The Washington herald., 1920-02-29
SOCIEIY
ms &c DRUM-HUNT.

No hISe ~ oAAANC -
Senior Vicente Blasco Ibsnez. the
noted Spanish author who came
here chiefly to receive an honorary
degree of doctor OF letters confer
red by George Washington Uni
Tersity last Monday. eli was fol-
lowed a few days later by Vice Ad-
miral Sir -Trevylyan Napier. r. N,
scommander-in-chie OF the North
American and West Indies station.
who arrived Tuesday and departed
Thursday. The third was Mrs. Car
rie Jacobs Bond, whose songs, Per
feet Day" "Just Wearying for
You" and many others, have made
her widely known
, senior Ibanez reached here a week
ago yesterday and was Immediately
entertained by DR.. William Miller
Collier, president OF George Wash
ington University and his old
friend, and Mrs. Collier at dinner
that evening. The next day the
Spanish Ambassador and Nine,
Riano gave a dinner in compliment
10 their distinguished countryman.
followed by a large reception. They
also entertained him at a luncheon
and Mr.. and Mrs. John Hays Ham,
mond gave a dinner for him-he
was being entertained every minute
until he left the city on Thursday.
He went from here to Philadelphia
before resuming his journey to Mex
leo, where he will make a study
of the characteristics of the Amer
lean people. His purpose in going
to Philadelphia was to visit Bryn
Mswr to study American college life
and gather material for his next
novel, The Paradise Of Women"
aA~ T. aw@NM ~
american women of the Intellectual
type. Miss Teresa James. the charm
Ing young daughter of Mr.. and Mrs.
Francis Bacon James of this city
and a student at Bryn Mawr, was
on the committee that received the
novelist on his arrival at Bryn
Nawr.
OF course, Senor Ibanez went to
Mount Vernon and placed a wreath on
George Washington's tomb before he
departed. A visitor of note never fails
TO do that. you know. He also was a
guest at the tea which Mrs. Charles
d. Ward gave Tuesday afternoon at
the Congressional Club of which she
Is president. Mrs. Ward didn't give
the tea in his honor; had planned IL
1ust before the great man came to
town. The Congressional Club wished
10 pay him some little courtesy and
found that the only time he could go
20 them was the same day and hour
cf Mrs. Wards tea, so the two parties
were combined. and most successfully
80. Ibanez made q short address dur
ing the afternoon, but to the distress
df some of US (yours truly included
Ne spoke in Spanish He promised to
speak English by the time he visits
us again.
HUGE CROWDS
HEARD IBANEZ.
I was very much struck by the large
humber that understood his address
(epoken in Spanish, of course),. at the
George Washington convocation exer-
discs last Monday when he received
the degree. The place-the Central
High School auditorium-was packed
and jammed, while huge crowds clam
rnered outside for admittance. And
fIlIy two-thirds of that crowd under
stood him and enjoyed him. They
hung on his every word; they laughed
at his subtle humor; they leaned for
ward and cranned their necks for fear
they would miss something; they ap-
1lauded again and again. He spoke
xith a great deal Of enthusiasm and
FEELING; with much emphasis and In
terest /, dummy that am, had to
st there and watch him and wish SO
Ttuch that 1 could understand him, and
had to be satisfied with reading a
bare resume Of his speech in the pa
pers the next day. I suspect he said
much of interest that wasn't in his
printed speech because he warmed up
TO his subject, and I'm sure rambled
away occasionally from the speech he
originally planned.
.Ibanez chose as his subject. THE
Best Novel in the World-Don Quix-
dte." He said, among other things:
Don Ouixote is in a class by tt
self. Don Quixote lives and will
continue to live throughout the
azes as long as the world has read
srs. Don Quixote does not need the
spproyal and recommendation of
the centuries to be liked and ad-
nnired. Give it to an unlettered
reader without telling him the
name of the author or the history
Of the book and he will laugh and
be touched to the quick from the
very first chapters. Don Quixote
has been until now the first among
the novels, and centuries will roll
BY before it will drop to second
place. All the iteratures of the
WOTlQ are SnOI WIN It's
spirit. All the most famous charac-
ters of fiction, no matter where
they may have been born, are the
sons, grandchildren, or, at least, the
nephews of the heroic hidalgo Gre
lted by Cervantes. Dickens Pick
wick Daudets Tartarin, and many
pther immortal characters would
not exist today if Cervantes had
failed to create three centuries ago
bis Manchegan Knight.
such greatness is easily account
I'd for. Don Quixote is not a book:
1t is something more than famous
book; It lies beyond what we COM
monty call literature; 1t is simply
life made eternal in printed words,
In the same manner that Las Meni-
mas Of Velaquez is not merely
painting but more than that. life In
color and lines, and in the same
way that the Ninth Symphony of
Beethoven is not mustic but the su-
preme conception of humanity ex-
pressed in sounds and harmony.
The great secret of genius is the
power of synthesis and condensa-
lion, the faculty of producing a
work which may be the perfect
symbol and expression of a phase OF
Hfe or of the whole of life. In this
respect Cervantes stands above all
pther literary geniuses. His book Is
simply synthesis of the whole or
ife. He created Don Quixote, he
created Sancho Panza: after this
Ne may say: There is nothing left
10 be done s.
whoever we may be, we shah
Ind no room outside of these two
.lassifications: Either we are Don
ouixote or we are Sancho, and IL