritated people will echo Dr. Johnsons phrase: 'I would rather praise him than read him." It is good discipline, how ever. even if it were not perpetual de- light. to turn to his best pages and con slider what command he had of form We speak not now of such linguistic tour de force as "Esmond," which left Lowell wondering, albeit with a grain of malicious satisfaction when he could catch Thackeray tripping over a minor point in Queen Anne English. It is rather the flexible and perfectly adequate instru- ment of language which he ordinarily employed that we have in mind-so d- rect, so simple, without anything fines sing or fantastic about it, worlds removed from newspaperese, but capable of render ing every idea with the utmost clearness and conveying emotion without rant and pathos without sobberng. Thackeray's style alone wou. help us to understand why he can be read with fascination after 50 years.--
 But his subjects, too, and the range of his treatment, explain his survival as al-' most contemporary writer When at the age of 36 he flashed his masterpiece upon the world, the discerning saw upon what a broad canvas his preliminary work had been imperceptibly preparing him to paint, and with. what power. It has been said that Thackeray could throw everything else overheard and live on by Vanity Fair" alone. Yet the penetration and the humor and the scorn for baseness and the sure sense for the dramatic which he displayed in that book were adum- brated long before it and shone in other volumes long after, it. For he had the privilege of genius in not only giving his age a new standpoint and new literary method, but in continuing to illustrate and to enforce his way of looking at life in connection with great sweep Of human characters. He gives IS large pictures and> takes us to fnll-lcngth dramas. If it be asserted that his