The New York herald., 1922-09-03

bird's-eye view OF the literary Lon
don of the 1905, given in his 'The
Puppet Show of Memory" Although
there were no YelIoio Books here,
from the American point Of view,
the literary New York of the same
decade was very. much more inter-
esting. The city itself was in
state of transition, as it always has
been and probably always will be.
In the '90s it was throwing off the
garments of an overgrown, unwieldy
town. II the New Yorker of to-day
could see 1t as IL was then the
Spectacle would amaze him as much
ss do the prints in early numbers
Of Valentines MdnHdl. In its lit
erary aspect that old New York of
twenty-five or thirty years ago may
BE- summed up as passing through
the velvet jacket stage" The
phrase is owed to the late Richard
Harding Davis.
MINE years ago Mr.. Davis and
IN the writer of these paragraphs
were at the formers Mount Kisco
homo talking Of the literary New
York of the golden '90s." you
mean the velvet jacket days. said
Mr.. Davis. do you remember the
velvet jacket Of Robert Louis
Stevenson" The writer confessed
that it was somewhat before his
time, that he could not claim per-
Bonal acquaintance, but that it was
familiar enough through the old
portraits. I'VE had our own men
then, Mr.. Howells, Mr.. Stockton,
Mr.. Aldrich and the rest" Mr.. Davis
went on, "but Stevenson was the
magnetic, the dominating literary
figure. Just as he himself had
played the 'sedulous ape to others,
30 it was the fashion of the young
writer's Of the early '90s to initiate
him. He came to us and he brought
with him his velvet jacket 1t was
. famous jacket, and it became a
kind of oriflamme Of the literary
calling"
UCOMETHING like e Balzac's
- white monks robe in the
1840s" was the suggestion. only
Stevenson's jacket was destined to
become the father of an illustrious
line of Jackets" Mr.. Davis con-
tnued. I'VE were young then, and
we had other ideals. 1t was before
the day of literary commercialism.
What we were paid for story did
not matter much. 1t was enough
that Hdrper's or Scribner's printed
It. With elation we told our
friends about it and they read 1t
and liked it or criticized it. Many
Of the stories could be traced to
the velvet jacket The young man
sitting down at his writing table to
construct a masterpiece had to have
his pad, his pen and his ink bottle.
Sometimes an idea was needed.
But to achieve the proper mood OF
Inspiration, to rouse himself to
heights of creative frenzy. he
needed the jacket-just like that
Of r. L. s. Sacrifices were made
in Bohemia in those days for that
Jacket; privations were endured"
A CTUALLY Bohemia, in its lit
"A erary sense, is a state OF
mind, period of ardent youth and
OF aspiration, rather than a ma
terial background or environment.
II you are young enough you can
find Bohemia to-day in Greenwich
Village, or for that matter in any
country town in the land. But there
have always been definite places
associated with the idea of Bo-
hemia. There was the Cafe Momus
Of Henry Murger's time. There
was the Cider Cellar" of which
Thackeray told in "The Newcomes."
In the SOS of the nineteenth cen
tury men of letters in New York
were in the habit of gathering
nightly at Pfaff's, beer cellar on