_New Year’s Day_ (_The ’Seventies_):
“‘She was _bad_ ... always. They used to meet at the Fifth Avenue Hotel,’
said my mother, as if the scene of the offense added to the guilt of the
couple whose past she was revealing.”
Her son’s mind flashes back to an incident when he was a boy of twelve
watching, with older people, the rapid and unbecoming rush of folk from
the Fifth Avenue Hotel, which was on fire. With her admirable technique,
Mrs. Wharton at once slips quietly back to the incident itself, and
we follow Lizzie Hazeldean in her progress from the scene of so much
confusion—a flight, but a controlled flight. This story holds a surprise
for the reader, who will not be likely to surmise Mrs. Hazeldean’s
true feeling any more than Henry Prest did. The scene between these
two, meeting for the first time after Charles Hazeldean’s death, is
incomparably well done.
Surely these four novelettes will be read a half-century hence with as
much appreciation as today! For such work, for such New York primitives,
one feels there can be no false dawn. I have no doubt that the immediate
effect, only partly traceable to the presence in the background of some
of the same persons, like Mrs. Manson Mingot and Mr. Sillerton Jackson,
will be to set everyone to re-reading _The Age of Innocence_. Which
is entirely as it should be, for they will find that novel fresher,
livelier, more wistful and even more beautifully satisfactory today than
four years ago.
A NOTE ON EDITH WHARTON
For a full list of Edith Wharton’s books and for reference to several
important discussions of her work, see the chapter on her in either
_Authors of the Day_ or _American Nights Entertainment_.
_The Age of Innocence_ is a story of New York society in the ’Seventies.
It was published in 1920, receiving the Pulitzer Prize, awarded by
Columbia University, as the best American novel of its year (over
Sinclair Lewis’s _Main Street_). The four novelettes called _Old New
York_ were published in 1924 (separate volumes, or set) and are:
_False Dawn_ (_The ’Forties_)
_The Old Maid_ (_The ’Fifties_)
_The Spark_ (_The ’Sixties_)
_New Year’s Day_ (_The ’Seventies_)
20. Not Found Elsewhere
i
Certain books which have seemed not to drop naturally into the scheme
of my other chapters are to be discussed in this; but that does not
mean an entire lack of relation among them. I shall first say something
about books dealing with Europe; then something about books on American
subjects. Both these groups are mainly of an historical character. There
will then remain for our attention a few books of a somewhat diverse but
distinctive character.
Easily the most important of the European studies is promised in a
two-volume work by the Earl of Birkenhead with the title, _The Inner
History of British Politics, 1906-1922_, to appear early in 1925. The
author first came to general attention as Frederick E. Smith, an Ulster
lawyer. As Sir Frederick E. Smith he was Attorney-General under Mr. Lloyd
George and later, as Viscount Birkenhead, he was Lord High Chancellor.
When he retired from office with Lloyd George he was made an Earl. With
Sir Andrew Carson, he was generally held to have been responsible for the
gun-running in Ulster when an Irish civil war seemed in prospect in 1914;
and he does not disclaim the rôle.[90] On this and other accounts he is
in some quarters one of the best-hated men in British public life.
But he is also one of the most direct, uncompromising and candid. He is
also much more open in his disillusion than most English public men have
ventured to be—or actually were. None of the rosy colors of Mr. Lloyd
George’s auroral intellect have any place in Birkenhead’s thinking. His
literary style is the somewhat encumbered one of the lawyer; but if it
is a little tortuous, it is precise, and leaves his meaning not vague.
His “Inner History” of events between 1906 and 1922 will be most bitterly
attacked, as biased, partial, misrepresentative of men and purposes. But
the reader will do well to form his own judgment; and in any event it
will be necessary to wring from the attacks, as you wring water from a
cloth, the large amount of emotionalism with which they are certain to be
saturated.
Birkenhead has, of course, certain advantages in preparing his work.
Lloyd George has spoken in one book[91] and Asquith has given his account
of the pre-war period.[92] Various other actors in the striking political
events that began just before the Asquith Ministry and continued
until Mr. Lloyd George’s defeat have been heard from. The material at
Birkenhead’s disposal is far more complete than the record of history so
entirely contemporary has ever been.
