New-York tribune., 1919-07-26
is being conquered A four-day schedule
across is one Of the probabilities of the
near future.
MIR. Wells, Cockney

The cosmic personality of Mr.. Wells is
one Of the most difficult of existing facts
to describe, judging by the failure Of
those who have attempted the feat. We
have heard accounts of his all-dominat-
ing presence at British country-house
party, wherein his casual talk and un-
distinguished --undistinguished by
the conventional standards-sil -silenced
Cabinet ministers and archbishops and
what-not else. Yet when pressed for de-
tails no one can explain. The explana-
ton is sheer mind, one infers; but of
any vivid sense of the precise PERSONAL
ity of mind or voice or manner witnesses
say nothing. One is left in the presence
Of large mystery as to how one me-
dium-sized, blond, gentle, husky Eng
lishman Of unimpressive look can ire
sistibly and without effort overwhelm his
bettcrs.
Not because it explains this mystery
it rather deepens it--but because it offers
the most living picture of the great H. G.
we have seen, we like an article in Tho
NeaO Witness, by Edwin Pugh, an Eng
lish novelist. His first meeting with
Wells, then but thirty and with his first
book just out, is the starting point A
smiling man, with puckered eyelids and
teeth cheerfully displayed; voice rather
high-pitched, yet family husky-these
were the first observations. After which
Mr. Pugh records these more detailed
features, ending in central clew we'll
worth the stressing:
"There we're, however, minor details to
observea suggestion Of thin, rickety youth
fulness about his figure, though he was
then past thirty; fair, ragged mustache,
q tiny sprout of darker whisker hardly
extending to the lobe of his ear, and
should say, virginal; n small, heshy chin,
pumpish cheeks, and a hint Of delicate
boominess in the texture of his skin
that seemed to bcspeak either GONZALES
cence or chronic ill-health. With his hat
on he might have passed for n small
tradesman or a miraculously we'll dressed
peasant. There was certainly nothing
distinguished or distinguishing in that
outdoor aspect of the famous H. G.
Wells Only his voice was peculiar to
himself, and rendered all the more
peculiar to my sensitive cockney ear by
the ghost Of q cockney accent"
Where did the great H. G. get this
faint overtone Of cockneyism? 1t is as
much mystery to Mr.. Pugh as 70 any
one. The son Of Joseph Wells, gardener
and professional cricketer, Ms. Pugh un-
derstood his new friend to be, and edu-
Gated as a child at a private school in
Kent. Where did the cockney trace
come in?
1t is not for Americans to attempt to
judge such subtle British qualities. But
we think it will be the testimony Of many
Americans that their love for Mr.. Wells
is very largely dependent upon just the
quality which we roughly class as cock
ney. Mr.. Polly, for instance. In all Of
Mr.. Wells's best writing of pure fiction
where the sermon does not run away
with the fun-there is a quality of
human, confidential fatness, sort of
quick, knowing eagerness toward every
thing human and living (providng it is
simple and really alive), that is surely
pavement bred, and equally surely Gre
ates the highest art from Mr.. Wells's
versatile pen.
Boston is q state Of mind, we say in
America. And may not cockneyism be
equally a question Of soul? Might not
H. G. have been born a cockney in Kent
or anywhere else? We leave the ques-
ton for experts to answer, only remark
ing that if H. G. is indeed true cock
ney the upturned noses will have to
come down. Aspirates or no aspirates, a
mind that can tackle the universe as can
II. G.'s and look at life and death and all
the gods with a keen, level eye, eternally
alert and eternally unabashed, is worth
whatever sacrifice of conventional dis
tinction is needed to achieve It,