The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-05-14

Although he dedicates ITO those few
people. mainly personal friends. who
have read all that ! have written" his
Rcrcrirs Orcr ~Childhood and Youth
,Macmillans,. WILLIAM BrrIER YEATS
may have Il welcome fo. applicants Tor
associate membership in that en-
trenely exclusive association who
qualify for the honor by reading the
latest Of his writings. IN his earliest
recollection Mr.. Yeats WIS y very
small lad fun Of misery, due in part
TO ~ loneliness and in part to fear
of hi grandfather. old William POI
ioHfsn. Tie old gentleman WAS NOT
uikind ar harsh. hut people took few
liberties with him. He had been "A
sailor. ana Was al for discipline. His
foihlcs were Of "A different Nature from
those Of one of TN" boys uncle-, who
had a tongue Of leather fitted over his
keyhole 10 keep out the draught.
Yeats WAS mystic even in his boy
hood. Hearing some II speak Of the
voice Of conscience, he hruoded owe.
the phrase until he made himself be-
lieve that, since he had never heard
consclonce's ~art.culatcd utterance. his
s'AA ith'N " '''' '''' = ''''a
| aunts tried to teach him to read. but
gave IL up in despair and the fear that
he had not all the faculties. II"
thought when a calf was born there
must be "a cloud and a burst of light
and that God came bringing the calf
n the cloud.
When he was s or 2 years old lie
went Ia London. lis father at that
'imr WIS painting ":hc first big pond
,"u come ia if you have driven from
Sluugl through l'arnham Royal
II" h'Gdu the picture in spring az
knrt at It all the year. changing tn
picture 10 III the successive season.
After spreading the SNOW over Ia,
4";,th covered hanks he ave q ~
and LOT the picture go unfinished Th.
hoy himself had quite ~uumanagcar &c
thoughts. when he tried to do ANY
thin" with them "it Was Ike trNju-
/" pack a balloon into a shed in ;
high wind"
~ school MIR. Yeats does not re,
member that he cveI kicked n goa
at football or made a run at cricket
and this in a school whore the head
master had been heard To ask "How
has So and So done in his Greek" and
in response to the class masters Very
badly. but he is doing we'll in hi.
cricket" to dismiss the matter will
"Oh. leave him alone"-and he wa.
physically timid. But he had a frient
who would fight for him, and the,
made an even thing. Of it by Yeat'
huy.nC the sweets or the ginger bee
for the two of them when the othc'
boy Was shy at speaking to a Stran
ger. The Sligo boy Was not populat
on the playground. but he was thu
leader on expeditions after butterf.ei
and beetles, whose habits he ha,
studied, lie used to shoot at birds
with n mnzzle loading pistol, til som'
one shot a rabbit and he heard /
sQueai. After that he would xii
nothing hut the dumb fish" Al essa.
writing he never got n prize, but thcl
essays were Judged by Handwriting
and spelling. The things he put int
MS compositions scandalized the othe
BOYS AMI the masters, for the.
Thought it impossible he could bcliev
such things: "And that would max
mo angry, for | had written what
lad believed all my life"
The hny's father had original idea
about education. Geography was NJ
ia u" studied out of a book, lk
T. rlid. Writing essays On mora
themes made boys insinccrc an
falls" 10 themselves. Ideals make III
uloud thin, and take tho human natur
"lt Of pcuple,' lie read aloud to hi
son passages from IN" poets. an
always from the play or poem at II
'mos, passionate moment lie avoide
p the speculative parts, and scornc
generalization and abstraction. lie dis
lii"I the Victorian poetry of idea
and rejected all hut n little Of Words
' worth. Ute descrihrd one mOrnin
over his breakfast how. in the shan
Of tn" head NJ n Wordgwor,hia
y scholar, an old and greatly respecte
ClersS man whose portrait he wa