Arthur Hamilton Gibbs is a brother of Philip Gibbs and of Cosmo
Hamilton.[93] At the beginning of the war he was just out of hospital
and had gone home to England to recuperate his strength. He was under
a strict injunction not to ride a horse for six months. In one month
he had enlisted as a private in the British Army and was training as
a cavalryman. After service in France he was commissioned, eventually
becoming Major Gibbs. He also saw a long period of that morale-destroying
inaction which was the lot of certain units sent to the Bulgarian front.
His final period, in France, coincided with the great German drive of
March, 1918.
Out of this experience he wrote a book, _Gun Fodder_, published in 1919,
when the world, in sheer reaction, wouldn’t look at a war book. Yet
Arthur Symons called _Gun Fodder_ one of the six best books about the
war. And people on this side, like Christopher Morley, who have a faculty
for personally discovering the exceptional book, read it and talked about
it. When _Gun Fodder_ was republished this year (1924) it took its place
as one of the very few books of war experience that will last—that have
lasted—for more than the war’s own hour.
It is the only war book I shall bring to your notice; but there are one
or two after-war books which deserve your attention. _The Awakening of
Italy: The Fascista Regeneration_, by Luigi Villari, will of course
actively interest those who may have read the chapter on Italy in
Charles H. Sherrill’s _The Purple or the Red_[94] but many will go to it
directly in an effort to grasp the significance of Mussolini and Fascism.
They will find a singularly clear and even luminous account, as little
encumbered with unfamiliar detail as a full account can be. But they will
also find a story full of drama, yet told without any of the rhetoric or
verbal excess and floridity which one might expect in a book on Italian
politics written by an Italian. Villari is frankly an admirer and
partisan of Fascism, and his opinion of Mussolini as a great leader is
plain-spoken; but he is neither a mere enthusiast nor an indiscriminating
historian. The defects of Fascism he records as he sees them. He does
not contend that there are not grave problems ahead of Italy. But, as he
says, “the mass of the people, both among the educated classes and the
ignorant, are more interested in results than in theories, and no one who
compares the state of Italy today with that of the days before Fascismo’s
advent to power can for a moment deny the enormous improvement in every
field. ‘Ora si vive,’ the people say, ‘mentre prima non si viveva piu.’
(‘Now we live, whereas before life was not possible.’)... One has the
feeling that the country is really moving forward rapidly and surely, and
shaking off the shackles of the bad traditions by which it had been bound
for centuries.”
The Prime Ministry of Ramsay MacDonald in Great Britain makes
particularly timely _An Outline of the British Labor Movement_, by Paul
Blanshard. This is a short history, just what its title states, an
“outline” conveying exactly what the American reader desires to know
about the British Labor Party. The author is a young American with
training in the field of social and political study. His book was written
from material gained in England and its authenticity is attested in the
introduction provided for it by Arthur Henderson, the Labor leader.
Tons of books have been written about Russia and sovietism; yet I
expect there will be general agreement with me when I say that only
one other man (now dead) was so qualified to write on the subject as
Leon Trotzky. There can certainly be no denying the high interest of
Leon Trotzky’s _Problems of Life_. The Soviet Minister of War gives a
pretty complete view of the new Russia from the inside. It will possibly
come as a surprise that the new Russia is more interested in home life,
recreations, literature and the arts than in economics and politics. From
the viewpoint of Trotzky, the foundation of the home rests on the mutual
attachment of husband and wife—as always—but must be secured by the
liberation of both in economic directions. Most especially must the wife
and mother be aided by communal kitchens and relief from the effective
slavery of cooking, washing, and other ordeals by fire and water. The ten
chapters of _Problems of Life_ are discussions of the problems deemed
vital in Russian reconstruction. Such chapter titles as “Not by Politics
Alone Does Man Thrive,” “Reconstruction Requires Introspection,” “From
the Old Family to the New,” and “Mind and Little Things” give the angle
of vision.
ii
I might as well confess frankly that I am fascinated by William A.
