,,the ,,relation ,,of ,,literature ,,to 
,,life  ,by ,charles ,dudley ,warner    
,,contents3  ,,biographical ,,sketch    
,,by ,,thomas ,r4 ,,lounsbury4 ,,the    
,,relation ,,of ,,literature ,,to ,,life
     ,,biographical ,,sketch  ,the      
county of ,franklin in ,northwestern    
,massachusetts1 if not rivaling in      
certain ways the adjoining ,berkshire1  
has still a romantic beauty of its own4 
,in the former half of the nineteenth   
century its population was largely given
 up to the pursuit of agriculture1      
though not under altogether favorable   
conditions4 ,manufactures had not yet   
invaded the region either to add to its 
wealth or to defile its streams4 ,the   
villages were small1 the roads pretty   
generally wretched save in summer1 and  
from many of the fields the most        
abundant crop that could be gathered was
 that of stones4  ,the character of the 
people conformed in many ways to that of
 the soil4 ,the houses which lined the  
opposite sides of the single street1 of 

which the petty places largely          
consisted1 as well as the dwellings     
which dotted the country1 were the homes
 of men who possessed in fullness many  
of the features1 good and bad1 that     
characterized the ,puritan stock to     
which they belonged4 ,there was a good  
deal of religion in these rural         
communities and occasionally some       
culture4 ,still1 as a rule1 it must be  
confessed1 there would be found in them 
much more of plain living than of high  
thinking4 ,broad thinking could hardly  
be said to exist at all4 ,by the        
dwellers in that region ,easter had     
scarcely even been heard of2 ,christmas 
was tolerated after a fashion1 but was  
nevertheless looked upon with a good    
deal of suspicion as a ,popish          
invention4 ,in the beliefs of these men 
several sins not mentioned in the       
decalogue took really1 if unconsciously1
 precedence of those which chanced to be
 found in that list4 ,dancing was       
distinctly immoral2 card-playing led    

directly to gambling with all its       
attendant evils2 theatre-going          
characterized the conduct of the more   
disreputable denizens of great cities4  
,fiction was not absolutely forbidden2  
but the most lenient regarded it as a   
great waste of time1 and the boy who    
desired its solace on any large scale   
was under the frequent necessity of     
seeking the seclusion of the haymow4    
,but however rigid and stern the beliefs
 of men might be1 nature was there      
always charming1 not only in her summer 
beauty1 but even in her wildest winter  
moods4 ,narrow1 too1 as might be the    
views of the members of these           
communities about the conduct of life1  
there was ever before the minds of the  
best of them an ideal of devotion to    
duty1 an earnest all-pervading moral    
purpose which implanted the feeling that
 neither personal success nor pleasure  
of any sort could ever afford even      
remotely compensation for the neglect of
 the least obligation which their       

situation imposed4 ,it was no misfortune
 for any one1 who was later to be       
transported to a broader horizon and    
more genial air1 to have struck the     
roots of his being in a soil where men  
felt the full sense of moral            
responsibility for everything said or   
done1 and where the conscience was      
almost as sensitive to the suggestion of
 sin as to its actual accomplishment4   
,it was amidst such surroundings that   
,charles ,dudley ,warner was born on the
 #abth of ,september1 #ahbi4 ,his       
birthplace was the hill town of         
,plainfield1 over two thousand feet     
above the level of the sea4 ,his father1
 a farmer1 was a man of cultivation1    
though not college-bred4 ,he died when  
his eldest son had reached the age of   
five1 leaving to his widow the care of  
two children4 ,three years longer the   
family continued to remain on the farm4 
,but however delightful the scenery of  
the country might be1 its aesthetic     
attractions did not sufficiently        

counterbalance its agricultural         
disadvantages4 ,furthermore1 while the  
summers were beautiful on this high     
table land1 the winters were long and   
dreary in the enforced solitude of a    
thinly settled region4 ,in consequence1 
the farm was sold after the death of the
 grandfather1 and the home broken up4   
,the mother with her two children1 went 
to the neighboring village of           
,charlemont on the banks of the         
,deerfield4 ,there the elder son took up
 his residence with his guardian and    
relative1 a man of position and         
influence in the community1 who was the 
owner of a large farm4 ,with him he     
stayed until he was twelve years old1   
enjoying all the pleasures and doing all
 the miscellaneous jobs of the kind     
which fall to the lot of a boy brought  
up in an agricultural community4  ,the  
story of this particular period of his  
life was given by ,warner in a work     
which was published about forty years   
later4 ,it is the volume entitled ,being

 a ,boy4 ,nowhere has there been drawn a
 truer or more vivid picture of rural   
,new ,england4 ,nowhere else can there  
be found such a portrayal of the sights 
and sounds1 the pains and pleasures of  
life on a farm as seen from the point of
 view of a boy4 ,here we have them all  
graphically represented3 the daily      
chores that must be looked after2 the   
driving of cows to and from the pasture2
 the clearing up of fields where        
vegetation struggled with difficulty    
against the prevailing stones2 the      
climbing of lofty trees and the swaying 
back and forth in the wind on their     
topmost boughs2 the hunting of          
woodchucks2 the nutting excursions of   
,november days1 culminating in the      
glories of ,thanksgiving2 the romance of
 school life1 over which vacations1 far 
from being welcomed with delight1 cast a
 gloom as involving extra work2 the cold
 days of winter with its deep or        
drifting snows1 the mercury of the      
thermometer clinging with fondness to   

zero1 even when the sun was shining     
brilliantly2 the long chilling nights in
 which the frost carved fantastic       
structures on the window-panes2 the     
eager watching for the time when the sap
 would begin to run in the sugar-maples2
 the evenings given up to reading1 with 
the inevitable inward discontent at     
being sent to bed too early2 the longing
 for the mild days of spring to come1   
when the heavy cowhide boots could be   
discarded1 and the boy could rejoice at 
last in the covering for his feet which 
the ,lord had provided4 ,these and      
scores of similar descriptions fill up  
the picture of the life furnished here4 
,it was nature's own school wherein was 
to be gained the fullest intimacy with  
her spirit4 ,while there was much which 
she could not teach1 there was also much
 which she alone could teach4 ,from his 
communion with her the boy learned      
lessons which the streets of crowded    
cities could never have imparted4  ,at  
the age of twelve this portion of his   

education came to an end4 ,the family   
then moved to ,cazenovia in ,madison    
county in ,central ,new ,york1 from     
which place ,warner's mother had come1  
and where her immediate relatives then  
resided4 ,until he went to college this 
was his home4 ,there he attended a      
preparatory school under the direction  
of the ,methodist ,episcopal ,church1   
which was styled the ,oneida ,conference
 ,seminary4 ,it was at this institution 
that he fitted mainly for college2 for  
to college it had been his father's     
dying wish that he should go1 and the   
boy himself did not need the spur of    
this parting injunction4 ,a college near
 his home was the excellent one of      
,hamilton in the not distant town of    
,clinton in the adjoining county of     
,oneida4 ,thither he repaired in #ahdh1 
and as he had made the best use of his  
advantages1 he was enabled to enter the 
sophomore class4 ,he was graduated in   
#ahea4  ,but while fond of study he had 
all these years been doing something    

besides studying4 ,the means of the     
family were limited1 and to secure the  
education he desired1 not only was it   
necessary to husband the resources he   
possessed1 but to increase them in every
 possible way4 ,warner had all the      
,american boy's willingness to undertake
 any occupation not in itself           
discreditable4 ,hence to him fell a full
 share of those experiences which have  
diversified the early years of so many  
men who have achieved success4 ,he set  
up type in a printing office2 he acted  
as an assistant in a bookstore2 he      
served as clerk in a post-office4 ,he   
was thus early brought into direct      
contact with persons of all classes and 
conditions of life4  ,the experience    
gave to his keenly observant mind an    
insight into the nature of men which was
 to be of special service to him in     
later years4 ,further1 it imparted to   
him a familiarity with their opinions   
and hopes and aspirations which enabled 
him to understand and sympathize with   

feelings in which he did not always     
share4  ,during the years which         
immediately followed his departure from 
college1 ,warner led the somewhat       
desultory and apparently aimless life of
 many ,american graduates whose future  
depends upon their own exertions and    
whose choice of a career is mainly      
determined by circumstances4 ,from the  
very earliest period of his life he had 
been fond of reading4 ,it was an        
inherited taste4 ,the few books he found
 in his childhood's home would have been
 almost swept out of sight in the       
torrent1 largely of trash1 which pours  
now in a steady stream into the humblest
 household4 ,but the books1 though few1 
were of a high quality2 and because they
 were few they were read much1 and their
 contents became an integral part of his
 intellectual equipment4 ,furthermore1  
these works of the great masters1 with  
which he became familiar1 set for him a 
standard by which to test the value of  
whatever he read1 and saved him even in 

his earliest years from having his taste
 impaired and his judgment misled by the
 vogue of meretricious productions which
 every now and then gain popularity for 
the time4 ,they gave him also a distinct
 bent towards making literature his     
profession4 ,but literature1 however    
pleasant and occasionally profitable as 
an avocation1 was not to be thought of  
as a vocation4 ,few there are at any    
period who have succeeded in finding it 
a substantial and permanent support2 at 
that time and in this country such a    
prospect was practically hopeless for   
any one4 ,it is no matter of surprise1  
therefore1 that ,warner1 though often   
deviating from the direct path1 steadily
 gravitated toward the profession of    
law4  ,still1 even in those early days  
his natural inclination manifested      
itself4 ,the ,knickerbocker ,magazine   
was then the chosen organ to which all  
young literary aspirants sent their     
productions4 ,to it even in his college 
days ,warner contributed to some extent1

 though it would doubtless be possible  
now to gather out of this collection but
 few pieces which1 lacking his own      
identification1 could be assigned to him
 positively4 ,at a later period he      
contributed articles to ,putnam's       
,magazine1 which began its existence in 
#ahec4 ,warner himself at one time1 in  
that period of struggle and uncertainty1
 expected to become an editor of a      
monthly which was to be started in      
,detroit4 ,but before the magazine was  
actually set on foot the inability of   
the person who projected it to supply   
the necessary means for carrying it on  
prevented the failure which would       
inevitably have befallen a venture of   
that sort1 undertaken at that time and  
in that place4 ,yet he showed in a way  
the native bent of his mind by bringing 
out two years after his graduation from 
college a volume of selections from     
,english and ,american authors entitled 
,the ,book of ,eloquence4 ,this work a  
publisher many years afterward took     

advantage of his later reputation to    
reprint4  ,this unsettled period of his 
life lasted for several years4 ,he was  
resident for a while in various places4 
,part of the time he seems to have been 
in ,cazenovia2 part of the time in ,new 
,york2 part of the time in the ,west4   
,one thing in particular there was which
 stood in the way of fixing definitely  
his choice of a profession4 ,this was   
the precarious state of his health1 far 
poorer then than it was in subsequent   
years4 ,warner1 however1 was never at   
any period of his life what is called   
robust4 ,it was his exceeding temperance
 in all things which enabled him to     
venture upon the assumption and succeed 
in the accomplishment of tasks which    
men1 physically far stronger than he1   
would have shrunk from under-taking1    
even had they been possessed of the same
 abilities4 ,but his condition1 part of 
that time1 was such that it led him to  
take a course of treatment at the       
sanatorium in ,clifton ,springs4 ,it    

became apparent1 however1 that life in  
the open air1 for a while at least1 was 
the one thing essential4 ,under the     
pressure of this necessity he secured a 
position as one of an engineering party 
engaged in the survey of a railway in   
,missouri4 ,in that occupation he spent 
a large part of #ahec and #ahed4 ,he    
came back from this expedition restored 
to health4 ,with that result            
accomplished1 the duty of settling      
definitely upon what he was to do became
 more urgent4 ,among other things he    
did1 while living for a while with his  
uncle in ,binghamton1 ,n4 ,y41 he       
studied law in the office of ,daniel ,s4
 ,dickinson4  ,in the ,christmas season 
of #ahed he went with a friend on a     
visit to ,philadelphia and stayed at the
 house of ,philip ,m4 ,price1 a         
prominent citizen of that place who was 
engaged1 among other things1 in the     
conveyancing of real estate4 ,it will   
not be surprising to any one who knew   
the charm of his society in later life  

