davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
Burroughs on Roosevelt, Ford and Edison

adaptive. more Indifferent ito places.
than is Mr.. Edison. His interest in
the stream is in it's potential water
power. He races up and down its
banks to see its fall, and where power
could be developed. He never ceases
to lament so much power going to
waste, and points out that if the
streams were all harnessed. as they
could easily be, farm labor every
where indoors and out, could be
greatly lessened. He dilates upon the
benefit that would accrue to every
country neighborhood if the water
power that is going to waste in its
valley streams were set to work in
some useful industry, furnishing en-
ployment to the farmers and others
in the winter seasons when the farms
need comparatively little attention.
He is always thinking in terms of the
greatest good to the greatest number.
He aims to place his inventions
within reach of the great mass of the
people. AS with his touring car so
with his tractor engine, he has had
the same end in view. Nor does he
forget the housewife. He has plans
afoot for bringing power into every
household that will greatly tighten
the burden of the womenfolk.
mfr. Edison would sit in his car and
read or curl up. boy fashion. under
tree and take a nap. while Mr.. Ford
would inspect the stream or busy him.
self in getting wood for the fire. Mr..
Ford is a runner and high kicker.
and frequently challenged some cf the
party to race with him. He is also a
persistent walker. and from every
camp, both morning and evening. he
sailed forth for brisk half hour
walk His cheerfulness and adapta-
blity on all occasions and his optim-
ism in regard to all the great quas-
tions are remarkable. His good will
and tolerance are boundless. Nctwith-
standing his practical turn Of mi1d
and his mastery of the mechanical
arts and of business methods, he Is
through and through an idealist. AS
tender as a woman, he is much more
tolerant. He looks like a poet, and
conducts his life like a philosopher.
No poet ever expressed himself
through his work more completely
than Mr.. Ford has expressed himself
through his car and his tractor en-
gine."
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

might distinguish legitimate authority
from violent usurpation." Then the
revolution which so many historians
have wrongly attributed TO Julius
Caesar was accomplished.
Ferrero proceeds, in luminous pages
TO sketch the attempts of the great re-
organizers to find a guiding princi-
pie, to substitute for the defunct au-
thority of the Roman Senate. Aure-
liam, restitutor orbs, defeated the
armies of the invading Germans at
Pavia and Fano, brought the East
again under the dominion of Rome
Except for Queen Zenobia's Empire
of Syria) and surrounded the Eternal
City with the mighty walls whose re-
mains are still the admiration Of trav-
ellers. He sought to stay the anarchy
of military caprice by instituting the
Mithraic cult of Sol invictus as the
religion of state to replace the waning
worship of the Roman gods. The En-
perors became cosubstantial with
Mithras, ruling by divine right But
this Asiatic principle of mystical alb
solutism failed to win the recognition
of legality. 1t clashed with the whole
inherited doctrine of Roman authority
as an imperium bestowed by law.
Moreover, however popular Mithraism
might be with generals and soldiers
returning from the East, it was an
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
ry Lee Higginson in

other religion from Asia that was win
ming its steady way in the Roman
Empire-a religion corroding the very
foundations of the empire by its pacif-
ism, its other-worldliness, it's strict
monotheism, it's denial of aristocratic
privilege and its capitalization of En-
peror and slave before the judgment
seat of Almighty God.
Diocletian devoted a genius greater
than Aurelian's, during a reign four
times as long, to the task of restoring
the imperial authority. He inaugu-
rated a UNIVERSAL and relentless per-
secution of the Christians. He boldly
declared the divinity of the Emperors
(deis gently, taking the title of Jo-
vius for himself and bestowing that
of Herculius on his colleague Maxi
mian. He established the "tetrarchy''
of Augusti and Caesars, a divine dy-
nasty to be forever propagated by CO.
option. He surrounded the imperial
dignity with all the mystic ceremony
of an Eastern potentate, iewelled
crown and robes, prostrations and
genuflections. trembling courtiers and
menial functionaries. Under Diocle-
tian the empire became a vast cos
mopolis of different races. governed
by the Asiatic despotism of four Sow
ereign Gods. subject to an innumer-
able bureaucracy depending on these
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

