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AMERICAN
MEN OF MIND
BY
BURTON E. STEVENSON
AUTHOR OF "A GUIDE TO BIOGRAPHY--MEN OF ACTION," "A SOLDIER OF
VIRGINIA," ETC.; COMPILER OF "DAYS AND DEEDS--POETRY," "DAYS AND
DEEDS--PROSE," ETC.
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1913
* * * * *
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
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Published, June, 1910
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[Illustration: LONGFELLOW]
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--"MEN OF MIND" 11
II.--WRITERS OF PROSE 19
Summary to Chapter II 49
III.--WRITERS OF VERSE 54
Summary to Chapter III 80
IV.--PAINTERS 85
Summary to Chapter IV 120
V.--SCULPTORS 125
Summary to Chapter V 154
VI.--THE STAGE 157
Summary to Chapter VI 182
VII.--SCIENTISTS AND EDUCATORS 186
Summary to Chapter VII 224
VIII.--PHILANTHROPISTS AND REFORMERS 231
Summary to Chapter VIII 286
IX.--MEN OF AFFAIRS 291
Summary to Chapter IX 324
X.--INVENTORS 327
Summary to Chapter X 371
INDEX 375
* * * * *
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING
PAGE
Longfellow _Frontispiece_
Hawthorne 28
Emerson 44
Greeley 48
Stuart 92
Booth 158
Agassiz 190
Eliot 216
Girard 232
Beecher 252
Wanamaker 314
Morse 336
* * * * *
CHAPTER I
"MEN OF MIND"
In the companion volume of this series, "Men of Action," the attempt was
made to give the essential facts of American history by sketching in
broad outline the men who made that history--the discoverers, pioneers,
presidents, statesmen, soldiers, and sailors--and describing the part
which each of them played.
It was almost like watching a great building grow under the hands of the
workmen, this one adding a stone and that one adding another; but there
was one great difference. For a building, the plans are made carefully
beforehand, worked out to the smallest detail, and followed to the
letter, so that every stone goes exactly where it belongs, and the work
of all the men fits together into a complete and perfect whole. But when
America was started, no one had more than the vaguest idea of what the
finished result was to be; indeed, many questioned whether any enduring
structure could be reared on a foundation such as ours. So there was
much useless labor, one workman tearing down what another had built,
and only a few of them working with any clear vision of the future.
The convention which adopted the Constitution of the United States may
fairly be said to have furnished the first plan, and George Washington
was the master-builder who laid the foundations in accordance with it.
He did more than that, for the plan was only a mere outline; so
Washington added such details as he found necessary, taking care always
that they accorded with the plan of the founders. He lived long enough
to see the building complete in all essential details, and to be assured
that the foundation was a firm one and that the structure, which is
called a Republic, _would_ endure.
All that has been done since his time has been to build on an addition
now and then, as need arose, and to change the ornamentation to suit the
taste of the day. At one time, it seemed that the whole structure might
be rent asunder and topple into ruins; but again there came a
master-builder named Abraham Lincoln, and with the aid of a million
devoted workmen who rallied to his call, he saved it.
There have been men, and there are men to-day, who would attack the
foundation were they permitted; but never yet have they got within
effective striking distance. Others there are who have marred the simple
and classic beauty of the building with strange excrescences. But these
are only temporary, and the hand of time will sweep them all away. For
the work of tearing down and building up is going forward to-day just as
it has always done; and the changes are sometimes for the better and
sometimes for the worse; but, on the whole, the building grows more
stately and more beautiful as the generations pass.
It was the work of the principal laborers on this mighty edifice which
we attempted to judge in "Men of Action," and this was a comparatively
easy task, because the work stands out concretely for all to see, and,
as far as essentials go, at least, we are all agreed as to what is good
work and what is bad. But the task which is attempted in the present
volume is a much more difficult one, for here we are called upon to
judge not deeds but thoughts--thoughts, that is, as translated into a
novel, or a poem, or a statue, or a painting, or a theory of the
universe.
Nobody has ever yet been able to devise a universal scale by which
thoughts may be measured, nor any acid test to distinguish gold from
dross in art and literature. So each person has to devise a scale of his
own and do his measuring for himself; he has to apply to the things he
sees and reads the acid test of his own intellect. And however imperfect
this measuring and testing may be, it is the only sort which has any
value for that particular person. In other words, unless you yourself
find a poem or a painting great, it isn't great for you, however critics
may extol it. So all the books about art and literature and music are of
value only as they improve the scale and perfect the acid test of the
individual, so that the former measures more and more correctly, and the
latter bites more and more surely through the glittering veneer which
seeks to disguise the dross beneath.
It follows from all this that, since there are nearly as many scales as
there are individuals, very few of them will agree exactly. Time,
however, has a wonderful way of testing thoughts, of preserving those
that are worthy, and of discarding those that are unworthy. Just how
this is done nobody has ever been able to explain; but the fact remains
that, somehow, a really great poem or painting or statue or theory lives
on from age to age, long after the other products of its time have been
forgotten. And if it is really great, the older it grows, the greater it
seems. Shakespeare, to his contemporaries, was merely an actor and
playwright like any one of a score of others; but, with the passing of
years, he has become the most wonderful figure in the world's
literature. Rembrandt could scarcely make a living with his brush,
industriously as he used it, and passed his days in misery, haunted by
his creditors and neglected by the public; to-day we recognize in him
one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Such instances are common
enough, for genius often goes unrecognized until its possessor is dead;
just as many men are hailed as geniuses by their contemporaries, and
promptly forgotten by the succeeding generation. The touchstone of time
infallibly separates the false and the true.
