The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-31
SOME NEW BOOKS.


John HAY.
1t is TO the extracts from letters
md diaries that the readers Of WILL.
lam RoscoE T%mArER's The Litc and
Letters Of John HAY, In two volumes
'houshton Miffiin Company. will have
TO turn for any revelation Of John
lays character. The more important
l'ortioNs OF these as they appeared
from month to month when published
J u periodical. naturally aroused great
interest. In arranging them In per-
mancn' shape, however. the biogra-
rher has seized the opportunity to in.
Ject "a great deal Of matter expressing
views personal to himself. which
rather blurs the figure he * rying
TO depict; he often leaves tie impress
sion That Hays opinions ut the tim
events occurred were nearly identical
with those that Mr.. Thayer holds now;
he conveys the idea that the papers
he prints. particularly the diaries, are
only selected Fragments Of a much
larger mass OF material that should
have been published In full. and he
seems unable to scc In John Hay more
than the fortunate. an,.ablc dilettente
WIN was wv W tt Wei All INC TASKS
into which he driftcd. The biography
Is of the nature Of = culogy In so far
as the author abstains generally from
criticism Of Mr.. Hays actions or cx-
tended on the occasions
when he was opposed. but Mr.. 1'hayer
Is restrained By the Cambridge ina
bility to praise without stint any one
whom Boston has no; set on a pedes-
tai, MS appears anusing,y In his COM
ments on Mr.. Hays friends.
According to him John Hay was
porn with a silver spoon in his mouth:
one v OF fortune after another
came to him and he had tho ability
TO profit by II. He was born at n
time when his parents could ?ffcrd
to give him a college education and
was sent 10 Brown. For his child
o and college career tho records
seem meagrc what ambition he had
was apparently for IA literary career.
lie wrote verse. he went into society
In Providence and comnuned with
Foes Mrs. Whitman and with Nors
Perry. The desire to become u poet
was not fatal in TIE days before the
war broke out. and on his return to
Illinois he set 10 work to study law
ou'iuins Where Abraham Lin
coIh naa nis once. Ihat was his great
piece OF luck. Ills friend N.colay was
Lincoln's secretary during the Presi-
Genital campaign and Hay helped.
After the election Nico!ay was APP
pointed private secretary 10y Lincoln
and sug sested that Hay lie employed
A. his ussistuut Thcp urco.diny a..
MI ina!er' VIC cart take all I1i-
Io's WIN US down 10 washington. the
cSiuen' said good hunloredly:
ana thcii AFTER n pause. us IL rclant-
inS nc added: We'll. lct Hay
coi"e' Ana 80 1T =. Hay entered
on the task which Joined his namc to
that oi Lincoln perpctEaily.
inc service he rendered to the ma
ZION IN AFTER years I'm conjunction with
Nir. Nico'ty IN transmitting the rec
ora OF inc man they knew intimately
IN inc Lie II The Complete
WORKS OF Abraham Lincoln 10 likely
10 he mis- most enduring literary mon
nmen'. Tho extracts from the diaries
during the years II" was close TO Lin
coin arc most interesting: the whole
OF mat diary should he made known.
We manage TO get some idea Of the
secretary's varied duties. OF tho tact
with which he helped in difficult situa-
ions and or the those years
must have been for n man. There
are plenty OF Judgments about noted
men That Hay would net have cared
TO make public at the time or which
he may have modified in later years:
rs impressions or the actual
they have IA historical value. Mr..
Thaycr rather hurries over this
period. perhaps, because II IL the best
known in Hays career The authors
comments are not alw"ya Judiclous
and the selections occasionally seem
made simply to bolster up MS own
later views. For instance. there Is an
immediate Application In ms extract
THE Germans seem Inclined 10 cut UP
rough about the removal OF Sisei from
III the S%nenahuoaii' i"es
are heapirg ny wrath against them
selves Wy their ciahhish iihper'Inei''e
in politics" a sample or Mr.. Thay-
ers own historical Judgment IN or
fered in the Dor description %
Horace Greeley, occas!oned by nays
mission To II proiesstu peace coNh-
mission in Canada he sums IL up
Eventually posterity may remeh'oer
Horace Greeley only as the man w"o'
with unusual power ot scoidiie'
haraSsiny irritating, WIN ingenuity