The New York herald., 1922-10-22
CHRONICLE AND
lM M LMT By ARTHUR
)/A Al AAAN Y l. BARTLETT MAURICE

IN day when there is very perceptible
L tendency to stray after false literary
gods we cannot have too many books like
Memories Of a Hostess (Atlantic
Monthly Press), in which NJ. A. De Wolfe
Howe has drawn chiefly from the diaries
Of Mrs. James T. Fields, the wife of the
Boston publisher. There is good, whole
some tonic in turning back to the New
England oracles who contributed so much
that is sound and enduring in our litera-
ture. What if they did take themselves a
little seriously? They certainly did that
Here in Memories of a Hostess" is the
voice of good old DR.. Holmes: 80. w. H.
picked up New York pamphlet full of
sneers against Boston Mutual Admiration
Society These whipper-snappers of
New York will do well to take care. The
noble race of men now so famous here is
passing down the valley-then who will
take their places! l am ashamed to know
the names of these blackguards. There
is -, stick of sugar candy; -
and -, who Is not even gumdrop and
plenty Of them"
DR. HOLMES felt that his fame was
II secure for the ages on account of
one saying: Most men write too much
l would rather risk for future fame upon
one lyric than upon ten volumes But I
have said Boston is the hub of the uni
verse. I will rest upon that" With all
his bubbling geniality and philosophy
there was in him a curious strain of
mental intolerance. Boston, his class at
Harvard College, his particular circle of
accepted companions-there was the salt
of the earth. Outside of that there was
very little that counted. There were
some very good writing men among the
"whipper-snappers of New York" to
whom he so contemptuously referred On
May %, 1872, there was dinner party at
the Fields home, the guests being DIR.
Holmes, Mr.. Longfellow, Joseph Jefferson
and William Warren, the two first come
dians of the time. According to the
diary: CDR Holmes had a way at the
table of talking of you actors you
gentlemen of the STAGE until l saw Long
fellow was quite disturbed at the unsym-
pathetic unmannerliness of it, in appear
ance, and tried to talk more than ever in
different strain"
THE hostess of these Memories" who
died early in 1915, having survived
her husband many years, was James T.
Fields's second wife, Fields had married
in 1850 Eliza Josephine Willard, a daugh-
ter of Simon Willard. Jr. She died within
a few months, and in November of 1854
Fields married her cousin, Annie Adams.
not yet 20 years old, the beautiful daugh-
ter of DR.. Zabdiel Boylston Adams. In
his capacity as a publisher, identified
with the firms of Ticknor G Fields and
Fields, Osgood G Co., Fields made many
distinguished friendships. Before his
death in 1881 he became widely known as
editor, lecturer and author. Living in
Charles street, Boston, the Fieldses had
as near neighbors Oliver Wendell Holmes,
John A. Andrew, the war Governor of
Massachusetts,, and Thomas Bailey Aid
rich. About 1863 Mrs Fields began a
diary which she kept up till 1876. On the
cover of the first slender volume she
wrote: mo. I. Journal of Literary Events
and Glimpses of Interesting People"
TN this diary, under date of July 26.
l. 1868, she recorded: "What a strange
history this literary life in America at the
present day would make An editor and