Unfortunately, to American literature and art no such test can be
applied, for they are less than a century old--scarcely out of swaddling
clothes. The greater portion of the product of our early years has long
since been forgotten; but whether any of that which remains is really
immortal will take another century or two to determine. So the only
tests we can apply at present are those of taste and judgment, and these
are anything but infallible.
Especially is this true of literature. Somebody announced, not long ago,
that "the foremost poet of a nation is that poet most widely read and
truly loved by it," and added that, in this respect, Longfellow was
easily first in America. No doubt many people will agree with this
dictum; and, indeed, the test of popularity is difficult to disregard.
But it is not at all a true test, as we can see easily enough if we
attempt to apply it to art, or to music, or to public affairs.
Popularity is no more a test of genius in a poet than in a statesman,
and when we remember how far astray the popular will has sometimes led
us in regard to politics, we may be inclined to regard with suspicion
its judgments in regard to literature.
The test of merit in literature is not so much wide appeal as
intelligent appeal; the literature which satisfies the taste and
judgment of cultured people is pretty certain to rank higher than that
which is current among the uncultured. And so with art. Consequently,
for want of something better, the general verdict of cultured people
upon our literature and art has been followed in these pages.
Two or three other classes of achievers have been grouped, for
convenience, in this volume--scientists and educators, philanthropists
and reformers, men of affairs, actors and inventors--and it may be
truly argued concerning some of them that they were more "men of
action," and less "men of mind" than many who were included in the
former volume. But all distinctions and divisions and classifications
are more or less arbitrary; and there is no intention, in this one, to
intimate that the "men of action" were not also "men of mind," or vice
versa. The division has been made simply for convenience.
These thumb-nail sketches are in no sense the result of original
research. The material needed has been gathered from such sources as are
available in any well-equipped public library. An attempt has been made,
however, to color the narrative with human interest, and to give it
consecutiveness, though this has sometimes been very hard to do. But,
even at the best, this is only a first book in the study of American art
and letters, and is designed to serve only as a stepping-stone to more
elaborate and comprehensive ones.
There are several short histories of American literature which will
prove profitable and pleasant reading. Mr. W. P. Trent's is written with
a refreshing humor and insight. The "American Men of Letters" series
gives carefully written biographies of about twenty-five of our most
famous authors--all that anyone need know about in detail. There is a
great mass of other material on the shelves of every public library,
which will take one as far as one may care to go.
But the important thing in literature is to know the man's work rather
than his life. If his work is sound and helpful and inspiring, his life
needn't bother us, however hopeless it may have been. The striking
example of this, in American literature, is Edgar Allan Poe, whose fame,
in this country, is just emerging from the cloud which his unfortunate
career cast over it. The life of the man is of importance only as it
helps you to understand his work. Most important of all is to create
within yourself a liking for good books and a power of telling good from
bad. This is one of the most important things in life, indeed; and Mr.
John Macy points the way to it in his "Child's Guide to Reading."
Only second to the power to appreciate good literature is the power to
appreciate good art. For the material in this volume the author is
indebted largely to the excellent monographs by Mr. Samuel Isham and Mr.
Lorado Taft on "American Painting," and "American Sculpture." There are
many, guides to the study of art, among the best of them being Mr.
Charles C. Caffin's "Child's Guide to Pictures," "American Masters of
Painting," "American Masters of Sculpture," and "How to Study Pictures";
Mr. John C. VanDyke's "How to Judge of a Picture," and "The Meaning of
Pictures," and Mr. John LaFarge's "Great Masters." In the study of art,
as of literature, you will soon find that America's place is as yet
comparatively unimportant.
For the chapter on "The Stage," Mr. William Winter's various volumes of
biography and criticism have been drawn upon, more especially with
reference to the actors of the "old school," which Mr. Winter admires
so deeply. There are a number of books, besides these, which make
capital reading--Clara Morris's "Life on the Stage," Joseph Jefferson's
autobiography, Stoddart's "Recollections of a Player," and Henry Austin
Clapp's "Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic," among them.
The material for the other chapters has been gathered from many sources,
none of which is important enough to be mentioned here. Appleton's
"Cyclopedia of American Biography" is a mine from which most of the
facts concerning any American, prominent twenty years or more ago, may
be dug; but it gives only the dry bones, so to speak. For more than that
you must go to the individual biographies in your public library.
If you live in a small town, the librarian will very probably be glad to
permit you to look over the shelves yourself, as well as to give you
such advice and direction as you may need. In the larger cities, this
is, of course, impossible, to say nothing of the fact that you would be
lost among the thousands of books on the shelves. But you will find a
children's librarian whose business and pleasure it is to help children
to the right books. If this book helps you to form the library habit,
and gives you an incentive to the further study of art and literature,
it will more than fulfill its mission.