Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-05-11
Dean of American Letters
Passes Away at Ne ,
York Home.
AUTHOR, POET Al
MAGAZINE EJ : OR
Howclls Began Literary = er in
Newspaper Office Of Hi.e- ther-
Friend Of L.ongfelIow, Emerson and
Other Literary Lishts-Not a Col
leee Man But Hohored by Great
SehooIs-eeleved in Socialism.
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
New York. May 11.-william Dean
Howells. the novelist, died here to-
day. Mr.. Howells returned a few
weeks ago from Savannah, where he
had spent the winter. While in the
south he was stricken with influenza
and had never fully recovered from
its effects.
At a dinner given in New York in
1912 to do honor to William Dean
Howells upor his 18th birthday, Will
liam Howard Taft, then president OF
the United States. lauded the guest
as the greatest living American
writer and novelist"
Dsan.of American Letters.
He was the dean of American let
ters; poet, essayist. dramatist ana
editor. as well as a weaver Of fiction.
BEGINNING his first book, Poems
Of Two Friends" just before the civil
war. Mr.. Hovyells had completed and
volumes at the time of his death. be-
sides acting as editor of various pub
LEGATIONS. crossing the ocean eighteen
times in search of material for his
novels. and writing essays, criticisms
and magazine articles.
Born in Martins Ferry, o.. in 1887.
he served his literary apprenticeship
as a compositor. reporter and editor
on his fathers newspaper.
"Inwardly I was a poet" said the
eminent novelist in reviewing his
early experiences. with no wish to
be anything else. unless in a moment
OF careless influence j might SO far
forget myself as to be novelist"
~. Long Litsrary Career.
When 2S years Of age he travelled
to Boston to make the acquaintance
OF I1ongfellow. Hawthorne, Emer-
son. Holmes and Lowell Tho boy
among masters, he became their in
timate. learning their literary tradi-
tions and preserving many OF them
thruout his long life.
At the age of "a he was appointed
by President Lincoln as United
States consul at Venice. He COM
binedl his consular duties with liter
ary work, and produced his cele-
brated book, Venetian Life"
-Four years later, in 1855, he came
to New York with his wife. who was
Elmer G. Mead. of Vermont, and
whom he had married in Paris in
1852. For two years he wrote edi-
torials for the New York Nation, the
Times and the Tribune, and then
moved to Boston. where, as assistant
editor he began his association with
the Atlantic Monthly. succeeding
James Russell Lowell as editor in
1872. At the age of A he retired to
devote himself to his novels, which
he produced for many years at the
rate Of two a year.
When so years old, Mr.. Howells
found time to become contributing
editor and later writer for the "Edi-
tors Easy Chair" department in
Harpers Magazine. For q brief Pc
riod he acted as editor OF the Co.'S
mopolitan.
Not College Man.
DR.. Howells had received degrees
from Yale. Harvard, Oxford and CO.
lumbia universities tho he had never
attended college-was a keen student
of current events. He avowed his
belief in soci alism.
II can not see," he declared, "that
the remedy FOR existing conditions
lies anywhere else. But If it is to be
a remedy it must come slowly. Vio-
lent revolutions do not permanently
solve these problems"
On the subject of woman suffrage
his opinion was decided:
TT is one Of the most important
developments of this generation and
one Of the most hopeful. The men
have made such a mess of things
that If the women do not come to
the rescue I'm sure don't know
L., xo -