to be told that he became at once a     
favorite with the older man4 ,the latter
 was advanced in years1 he was anxious  
to retire from active business4 ,acting 
under his advice1 ,warner was induced to
 come to ,philadelphia in #ahee and join
 him1 and to form subsequently a        
partnership in legal conveyancing with  
another young man who had been employed 
in ,mr4 ,price's office4 ,thus came into
 being the firm of ,barton and ,warner4 
,their headquarters were first in       
,spring ,garden ,street and later in    
,walnut ,street4 ,the future soon became
 sufficiently assured to justify ,warner
 in marriage1 and in ,october1 #ahef1 he
 was wedded to ,susan ,lee1 daughter of 
,william ,elliott ,lee of ,new ,york    
,city4  ,but though in a business allied
 to the law1 ,warner was not yet a      
lawyer4 ,his occupation indeed was only 
in his eyes a temporary makeshift while 
he was preparing himself for what was to
 be his real work in life4 ,therefore1  
while supporting himself by carrying on 

the business of conveyancing1 he        
attended the courses of study at the law
 department of the ,university of       
,pennsylvania1 during the academic years
 of #ahef-eg and #aheg-eh4 ,from that   
institution he received the degree of   
bachelor of law in #aheh--often         
misstated #ahef--;and was ready to begin
 the practice of his1 profession4  ,in  
those days every young man of ability   
and ambition was counseled to go ,west  
and grow up with the country1 and was   
not unfrequently disposed to take that  
course of his own accord4 ,warner felt  
the general impulse4 ,he had            
contemplated entering1 in fact had      
pretty definitely made up his mind to   
enter1 into a law partnership with a    
friend in one of the smaller places in  
that region4 ,but on a tour1 somewhat of
 exploration1 he stopped at ,chicago4   
,there he met another friend1 and after 
talking over the situation with him he  
decided to take up his residence in that
 city4 ,so in #aheh the law-firm of     

,davenport and ,warner came into being4 
,it lasted until #ahfj4 ,it was not     
exactly a favorable time for young men  
to enter upon the practice of this      
profession4 ,the country was just       
beginning to recover from the depression
 which had followed the disastrous panic
 of #aheg2 but confidence was as yet far
 from being restored4 ,the new firm did 
a fairly good business2 but while there 
was sufficient work to do1 there was but
 little money to pay for it4 ,still     
,warner would doubtless have continued  
in the profession had he not received an
 offer1 the acceptance of which         
determined his future and changed       
entirely his career4  ,hawley1 now      
,united ,states ,senator from           
,connecticut1 was ,warner's senior by a 
few years4 ,he had preceded him as a    
student at the ,oneida ,conference      
,seminary and at ,hamilton ,college4    
,practicing law in ,hartford1 he had    
started in #aheg1 in conjunction with   
other leading citizens1 a paper called  

the ,evening ,press4 ,it was devoted to 
the advocacy of the principles of the   
,republican party1 which was at that    
time still in what may be called the    
formative state of its existence4 ,this 
was a period in which for some years the
 dissolution had been going on of the   
two old parties which had divided the   
country4 ,men were changing sides and   
were aligning themselves anew according 
to their views on questions which were  
every day assuming greater prominence in
 the minds of all4 ,there was really but
 one great subject talked about or      
thought about4 ,it split into opposing  
sections the whole land over which was  
lowering the grim1 though as yet        
unrecognizable1 shadow of civil war4    
,the ,republican party had been in      
existence but a very few years1 but in  
that short time it had attracted to its 
ranks the young and enthusiastic spirits
 of the ,north1 just as to the other    
side were impelled the members of the   
same class in the ,south4 ,the          

intellectual contest which preceded the 
physical was stirring the hearts of all 
men4 ,hawley1 who was well aware of     
,warner's peculiar ability1 was anxious 
to secure his co-operation and          
assistance4 ,he urged him to come ,east 
and join him in the conduct of the new  
enterprise he had undertaken4  ,warner  
always considered that he derived great 
benefit from his comparatively limited  
study and practice of law2 and that the 
little time he had given up to it had   
been far from being misspent4 ,but the  
opening which now presented itself      
introduced him to a field of activity   
much more suited to his talents and his 
tastes4 ,he liked the study of law      
better than its practice2 for his early 
training had not been of a kind to      
reconcile him to standing up strongly   
for clients and causes that he honestly 
believed to be in the wrong4            
,furthermore1 his heart1 as has been    
said1 had always been in literature2 and
 though journalism could hardly be      

called much more than a half-sister1 the
 one could provide the support which the
 other could never promise with         
certainty4 ,so in #ahfj ,warner removed 
to ,hartford and joined his friend as   
associate editor of the newspaper he had
 founded4 ,the next year the war broke  
out4 ,hawley at once entered the army   
and took part in the four years'        
struggle4 ,his departure left ,warner in
 editorial charge of the paper1 into the
 conduct of which he threw himself with 
all the earnestness and energy of his   
nature1 and the ability1 both political 
and literary1 displayed in its columns  
gave it at once a high position which it
 never lost4  ,at this point it may be  
well to give briefly the few further    
salient facts of ,warner's connection   
with journalism proper4 ,in #ahfg the   
owners of the ,press purchased the      
,courant1 the well-known morning paper  
which had been founded more than a      
century before1 and consolidated the    
,press with it4 ,of this journal1       

,hawley and ,warner1 now in part        
proprietors1 were the editorial writers4
 ,the former1 who had been mustered out 
of the army with the rank of brevet     
,major-,general1 was soon diverted from 
journalism by other employments4 ,he was
 elected ,governor1 he became a member  
of ,congress1 serving successively in   
both branches4 ,the main editorial      
responsibility for the conduct of the   
paper devolved in consequence upon      
,warner1 and to it he gave up for years 
nearly all his thought and attention4   
,once only during that early period was 
his labor interrupted for any           
considerable length of time4 ,in ,may1  
#ahfh1 he set out on the first of his   
five trips across the ,atlantic4 ,he was
 absent nearly a year4 ,yet even then he
 cannot be said to have neglected his   
special work4 ,articles were sent weekly
 from the other side1 describing what he
 saw and experienced abroad4 ,his active
 connection with the paper he never gave
 up absolutely1 nor did his interest in 

it ever cease4 ,but after he became     
connected with the editorial staff of   
,harpers ,magazine the contributions he 
made to his journal were only occasional
 and what may be called accidental4     
,when #ahgj came1 forty years of        
,warner's life had gone by1 and nearly  
twenty years since he had left college4 
,during the latter ten years of this    
period he had been a most effective and 
forcible leader-writer on political and 
social questions1 never more so than    
during the storm and stress of the      
,civil ,war4 ,outside of these topics he
 had devoted a great deal of attention  
to matters connected with literature and
 art4 ,his varied abilities were fully  
recognized by the readers of the journal
 he edited4  ,but as yet there was      
little or no recognition outside4 ,it is
 no easy matter to tell what are the    
influences1 what the circumstances1     
which determine the success of a        
particular writer or of a particular    
work4 ,hitherto ,warner's repute was    

mainly confined to the inhabitants of a 
provincial capital and its outlying and 
dependent towns4 ,however cultivated the
 class to which his writings            
appealed--and as a class it was         
distinctly cultivated--their number was 
necessarily not great4 ,to the country  
at large what he did or what he was     
capable of doing was not known at all4  
,some slight efforts he had occasionally
 put forth to secure the publication of 
matter he had prepared4 ,he experienced 
the usual fate of authors who seek to   
introduce into the market literary wares
 of a new and better sort4 ,his         
productions did not follow conventional 
lines4 ,publishers were ready to examine
 what he offered1 and were just as ready
 to declare that these new wares were of
 a nature in which they were not        
inclined to deal4  ,but during #ahgj a  
series of humorous articles appeared in 
the ,hartford ,courant1 detailing his   
experiences in the cultivation of a     
garden4 ,warner had become the owner of 

a small place then almost on the        
outskirts of the city4 ,with the        
dwelling-house went the possession of   
three acres of land4 ,the opportunity   
thus presented itself of turning into a 
blessing the primeval curse of tilling  
the soil1 in this instance not with a   
hoe1 but with a pen4 ,these articles    
detailing his experiences excited so    
much amusement and so much admiration   
that a general desire was manifested    
that they should receive a more         
permanent life than that accorded to    
articles appearing in the columns of    
newspapers1 and should reach a circle   
larger than that to be found in the     
society of the ,connecticut capital4    
,warner's previous experience had not   
disposed him to try his fortunes with   
the members of the publishing           
fraternity4 ,in fact he did not lay so  
much stress upon the articles as did his
 readers and friends4 ,he always        
insisted that he had previously written 
other articles which in his eyes        

certainly were just as good as they1 if 
not better4  ,it so chanced that about  
this time ,henry ,ward ,beecher came to 
,hartford to visit his sister1 ,harriet 
,beecher ,stowe4 ,warner was invited to 
meet him4 ,in the course of the         
conversation the articles just mentioned
 were referred to by some one of those  
present4 ,beecher's curiosity was       
aroused and he expressed a desire to see
 them4 ,to him they were accordingly    
sent for perusal4 ,no sooner had he run 
through them than he recognized in them 
the presence of a rare and delicate     
humor which struck a distinctly new note
 in ,american literature4 ,it was       
something he felt which should not be   
confined to the knowledge of any limited
 circle4 ,he wrote at once to the       
publisher ,james ,t4 ,fields1 urging the
 production of these articles in book   
form4 ,beecher's recommendation in those
 days was sufficient to insure the      
acceptance of any book by any publisher4
 ,mr4 ,fields agreed to bring out the   

work1 provided the great preacher would 
prefix an introduction4 ,this he        
promised to do and did2 though in place 
of the somewhat more formal piece he was
 asked to write1 he sent what he called 
an introductory letter4  ,the series of 
papers published under the title of ,my 
,summer in a ,garden came out at the    
very end of #ahgj1 with the date of     
#ahga on the title-page4 ,the volume met
 with instantaneous success4 ,it was the
 subject of comment and conversation    
everywhere and passed rapidly through   
several editions4 ,there was a general  
feeling that a new writer had suddenly  
appeared1 with a wit and wisdom         
peculiarly his own1 precisely like which
 nothing had previously existed in our  
literature4 ,to the later editions of   
the work was added an account of a cat  
which had been presented to the author  
by the ,stowes4 ,for that reason it was 
given from the ,christian name of the   
husband of the novelist the title of    
,calvin4 ,to this ,john was sometimes   

prefixed1 as betokening from the purely 
animal point of view a certain          
resemblance to the imputed grimness and 
earnestness of the great reformer4      
,there was nothing in the least         
exaggerated in the account which ,warner
 gave of the character and conduct of   
this really remarkable member of the    
feline race4 ,no biography was ever     
truer2 no appreciation was ever more    
sympathetic2 and in the long line of    
cats none was ever more worthy to have  
his story truly and sympathetically     
told4 ,all who had the fortune to see   
,calvin in the flesh will recognize the 
accuracy with which his portrait was    
drawn4 ,all who read the account of him1
 though not having seen him1 will find  
it one of the most charming of          
descriptions4 ,it has the fullest right 
to be termed a cat classic4  ,with the  
publication of ,my ,summer in a ,garden 
,warner was launched upon a career of   
authorship which lasted without         
cessation during the thirty years that  

remained of his life4 ,it covered a wide
 field4 ,his interests were varied and  
his activity was unremitting4           
,literature1 art1 and that vast         
diversity of topics which are loosely   
embraced under the general name of      
social science--upon all these he had   
something fresh to say1 and he said it  
invariably with attractiveness and      
effect4 ,it mattered little what he set 
out to talk about1 the talk was sure to 
be full both of instruction and         
entertainment4 ,no sooner had the       
unequivocal success of his first        
published work brought his name before  
the public than he was besieged for     
contributions by conductors of          
periodicals of all sorts2 and as he had 
ideas of his own upon all sorts of      
subjects1 he was constantly furnishing  
matter of the most diverse kind for the 
most diverse audiences4  ,as a result1  
the volumes here gathered together      
represent but a limited portion of the  
work he accomplished4 ,all his life1    