blow that would almost have demol-
ished an African lion.'
They went back to Washington to-
gcther. but even there birds were not
wholly crowded out by Congressman
and diplomatists.
81 passed another night at the
White House." continues the author,
land in the morning early we went
out on the White House grounds tn
look for birds. our quest seeming To
attract the puzzled attention OF the
rassersby.
They often stare at me as though
they thought me crazy he said. when
they see me gazing up into the trees
"'Well, now they will think ! am
your keeper ] said
"'Yes, and I your nurse laughed
Mrs. Roosevelt.
When 1 left Roosevelt gave me a
list of the birds that we had seen while
at Pine Knot and hoped that | would
some time write up the trip; In fact
for years after, whenever we would
meet. almost the first thing he would
say was, Have you written up our Pine
Knot trip yet Dom John?' And his
disappointment at my failure to do so
was almost unmstakable."
Nobody but determined cynic
would refuse to see in the letter
Roosevelt wrote later a merely selfish
desire to be included in Burroughs's
writings. There is something finer
in the persistent plea:
DEAR DOM JOHN: Did you ever get
the pamphlet on concealing colora-
ton? II not will send you another.
I do hope that you will include in your
coming volume Of sketches little ac-
count of the time you visited us at
Pine Knot our little Virginia camp.
while ! was President. I arr very
proud OF you, Dom John, and | want
the fact that you were my guest
when I was President. and that you
and looked at birds together, record
cd there-and don't forget thet I
showed you the blue grosbeak and the
Bewick's wren. and almost all the
other birds / said I would
Ever yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT"
Here are Burroughs's impressions of
Ford and Edison, with whom he went
on vacation to North Carolina, by au-
tomobile:
"Our two chief characters presented
many contrasts: Mr.. Ford is more
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
Ferrero Compares Russia With Decadent Rome

soVereigns and recruited without dis
tinction of nationality or social rank"
So long as Diocletian's strong hand
was on the helm of state the vigor Of
his military and financial reforms was
maintained throughout the prefec-
lures, dioceses, and provinces into
which he had portoned the empire.
His prestige kept the junior Augustus
and the Caesars in due subordination.
But when, worn out by the superhu-
man task of playing the earthly prov
idence to the Roman Empire for
twenty years, he abdicated the throne,
his elaborate and artificial system fell
to pieces. The tetrarchy collapsed.
Provinces revolted. Armies set up
Caesars and Augusti at WILL as they
had set up Principles two centuries
before. Diocletians quadruple dy-
nasty of Asiatic Sovereign Gods was
as impotent as Aurelian's mystical abb
solutism to replace the lost authority
of the aristocratic Senate.
When one of the soldier made
Augusti, Constantine the Great. termi-
mated the long period of civil wars
which followed the abdication of
Diocletian, by his victory over Lici-
MUS at Chrysopolis (323) third and
last attempt was made to integrate
the Roman Empire through princi-
pie of authority which should impose
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

of mind are the most stubborn facts
in international relations; and in this
statement is to be found the keynote
to Mr.. Palmer's position.
1t is the authors contention that
men will do for an emotion what they
would not do for all the gold on earth ;
that they will take up arms through
fear or through wound to their pride
when they would not do so for all the
treasure of the seven seas. Realizing
this to be the case the protagonists
Of war make it a rule to play upon
popular feelings; they scatter propa-
ganda that makes men view with
prejudiced eyes the traditions or GUS
toms Of another race; they spread a
cloak of suspicion and a veil of mys-
terry over the actions of foreign
neighbor: they cover the grossness
and cruelty of war with a golden
glamour that allures the young and
the uninitiated; they appeal to the
sense of rivalry, the lure. of power,
the instructive desire for physical
supremacy; they arouse false patriot
ism, a chauvinism glorifying that i'm
moral principle, my country, right or
wrong; they infiame the emotions
with words, and induce the people to
fight for a phrase instead of for a
reality.
The economic motive as the source
Of war is not only denied but ridiculed
by Mr.. Palmer. Even were ii not
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
1t Puts Resources of Civilization
In Hands of Surviving Savage

