Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1919-12-06
Palisade Woman's
Club Has Fine
Lecture Friday

The second of the series of the
course of lectures, To-day" at the I'm
ion Church of Palisade, under the
auspices of the Palisade Woman's
Club, was given last week Friday after
noon by Mrs. May Lamberton Becker
on the subject "The Art of Joseph
Hergesheimer."
Mrs. Becker, introduced by Mrs. Pen
nell, president of the Woman's Club, in
her introduction told of taking trip
on the bus, looking at the shop win
d0Ws. full of beautiful clothes, all at
tractiye, then suddenly coming upon
a Paisley shawl, wonderful in coloring
with flowers embroidered so that they
seemed real ones, a creation to which
she always returned with the same
fascination of beauty.
In the reading of the works of Joseph
Hergesgeimer she experienced the
same pleasure, and she began the ait
ernoon with the desire to share her
state of mind with her audience" in
what she termed "an adventure OF the
soul among masterpieces.
The subject was particularly the
art" of that author, for his works
show love of beauty, purity OF MIND
and motive, purity of body, and he re-
turns to the style of the Victorian au-
thors in describing in detail the exact
appearance of his herOineS and heroes
in dressing them carefully for each oc-
cason, in the description of a room so
that you ever after feel at home in
that room and visualize it at any time.
A number of illustrations were given
of this art of Hergesheimer's, showing
that he does not have the sketchy, has
ty manner of the usual modern author,
who only touches the high points, who
"dresses his heroine in white muslin
and leaves her that way all the year
and on all occasions for all we know"
In "Java Head" the lecturer gave a
charming picture of the Chinese wife,
who spoke the language of $500 years
ago and to whom even the things of
England seemed paryenu, this book
showing, however the purity of mind !
and motive always of the Chinese wife.
In "The Three Black PennyS" the
traits of heredity are shown, the same
identity recurring in the three periods
into which the story is divided, love |
''interwoven into life like drops of car
mine in a glass of water" heredity |
even when so mixed with other lines |
of heredity as to seem to the usual OBJ
server like chance
The review of Hergesheimer'S short |
stories was the last on the program,
some of which have been published in
the Saturday Evening Post, the kind,
as the lecturer humorously observed,
"that you read on the first pages and |
then chase after to the last. getting !
lost among automobile tires, union |
suits, etc" |,
Mrs. Becker spoke of the three divi-
sions of authors-frst, the journalistic,
who describe only what they hear and |
see, but with no sense of identity with
what is described.
The retrospective, like I'll. G. Wells,
who evolves his characters from his
own introspection, which is the rea-
son so many like him is that they enter
into the portals of life through his own
identity, very wide and large identi-
ty. but that is the reason that Wells is
not quite just to women, although he
tries so hard as he deals with them,
but he never was a woman so cannot
feel as woman.
Hergeshemer is not retrospective,
he has no tendency to become the he
roine.
The third class is the creative, the
greatest of all, the class to which Her
gesheimer belongs, for he knows his
people, be it said in all reverence, as
God knows them. He knows how they
are made.
The lecturer stated that after care
full reading she felt that "Java Head"
was the most important contribution to
literature in this generation.
After the interesting lecture, in
which, with the sketches of the several
stories, the audience were made to feel
familiar with them, time was given for
questions and discussion.
The representative audience which
gathered at the Union Church from the
different boroughs were much pleased
with the lecture, which had greatly en-
larged their appreciation of the au-
thor and given them a new viewpoint.
The Dial.
Of