indeed1 ,warner was not only an         
omnivorous consumer of the writings of  
others1 but a constant producer4 ,the   
manifestation of it took place in ways  
frequently known to but few4 ,it was not
 merely the fact that as an editor of a 
daily paper he wrote regularly articles 
on topics of current interest to which  
he never expected to pay any further    
attention2 but after his name became    
widely known and his services were in   
request everywhere1 he produced scores  
of articles1 some long1 some short1 some
 signed1 some unsigned1 of which he made
 no account whatever4 ,one looking      
through the pages of contemporary       
periodical literature is apt at any     
moment to light upon pieces1 and        
sometimes upon series of them1 which the
 author never took the trouble to       
collect4 ,many of those to which his    
name was not attached can no longer be  
identified with any approach to         
certainty4 ,about the preservation of   
much that he did--and some of it        

belonged distinctly to his best and most
 characteristic work--he was singularly 
careless1 or it may be better to say1   
singularly indifferent4  ,if ,i may be  
permitted to indulge in the recital of a
 personal experience1 there is one      
incident ,i recall which will bring out 
this trait in a marked manner4 ,once on 
a visit to him ,i accompanied him to the
 office of his paper4 ,while waiting for
 him to discharge certain duties there1 
and employing myself in looking over the
 exchanges1 ,i chanced to light upon a  
leading article on the editorial page of
 one of the most prominent of the ,new  
,york dailies4 ,it was devoted to the   
consideration of some recent utterances 
of a noted orator who1 after the actual 
mission of his life had been            
accomplished1 was employing the decline 
of it in the exploitation of every      
political and economic vagary which it  
had entered into the addled brains of   
men to evolve4 ,the article struck me as
 one of the most brilliant and          

entertaining of its kind ,i had ever    
read2 it was not long indeed before it  
appeared that the same view of it was   
taken by many others throughout the     
country4 ,the peculiar wit of the       
comment1 the keenness of the satire made
 so much of an impression upon me that  
,i called ,warner away from his work to 
look at it4 ,at my request he hastily   
glanced over it1 but somewhat to my     
chagrin failed to evince any enthusiasm 
about it4 ,on our way home ,i again     
spoke of it and was a good deal nettled 
at the indifference towards it which he 
manifested4 ,it seemed to imply that my 
critical judgment was of little value2  
and however true might be his conclusion
 on that point1 one does not enjoy      
having the fact thrust too forcibly upon
 the attention in the familiarity of    
conversation4 ,resenting therefore the  
tone he had assumed1 ,i took occasion   
not only to reiterate my previously     
expressed opinion somewhat more         
aggressively1 but also went on to       

insinuate that he was himself distinctly
 lacking in any real appreciation of    
what was excellent4 ,he bore with me    
patiently for a while4 ,well1 sonny1 he 
said at last1 since you seem to take the
 matter so much to heart1 ,i will tell  
you in confidence that ,i wrote the     
piece myself4 ,i found that this was not
 only true in the case just specified1  
but that while engaged in preparing     
articles for his own paper he           
occasionally prepared them for other    
journals4 ,no one besides himself and   
those immediately concerned1 ever knew  
anything about the matter4 ,he never    
asserted any right to these pieces1 he  
never sought to collect them1 though    
some of them exhibited his happiest vein
 of humor4 ,unclaimed1 unidentified1    
they are swept into that wallet of      
oblivion in which time stows the best as
 well as the worst of newspaper         
production4  ,the next volume of        
,warner's writings that made its        
appearance was entitled ,saunterings4   

,it was the first and1 though good of   
its kind1 was by no means the best of a 
class of productions in which he was to 
exhibit signal excellence4 ,it will be  
observed that of the various works      
comprised in this collective edition1 no
 small number consist of what by a wide 
extension of the phrase may be termed   
books of travel4 ,there are two or three
 which fall strictly under that         
designation4 ,most of them1 however1 can
 be more properly called records of     
personal experience and adventure in    
different places and regions1 with the  
comments on life and character to which 
they gave rise4  ,books of travel1 if   
they are expected to live1 are          
peculiarly hard to write4 ,if they come 
out at a period when curiosity about the
 region described is predominant1 they  
are fairly certain1 no matter how       
wretched1 to achieve temporary success4 
,but there is no kind of literary       
production to which1 by the very law of 
its being1 it is more difficult to      

impart vitality4 ,paradoxical as it may 
seem1 it is perfectly true that the     
greatest hinderance to their permanent  
interest is the information they        
furnish4 ,the more full1 specific and   
even accurate that is1 the more rapidly 
does the work containing it lose its    
value4 ,the fresher knowledge conveyed  
by a new1 and it may be much inferior   
book1 crowds out of circulation those   
which have gone before4 ,the changed or 
changing conditions in the region       
traversed renders the information       
previously furnished out of date and    
even misleading4 ,hence the older works 
come in time to have only an antiquarian
 interest4 ,their pages are consulted   
only by that very limited number of     
persons who are anxious to learn what   
has been and view with stolid           
indifference what actually is4          
,something of this transitory nature    
belongs to all sketches of travel4 ,it  
is the one great reason why so very few 
of the countless number of such works1  

written1 and sometimes written by men of
 highest ability1 are hardly heard of a 
few years after publication4 ,travels   
form a species of literary production in
 which great classics are exceedingly   
rare4  ,from this fatal characteristic1 
threatening the enduring life of such   
works1 most of ,warner's writings of    
this sort were saved by the method of   
procedure he followed4 ,he made it his  
main object not to give facts but       
impressions4 ,all details of exact      
information1 everything calculated to   
gratify the statistical mind or to      
quench the thirst of the seeker for     
purely useful information1 he was       
careful1 whether consciously or         
unconsciously1 to banish from those     
volumes of his in which he followed his 
own bent and felt himself under no      
obligation to say anything but what he  
chose4 ,hence these books are mainly a  
record of views of men and manners made 
by an acute observer on the spot1 and   
put down at the moment when the         

impression created was most vivid1 not  
deferred till familiarity had dulled the
 sense of it or custom had caused it to 
be disregarded4 ,take as an illustration
 the little book entitled ,baddeck1 one 
of the slightest of his productions in  
this field4 ,it purports to be and is   
nothing more than an account of a two   
weeks' tour made to a ,cape ,breton     
locality in company with the delightful 
companion to whom it was dedicated4 ,you
 take it up with the notion that you are
 going to acquire information about the 
whole country journeyed over1 you are   
beguiled at times with the fancy that   
you are getting it4 ,in the best sense  
it may be said that you do get it2 for  
it is the general impression of the     
various scenes through which the        
expedition leads the travelers that is  
left upon the mind1 not those accurate  
details of a single one of them which   
the lapse of a year might render        
inaccurate4 ,it is to the credit of the 
work therefore than one gains from it   

little specific knowledge4 ,in its place
 are the reflections both wise and witty
 upon life1 upon the characters of the  
men that are met1 upon the nature of the
 sights that are seen4  ,this is what   
constitutes the enduring charm of the   
best of these pictures of travel which  
,warner produced4 ,it is perhaps        
misleading to assert that they do not   
furnish a good deal of information4     
,still it is not the sort of information
 which the ordinary tourist gives and   
which the cultivated reader resents and 
is careful not to remember4 ,their      
dominant note is rather the quiet humor 
of a delightful story-teller1 who cannot
 fail to say something of interest      
because he has seen so much2 and who out
 of his wide and varied observation     
selects for recital certain sights he   
has witnessed1 certain experiences he   
has gone through1 and so relates them   
that the way the thing is told is even  
more interesting than the thing told4   
,the chief value of these works does not

 accordingly depend upon the accidental1
 which passes4 ,inns change and become  
better or worse4 ,facilities for        
transportation increase or decrease4    
,scenery itself alters to some extent   
under the operation of agencies brought 
to bear upon it for its own improvement 
or for the improvement of something     
else4 ,but man's nature remains a       
constant quantity4 ,traits seen here and
 now are sure to be met with somewhere  
else1 and even in ages to come4 ,hence  
works of this nature1 embodying         
descriptions of men and manners1 always 
retain something of the freshness which 
characterized them on the day of their  
appearance4  ,of these productions in   
which the personal element predominates1
 and where the necessity of intruding   
information is not felt as a burden1    
those of ,warner's works which deal with
 the ,orient take the first rank4 ,the  
two--,my ,winter on the ,nile and ,in   
the ,levant--constitute the record of a 
visit to the ,east during the years     

#ahge and #ahgf4  ,they would naturally 
have of themselves the most permanent   
value1 inasmuch as the countries        
described have for most educated men an 
abiding interest4 ,the lifelike         
representation and graphic              
characterization which ,warner was apt  
to display in his traveling sketches    
were here seen at their best1 because   
nowhere else did he find the task of    
description more congenial4 ,alike the  
gorgeousness and the squalor of the     
,orient appealed to his artistic        
sympathies4 ,egypt in particular had for
 him always a special fascination4      
,twice he visited it--at the time just  
mentioned and again in the winter of    
#ahha-hb4 ,he rejoiced in every effort  
made to dispel the obscurity which hung 
over its early history4 ,no one1 outside
 of the men most immediately concerned1 
took a deeper interest than he in the   
work of the ,egyptian ,exploration      
,society1 of which he was one of the    
,american vice-presidents4 ,to promoting

 its success he gave no small share of  
time and attention4 ,everything         
connected with either the past or the   
present of the country had for him an   
attraction4 ,a civilization which had   
been flourishing for centuries1 when the
 founder of ,israel was a wandering     
sheik on the ,syrian plains or in the   
hill-country of ,canaan2 the slow       
unraveling of records of dynasties of   
forgotten kings2 the memorials of       
,egypt's vanished greatness and the     
vision of her future prosperity these   
and things similar to these made this   
country1 so peculiarly the gift of the  
,nile1 of fascinating interest to the   
modern traveler who saw the same sights 
which had met the eyes of ,herodotus    
nearly twenty-five hundred years before4
  ,to the general public the volume     
which followed--,in the ,levant--was    
perhaps of even deeper interest4 ,at all
 events it dealt with scenes and        
memories with which every reader1       
educated or uneducated1 had             

associations4 ,the region through which 
the founder of ,christianity wandered1  
the places he visited1 the words he said
 in them1 the acts he did1 have never   
lost their hold over the hearts of men1 
not even during the periods when the    
precepts of ,christianity have had the  
least influence over the conduct of     
those who professed to it their         
allegiance4 ,in the ,levant1 too1 were  
seen the beginnings of commerce1 of art1
 of letters1 in the forms in which the  
modern world best knows them4 ,these1   
therefore1 have always made the lands   
about the eastern ,mediterranean an     
attraction to cultivated men and the    
interest of the subject accordingly     
reinforced the skill of the writer4     
,there are two or three of these works  
which can not be included in the class  
just described4 ,they were written for  
the specific purpose of giving exact    
information at the time4 ,of these the  
most noticeable are the volumes entitled
 ,south and ,west and the account of    

