New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-28
AnglO-AmeriCan Memories
CXXI
MRS. cRAIeiE AND JOHN OLIVER HOBBIES
(copyrisht, 1911, George w. smsIl.vA
London, May 1S. ,moted nc :. -


VI Manchester. He had in those days, a
great rame, or his friends expected him
10 achieve great fame. He belonged TO
the intense school; man PERHAPS of
more zeal than balance. but sincere. and
oent on using the gifts of God to the
glory OF God Mrs Craigie used m hold
iii'n saint, with a mission; a believer
VINO would ultimately move mountains.
as ne yet may; and who meantime occu-
pea very natural position at her feet
Oiearly a man capable of devotions
we'll TO be Dean of Manchester is 10
hold very honorable though not daz-
ziing position. Her predictions-proph-
ecy being pastime to which she was
prone-about Lord Curzon were far more
| completely fulfilled. for to be a great
Niceroy of India is given to few: and
10 FEWER still to come home to England
ana begin new career in public life
and establish himself in the confidence
of his countrymen as leader For the
most part. the returned Proconsul is a
pathetic figure; but Lord Curzon is
| force.
Whether Mrs. Craigie was ever Soul"
L am not competent to say When the
people who passed under that name de-
MED steadfastly that any such company
had corporate existence, it is difficult
10 say that particular woman was or
was not one of the band Ny impression
is that Mrs. Craigie was never reckoned
one Of them. or never one of the inner
circle. But she stood in relations of
friendship to the leader of them all, Mr..
George Nathaniel Curzon, since then
great parsonage, and now the above
mentioned Lord Curzon of Kedleston.
lie, at any rate was Soul" and he
IL was who shepherded, so far as any
body shepherded that singular flock. BY
what form Of election, If any. or by what
methods of initiation. if any the outsider
was admitted. l never knew But it
seems certain thats if Mrs. Craigie de-
sired 10 be admitted 10 that spiritual
membership. Mr.. Curzon's influence
would have been sufficient to bring about
her inclusion.
My impression, again, is that she
would not have desired it, Her note was
note of individuality. l can imagine
Mrs. Craigie considering whether it
| would be worth her while TO receive a
body Of Souls into her own circle. 1t
would never occur to her to doubt that
she herself would be respectfully vel
coined there or elsewhere This is true,
no doubt, more especially Of a later
period; after her position had become
more secure: after John Oliver Hobbies
had become known as a pseudonyme;
after the veil OF anonymity which helped
attract attention to her short stories had
been. for all practical purposes. fluns
aside: after the short tales had won the
public which the longer novels were to
repel: after Mr.. Alexanders acting had
bestowed upon 1.-The Ambassador a de-
gree of popularity to which the play
itself would never have attained.
To her failures and successes were the
same. or, rather. she never admitted to
herself that she and failure had any
tbina, in common. She valued her work
by a standard purely personal. She
brooked no criticism. In all disparaging
criticism she found personal motive.
People might was a hypothesis-dis-
like her. her work they could not hon
estlv dislike. If they disliked it, the fact
Of their dislike was proof Of their in
capacity to judge.
one of the Goncourts-for Jules ana
Edmond are at first inextricably mixed
and perhaps it was both-remarks in
"The Journal" on the opinions formed or
EXPRESSED of their work:
"I have enemies everywhere. Ihelr
hatred expresses itself sometimes in
abrse. sometimes in silence. l am rarely
estimated truly q ma rGleW htferd"c.'
A sentence which Mrs. Craigie might
have written. AS YOU turn over the
noces of her letters the idea recurs con-
stantlv. She was intolerant Of all critl-
cisr She knew she was right. she APP
pealed from the present, which mao
means Of Judging, 70 that posterlty
v.hicb NAV have none. comfortable
theory vet not always fortunate IN It's
ofocts TO cherish il and to act upon II
,.os m form a wrong estimate or her
o,,.r Mace in the world, and TO confuse
bor sense of the relations between her
GOLF and the rest Of mankind.
G. W. s.