Ganoe’s _The History of the United States Army_. Therefore, if you feel
it necessary, discount by a percentage for enthusiasm what I may say.
These will still remain solid, incontestable merits. This is the first
history of our army ever to have been written; and it has been written
with a strong story sense, so that it reads like a story. It covers in
a single volume the whole period from 1775 to 1923. Dates have been
placed in the margin, and reference to sources are omitted so as not to
interrupt the reader. There is a chronological account of a soldier’s
life in the American Revolution, and the first picture of the period of
military decadence after the Revolution. The truth about General von
Steuben seems to have been arrived at for the first time. What the army
did and did not do in the War of 1812 is told. There is a good picture
of the life of the soldier in peace times, when he becomes the nation’s
most important builder. The view of the Civil War is somewhat new and
certainly impartial. For the first time, this book gives us a complete
account of our Indian wars in chronological shape.
I think there is a great deal of truth in the assertion that one cannot
know American history without having read this book. Much that has
heretofore been withheld from general knowledge is told for the first
time. And there are picturesque matters which are far from being affairs
of general knowledge—for example, the fact that the construction of the
Union Pacific Railroad was due to the army and army training, or the fact
that General Winfield Scott, single-handed, saved the country three times
from war.
Who is William A. Ganoe? A West Pointer commissioned in the regular army
in 1907 who has served in Cuba, Hawaii, and various parts of the United
States. He was instructor, and afterward assistant professor of English,
and finally adjutant for four years at West Point. He was in command
of a company in the first series of training camps when we entered the
war, and head of a board of officers formed to edit the Infantry Drill
Regulations after the war. He is now head of the military history section
at the U. S. Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He has written
for the Atlantic Monthly (“Ruggs—R.O.T.C.”), Scribner’s, and the Yale
Review. He has, of course, had access to various records and historical
confirmations not available to the non-army writer.
_A History of the United States Navy_ had already been written by
Edgar Stanton Maclay, and readers will welcome Mr. Maclay’s _A History
of American Privateers_, which truly supplements the earlier work. For
during the Revolution the number of privateers was about four times
that of regular naval vessels; and the part played by the privateer in
the War of 1812 has never been minimized by any historian. From before
the Revolution to after the War of 1812 hundreds of respected men made
their livings—and their fortunes—by sailing as licensed pirates with
full powers to capture any ships of unfriendly countries. Men who were
unable to go bought shares in the privateers and often, when a rich
prize was captured, reaped an incredible dividend. So slight was the
difference in practice between privateering and plain piracy, so enormous
was the profit in both, that it is not surprising to learn that every
once in a while a privateersman, having waited in vain for a “lawful”
prey, attacked a ship of his own nation, or any first comer. The classic
instance is that of Captain Kidd, sent out as a privateersman, hung as a
pirate.
It goes without saying that Mr. Maclay’s book is romantic; it couldn’t be
anything else. Its interest is equally the interest of authentic history
and daring adventure; its value always that of fact. There are plenty of
books giving the history of our merchant marine; Mr. Maclay had done a
history of the navy; here he has filled the gap between by telling what
is perhaps the most exciting story of the three.
iii
If there is one thing more important than the American Constitution, it
is the United States Supreme Court. Charles Warren, formerly assistant
Attorney-General of the United States, and author of _A History of the
American Bar_, is a person with a remarkable capacity for hard work in
research. He has that other priceless gift, the ability to digest what
he has learned and to present it clearly but without the sacrifice of
opulence. For this double reason his _The Supreme Court in United States
History_, occupying to some extent the same field as Beveridge’s _Life
of John Marshall_, is the only work worthy to be put beside Senator
Beveridge’s masterpiece. The award of the $2,000 Pulitzer Prize for the
year’s best book on the history of the United States, made annually or
less often by Columbia University, quite naturally fell to Mr. Warren
after publication of his three-volume history. “This book,” Mr. Warren
says in his preface, “is not a law book. It is a narrative of that
section of our national history connected with the Supreme Court, and
is written for laymen and lawyers alike. As words are but ‘the skin of
a living thought,’ so law cases as they appear in the law reports are
but the dry bones of very vital social, political and economic contests.