,southern ,california which goes under  
the name of ,our ,italy4 ,they are the  
outcome of journeys made expressly with 
the intent of investigating and         
reporting upon the actual situation and 
apparent prospects of the places and    
regions described4 ,as they were written
 to serve an immediate purpose1 much of 
the information contained in them tends 
to grow more and more out of date as    
time goes on2 and though of value to the
 student of history1 these volumes must 
necessarily become of steadily          
diminishing interest to the ordinary    
reader4 ,yet it is to be said of them   
that while the pill of useful           
information is there1 it has at least   
been sugar-coated4 ,nor can we afford to
 lose sight of the fact that the        
widely-circulated articles1 collected   
under the title of ,south and ,west1 by 
the spirit pervading them as well as by 
the information they gave1 had a marked 
effect in bringing the various sections 
of the country into a better            

understanding of one another1 and in    
imparting to all a fuller sense of the  
community they possessed in profit and  
loss1 in honor and dishonor4  ,it is a  
somewhat singular fact that these       
sketches of travel led ,warner          
incidentally to enter into an entirely  
new field of literary exertion4 ,this   
was novel-writing4 ,something of this   
nature he had attempted in conjunction  
with ,mark ,twain in the composition of 
,the ,gilded ,age1 which appeared in    
#ahgc4 ,the result1 however1 was        
unsatisfactory to both the              
collaborators4 ,each had humor1 but the 
humor of each was fundamentally         
different4 ,but the magazine with which 
,warner had become connected was        
desirous that he should prepare for it  
an account of some of the principal     
watering-places and summer resorts of   
the country4 ,each was to be visited in 
turn and its salient features were to be
 described4 ,it was finally suggested   
that this could be done most effectively

 by weaving into a love story           
occurrences that might happen at a      
number of these places which were made  
the subjects of description4 ,the       
principal characters were to take their 
tours under the personal conduct of the 
novelist4 ,they were to go to the       
particular spots selected ,north and    
,south1 according to the varying seasons
 of the year4 ,it was a somewhat novel  
way of1 visiting resorts of this nature2
 there are those to whom it will seem   
altogether more agreeable than would be 
the visiting of them in person4 ,hence  
appeared in #ahhf the articles which    
were collected later in the volume      
entitled ,their ,pilgrimage4  ,warner   
executed the task which had been        
assigned him with his wonted skill4 ,the
 completed work met with success--with  
so much success indeed that he was led  
later to try his fortune further in the 
same field and bring out the trilogy of 
novels which go under the names         
respectively of ,a ,little ,journey in  

the ,world1 ,the ,golden ,house1 and    
,that ,fortune4 ,each of these is       
complete in itself1 each can be read by 
itself2 but the effect of each and of   
the whole series can be best secured by 
reading them in succession4 ,in the     
first it is the story of how a great    
fortune was made in the stock market2 in
 the second1 how it was fraudulently    
diverted from the object for which it   
was intended2 and in the third1 how it  
was most beneficially and satisfactorily
 lost4 ,the scene of the last novel was 
laid in part in ,warner's early home in 
,charlemont4 ,these works were produced 
with considerable intervals of time     
between their respective appearances1   
the first coming out in #ahhi and the   
third ten years later4 ,this detracted  
to some extent from the popularity which
 they would have attained had the       
different members followed one another  
rapidly4 ,still1 they met with distinct 
success1 though it has always been a    
question whether this success was due so

 much to the story as to the shrewd     
observation and caustic wit which were  
brought to bear upon what was           
essentially a serious study of one side 
of ,american social life4  ,the work    
with which ,warner himself was least    
satisfied was his life of ,captain ,john
 ,smith1 which came out in #ahhha4 ,it  
was originally intended to be one of a  
series of biographies of noted men1     
which were to give the facts accurately 
but to treat them humorously4 ,history  
and comedy1 however1 have never been    
blended successfully1 though desperate  
attempts have occasionally been made to 
achieve that result4 ,warner had not    
long been engaged in the task before he 
recognized its hopelessness4 ,for its   
preparation it required a special study 
of the man and the period1 and the more 
time he spent upon the preliminary work1
 the more the humorous element tended to
 recede4 ,thus acted on by two impulses1
 one of a light and one of a grave      
nature1 he moved for a while in a sort  

of diagonal between the two to nowhere  
in particular2 but finally ended in     
treating the subject seriously4  ,in    
giving himself up to a biography in     
which he had no special interest1       
,warner felt conscious that he could not
 interest others4 ,his forebodings were 
realized4 ,the work1 though made from a 
careful study of original sources1 did  
not please him1 nor did it attract the  
public4 ,the attempt was all the more   
unfortunate because the time and toil he
 spent upon it diverted him from        
carrying out a scheme which had then    
taken full possession of his thoughts4  
,this was the production of a series of 
essays to be entitled ,conversations on 
,horseback4 ,had it been worked up as he
 sketched it in his mind1 it would have 
been the outdoor counterpart of his     
,backlog ,studies4 ,though in a measure 
based upon a horseback ride which he    
took in ,pennsylvania in #ahhj1 the     
incidents of travel as he outlined its  
intended treatment would have barely    

furnished the slightest of backgrounds4 
,captain ,john ,smith1 however1         
interfered with a project specially     
suited to his abilities and congenial to
 his tastes4 ,that he did so possibly   
led the author of his life to exhibit a 
somewhat hostile attitude towards his   
hero4 ,when the biography was finished1 
other engagements were pressing upon his
 attention4 ,the opportunity of taking  
up and completing the projected series  
of essays never presented itself1 though
 the subject lay in his mind for a long 
time and he himself believed that it    
would have turned out one of the best   
pieces of work he ever did4  ,it was    
unfortunate4 ,for to me--and very likely
 to many others if not to               
most--,warner's strength lay above all  
in essay-writing4 ,what he accomplished 
in this line was almost invariably      
pervaded by that genial grace which     
makes work of the kind attractive1 and  
he exhibited everywhere in it the       
delicate but sure touch which preserves 

the just mean between saying too much   
and too little4 ,the essay was in his   
nature1 and his occupation as a         
journalist had developed the tendency   
towards this form of literary activity1 
as well as skill in its manipulation4   
,whether he wrote sketches of travel1 or
 whether he wrote fiction1 the scene    
depicted was from the point of view of  
the essayist rather than from that of   
the tourist or of the novelist4 ,it is  
this characteristic which gives to his  
work in the former field its enduring   
interest4 ,again in his novels1 it was  
not so much the story that was in his   
thoughts as the opportunity the varying 
scenes afforded for amusing observations
 upon manners1 for comments upon life1  
sometimes good-natured1 sometimes       
severe1 but always entertaining1 and    
above all1 for serious study of the     
social problems which present themselves
 on every side for examination4 ,this is
 distinctly the province of the         
essayist1 and in it ,warner always      

displayed his fullest strength4  ,we    
have seen that his first purely humorous
 publication of this nature was the one 
which made him known to the general     
public4 ,it was speedily followed1      
however1 by one of a somewhat graver    
character1 which became at the time and 
has since remained a special favorite of
 cultivated readers4 ,this is the volume
 entitled ,backlog ,studies4 ,the       
attractiveness of this work is as much  
due to the suggestive social and        
literary discussions with which it      
abounds as to the delicate and refined  
humor with which the ideas are          
expressed4 ,something of the same       
characteristics was displayed in the two
 little volumes of short pieces dealing 
with social topics1 which came out later
 under the respective titles of ,as ,we 
,were ,saying1 and ,as ,we ,go4 ,but    
there was a deeper and more serious side
 of his nature which found utterance in 
several of his essays1 particularly in  
some which were given in the form of    

addresses delivered at various          
institutions of learning4 ,they exhibit 
the charm which belongs to all his      
writings2 but his feelings were too     
profoundly interested in the subjects   
considered to allow him to give more    
than occasional play to his humor4      
,essays contained in such a volume1 for 
instance1 as ,the ,relation of          
,literature to ,life will not appeal to 
him whose main object in reading is     
amusement4 ,into them ,warner put his   
deepest and most earnest convictions4   
,the subject from which the book just   
mentioned derived its title lay near to 
his heart4 ,no one felt more strongly   
than he the importance of art of all    
kinds1 but especially of literary art1  
for the uplifting of a nation4 ,no one  
saw more distinctly the absolute        
necessity of its fullest recognition in 
a moneymaking age and in a money-making 
land1 if the spread of the dry rot of   
moral deterioration were to be          
prevented4 ,the ampler horizon it       

presented1 the loftier ideals it set up1
 the counteracting agency it supplied to
 the sordidness of motive and act which1
 left unchecked1 was certain to         
overwhelm the national spirit--all these
 were enforced by him again and again   
with clearness and effectiveness4 ,his  
essays of this kind will never be       
popular in the sense in which are his   
other writings4 ,but no thoughtful man  
will rise up from reading them without  
having gained a vivid conception of the 
part which literature plays in the life 
of even the humblest1 and without a     
deeper conviction of its necessity to   
any healthy development of the character
 of a people4  ,during the early part of
 his purely literary career a large     
proportion of ,warner's collected       
writings1 which then appeared1 were     
first published in the ,atlantic        
,monthly4 ,but about fourteen years     
before his death he became closely      
connected with ,harper's ,magazine4     
,from ,may1 #ahhf1 to ,march1 #ahib1 he 

conducted the ,editor's ,drawer of that 
periodical4 ,the month following this   
last date he succeeded ,william ,dean   
,howells as the contributor of the      
,editor's ,study4 ,this position he held
 until ,july1 #ahih4 ,the scope of this 
department was largely expanded after   
the death of ,george ,william ,curtis in
 the summer of #ahib1 and the consequent
 discontinuance of the ,editor's ,easy  
,chair4 ,comments upon other topics than
 those to which his department was      
originally devoted1 especially upon     
social questions1 were made a distinct  
feature4 ,his editorial connection with 
the magazine naturally led to his       
contributing to it numerous articles    
besides those which were demanded by the
 requirements of the position he held4  
,nearly all these1 as well as those     
which appeared in the ,atlantic         
,monthly1 are indicated in the          
bibliographical notes prefixed to the   
separate works4  ,there were1 however1  
other literary enterprises in which he  

was concerned2 for the calls upon him   
were numerous1 his own appetite for work
 was insatiable1 and his activity was   
indefatigable4 ,in #ahha he assumed the 
editorship of the ,american ,men of     
,letters series4 ,this he opened with   
his own biography of ,washington        
,irving1 the resemblance between whom   
and himself has been made the subject of
 frequent remark4 ,later he became the  
editor-in-chief of the thirty odd       
volumes which make up the collection    
entitled ,the ,world's ,best            
,literature4 ,to this he contributed    
several articles of his own and         
carefully allotted and supervised the   
preparation of a large number of others4
 ,the labor he put upon the editing of  
this collection occupied him a great    
deal of the time from #ahie to #ahih4   
,but literature1 though in it lay his   
chief interest1 was but one of the      
subjects which employed his many-sided  
activity4 ,he was constantly called upon
 for the discharge of civic duties4 ,the

 confidence felt by his fellow-citizens 
in his judgment and taste was almost    
equal to the absolute trust reposed in  
his integrity4 ,the man who establishes 
a reputation for the possession of these
 qualities can never escape from bearing
 the burdens which a good character     
always imposes4 ,if any work of art was 
ordered by the state1 ,warner was fairly
 certain to be chosen a member of the   
commission selected to decide upon the  
person who was to do it and upon the way
 it was to be done4 ,by his             
fellow-townsmen he was made a member of 
the ,park ,commission4 ,such were some  
of the duties imposed2 there were others
 voluntarily undertaken4 ,during the    
latter years of his life he became      
increasingly interested in social       
questions1 some of which partook of a   
semi-political character4 ,one of the   
subjects which engaged his attention was
 the best method to be adopted for      
elevating the character and conduct of  
the negro population of the country4 ,he

 recognized the gravity of the problem  
with which the nation had to deal and   
the difficulties attending its solution4
 ,one essay on the subject was prepared 
for the meeting held at ,washington in  
,may1 #aijj1 of the ,american ,social   
,science ,association1 of which he was  
president4 ,he was not able to be there 
in person4 ,the disease which was       
ultimately to strike him down had       
already made its preliminary attack4    
,his address was accordingly read for   
him4 ,it was a subject of special regret
 that he could not be present to set    
forth more fully his views2 for the     
debate1 which followed the presentation 
of his paper1 was by no means confined  
to the meeting1 but extended to the     
press of the whole country4 ,whether the
 conclusions he reached were right or   
wrong1 they were in no case adopted     
hastily nor indeed without the fullest  
consideration4  ,but a more special     
interest of his lay in prison reform4   
,the subject had engaged his attention  

long before he published anything in    
connection with it4 ,later one of the   
earliest articles he wrote for ,harper's
 ,magazine was devoted to it4 ,it was in
 his thoughts just before his death4 ,he
 was a member of the ,connecticut       
commission on prisons1 of the ,national 
,prison ,association1 and a             
vice-president of the ,new ,york        
,association for ,prison ,reform4 ,a    
strong advocate of the doctrine of the  
indeterminate sentence1 he had little   
patience with many of the judicial      
outgivings on that subject4 ,to him they
 seemed opinions inherited1 not formed1 
and in most cases were nothing more than
 the result of prejudice working upon   
ignorance4 ,this particular question was
 one which he purposed to make the      
subject of his address as president of  
the ,social ,science ,association1 at   
its annual meeting in #aija4 ,he never  
lived to complete what he had in mind4  
,during his later years the rigor of the
 ,northern winter had been too severe   

