The New York herald., 1922-06-11
Marion Harland'. Span Of Life

MArson Harland's Span of Life.
MOT many writer's have had pub
lished more volumes than
Marion Harland. None exceeded
the span Of her literary productive
ness, which stretched over seventy
years. She was a famous novelist
ten years before the civil war, and
1t was only three or four years ago
that she rested from her labors. To
visualize the length of a life like
ners We must remember that " len
she was born Jackson was begin
ming his first term; Gen. Monroe
was still alive; Lincoln had just
moved to Illinois; Poe was a cadet
at West Point. James G. Blaine
and Chester A. Arthur were born
the same year, 1880. But work is
more important than years. Marion
Harland took full advantage of
time. Her novels, beginning with
Alone" which she wrote seventy
years ago. entertained two genera
tions. And her cookbooks, her
household guides-how many homes
were made happy by them, how
many brides were saved from ship
wreck by these charts of the treach-
erous culinary seas!-From an edi-
tOridl in THE NRw YORK HERALD.
The Range of Tolstoy.
WITH Tolstoy observation and
w reflection did not go hand
in hand. His capacity for expert
ence was enormous, and his oppor-
tunities exceptional. But if we read
his work in chronological order we
find that he is, at first, chiefly oc-
cupied in amassing data about life
What sorts of people are there, and
what are the motives that drive
them? He seems to know them all,
from emperor to peasant; his in
sight is swift and delicate. Never
since Shakespeare has so large and
justly observed a human panorama
been spread before us by one man.
And at first he was partially con-
tented with exhibiting life. We
say partly, for from THE Co.'S
sacks to Anna Karenina" there
is growing disposition to brood
over the meaning of the pageant
1t was Dostoievsky who stated, after
reading part of Anna" that Toll
stoy would not always be content
to write novels-that the search for
the meaning of life would not long
remain kind of literary activity
but would become an obsession to
which everything would be sacri-
feed. 1t was wonderful example
of Dostoievsky's insight, but we
now-after the event-can see the
grounds for it.-From the London
Times.
Tolstoy Seeking the Truth.
w ELL. many of his conclusions
w are not of any great i'm
portance. But what is of import
ance is the process by which he
gets to them. They are the results
of an immensely troubled, inn
mensely sincere striving for the
truth. Tolstoy's arguments are
truly arguments written in blood
and tears; they are poles asunder
from the facile deductions of the
merely intellectual debater. That
is why, although we can sometimes
ignore his conclusions, we can
never ignore his account of the
spiritual experiences on which
those conclusions were founded
We may not agree, for instance,
that Tolstoy's doctrine of non-re-
sistance to evil is practicable rule
of conduct, but we must profoundly
respect the passionate belief in the
soul Of man which led Tolstoy to
formulate his doctrine. And it may
well happen that even when we
most disagree with him We have to
admit that we are more shallow
and less sincere than he. We read
the late Tolstoy not for his intel
lectual conclusions and still less