Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-22
A MAN WHO TRAVELLED IN
THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
Hamilton Wright Mabie Vas Representative OF The Point OF
Ve,U of the Great Mass OF americans
by FELIX E. SCHELLING,
Professor the University OF Pennyyana

IN THE daily course Of our lives there
= are two areas, SO to speak. in the
community which attract public atten e
ton. There is first the mass by its
mere mass in which we may find much
that we could wish were otherwise, but
the honest contemplation Of which,
when oil has been said, should leave us
undismayed as to human nature. Sec
ondly, there are those who stand dis
tinguished for effort and what we call
prominence, IL may be in public life, in
letters, in society, even in conspicuous
wrongdoing. Between these two flows
the main current OF our American life,
composed of those VITO nrc neither sub
merged nor partially submerged in the
struggle for existence, nor of their con-
trasted fellows who have reached n mo :
mentary gleam In the sunshine Of re-
pute.. whether to their fame or their
scandal.
A ND these quiet, serene and comfort
"A able folk of the center are the very
mainstay of our culture and our civili-
zation. They never descend into the
morasses of radicalism, nor tempt dan
gerous agnostic heights. It would be
unjust to class them with the stand
patters who cucumber the road with
their frequent stalings for their mo
tion is honestly forward and they keep
to the middle of the .oad The folk Of
the center believe in God and, to their
credit be IT said, try to take a kindly
and practical Christianity into their
lives. They respect the past without
prying into It; they live in tho present
which is the only sane way in which
to live; and they look forward hopefully
TO the future. in which they may feel
just little too confident of their own
salvation, though it cannot be denied
that they hopc-just little against
hope, very little-that others may be
saved likewise.
THE Life and Letters of the late
l. Hamilton W. Mabie" is an interest
ing book, geographically and socially.
From one point of view Mabie's was n
singularly uneventful career. There is
no uncertainty, no struggle in it. The
reasonable comforts. excellent educa-
ton. opportunity. all we're his. and oil
were grasped honestly and employed to
the full. Industry. with the just fruits
of the harvest, service cheerfully ac-
cepted apd faithfully performed,
achievement and recognition and hosts
of friends, all these too. were his and
deservedly his. Mabie's was an integ-
rity that knew no swerving. a sweet
reasonablenesS that allayed friction
rather than avoided it, hopeful cheer
fulness that got much out Of life which
foreboding and discomfort lose. 1t
would be difficult to imagine a more
congenial life than was Mr.. Mabie's s.
that is to a man Of his temperament ;
the editor of an influential magazine Of
liberal Christian opinion, n harmonious
coworkcr for good with men like DR..
Lyman Abbott and later OK President
Roosevelt. q platform lecturcr-nearly
it not quite the last of the interesting
older type-greatly in request and well
coined wherever he went. prominent in
the service of n reasonable churchman-
ship, a progressive education aud lib
cral politics, and n writer whose books
were always timely and pleasantly writ
ten and read by thousands-such n
career is as enviable as its success was
deserved.
THIS book discloses many pleasant
L intimacies and friendships. from n
momentary contact as a student with
Emerson and later with Lowell and an
editorial intimacy with the late Prcsi-
dent Roosevelt in the latter years of his
life, through abiding friendships with
the poets, Stedman and Aldrich. and
our great novelist, IIowclls, and with
burroughs, Henry van Dyke and Wood
berry who are still happily with us. A
man who could have inspired such
varied and such faithful friendships had
in him much to warm the hearts of
men. And such was undoubtedly true
of Mabic. Few who have had to do
even remotely with letters have failed
in these latter years to have met or at
least to have heard Mr.. Mabic. lie
was the happiest and most tactful Of
presiding officers. fit and graceful in
what he had to say and appealing al
ways to what was best and kindcst in