The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-25

he was tall, but hardly expected that his
figure would tower head and shoulders,
like Sauls, above the multitude / waved
TO him from my point Of vantage, and he,
quite oblivious of the mass of humanity
separating US, waved bottle of wine in
the air and Joined me a moment later.
In trying to describe the author of The
Land of Hearts Desire / find myself con-
stantly conjuring up not my own impress
sions and words but the phrases of Moore.
There is something of the rock about his
head and something of the grave demeanor
of the pelican. Do you remember where
Moore speaks of Yeats, who folded up
his wings like pelican and dreamed of
his disciples? And elsewhere he refers
to him as the typical literary fop"f
1t Was Burgundy.
Well, he was his own typical self that
evening-bland, affable, absent minded
all at once. His raven hair is streaked
with gray, but his blue eyes that seem
always TO be looking through one and
gazing somewhere beyond are the eyes of
a young man. 1t was hard>to believe that
this tall, pale, active man was not far from
fifty years of age.
We marched off into the dining room,
Yeats leading the way. He reminded me
of the description of John Gilpin, with
wine bottle fastened on either side of his
waist; only Yeats carried larger bottle
of Burgundy, unwrapped, under each Of
his arms. These he set down on the floor
under our table, and it was not until after
he had ended his discussion on fairies, In
terspersed with remarks about the chefs
dessert, that it occurred to him that he
had brought the wine.
The curious combination Of poet and
practical business man in Yeats had al
ways been a source Of speculation with
me. 1t seemed almost miraculous that the
man who wrote Innisfree could manage
the Abbey Theatre; that the author of
Rosa Alchemica was capable of lecturing
to women's clubs about the "uplift" and
planning routes for travelling company.
Dual nature, 1 suppose. At any rate l
had an opportunity of watching his mind
at work.
The interviewer Interviewed.
We launched at once into a discussion
of the war. This was the occasion to
which l have already referred, in which
/ allowed myself TO be dragged into one
sided conversation in which did the con-
versing. mad come to get Yeats to talk,
and he, perhaps consciously, had started
me off, not allowing me to stop until by
main forced / changed the subject, much
later in the evening.
Yeats was little vague in his ideas on
the war, though l imagine his vagueness
must have been to conceal his nervous
ness, for he had just attended meeting
of men and letters who were about to
sign protest TO Germany, and Yeats had
refused to put his name to the document.
1t was from his lips that first heard the
war compared to a struggle Of the ideals
of the Old and New Testaments, in
which Germany, of course, stood for the
Old. Yeats was possibly little too Irish
to fall in with the out and out English
war party, though l understand that not
long after he radically changed his views.
Poetry and Fairies.
From the violation of Belgian neutral
ity to fairies and Irish folk lore may seem
an abrupt transition, but Yeats made it in
the twinkling of an eye. He was talking
about Irish poetry; of the unlimited ma
terial at the disposal of the younger men
whom Moore called Yeats's disciples, y
and of the untitled fields of old Irish ro-
nance He told me he wanted to get away