This book is an attempt to restore, in some degree, their contemporary
surroundings to the important cases decided by the Supreme Court.”
In other words, this is the first history of the one most tremendous
factor in American government, and it is written from a non-legal
standpoint. After its publication Chief Justice William H. Taft and
Justices Day, Van Devanter, McReynolds and Clarke joined by personal
letters of praise the great voice of critical commendation which was
heard from all over the country. Chief Justice Taft spoke particularly of
the enormous labor involved in the reading of early American newspapers,
necessary if Mr. Warren were to get the contemporary view and feeling on
Supreme Court decisions. “I consider that you have put the profession,
and indeed the whole country, under a heavy debt,” the Chief Justice
concluded. But I submit that Mr. Warren’s perfect readability is the
chief item of our indebtedness.
I spoke of the Constitution: books upon it are much in demand these days.
One which has had a wide sale and praise from high sources is Thomas
James Norton’s _The Constitution of the United States: Its Sources and
Its Application_. Mr. Norton writes for the layman and his book has had
a somewhat extensive use in Americanization work. One of those heartiest
in praise of it has been the Hon. James M. Beck, Solicitor General of
the United States, who says: “I know of no book which so completely and
coherently explains our form of government, and I hope, indeed, for the
welfare of our country that it may have the wide circulation which it
so richly merits.” The generosity of this is the more appreciable when
we consider that Mr. Beck’s own book, _The Constitution of the United
States_, appearing about the same time, and founded on his Gray’s Inn
lectures in London, was in more or less degree a rival for readers’
attention. But it is apparent that people read, if they read at all,
not one but several books on the Constitution; for Mr. Beck’s volume,
rewritten and considerably expanded, is just being republished as _The
Constitution of the United States: Yesterday, Today—Tomorrow?_
James Myers’s _Representative Government in Industry_ and Sterling
Denhard Spero’s _The Labor Movement in a Government Industry_ are volumes
that, because of their specialized character, are more related to Mr.
Blanshard’s _An Outline of the British Labor Movement_. But they are
both on American subjects. Mr. Myers is executive secretary of the board
of operatives of the Dutchess Bleachery, Inc., at Wappingers Falls,
New York. This bleachery is an “industrial democracy,” or partnership
enterprise, operated by the employees. Mr. Myers’s book has therefore
a great advantage over most books of its sort: it records an actual
experiment in successful operation, not somebody’s theories as to what
ought to work. Mr. Spero’s book is adequately described by its subtitle,
“a study of employee organization in the Postal Service.” After a short
survey of unionism in the civil service, Mr. Spero gives the full record
of its history among the United States postal employees. The book is not
propaganda for any organization or group, but the work of an impartial
historian with no axe to grind.
Are new books on Lincoln justified? Yes. We are only beginning to get
those of enduring value, aside from certain contemporary records. “The
Lincoln papers, rich in letters to Lincoln, many of them quite as
important to the biographer as those written by him, have not yet been
released, nor will they be available for a number of years,” points
out Daniel Kilham Dodge, in the preface to his _Abraham Lincoln—Master
of Words_, “and the Hay Diary, a source of the utmost importance, is
still in manuscript form, to be consulted only by special permission
of the Harvard Library authorities.” These are only two of the known
important items. Mr. Dodge’s own new book is entirely confined to one
phase of Lincoln’s life, though a phase of the greatest interest. Was
he an orator? Was the Gettysburg address composed briefly on the train,
in effect an impromptu? Just what was Lincoln’s genius for effective
utterance?
Mr. Dodge has uncovered some interesting facts, and brought others into
valuable juxtaposition. Lincoln was no natural born orator. All his life
he was unable to make an extempore speech. On the day Richmond fell,
Lincoln dispersed an enthusiastic crowd before the White House, telling
them to come the next day when he would have a speech ready. He kept his
promise. It was his last speech before his assassination.
