The sun., 1916-11-26
Mr.. HoweI1s Recalls the Years OF His
Youth.

It Is difficult TO decide which Is the
superior element In Years OF NY Youth
by W. d. HowELLs (Harpers), the
purely personal and autobiographical
(already made familiar In part by "A
Boys Town. my Literary Passions"
and Literary Friends and Acquain-
tance'). or the social and literary his
torlcal. Probably the books author
would not wish to have 1t met with
too solemn a regard. Probably he
would rather have It's readers make
less Of my very morbid boyhood"
than Of bis recollections OF Ohio life
In the SOS: less OF his once terrible
dread Of hydrophobia than Of his work
In the printing office. where poets side
by side at the case measured the hours
with stickfuls Of type. House bills,
perhaps: less Of his memory OF seeing
a man drown in the river than Of his
recollections Of the Buckeye states-
man. Salmon Z. Chase. OF Kossuth
trying to float an issue Of Hungarian
bonds on our sympathetic tears Of
Greeley coming to the newspaper Of
fee and l~ecturing the stan on It's
journalistic sins. He treats us TO this
extract from n youthful composition
In whose "yellowing pages there 10 evi.
dent striving. not to say straining. for
a literary style. the most literary style
possible" and which Commentaries
a visit to the lunatic asylum In terms
Of a noble participial construction:
Passing up the broad travelled path to
the door Of the institution. we entered tho
ofice. and leaving our hats on the table
We proceeded on our way. The nrst room
We entered contained those who were
nearly cured. There was In II no one
but an old and q young man. Ths old
man ] did not notice much. but the young
ono attracted my attention. - He paced
the floor all the time. not taking the
least notice Of us; then we went upstairs
where the most unmanageabls ones were
kept.
Here was q motley crew. some OF them
lying at full length on the floor. standing
up and walking about. while crowniess
hats and dilapidated shirt bosoms were
the order of the day. In the midst OF
these terrible men. thoughtless as the
brute and feroc!ous as the tiger. stood a
small man tthe assistant physician whom
they could have torn limb from limb In a
moment, Here was a beautiful instance
Of the power OF mind over brute force
nv "a fVHuiHB poeNiy W num- " u
men. totally bereft Of reason, LISTENING
like little children TO the sweet cadence
of the verse.
At one time young Howells seemed
possibly marked for the law. He
studied II for one month, In the Office
OF n United States Senator, and he
says he has never regretted reading a
first volume Of Blackstone through OF
not going on to the second. His
struggle to learn languages attracted
the interest of ne!ghbors. and a farmer
friend offered to be one OF three OF
four to subsidize n course at Harvard
The pride that would have refused
fercely such assistance has softened
with the years. and the beneficiary Of
the offer which materialized now
would like to "send across the gull
which ! would fain believe has some
thither shore the thanks which / fancy
were never adequately expressed Il
him while he lived" Mr.. Howells car
well afford to have his half whimsical
remarks about college quoted: "a
have never agreed with Lowell, who
when I deplored my want of schooling
generously instanced his own over
weight Of learning as an evil ! hat
escaped. It still seems to me lamen
table that I should have had to crop,
my way and so lmperfectly find
where q little light from another
lamp would have instantly shown Il
! still remain In depths Of incredibl,
ignorance a. TO some very commol
things; for at school ! eve got be
yond long division In arithmetic. an,
after my self-discovery OF gramma,
I should b uAabls 70 GAy. N due pied