for ,warner's health4 ,he had           
accordingly found it advisable to spend 
as much of this season as he could in   
warmer regions4 ,he visited at various  
times parts of the ,south1 ,mexico1 and 
,california4 ,he passed the winter of   
#ahib-ic at ,florence2 but he found the 
air of the valley of the ,arno no       
perceptible improvement upon that of the
 valley of the ,connecticut4 ,in truth1 
neither disease nor death entertains a  
prejudice against any particular        
locality4 ,this fact he was to learn by 
personal experience4 ,in the spring of  
#ahii1 while at ,new ,orleans1 he was   
stricken by pneumonia which nearly      
brought him to the grave4 ,he recovered1
 but it is probable that the strength of
 his system was permanently impaired1   
and with it his power of resisting      
disease4 ,still his condition was not   
such as to prevent him from going on    
with various projects he had been       
contemplating or from forming new ones4 
,the first distinct warning of the      

approaching end was the facial paralysis
 which suddenly attacked him in ,april1 
#aijj1 while on a visit to ,norfolk1    
,va4 ,yet even from that he seemed to be
 apparently on the full road to recovery
 during the following summer4  ,it was  
in the second week of ,october1 #aijj1  
that ,warner paid me a visit of two or  
three days4 ,he was purposing to spend  
the winter in ,southern ,california1    
coming back to the ,east in ample time  
to attend the annual meeting of the     
,social ,science ,association4 ,his     
thoughts were even then busy with the   
subject of the address which1 as        
president1 he was to deliver on that    
occasion4 ,it seemed to me that ,i had  
never seen him when his mind was more   
active or more vigorous4 ,i was not only
 struck by the clearness of his         
views--some of which were distinctly    
novel1 at least to me--but by the       
felicity and effectiveness with which   
they were put4  ,never1 too1 had ,i been
 more impressed with the suavity1 the   

agreeableness1 the general charm of his 
manner4 ,he had determined during the   
coming winter to learn to ride the      
wheel1 and we then and there planned to 
take a bicycle trip during the following
 summer1 as we had previously made      
excursions together on horseback4 ,when 
we parted1 it was with the agreement    
that we should meet the next spring in  
,washington and fix definitely upon the 
time and region of our intended ride4   
,it was on a ,saturday morning that ,i  
bade him good-by1 apparently in the best
 of health and spirits4 ,it was on the  
evening of the following ,saturday      
--,october #bjth--that the condensed1   
passionless1 relentless message which   
the telegraph transmits1 informed me    
that he had died that afternoon4  ,that 
very day he had lunched at a friend's1  
where were gathered several of his      
special associates who had chanced to   
come together at the same house1 and    
then had gone to the office of the      
,hartford ,courant4 ,there was not the  

slightest indication apparent of the end
 that was so near4 ,after the company   
broke up1 he started out to pay a visit 
to one of the city parks1 of which he   
was a commissioner4 ,on his way thither1
 feeling a certain faintness1 he turned 
aside into a small house whose occupants
 he knew1 and asked to sit down for a   
brief rest1 and then1 as the faintness  
increased1 to lie undisturbed on the    
lounge for a few minutes4 ,the few      
minutes passed1 and with them his life4 
,in the strictest sense of the words1 he
 had fallen asleep4 ,from one point of  
view it was an ideal way to die4 ,to the
 individual1 death coming so gently1 so 
suddenly1 is shorn of all its terrors4  
,it is only those who live to remember  
and to lament that the suffering comes  
which has been spared the victim4 ,even 
to them1 however1 is the consolation    
that though they may have been fully    
prepared for the coming of the          
inevitable event1 it would have been    
none the less painful when it actually  

came4  ,warner as a writer we all know4 
,the various and varying opinions       
entertained about the quality and value 
of his work do not require notice here4 
,future times will assign him his exact 
position in the roll of ,american       
authors1 and we need not trouble        
ourselves to anticipate1 as we shall    
certainly not be able to influence1 its 
verdict4 ,but to only a comparatively   
few of those who knew him as a writer   
was it given to know him as a man2 to   
still fewer to know him in that         
familiarity of intimacy which reveals   
all that is fine or ignoble in a man's  
personality4 ,scanty is the number of   
those who will come out of that severest
 of ordeals so successfully as he4 ,the 
same conclusion would be reached1       
whether we were to consider him in his  
private relations or in his career as a 
man of letters4 ,among the irritable    
race of authors no one was freer from   
petty envy or jealousy4 ,during many    
years of close intercourse1 in which he 

constantly gave utterance to his views  
both of men and things with absolute    
unreserve1 ,i recall no disparaging     
opinion ever expressed of any writer    
with whom he had been compared either   
for praise or blame4 ,he had            
unquestionably definite and decided     
opinions4 ,he would point out that such 
or such a work was above or below its   
author's ordinary level2 but there was  
never any ill-nature in his comment1 no 
depreciation for depreciation's sake4   
,never in truth was any one more loyal  
to his friends4 ,if his literary        
conscience would not permit him to say  
anything in favor of something which    
they had done1 he usually contented     
himself with saying nothing4 ,whatever  
failing there was on his critical side  
was due to this somewhat uncritical     
attitude2 for it is from his particular 
friends that the writer is apt to get   
the most dispassionate consideration and
 sometimes the coldest commendation4 ,it
 was a part of ,warner's generous       

recognition of others that he was in all
 sincerity disposed to attribute to     
those he admired and to whom he was     
attached an ability of which some of    
them at least were much inclined to     
doubt their own possession4  ,were ,i   
indeed compelled to select any one word 
which would best give the impression1   
both social and literary1 of ,warner's  
personality1 ,i should be disposed to   
designate it as urbanity4 ,that seems to
 indicate best the one trait which most 
distinguished him either in conversation
 or writing4 ,whatever it was1 it was   
innate1 not assumed4 ,it was the genuine
 outcome of the kindliness and          
broad-mindedness of his nature and led  
him to sympathize with men of all       
positions in life and of all kinds of   
ability4 ,it manifested itself in his   
attitude towards every one with whom he 
came in contact4 ,it led him to treat   
with fullest consideration all who were 
in the least degree under his direction1
 and converted in consequence the toil  

of subordinates into a pleasure4 ,it    
impelled him to do unsought everything  
which lay in his power for the success  
of those in whom he felt interest4 ,many
 a young writer will recall his words of
 encouragement at some period in his own
 career when the quiet appreciation of  
one meant more to him than did later the
 loud applause of many4 ,as it was in   
public1 so it was in private life4 ,the 
generosity of his spirit1 the geniality 
and high-bred courtesy of his manner1   
rendered a visit to his home as much a  
social delight as his wide knowledge of 
literature and his appreciation of what 
was best in it made it an intellectual  
entertainment4   ,,thomas ,r4           
,,lounsbury4       ,,the ,,relation ,,of
 ,,literature ,,to ,,life ,,preliminary 
,this paper was prepared and delivered  
at several of our universities as       
introductory to a course of five        
lectures which insisted on the value of 
literature in common life--some hearers 
thought with an exaggerated             

emphasis--and attempted to maintain the 
thesis that all genuine1 enduring       
literature is the outcome of the time   
that produces it1 is responsive to the  
general sentiment of its time2 that this
 close relation to human life insures   
its welcome ever after as a true        
representation of human nature2 and that
 consequently the most remunerative     
method of studying a literature is to   
study the people for whom it was        
produced4 ,illustrations of this were   
drawn from the ,greek1 the ,french1 and 
the ,english literatures4 ,this study   
always throws a flood of light upon the 
meaning of the text of an old author1   
the same light that the reader          
unconsciously has upon contemporary     
pages dealing with the life with which  
he is familiar4 ,the reader can test    
this by taking up his ,shakespeare after
 a thorough investigation of the        
customs1 manners1 and popular life of   
the ,elizabethan period4 ,of course the 
converse is true that good literature is

 an open door into the life and mode of 
thought of the time and place where it  
originated4     ,,the ,,relation ,,of   
,,literature ,,to ,,life  ,i hade a     
vision once--you may all have had a like
 one--of the stream of time flowing     
through a limitless land4 ,along its    
banks sprang up in succession the       
generations of man4 ,they did not move  
with the stream-they lived their lives  
and sank away2 and always below them new
 generations appeared1 to play their    
brief parts in what is called           
history--the sequence of human actions4 
,the stream flowed on1 opening for      
itself forever a way through the land4  
,i saw that these successive dwellers on
 the stream were busy in constructing   
and setting afloat vessels of various   
size and form and rig--arks1 galleys1   
galleons1 sloops1 brigs1 boats propelled
 by oars1 by sails1 by steam4 ,i saw the
 anxiety with which each builder        
launched his venture1 and watched its   
performance and progress4 ,the anxiety  

was to invent and launch something that 
should float on to the generations to   
come1 and carry the name of the builder 
and the fame of his generation4 ,it was 
almost pathetic1 these puny efforts1    
because faith always sprang afresh in   
the success of each new venture4 ,many  
of the vessels could scarcely be said to
 be launched at all2 they sank like     
lead1 close to the shore4 ,others       
floated out for a time1 and then1 struck
 by a flaw in the wind1 heeled over and 
disappeared4 ,some1 not well put        
together1 broke into fragments in the   
bufleting of the waves4 ,others danced  
on the flood1 taking the sun on their   
sails1 and went away with good promise  
of a long voyage4 ,but only a few       
floated for any length of time1 and     
still fewer were ever seen by the       
generation succeeding that which        
launched them4 ,the shores of the stream
 were strewn with wrecks2 there lay     
bleaching in the sand the ribs of many a
 once gallant craft4  ,innumerable were 

the devices of the builders to keep     
their inventions afloat4 ,some paid     
great attention to the form of the hull1
 others to the kind of cargo and the    
loading of it1 while others--and these  
seemed the majority--trusted more to    
some new sort of sail1 or new fashion of
 rudder1 or new application of          
propelling power4 ,and it was wonderful 
to see what these new ingenuities did   
for a time1 and how each generation was 
deceived into the belief that its       
products would sail on forever4 ,but one
 fate practically came to the most of   
them4 ,they were too heavy1 they were   
too light1 they were built of old       
material1 and they went to the bottom1  
they went ashore1 they broke up and     
floated in fragments4 ,and especially   
did the crafts built in imitation of    
something that had floated down from a  
previous generation come to quick       
disaster4 ,i saw only here and there a  
vessel1 beaten by weather and blackened 
by time --so old1 perhaps1 that the name

 of the maker was no longer legible2 or 
some fragments of antique wood that had 
evidently come from far up the stream4  
,when such a vessel appeared there was  
sure to arise great dispute about it1   
and from time to time expeditions were  
organized to ascend the river and       
discover the place and circumstances of 
its origin4 ,along the banks1 at        
intervals1 whole fleets of boats and    
fragments had gone ashore1 and were     
piled up in bays1 like the driftwood of 
a subsided freshet4 ,efforts were made  
to dislodge these from time to time and 
set them afloat again1 newly christened1
 with fresh paint and sails1 as if they 
stood a better chance of the voyage than
 any new ones4 ,indeed1 ,i saw that a   
large part of the commerce of this river
 was1 in fact1 the old hulks and        
stranded wrecks that each generation had
 set afloat again4 ,as ,i saw it in this
 foolish vision1 how pathetic this labor
 was from generation to generation2 so  
many vessels launched2 so few making a  

voyage even for a lifetime2 so many     
builders confident of immortality2 so   
many lives outlasting this coveted      
reputation6 ,and still the generations1 
each with touching hopefulness1 busied  
themselves with this child's play on the
 banks of the stream2 and still the     
river flowed on1 whelming and wrecking  
the most of that so confidently         
committed to it1 and bearing only here  
and there1 on its swift1 wide tide1 a   
ship1 a boat1 a shingle4  ,these hosts  
of men whom ,i saw thus occupied since  
history began were authors2 these       
vessels were books2 these heaps of      
refuse in the bays were great libraries4
 ,the allegory admits of any amount of  
ingenious parallelism4 ,it is           
nevertheless misleading2 it is the      
illusion of an idle fancy4 ,i have      
introduced it because it expresses1 with
 some whimsical exaggeration--not much  
more than that of ,the ,vision of       
,mirza--the popular notion about        
literature and its relation to human    

life4 ,in the popular conception1       
literature is as much a thing apart from
 life as these boats on the stream of   
time were from the existence1 the       
struggle1 the decay of the generations  
along the shore4 ,i say in the popular  
conception1 for literature is wholly    
different from this1 not only in its    
effect upon individual lives1 but upon  
the procession of lives upon this earth2
 it is not only an integral part of all 
of them1 but1 with its sister arts1 it  
is the one unceasing continuity in      
history4 ,literature and art are not    
only the records and monuments made by  
the successive races of men1 not only   
the local expressions of thought and    
emotion1 but they are1 to change the    
figure1 the streams that flow on1       
enduring1 amid the passing show of men1 
reviving1 transforming1 ennobling the   
fleeting generations4 ,without this     
continuity of thought and emotion1      
history would present us only a         
succession of meaningless experiments4  