The young Lincoln modeled himself on Henry Clay. His earliest speeches
often contained the purple patches not entirely dissociable from
Southern oratory. The Lincoln humor, notorious in conversation, was
extremely rare in his speeches; another evidence that when he spoke his
words were studied. He simply could not express himself gracefully—or
effectively—on short notice. The evidence is that the Gettysburg address
was as carefully prepared as anything else. Mr. Dodge has made an onerous
examination of contemporary newspapers and sources to find out if anyone
really did perceive the speech’s classic line and immense stature. Only
about three voices were raised in acclaim.
_Abraham Lincoln—Master of Words_ is worth adding to the Lincoln shelf.
But its lesson is distinctly that such eloquence as Lincoln had came from
toil and care and thought—perhaps was achieved only because, so often,
the need for utmost sincerity in expression, the grave consequence of an
issue impending, came to his aid.
iv
It was Edmond Rostand who once said that the only Vice was inactivity
(_l’inertie_), the only virtue, enthusiasm. Douglas Fairbanks long ago
adopted this as his watchword. But enthusiasm is peculiarly a trait of
youth. How keep this youthful enthusiasm? The answer to this question
is the whole subject of Fairbanks’s new book, _Youth Points the Way_.
“You may have all the machinery for a successful life,” says the actor,
“education, health, intellect, and still fail to find the true zest in
life because your machinery lacks the vital electric spark—enthusiasm.”
It is necessary to think hard, work hard, play hard and live
enthusiastically. Fresh air and exercise are “the only medicine I ever
take.” Mr. Fairbanks rises in time to see the sun rise and chases his
breakfast to the top of a California mountain. “Keep in motion; that is
the main thing, and it matters little whether you do stunts on a flying
ring or only chin yourself on an upper berth.”
How is a young man to get a start in life? That, Douglas Fairbanks says,
depends entirely on what sort of a person he is; but one thing he must
do, “dive in.” Fairbanks himself, on graduating from college, borrowed a
thousand dollars and went to Europe. His start in life came through the
strenuous way he had to work to pay that money back.
_Youth Points the Way_ is the book of a man who has kept in motion and
who believes that to cease moving is to die. Some people stop after
failure, some after success. Fairbanks says that either is fatal.
Were he writing a scientific treatise, and not a popular, partly
autobiographical, inspirational book with many anecdotes and considerable
humor, he could find very important evidence in the work of physicists,
physiologists, and others to prove that he is right.
Perhaps you think that so much motion will disturb your blood pressure
(of which you have heard a good deal, and about which you are secretly
worried at times). Well, no; at least, only beneficially. If you would
like to know the truth about blood pressure—the subject of much ignorance
and much uninformed discussion—you may as well read the new book by
Lewellys F. Barker, M.D., LL.D., and Norman Brown Cole, M.D. Although
Drs. Barker and Cole are members of the Johns Hopkins faculty, their
book is equally serviceable for the physician and the general reader.
Technical expressions are avoided, and a very complete glossary helps the
ordinary reader where a medical name must be used for exactness. But the
book should remove all sorts of misconceptions. Blood pressure is just as
normal as breathing. It has certain general averages related to age and
condition; marked departures from these are the danger signal. Heredity,
the wear and tear of modern life, the use of alcohol, tobacco and coffee
may produce exceptional blood pressures. Development of high blood
pressure is a process rather than a disease; the symptoms develop rather
late in its course; and preventive measures must be taken early. _Blood
Pressure_ gives, in plain, comprehensible English, the information that
anyone interested in longevity, or even in normal length of life, would
like to have.
v
About 500 years ago there lived a Turk named Nasr-ed-Din, which means
“Victory of the Faith.” He became a teacher and a magistrate in the
district of Angora. As a teacher he was called “Khoja,” which means
“Teacher” and is a title of respect and honor. He was the author of a
series of Æsop-like fables which have come down as perhaps the most
authentic and indigenous piece of Turkish literature. There is not much
Turkish literature which is not an imitation of, or a borrowing from,
Persian or Arabic. _The Khoja_, or Nasr-ed-Din’s stories, is today as
popular and as universally read and repeated as ever.