Evening star., 1928-01-29

: He vas simple. unaffected quiet. gen.
uine. and | felt that ne would have
mmcasurable sympathy for any one IN
sorrow or trouble. My previous belief,
. that his peSSiualsm was caused BY sym
. pathy for others was strengthened by
talking with him
The dawn Of the twentieth century
found Thomas Hardy without q living
rival among English writer's. Bv COM
mon consent he stood first He re-
ccived all kinds of honorS. university
degrees. medals. and the highest dis
tinction OF all the Order OF Merit
H won everything winnable except
The Nobel prise. and III my opinion his
friends did him q diSSeryioe ny brtneinG
his name up publicly every wear II
the Nobel Prize were granted merely
for literary distinction he might have
received 1t long ago but, like the
Pulitgcr prizes In this country, the
Nobel Prize must BE- given to work o!
an idealstic and uplifting character.
Now. although there is not the slight
est doubt of uardv'S literary em.n-ncc,
or Of the sincerity. ucauty and nobility
cf his character. his philosophical views
we're atheistic ana ps>sim'Stic say
this moi as an accusation but as an ac~
curate description
lie sincerely believed that God was
an IT With TO moral characteristics
and that men and women would have
been happier and better on /! they had
not had minds, bui had possessed only
the senses of the lower animals, and
how far aStray his theories led him aS
IN the actual conditions OF modern HE
may he seen by the following extract
from The Return ~ the Native
The view of life as a thing 10 be
pat mp with rep!acins the aeSt Tor eN-
istcnce which WAS So intense IN early
Civilizations, must ultimately enter so
thoroughlS into the constitution OF the
advanced lace that It's facial express
sion viii become accepted AS new
artistic departure
F.tty wears ago Nit Hardy thought
and said that extraordinary thing and
today Sinclair Lewis and host NJ imls
tatOrS ftei II necessary to rebukr mod.
Arn men Tor thriv extreme locularitv and
self satisfaction anu sest III liIc II
should also be- remembered that that
profound scholar III the Science Of So
riety. Prof " q Sumner said 1t was
tallarv to suppose that primitive races
Nere happier than otuS They were the
absolute peSSimtsts. In Patagonia the
sunrise used to b. greeted by universal
waiting. everybody III the community
telt 81 bad because another day had
daNned
MI hardy would have had Sreat re-
Spect tar The ntelltsenCe ~ those n1"'
pie II any church memhar to-day who
helieved in nod and entoyed lie as the
converted Se,ooge vnto>ed II should
: have the same respect tog hardN'S oplhs
hons as he had for his art, he would IN
stantiy he obliged To gite up hts ehhrh,
! his ieiia,an, his God, his hope, hs7
faith III either this Tie or the heNt
H. II any Vondel that Hardy, WITH all
his artistic genius sud with all hiS sim
etrltN, failed II gel the Nobel rtia9H
tnNF ut the mast remarkable things
about his lons nta Is that he al
! tanned emlnenee IN four Kinds of ART
lie was successful aud prise wlnnlna
atehitect lie hecaiNe the tutehast h\lng
! Epali~h novelist the last ot ths gteat
Nlctorlans and IL eutolled permanently
an Tar es Ne can see VITA hekvliS,
Jane Austen aud Fielding he heeame
ene 1T the leadtns English poets o the
tNeuiteth eeplnlN, his epte tragSdN 81
TIA kapaisaAte NAts lhA tNosNtN.