,the experiments fail1 the experiments  
succeed--at any rate1 they end--and what
 remains for transmission1 for the      
sustenance of succeeding peoples8       
,nothing but the thought and emotion    
evolved and expressed4 ,it is true that 
every era1 each generation1 seems to    
have its peculiar work to do2 it is to  
subdue the intractable earth1 to repel  
or to civilize the barbarians1 to settle
 society in order1 to build cities1 to  
amass wealth in centres1 to make deserts
 bloom1 to construct edifices such as   
were never made before1 to bring all men
 within speaking distance of each       
other--lucky if they have anything to   
say when that is accomplished--to extend
 the information of the few among the   
many1 or to multiply the means of easy  
and luxurious living4 ,age after age the
 world labors for these things with the 
busy absorption of a colony of ants in  
its castle of sand4 ,and we must confess
 that the process1 such1 for instance1  
as that now going on here--this onset of

 many peoples1 which is transforming the
 continent of ,america--is a spectacle  
to excite the imagination in the highest
 degree4 ,if there were any poet capable
 of putting into an epic the spirit of  
this achievement1 what an epic would be 
his6 ,can it be that there is anything  
of more consequence in life than the    
great business in hand1 which absorbs   
the vitality and genius of this age8    
,surely1 we say1 it is better to go by  
steam than to go afoot1 because we reach
 our destination sooner--getting there  
quickly being a supreme object4 ,it is  
well to force the soil to yield a       
hundred-fold1 to congregate men in      
masses so that all their energies shall 
be taxed to bring food to themselves1 to
 stimulate industries1 drag coal and    
metal from the bowels of the earth1     
cover its surface with rails for        
swift-running carriages1 to build ever  
larger palaces1 warehouses1 ships4 ,this
 gigantic achievement strikes the       
imagination4  ,if the world in which you

 live happens to be the world of books1 
if your pursuit is to know what has been
 done and said in the world1 to the end 
that your own conception of the value of
 life may be enlarged1 and that better  
things may be done and said hereafter1  
this world and this pursuit assume      
supreme importance in your mind4 ,but   
you can in a moment place yourself in   
relations--you have not to go far1      
perhaps only to speak to your next      
neighbor--where the very existence of   
your world is scarcely recognized4 ,all 
that has seemed to you of supreme       
importance is ignored4 ,you have entered
 a world that is called practical1 where
 the things that we have been speaking  
of are done2 you have interest in it and
 sympathy with it1 because your scheme  
of life embraces the development of     
ideas into actions2 but these men of    
realities have only the smallest        
conception of the world that seems to   
you of the highest importance2 and1     
further1 they have no idea that they owe

 anything to it1 that it has ever       
influenced their lives or can add       
anything to them4 ,and it may chance    
that you have1 for the moment1 a sense  
of insignificance in the small part you 
are playing in the drama going forward4 
,go out of your library1 out of the     
small circle of people who talk of      
books1 who are engaged in research1     
whose liveliest interest is in the      
progress of ideas1 in the expression of 
thought and emotion that is in          
literature2 go out of this atmosphere   
into a region where it does not exist1  
it may be into a place given up to      
commerce and exchange1 or to            
manufacturing1 or to the development of 
certain other industries1 such as       
mining1 or the pursuit of office--which 
is sometimes called politics4 ,you will 
speedily be aware how completely apart  
from human life literature is held to   
be1 how few people regard it seriously  
as a necessary element in life1 as      
anything more than an amusement or a    

vexation4 ,i have in mind a mountain    
district1 stripped1 scarred1 and        
blackened by the ruthless lumbermen1    
ravished of its forest wealth2 divested 
of its beauty1 which has recently become
 the field of vast coal-mining          
operations4 ,remote from communication1 
it was yesterday an exhausted1 wounded1 
deserted country4 ,today audacious      
railways are entering it1 crawling up   
its mountain slopes1 rounding its dizzy 
precipices1 spanning its valleys on iron
 cobwebs1 piercing its hills with       
tunnels4 ,drifts are opened in its coal 
seams1 to which iron tracks shoot away  
from the main line2 in the woods is seen
 the gleam of the engineer's level1 is  
heard the rattle of heavily-laden wagons
 on the newly-made roads2 tents are     
pitched1 uncouth shanties have sprung   
up1 great stables1 boarding-houses1     
stores1 workshops2 the miner1 the       
blacksmith1 the mason1 the carpenter    
have arrived2 households have been set  
up in temporary barracks1 children are  

already there who need a school1 women  
who must have a church and society2 the 
stagnation has given place to           
excitement1 money has flowed in1 and    
everywhere are the hum of industry and  
the swish of the goad of ,american life4
 ,on this hillside1 which in ,june was  
covered with oaks1 is already in        
,october a town2 the stately trees have 
been felled2 streets are laid out and   
graded and named2 there are a hundred   
dwellings1 there are a store1 a         
post-office1 an inn2 the telegraph has  
reached it1 and the telephone and the   
electric light2 in a few weeks more it  
will be in size a city1 with thousands  
of people--a town made out of hand by   
drawing men and women from other towns1 
civilized men and women1 who have       
voluntarily put themselves in a position
 where they must be civilized over      
again4  ,this is a marvelous exhibition 
of what energy and capital can do4 ,you 
acknowledge as much to the creators of  
it4 ,you remember that not far back in  

history such a transformation as this   
could not have been wrought in a hundred
 years4 ,this is really life1 this is   
doing something in the world1 and in the
 presence of it you can see why the     
creators of it regard your world1 which 
seemed to you so important1 the world   
whose business is the evolution and     
expression of thought and emotion1 as   
insignificant4 ,here is a material      
addition to the business and wealth of  
the race1 here employment for men who   
need it1 here is industry replacing     
stagnation1 here is the pleasure of     
overcoming difficulties and conquering  
obstacles4 ,why encounter these         
difficulties8 ,in order that more coal  
may be procured to operate more railway 
trains at higher speed1 to supply more  
factories1 to add to the industrial stir
 of modern life4 ,the men who projected 
and are pushing on this enterprise1 with
 an executive ability that would        
maintain and manoeuvre an army in a     
campaign1 are not1 however1 consciously 

philanthropists1 moved by the charitable
 purpose of giving employment to men1 or
 finding satisfaction in making two     
blades of grass grow where one grew     
before4 ,they enjoy no doubt the sense  
of power in bringing things to pass1 the
 feeling of leadership and the          
consequence derived from its            
recognition2 but they embark in this    
enterprise in order that they may have  
the position and the luxury that        
increased wealth will bring1 the object 
being1 in most cases1 simply material   
advantages--sumptuous houses1 furnished 
with all the luxuries which are the     
signs of wealth1 including1 of course1  
libraries and pictures and statuary and 
curiosities1 the most showy equipages   
and troops of servants2 the object being
 that their wives shall dress           
magnificently1 glitter in diamonds and  
velvets1 and never need to put their    
feet to the ground2 that they may       
command the best stalls in the church1  
the best pews in the theatre1 the       

choicest rooms in the inn1 and--a       
consideration that ,plato does not      
mention1 because his world was not our  
world--that they may impress and reduce 
to obsequious deference the hotel clerk4
  ,this life--for this enterprise and   
its objects are types of a considerable 
portion of life--is not without its     
ideal1 its hero1 its highest expression1
 its consummate flower4 ,it is expressed
 in a word which ,i use without any     
sense of its personality1 as the ,french
 use the word ,barnum--for our crude    
young nation has the distinction of     
adding a verb to the ,french language1  
the verb to barnum--it is expressed in  
the well-known name ,croesus4 ,this is a
 standard--impossible to be reached     
perhaps1 but a standard4 ,if one may say
 so1 the country is sown with seeds of  
,croesus1 and the crop is forward and   
promising4 ,the interest to us now in   
the observation of this phase of modern 
life is not in the least for purposes of
 satire or of reform4 ,we are inquiring 

how wholly this conception of life is   
divorced from the desire to learn what  
has been done and said to the end that  
better things may be done and said      
hereafter1 in order that we may         
understand the popular conception of the
 insignificant value of literature in   
human affairs4 ,but it is not aside from
 our subject1 rather right in its path1 
to take heed of what the philosophers   
say of the effect in other respects of  
the pursuit of wealth4  ,one cause of   
the decay of the power of defense in a  
state1 says the ,athenian ,stranger in  
,plato's ,laws--one cause is the love of
 wealth1 which wholly absorbs men and   
never for a moment allows them to think 
of anything but their private           
possessions2 on this the soul of every  
citizen hangs suspended1 and can attend 
to nothing but his daily gain2 mankind  
are ready to learn any branch of        
knowledge and to follow any pursuit     
which tends to this end1 and they laugh 
at any other2 that is the reason why a  

city will not be in earnest about war or
 any other good and honorable pursuit4  
,the accumulation of gold in the        
treasury of private individuals1 says   
,socrates1 in the ,republic1 is the ruin
 of democracy4 ,they invent illegal     
modes of expenditure2 and what do they  
or their wives care about the law8  ,and
 then one1 seeing another's display1    
proposes to rival him1 and thus the     
whole body of citizens acquires a       
similar character4  ,after that they get
 on in a trade1 and the more they think 
of making a fortune1 the less they think
 of virtue2 for when riches and virtue  
are placed together in the balance1 the 
one always rises as the other falls4    
,and in proportion as riches and rich   
men are honored in the state1 virtue and
 the virtuous are dishonored4  ,and what
 is honored is cultivated1 and that     
which has no honor is neglected4  ,and  
so at last1 instead of loving contention
 and glory1 men become lovers of trade  
and money1 and they honor and reverence 

the rich man and make a ruler of him1   
and dishonor the poor man4  ,they do so4
  ,the object of a reasonable statesman 
7it is ,plato who is really speaking in 
the ,laws7 is not that the state should 
be as great and rich as possible1 should
 possess gold and silver1 and have the  
greatest empire by sea and land4  ,the  
citizen must1 indeed1 be happy and good1
 and the legislator will seek to make   
him so2 but very rich and very good at  
the same time he cannot be2 not at least
 in the sense in which many speak of    
riches4 ,for they describe by the term  
rich the few who have the most valuable 
possessions1 though the owner of them be
 a rogue4 ,and if this is true1 ,i can  
never assent to the doctrine that the   
rich man will be happy3 he must be good 
as well as rich4 ,and good in a high    
degree and rich in a high degree at the 
same time he cannot be4 ,some one will  
ask1 ,why not8 ,and we shall answer1    
,because acquisitions which come from   
sources which are just and unjust       