THE FOLLY OF NATIONS. BY Fred
erick Palmer. Dodd, Mead & Co.
TN the world to-day is a monster
that may be likened to the
= dragon of folklore. 1t is steel
clad and its eyes squirt fire; it's teeth
are bayonets, and it's breath is poison
gas: it slays a thousand victims with
each stroke of it's claws, and knocks
whole cities into ruins with blow
from it's armored tail. All over the
earth men dread this monster, and
look with horror upon it's work; they
cry out that it must be slain, yet at
the same time they worship it, sing
paeans in it's praise, offer up to 1t their
lives and the lives of those they love.
Such is in effect the picture Of war
painted by Frederick Palmer in "The
Folly of Nations" Arguing on the
basis of twenty-five years experience
as a war correspondent, he analyses
the reasons why men fight, inquiries
into the necessity for conflict, exposes
anew the familiar fallacies of national
ism and of competitive ornaments,
and comes TO the conclusion that war
fare is the product not of reasoned
purpose nor of economic need, but of
misguided emotion, which may be made
useful instead of destructive by being
directed into the proper channels. In
ether words, emotion and an attitude
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

His gift of music to America, after
all, was only an extension of friend
ship to the nation. He had felt the
delight and the helpfulness of music
in his early experience in Europe.
This benefit he wanted to pass
along to his people. But in every
step he took the warm, personal ele-
ment remained. Every man in the
orchestra was a friend. He said 20
them all on one occasion:
do not suppose that / am igno-
rant about the various members of
the orchestra. At one time l knew
every man; and if that is not the case
now, ! know many of you, and listen
carefully to the playing Of this or
that man: know well when Witek is
doing his best, hear Ferir, hear
Warnke, never miss tone of Longy
or Maquarre or Grisez, or Wendler
or Sadony. | know very well what
the trumpets are doing and the from
bones, and watch the drummer and
listen for the tuba. | watch with
pleasure the double basses as they
stand behind you all When
ever | go to a concert there is al
ways a sense of responsibility on my
mind. and there is always great joy"
Responsibility and joy--they are
rarely found together in so fine a
balance as in Major Higginson s
character. He was business man,
but business did not harden and de-
humanize him. And life never ceased
to be an adventure. In old age he
writes.
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

Soldiers Field, which he gave to the
Harvard students, were expressions
not only of his love OF music and his
passion for education. They were the
lovely flower of his friendships. In
recalling the origin of the orchestra,
he said
81 had noble set of men friends
and loved them much and lived on
them. They led me in part 10
thoughts and hopes which have re
suited in this scheme. 1t seems to
me to be worth while, and to be a
little gravestone to them If anything,
for they are all dead but one-a. great
loss to nae and the world. To these
friends l tried to give everything,
because my belief was that one can
not do or give or take too much from
friend"
The noble address he gave on the
presentation of Soldiers Field is a
tribute to his comrades who died in
the Civil War
"All these men were dear friends
to me; and with three of them | had
lived from childhood on the most init
mate terms, doing and discussing
everything on earth and in heaven,
as boys will-living, indeed, very
full life with them and through
them"
Note how he holds to the same
thought in two different connections.
He says of his friends that he lived
en- them" as one lives on food; and
that he lived "a very full life with
them and through them"
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
|Soundings
In the Sea of Ink
Insects.

O0 o to the ant, thou sluggard,
r consider her ways and be
- wise" That was written
a few thousand years before nature
study had become a recognized pro-
fession. It's no job for a sluggard.
If somebody took lazy man to an
ant colony in limousine he wouldn't
have the concentration to consider
her ways or the knowledge of other
facts necessary to interpret them.
The review of John Burroughs's
book on this page deals largely with
his impressions of men. But he knew
ants and birds and woodchucks; and
he wrote a shelf of books that are the
sufficient fruit of busy life.
Yes, go to the ant and learn-but
not chiefly by imitation. For the
ant. with all the rest of what used
to be called animated nature,
works within limitations which man
cannot and will not admit.
Read Burroughs and Fabre, and
Maeterlinck and Beebe, or the earlier
men like 'Thoreau. When they tell OF
battles between animals or insects
YOU may have a cynical impulse to
declare that men are only animals or
insects.
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
Reviewed by
DAVID SAVILLE MUZZEY,
Professor of History. Columbia
University.

