New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-02
LITERARY CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
More Light on the History Of MIR. Henry
James's Visiting Mind" in the Second
Volume of His Autobiography.

htlNtS, NIupplHR out all through ln'St
pages. Of an exquisite understanding
between father and son. SAY ] am a
philosopher. say l am seeker for
truth. say | am n lover or my kind.
the former used 10 tell his youngsters
when they wanted TO know how 20 cX-
plain him to their comrades AZ school.
He was above everything else a lover
Of his kind. and the tenderness which
seemed forever to flow from some in
eXhaustible spring i'm his nature was
carried into the most casual relations OF
life. We get more I'm this book OF what
we got from the first one, sense OF
the curious wanderings TO which the
James family was committed. They
were promoted in great part by what
the head OF the house felt 10 be his
duty toward his children. and espe-
cially toward the development of their
education. The great point for him,
too, was that that education was never
to be carried to any despotically dig
ciplinary lengths. Incessant ABSORB
ton in philosophical reverie never
blurred the mans perception OF what
he owed TO the minds and characters in
his care. First and last his ambition
for them was simply that they should
be strong and free. It was not what
you were doing or might do that inter
ested him, but what you were, what
Ye1fcrbf hopnpra Az NTH thfa
viction Of his there went no eccentric
theories, no foolish indulgences. At
bottom he was Just a good, normal
father, affectionete and helpful after
the fashion Of good fathers all the
world over. His son quotes from En-
erson's diary this hitherto unpublished
characterization; Henry James was
true comfort-wise, gentle, polished
with heroic manners and serenity
like the sun It is good 10 meet that
type Of man, and meeting the elder
Henry James. on just these terms over
and over again In the book before US.
we end with an emotion of gratitude.
lie is, on the whole. the chief Of the
figures portrayed. but there are well
come glimpses Of the authors brothers
and Of more than one Of his innumer-
able cousins These individuals are
not. save with the exception Of William
James, of any great Importance to his
tory but they are, when all IS said. so
much human stuff" Richer in inter
est than any OF them are the two
famous artists with whom Henry
James and his brother studied in their
youth, William Hunt and John La
Fargo. Even as we say this, and are
moved instinctivcly to cite some Illus
trations Of the delightful way in which
the author revives upon the scene the
living images of his friends, we are
aware Of the special condition which
he imposes upon the reader. One must
take these memories I'm their length
and breadth 10 get their full value. so
diScursive are they. so delicately modu-
lated in their fine transparent tone. II
IS impossible 20 quote the long, subtle
study Of La Fargo. Confined as It Is
to an early period IN their friendship
Mr.. James still has too broad an out
look upon the subject TO express its
fascination In a phrase or even in a
page. In this difficulty as in its rare
force and beauty. the La Fargo episode
IS typical Of all those parts Of the book
which are not. as we have indicated,
merely. inconsequential and duh.
Whenever he comes to close quarters
with a topic having real substance,
topic for which he truly cares. Mr..
James is extraordinarily winning. and
particularly, then. is he lavish of that
personal atmosphere" which has ever
been one Of his best artistic resources.
1t IS the atmosphere of that visiting
mind" of his which, since his earliest
bOyhood. has found its account in the
clever, fastidious savorlng Of intel
lectual experience There is nothing
creative about II. 1t has no ties with
the passion essential TO the great
imaginative writer's. But ii has a GER
tain energy OF its own, a certain origl-
nal point, and 1t makes, successfully,
its own peculiar appeal.