indifferently are more than double those
 which come from just sources only2 and 
the sums which are expended neither     
honorably nor disgracefully are only    
half as great as those which are        
expended honorably and on honorable     
purposes4 ,thus if one acquires double  
and spends half1 the other1 who is in   
the opposite case and is a good man1    
cannot possibly be wealthier than he4   
,the first 7,i am speaking of the saver1
 and not of the spender7 is not always  
bad2 he may indeed in some cases be     
utterly bad1 but as ,i was saying1 a    
good man he never is4 ,for he who       
receives money unjustly as well as      
justly1 and spends neither justly nor   
unjustly1 will be a rich man if he be   
also thrifty4 ,on the other hand1 the   
utterly bad man is generally profligate1
 and therefore poor2 while he who spends
 on noble objects1 and acquires wealth  
by just means only1 can hardly be       
remarkable for riches any more than he  
can be very poor4 ,the argument1 then1  

is right in declaring that the very rich
 are not good1 and if they are not good 
they are not happy4  ,and the conclusion
 of ,plato is that we ought not to      
pursue any occupation to the neglect of 
that for which riches exist--,i mean1 he
 says1 soul and body1 which without     
gymnastics and without education will   
never be worth anything2 and therefore1 
as we have said not once but many times1
 the care of riches should have the last
 place in our thoughts4  ,men cannot be 
happy unless they are good1 and they    
cannot be good unless the care of the   
soul occupies the first place in their  
thoughts4 ,that is the first interest of
 man2 the interest in the body is       
midway2 and last of all1 when rightly   
regarded1 is the interest about money4  
,the majority of mankind reverses this  
order of interests1 and therefore it    
sets literature to one side as of no    
practical account in human life4 ,more  
than this1 it not only drops it out of  
mind1 but it has no conception of its   

influence and power in the very affairs 
from which it seems to be excluded4 ,it 
is my purpose to show not only the close
 relation of literature to ordinary     
life1 but its eminent position in life1 
and its saving power in lives which do  
not suspect its influence or value4     
,just as it is virtue that saves the    
state1 if it be saved1 although the     
majority do not recognize it and        
attribute the salvation of the state to 
energy1 and to obedience to the laws of 
political economy1 and to discoveries in
 science1 and to financial contrivances2
 so it is that in the life of           
generations of men1 considered from an  
ethical and not from a religious point  
of view1 the most potent and lasting    
influence for a civilization that is    
worth anything1 a civilization that does
 not by its own nature work its decay1  
is that which ,i call literature4 ,it is
 time to define what we mean by         
literature4 ,we may arrive at the       
meaning by the definition of exclusion4 

,we do not mean all books1 but some     
books2 not all that is written and      
published1 but only a small part of it4 
,we do not mean books of law1 of        
theology1 of politics1 of science1 of   
medicine1 and not necessarily books of  
travel1 or adventure1 or biography1 or  
fiction even4 ,these may all be         
ephemeral in their nature4 ,the term    
belles-lettres does not fully express   
it1 for it is too narrow4 ,in books of  
law1 theology1 politics1 medicine1      
science1 travel1 adventure1 biography1  
philosophy1 and fiction there may be    
passages that possess1 or the whole     
contents may possess1 that quality which
 comes within our meaning of literature4
 ,it must have in it something of the   
enduring and the universal4 ,when we use
 the term art1 we do not mean the arts2 
we are indicating a quality that may be 
in any of the arts4 ,in art and         
literature we require not only an       
expression of the facts in nature and in
 human life1 but of feeling1 thought1   

emotion4 ,there must be an appeal to the
 universal in the race4 ,it is1 for     
example1 impossible for a ,christian    
today to understand what the religious  
system of the ,egyptians of three       
thousand years ago was to the ,egyptian 
mind1 or to grasp the idea conveyed to a
 ,chinaman's thought in the phrase1 the 
worship of the principle of heaven2 but 
the ,christian of today comprehends     
perfectly the letters of an ,egyptian   
scribe in the time of ,thotmes ,,iii41  
who described the comical miseries of   
his campaign with as clear an appeal to 
universal human nature as ,horace used  
in his ',iter ,brundusium2' and the     
maxims of ,confucius are as             
comprehensible as the bitter-sweetness  
of ,thomas a ,kempis4 ,de ,quincey      
distinguishes between the literature of 
knowledge and the literature of power4  
,the definition is not exact2 but we may
 say that the one is a statement of what
 is known1 the other is an emanation    
from the man himself2 or that one may   

add to the sum of human knowledge1 and  
the other addresses itself to a higher  
want in human nature than the want of   
knowledge4 ,we select and set aside as  
literature that which is original1 the  
product of what we call genius4 ,as ,i  
have said1 the subject of a production  
does not always determine the desired   
quality which makes it literature4 ,a   
biography may contain all the facts in  
regard to a man and his character1      
arranged in an orderly and              
comprehensible manner1 and yet not be   
literature2 but it may be so written1   
like ,plutarch's ,lives or ,defoe's     
account of ,robinson ,crusoe1 that it is
 literature1 and of imperishable value  
as a picture of human life1 as a        
satisfaction to the want of the human   
mind which is higher than the want of   
knowledge4 ,and this contribution1 which
 ,i desire to be understood to mean when
 ,i speak of literature1 is precisely   
the thing of most value in the lives of 
the majority of men1 whether they are   

aware of it or not4 ,it may be weighty  
and profound2 it may be light1 as light 
as the fall of a leaf or a bird's song  
on the shore2 it may be the thought of  
,plato when he discourses of the        
character necessary in a perfect state1 
or of ,socrates1 who1 out of the theorem
 of an absolute beauty1 goodness1       
greatness1 and the like1 deduces the    
immortality of the soul2 or it may be   
the lovesong of a ,scotch plowman3 but  
it has this one quality of answering to 
a need in human nature higher than a    
need for facts1 for knowledge1 for      
wealth4  ,in noticing the remoteness in 
the popular conception of the relation  
of literature to life1 we must not      
neglect to take into account what may be
 called the arrogance of culture1 an    
arrogance that has been emphasized1 in  
these days of reaction from the old     
attitude of literary obsequiousness1 by 
harsh distinctions and hard words1 which
 are paid back by equally emphasized    
contempt4 ,the apostles of light regard 

the rest of mankind as barbarians and   
,philistines1 and the world retorts that
 these self-constituted apostles are    
idle word-mongers1 without any sympathy 
with humanity1 critics and jeerers who  
do nothing to make the conditions of    
life easier4 ,it is natural that every  
man should magnify the circle of the    
world in which he is active and imagine 
that all outside of it is comparatively 
unimportant4 ,everybody who is not a    
drone has his sufficient world4 ,to the 
lawyer it is his cases and the body of  
law1 it is the legal relation of men    
that is of supreme importance2 to the   
merchant and manufacturer all the world 
consists in buying and selling1 in the  
production and exchange of products2 to 
the physician all the world is diseased 
and in need of remedies2 to the         
clergyman speculation and the discussion
 of dogmas and historical theology      
assume immense importance2 the          
politician has his world1 the artist his
 also1 and the man of books and letters 

a realm still apart from all others4    
,and to each of these persons what is   
outside of his world seems of secondary 
importance2 he is absorbed in his own1  
which seems to him all-embracing4 ,to   
the lawyer everybody is or ought to be a
 litigant2 to the grocer the world is   
that which eats1 and pays--with more or 
less regularity2 to the scholar the     
world is in books and ideas4 ,one       
realizes how possessed he is with his   
own little world only when by chance he 
changes his profession or occupation and
 looks back upon the law1 or politics1  
or journalism1 and sees in its true     
proportion what it was that once        
absorbed him and seemed to him so large4
 ,when ,socrates discusses with ,gorgias
 the value of rhetoric1 the use of      
which1 the latter asserts1 relates to   
the greatest and best of human things1  
,socrates says3 ,i dare say you have    
heard men singing--at feasts the old    
drinking-song1 in which the singers     
enumerate the goods of life-first1      

health2 beauty next2 thirdly1 wealth    
honestly acquired4 ,the producers of    
these things--the physician1 the        
trainer1 the money-maker--each in turn  
contends that his art produces the      
greatest good4 ,surely1 says the        
physician1 health is the greatest good2 
there is more good in my art1 says the  
trainer1 for my business is to make men 
beautiful and strong in body2 and       
consider1 says the money-maker1 whether 
any one can produce a greater good than 
wealth4 ,but1 insists ,gorgias1 the     
greatest good of men1 of which ,i am the
 creator1 is that which gives men       
freedom in their persons1 and the power 
of ruling over others in their several  
states--that is1 the word which         
persuades the judge in the court1 or the
 senators in the council1 or the        
citizens in the assembly3 if you have   
the power of uttering this word1 you    
will have the physician your slave1 and 
the trainer your slave1 and the         
moneymaker of whom you talk will be     

found to gather treasures1 not for      
himself1 but for those who are able to  
speak and persuade the multitude4  ,what
 we call life is divided into           
occupations and interest1 and the       
horizons of mankind are bounded by them4
 ,it happens naturally enough1          
therefore1 that there should be a want  
of sympathy in regard to these pursuits 
among men1 the politician despising the 
scholar1 and the scholar looking down   
upon the politician1 and the man of     
affairs1 the man of industries1 not     
caring to conceal his contempt for both 
the others4 ,and still more reasonable  
does the division appear between all the
 world which is devoted to material     
life1 and the few who live in and for   
the expression of thought and emotion4  
,it is a pity that this should be so1   
for it can be shown that life would not 
be worth living divorced from the       
gracious and ennobling influence of     
literature1 and that literature suffers 
atrophy when it does not concern itself 

with the facts and feelings of men4  ,if
 the poet lives in a world apart from   
the vulgar1 the most lenient            
apprehension of him is that his is a    
sort of fool's paradise4 ,one of the    
most curious features in the relation of
 literature to life is this1 that while 
poetry1 the production of the poet1 is  
as necessary to universal man as the    
atmosphere1 and as acceptable1 the poet 
is regarded with that mingling of       
compassion and undervaluation1 and      
perhaps awe1 which once attached to the 
weak-minded and insane1 and which is    
sometimes expressed by the term inspired
 idiot4 ,however the poet may have been 
petted and crowned1 however his name may
 have been diffused among peoples1 ,i   
doubt not that the popular estimate of  
him has always been substantially what  
it is today4 ,and we all know that it is
 true1 true in our individual           
consciousness1 that if a man be known as
 a poet and nothing else1 if his        
character is sustained by no other      

achievement than the production of      
poetry1 he suffers in our opinion a loss
 of respect4 ,and this is only recovered
 for him after he is dead1 and his      
poetry is left alone to speak for his   
name4 ,however fond my lord and lady    
were of the ballad1 the place of the    
minstrel was at the lower end of the    
hall4 ,if we are pushed to say why this 
is1 why this happens to the poet and not
 to the producers of anything else that 
excites the admiration of mankind1 we   
are forced to admit that there is       
something in the poet to sustain the    
popular judgment of his in utility4 ,in 
all the occupations and professions of  
life there is a sign put up1            
invisible--but none the less real1 and  
expressing an almost universal          
feeling--,no poet need apply4 ,and this 
is not because there are so many poor   
poets2 for there are poor lawyers1 poor 
soldiers1 poor statesmen1 incompetent   
business men2 but none of the personal  
disparagement attaches to them that is  

affixed to the poet4 ,this popular      
estimate of the poet extends also1      
possibly in less degree1 to all the     
producers of the literature that does   
not concern itself with knowledge4 ,it  
is not our care to inquire further why  
this is so1 but to repeat that it is    
strange that it should be so when poetry
 is1 and has been at all times1 the     
universal solace of all peoples who have
 emerged out of barbarism1 the one thing
 not supernatural and yet akin to the   
supernatural1 that makes the world1 in  
its hard and sordid conditions1         
tolerable to the race4 ,for poetry is   
not merely the comfort of the refined   
and the delight of the educated2 it is  
the alleviator of poverty1 the          
pleasure-ground of the ignorant1 the    
bright spot in the most dreary          
pilgrimage4 ,we cannot conceive the     
abject animal condition of our race were
 poetry abstracted2 and we do not wonder
 that this should be so when we reflect 
that it supplies a want higher than the 