~ ROF. eFERRERO is a brilliant
- word painter. His five vol
umes on The Greatness and
Decline Of Rome" took the scholars
quite off their feet, accustomed as
they were to the ponderous philo-
sophical periods oe Gibbon and the
cautious antiquaria m of Mommsen.
Ferrero moved easily and Familiarity
through the centuries of the Roman
Republic, marshalling his characters
like the stage director of modern
play. measuring situations with the
social psychology of the twentieth CEN
tury, never at loss for plausible eX-
plantations, abounding in suggestive
analogies. The German savants shook
their heads over the work: it was too
lively to be scientific. But thousands
of educated laymen enjoyed for the
first time a real acquaintance with the
G-acchi and the Cfesars.
Ferrero's latest book is even more
pragmatic than the Greatness and
Decline" It is a study of the century
from the death of Alexander Severus
(235) to the death of Constantine
(33O. as a lesson and a warning to
the Europe which has emerged from
the world war. The third century Is
the mentor of the twentieth.
The ruin of ancient civilization was
not. as most historians have repre-
sented it. says Ferrero. slow agony
due to the increase of slavery, the
den of taxation, or the lack OF aru-
fetal fertilizers. 1t was caused by the
deliberate destruction of the imme-
mortal source and seat of authority in
the Roman State-the Senate. The
first blows at the prestige of the Sem
ate were struck by the victorious gen
erals in the days of the Republic,
when a Scipio tore up the bill OF in
dictment against him and summoned
the people to follow him to the Capt.
tol to celebrate the anniversary OF the
battle of Zama: when a Marius pre-
sumed upon his popularity to occupy
six successive consulships illegally
when a Cesar crossed the Rubicon in
arms. But 1t is mistake. says Fer
zero. to believe that the extinction OF
the Republic meant the fall of the
Senate. Even when the Pr9torian
Guard designated a Claudius or a
Nero for the purple, the imperial au-
thority came from and returned to the
august body which continued for
more than two centuries after CRsar's
death to embody the power of the
Roman state. The Emperor was only
Princeps Senatus his authority was
created anew at each succession by
the lex dc imperio There was no
hereditary principle, but only the fic-
titious adoption of apprenticeship. Re-
invigorated by new blood from the
provinces. the Senate showed n splen-
did power in the age of the Antonines.
The third century brought the crisis.
After the assassination of Commodus
military Adventures contended for the
purple. Emperors were chosen for the
first time outside the ranks Of the
Senators: an African knight Maori
anus. a mad boy Heliogabalus, an IL
literate Thracian Maximin. Revolution
followed revolution, assassination fol-
lowed assassination, until all expecta-
ton Of stability was lost. For the
first time in the history of the ancient
world, in the third century OF our era,
an immense empire found itself with
out any guiding principle by which 1t
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
UNDER THE NAPLES. BY John Bur-
roughs. Houghton Miff1in Company.

