New-York tribune., 1921-11-20

by Doubleday, Page &: Co. Price SO.
rNHE one exception which we
should take to this fascinating
volume is to its title. A silhou-
cite is a portrait showing just
one side of the subject and without a
touch of color or gradation of light and
shade and without the slightest back
ground or environment. But these pen
portraits of few of the great men
whom he has known in a lifetime of
more than eighty years are vastly more
than that. They show various sides
or phases of their subjects, they are
rich IN vivid, vital, natural coloring
and they have an abundance of back
ground and of circumstantial setting
Perhaps the most obvious of the vol
ume is its range, reminding us at once
OF DR.. Abbott's length of life and his
catholicity of interest. From Phineas
I. Barnum to Theodore Roosevelt is a
very far cry. Between John Fiske and
William Booth or between John B
Cough and Alice Freeman Palmer, or
between Abraham Lincoln and Dwight
l.. Moody, the contrast is so great as
to tax the imagination. Yet DR.. Abbott
knew them at ALL and others as widely
different equally we'll. We cannot, of
course, say that the fact Of his knowing
them all created any resemblance
Af0nr n bad l,x-o
bond. But it obviously heightens the
interest with which his portraiture OF
them is invested. If he had written
solely about clergymen, or men of let
ters, or statesmen, we should have been
eager to read what he had to say con-
corning them But when he writes
with equal intimacy, of them all, and
OF educators, hotelscepers, scientist
tragedian, Snowman, mere interest
rises to absolute fascination.
The secret of his success in thus
writing is to be found in the circum.
stance which we have first mentioned
that these portraits are more than
mere sllhouettes. Indeed, they are more
than mere portraits of any kind. They
are mental ana spiritual analyses o1
their subjects, from the point of view
OF common humanity. DR.. Abbott has
possessed not only the gifts of long
life and extensive acquaintance, but
also the rare and precious faculty OF
nr,2f,l hot icu1 To-
hearts and souls of his friends, so as
to be able to interpret them as well
as to portray their outlines 1t is the
highest of tributes to his catholicity
OF mind and spirit tosay that he does
this so perfectly in all cases that we
should be at loss to select any one
OF the chapters of his book and say
Here is his best work; with this sub.
Ject he was most at home.
The reader cannot restrain himself
from chuckling with the author owe,
Barnum's cleverness in sending out
the famous bricklaying tramp to adj
vertise his museum; from exultina
"i~ii iiiii1 ofEf' IuWlH hOUtHS 8 JUST
boast: "There is nosdoor in my theatel
through which God cannot see; from
enjoying with him the. hospitality OF
the Smileys at Lake Monhonk; fran
feeling with him. convinced of the
triumph of the Salvation Army over
Professor Huxley's ill-advised stric.
lures. There is an equal appeal in DR.
Abbott's portraiture of Lincoln as
Americas greatest labor leader" and
through that is one of the shortest OF
NIL these sketches and one in which
the author specially emphasizes their
silhouette likeness, 1t is so penetrating
in vision and so complete as to be one
of the most convincing of all. Natu-
rally. much space is devoted to Beecher
whom DR.. Abbott probably knew little
more closely and affectionately than
any other in all the illustrious com.
pany; but he is no whit less apprecia
tive and sympathetic in his accounts
of Edward Everett Hale, of d. l.. Moody
aad of Phillips Brooks. His portrai
ture of Samuel c. Armstrong ane
Booker T. Washington is drawn il
form and color Gs the very life, bu