The New York herald., 1922-10-15
CHRONICLE AND
GnM M EMT By ARTHUR
WI Al AIAN L. BARTLETT MAURICE

A IL over Mr.. Augustus Thomas's "The
"A Print of My Remembrance" (Charles
Scribner's Sons) there is the glamour OF
a past that has been rich in variety,
achievement and encounter and that is
vivid 70 the author in the recalling. Out
Of the pages step old personalities, old
customs; the ghosts of bygone years
emerge from their graves and stalk again
in full life; old baunts of the theatrical,
artistic, literary Bohemia of the past hum
once more with voices that are amiably
contentious. This autobiography is one
Of the most entertaining that has ap-
peared in recent years, perhaps for the
reason that 1t is so vigorously articulate.
There is no arduous seeking for words |;
they rush in a veritable torrent, the direct
statement embelIished by happy aIlusion
drawn from mind rich in literary back
ground.
TN an early chapter Mr. Thomas tells
OF the admonition Of Philadelphia
publisher. who, when these recollections
we're being planned, sent through friend
the message: Tell Thomas to raise a
nustachs in his story as soon as
possible" BY which he meant he
should get through with his boyish
memories briefly. That is senti-
ment which, however, is hardly to have
the Endorsement of the general reader
There may be a haze over some of the
intervening years, but the memories OF
youth are clear and sharply outlined
How remote seems that old world into
which Thomas was born in January, 1857!
He himself pictures it in trenchant SEN
tences at the beginning of his story.
abraham Lincoln was practicing law In
Springfield. Ill. At Guernsey. Victor
Hugo. In exile. was preparing the last
volume Of Les Miserables' and was writ
ing Shakespeare, the greatest of his single
volumes. Germany was alarmed over the
success Of the French in Lombardy and
Bavaria was preparing for war"
tsNlHE Queen OF England, then in the
L twentieth year of her reign, was
planning to establish the Order of the
Victoria Cross, and was having bronze
medals cast from Russian cannon recently
captured at Sebastopol. In the United
States President Franklin Pierce was get
ting ready to retire in March and James
Buchanan was preparing his inaugural
address. Ralph Waldo Emerson, then in
his ffty-third year, was lecturing in
Philadelphia, New York, Ohio and Illinois
and John Brown of Ossawatomie, Kan,
was making speeches in the Eastern
States and stimulating the committees
who were financially helping the people
Of Kansas to resist the raids of the Mis-
souri, Border Ruffians. U. S. Grant was
living with his wife's folks on farm near
st. Louis, much distressed by fever and
ague and occasionally driving load of
cordwood to the city The Supreme Court
at Washington was considering for the
second time the question of the liberty
of the negro slave, Dred Scott"
CONCERNING Grant Mr.. Thomas re-
" prints a speech that he made in
1900. apologizing for what he calls its
forensic taint": ITO me Grant is not a
parsonage. He is an epoch. There is a
morning filed with the music of martial
bands and the color of waving banners
| am just tall enough to reach the door
latch with my mothers help. A booted
trooper at the door asks for Capt Thomas
while In the gutter stand two champing