<OST of these essays were
MI written in the last two years
L of the authors life, in the
Catskills. One section deals with Cali
fornia. But though nature is the
main theme she stands aside while
Burroughs relates his experience with
famous men-Roosevelt, Edison and
Ford. While Roosevelt was President
"Oom John" went down with him to
Virginia ito help him name the birds"
I'VE reached Pine Knot late in the
afternoon, but as he was eager for a
walk we started off, he leading, as il
walking for a wager. We went
through fields and woods and briers
and marshy places for mile or more,
when we stopped and mopped our
brows and turned homeward without
having seen many birds.
Mrs. Roosevelt took him to task.
think, when she saw the heated condi-
ton in which we returned. for not
long afterward he came to me and
said: Dom John, that was no way to
go after birds; we were in too much
of a hurry j replied, No, Mr.. Presi-
dent, that isn't the way / usually go
a-birding. His thirst for the wild and
the woods and his joy at returning to
these after his winter in the White
House had evidently urged him on.
He added, we will try different plan
Tomorrow"
They took a more leisurely survey
later. But even in their quiet hour
about the lamp Burroughs notes an
other example of surplus energy in
his host.
Pine Knot is o secluded place in
the woods. One evening as we sat in
the lamplight, he reading Lord Cromer
on Egypt and ! a book on the man
eating lions of Tsavo, and Mrs. Roose-
welt sitting near with her needlework,
suddenly Roosevelts hand came down
on the table with such a bang that it
made us both jump, and Mrs. Roose-
welt exclaimed in slightly nettled
tone, Why, my dear. what is the mat
ter?'
He had killed mosquito with a
The New York herald., 1921-11-20
A Man.
read Life and Letters OF
Henry Lee Higginson" CAT
II lantic Monthly Press ROS

1HEN read Life and Letters OF
Henry Lee Higginson" CAT
l. lantic Monthly Press, Bos-
tom, by Bliss Perry. If you still
agree with Dean Swift that horses
are nobler than human beings, this
meeting is adjourned.
Major Higginson was soldier and
when he fought he did it with all his
might. But there was none of the
animals blind. stupid rage in his
heart. In 1863 he wrote to A. w.
Thayer, whose life of Beethoven Mr..
Krehbiel is preparing:
We'll, old fellow, go your own way
and work out your own salvation. |
am trying to work out mine, so is
Jim and so is many a good brave
man. The many little salvations will
go to make that of our country and
of the human race. Tell me there is
no American people, is no national
ity, is no distinct and strong love of
country. 1t is lie, and those who
nave Sdlu IL W ult III ISuiOPC
we're ignorant! We've been to school
for two years all the time, and have
been learning a lesson-wait and see
If we don't know 1t and use it pretty
soon. Well beat these men fighting
for slavery. Besides, this is
all we can do for mankind"
There are three primary differences
between war among men and war
among beasts. First, even in the
fighting some elements of nobility
shine ut-self-sacrifice, generosity,
pity. Animals do not care for
wounded foes.
Second, the discipline of war bears
fruit in fine spirits. Whitman's
poetry would not be the power it is
in the life of to-day without the ef.
feet of the Civil War upon Whitman.
If you doubt that, read Grant Over
toms novel based on the poets life
and writings. THE Answerer" (Har-
court, Brace & Coz. and Holloway's
collection of his early prose and
verse. doubleday Page). And Hig-
ginson's great service to America il
lustrates the same truth.
None of these things is an argu.
ment in favor of war. For the third
difference between man and animals
is that even as the former fights he
begins to react against his own folly,
TO reason and feel and to seek a way
out. Insects do not propose any limi-
tation of armaments
RI he had lived another two years
how Major Higginson would have re-
ioiced in the meeting at Washington.
For he would have realized that it 10
step toward the harmony among
nations which was achieved between
the instruments of his great Boston
symphony Orchestra.
The story of this mans life is as
rich in suggestion, in its way, as the
Education of Henry Adams" though
the two were sharply contrasted in
disposition. Higginson gloried in
being native New Yorker. His
tribe, however, was Of New England.
like the Adams family. And part OF
the interest Of the book lies in its
expression Of love between parents
and children, brothers and sisters.
But mans real character is better
shown by the friends he chooses
than by the family into which he
happens to have been born. And
Henry Higginson was great friend.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra and
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

THE RUIN OF ANCIENT CIV1LIZA-
TION AND THE TRIUMPH OF
CHRISTIANITY BY Guglielmo Fer
rero. G.. T. Putnam's Sons.
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

~ ROF. @FERRERO is a brilliant
- word painter His five vol
umes on "The Greatness and
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

0@ o to the ant, thou sluggard,
r consider her ways and be
- wise" That was written
The New York herald., 1921-11-20

; OST Of these essays were
written in the last two years
of the authors life, in the