need for food1 for raiment1 or ease of  
living1 and that the mind needs support 
as much as the body4 ,the majority of   
mankind live largely in the imagination1
 the office or use of which is to lift  
them in spirit out of the bare physical 
conditions in which the majority exist4 
,there are races1 which we may call the 
poetical races1 in which this is        
strikingly exemplified4 ,it would be    
difficult to find poverty more complete1
 physical wants less gratified1 the     
conditions of life more bare than among 
the ,oriental peoples from the ,nile to 
the ,ganges and from the ,indian ,ocean 
to the steppes of ,siberia4 ,but there  
are perhaps none among the more favored 
races who live so much in the world of  
imagination fed by poetry and romance4  
,watch the throng seated about an ,arab 
or ,indian or ,persian story-teller and 
poet1 men and women with all the marks  
of want1 hungry1 almost naked1 without  
any prospect in life of ever bettering  
their sordid condition2 see their eyes  

kindle1 their breathing suspended1 their
 tense absorption2 see their tears1 hear
 their laughter1 note their excitement  
as the magician unfolds to them a realm 
of the imagination in which they are    
free for the hour to wander1 tasting a  
keen and deep enjoyment that all the    
wealth of ,croesus cannot purchase for  
his disciples4 ,measure1 if you can1    
what poetry is to them1 what their lives
 would be without it4 ,to the millions  
and millions of men who are in this     
condition1 the bard1 the story-teller1  
the creator of what we are considering  
as literature1 comes with the one thing 
that can lift them out of poverty1      
suffering--all the woe of which nature  
is so heedless4  ,it is not alone of the
 poetical nations of the ,east that this
 is true1 nor is this desire for the    
higher enjoyment always wanting in the  
savage tribes of the ,west4 ,when the   
,jesuit ,fathers in #agfh landed upon   
the almost untouched and unexplored     
southern ,pacific coast1 they found in  

the ,san ,gabriel ,valley in ,lower     
,california that the ,indians had games 
and feasts at which they decked         
themselves in flower garlands that      
reached to their feet1 and that at these
 games there were song contests which   
sometimes lasted for three days4 ,this  
contest of the poets was an old custom  
with them4 ,and we remember how the     
ignorant ,icelanders1 who had never seen
 a written character1 created the       
splendid ,saga1 and handed it down from 
father to son4 ,we shall scarcely find  
in ,europe a peasantry whose abject     
poverty is not in some measure          
alleviated by this power which          
literature gives them to live outside   
it4 ,through our sacred ,scriptures1    
through the ancient storytellers1       
through the tradition which in          
literature made1 as ,i said1 the chief  
continuity in the stream of time1 we all
 live a considerable1 perhaps the       
better1 portion of our lives in the     
,orient4 ,but ,i am not sure that the   

,scotch peasant1 the crofter in his     
,highland cabin1 the operative in his   
squalid tenement-house1 in the          
hopelessness of poverty1 in the grime of
 a life made twice as hard as that of   
the ,arab by an inimical climate1 does  
not owe more to literature than the man 
of culture1 whose material surroundings 
are heaven in the imagination of the    
poor4 ,think what his wretched life     
would be1 in its naked deformity1       
without the popular ballads1 without the
 romances of ,scott1 which have invested
 his land for him1 as for us1 with      
enduring charm2 and especially without  
the songs of ,burns1 which keep alive in
 him the feeling that he is a man1 which
 impart to his blunted sensibility the  
delicious throb of spring-songs that    
enable him to hear the birds1 to see the
 bits of blue sky-songs that make him   
tender of the wee bit daisy at his      
feet--songs that hearten him when his   
heart is fit to break with misery4      
,perhaps the ,english peasant1 the      

,english operative1 is less susceptible 
to such influences than the ,scotch or  
the ,irish2 but over him1 sordid as his 
conditions are1 close kin as he is to   
the clod1 the light of poetry is        
diffused2 there filters into his life1  
also1 something of that divine stream of
 which we have spoken1 a dialect poem   
that touches him1 the leaf of a psalm1  
some bit of imagination1 some tale of   
pathos1 set afloat by a poor writer so  
long ago that it has become the common  
stock of human tradition-maybe from     
,palestine1 maybe from the ,ganges1     
perhaps from ,athens--some expression of
 real emotion1 some creation1 we say1   
that makes for him a world1 vague and   
dimly apprehended1 that is not at all   
the actual world in which he sins and   
suffers4 ,the poor woman1 in a hut with 
an earth floor1 a reeking roof1 a smoky 
chimney1 barren of comfort1 so indecent 
that a gentleman would not stable his   
horse in it1 sits and sews upon a coarse
 garment1 while she rocks the cradle of 

an infant about whom she cherishes no   
illusions that his lot will be other    
than that of his father before him4 ,as 
she sits forlorn1 it is not the wretched
 hovel that she sees1 nor other hovels  
like it--rows of tenements of hopeless  
poverty1 the ale-house1 the gin-shop1   
the coal-pit1 and the choking           
factory--but3         ,sweet fields     
beyond the swelling flood         ,stand
 dressed in living green  for her1      
thanks to the poet4 ,but1 alas for the  
poet there is not a peasant nor a       
wretched operative of them all who will 
not shake his head and tap his forehead 
with his forefinger when the poor poet  
chap passes by4 ,the peasant has the    
same opinion of him that the physician1 
the trainer1 and the money-lender had of
 the rhetorician4  ,the hard conditions 
of the lonely ,new ,england life1 with  
its religious theories as sombre as its 
forests1 its rigid notions of duty as   
difficult to make bloom into sweetness  
and beauty as the stony soil1 would have

 been unendurable if they had not been  
touched with the ideal created by the   
poet4 ,there was in creed and purpose   
the virility that creates a state1 and1 
as ,menander says1 the country which is 
cultivated with difficulty produces     
brave men2 but we leave out an important
 element in the lives of the ,pilgrims  
if we overlook the means they had of    
living above their barren circumstances4
 ,i do not speak only of the culture    
which many of them brought from the     
universities1 of the ,greek and ,roman  
classics1 and what unworldly literature 
they could glean from the productive age
 of ,elizabeth and ,james1 but of       
another source1 more universally        
resorted to1 and more powerful in       
exciting imagination and emotion1 and   
filling the want in human nature of     
which we have spoken4 ,they had the     
,bible1 and it was more to them1 much   
more1 than a book of religion1 than a   
revelation of religious truth1 a rule   
for the conduct of life1 or a guide to  

heaven4 ,it supplied the place to them  
of the ,mahabharata to the ,hindoo1 of  
the story-teller to the ,arab4 ,it      
opened to them a boundless realm of     
poetry and imagination4  ,what is the   
,bible8 ,it might have sufficed1        
accepted as a book of revelation1 for   
all the purposes of moral guidance1     
spiritual consolation1 and systematized 
authority1 if it had been a collection  
of precepts1 a dry code of morals1 an   
arsenal of judgments1 and a treasury of 
promises4 ,we are accustomed to think of
 the ,pilgrims as training their        
intellectual faculties in the knottiest 
problems of human responsibility and    
destiny1 toughening their mental fibre  
in wrestling with dogmas and the decrees
 of ,providence1 forgetting what else   
they drew out of the ,bible3 what else  
it was to them in a degree it has been  
to few peoples many age4 ,for the ,bible
 is the unequaled record of thought and 
emotion1 the reservoir of poetry1       
traditions1 stories1 parables1          

exaltations1 consolations1 great        
imaginative adventure1 for which the    
spirit of man is always longing4 ,it    
might have been1 in warning examples and
 commands1 all-sufficient to enable men 
to make a decent pilgrimage on earth and
 reach a better country2 but it would   
have been a very different book to      
mankind if it had been only a volume of 
statutes1 and if it lacked its wonderful
 literary quality4 ,it might have       
enabled men to reach a better country1  
but not1 while on earth1 to rise into   
and live in that better country1 or to  
live in a region above the sordidness of
 actual life4 ,for1 apart from its      
religious intention and sacred          
character1 the book is so written that  
it has supremely in its history1 poetry1
 prophecies1 promises1 stories1 that    
clear literary quality that supplies1 as
 certainly no other single book does1   
the want in the human mind which is     
higher than the want of facts or        
knowledge4  ,the ,bible is the best     

illustration of the literature of power1
 for it always concerns itself with     
life1 it touches it at all points4 ,and 
this is the test of any piece of        
literature--its universal appeal to     
human nature4 ,when ,i consider the     
narrow limitations of the ,pilgrim      
households1 the absence of luxury1 the  
presence of danger and hardship1 the    
harsh laws--only less severe than the   
contemporary laws of ,england and       
,virginia--the weary drudgery1 the few  
pleasures1 the curb upon the expression 
of emotion and of tenderness1 the       
ascetic repression of worldly thought1  
the absence of poetry in the routine    
occupations and conditions1 ,i can feel 
what the ,bible must have been to them4 
,it was an open door into a world where 
emotion is expressed1 where imagination 
can range1 where love and longing find a
 language1 where imagery is given to    
every noble and suppressed passion of   
the soul1 where every aspiration finds  
wings4 ,it was history1 or1 as          

,thucydides said1 philosophy teaching by
 example2 it was the romance of real    
life2 it was entertainment unfailing2   
the wonder-book of childhood1 the volume
 of sweet sentiment to the shy maiden1  
the sword to the soldier1 the inciter of
 the youth to heroic enduring of        
hardness1 it was the refuge of the aged 
in failing activity4 ,perhaps we can    
nowhere find a better illustration of   
the true relation of literature to life 
than in this example4  ,let us consider 
the comparative value of literature to  
mankind4 ,by comparative value ,i mean  
its worth to men in comparison with     
other things of acknowledged importance1
 such as the creation of industries1 the
 government of ,states1 the manipulation
 of the politics of an age1 the         
achievements in war and discovery1 and  
the lives of admirable men4 ,it needs a 
certain perspective to judge of this    
aright1 for the near and the immediate  
always assume importance4 ,the work that
 an age has on hand1 whether it be      

discovery1 conquest1 the wars that      
determine boundaries or are fought for  
policies1 the industries that develop a 
country or affect the character of a    
people1 the wielding of power1 the      
accumulation of fortunes1 the various   
activities of any given civilization or 
period1 assume such enormous proportions
 to those engaged in them that such a   
modest thing as the literary product    
seems insignificant in comparison2 and  
hence it is that the man of action      
always holds in slight esteem the man of
 thought1 and especially the expresser  
of feeling and emotion1 the poet and the
 humorist4 ,it is only when we look back
 over the ages1 when civilizations have 
passed or changed1 over the rivalries of
 ,states1 the ambitions and enmities of 
men1 the shining deeds and the base     
deeds that make up history1 that we are 
enabled to see what remains1 what is    
permanent4 ,perhaps the chief result    
left to the world out of a period of    
heroic exertion1 of passion and struggle

 and accumulation1 is a sheaf of poems1 
or the record by a man of letters of    
some admirable character4 ,spain filled 
a large place in the world in the       
sixteenth century1 and its influence    
upon history is by no means spent yet2  
but we have inherited out of that period
 nothing1 ,i dare say1 that is of more  
value than the romance of ,don ,quixote4
 ,it is true that the best heritage of  
generation from generation is the       
character of great men2 but we always   
owe its transmission to the poet and the
 writer4 ,without ,plato there would be 
no ,socrates4 ,there is no influence    
comparable in human life to the         
personality of a powerful man1 so long  
as he is present to his generation1 or  
lives in the memory of those who felt   
his influence4 ,but after time has      
passed1 will the world1 will human life1
 that is essentially the same in all    
changing conditions1 be more affected by
 what ,bismarck did or by what ,goethe  
said8  ,we may without impropriety take 

for an illustration of the comparative  
value of literature to human needs the  
career of a man now living4 ,in the     
opinion of many1 ,mr4 ,gladstone is the 
greatest ,englishman of this age4 ,what 
would be the position of the ,british   
empire1 what would be the tendency of   
,english politics and society without   
him1 is a matter for speculation4 ,he   
has not played such a role for ,england 
and its neighbors as ,bismarck has      
played for ,germany and the ,continent1 
but he has been one of the most powerful
 influences in molding ,english action4 
,he is the foremost teacher4 ,rarely in 
history has a nation depended more upon 
a single man1 at times1 than the        
,english upon ,gladstone1 upon his will1
 his ability1 and especially his        
character4 ,in certain recent crises the
 thought of losing him produced         
something like a panic in the ,english  
mind1 justifying in regard to him1 the  
hyperbole of ,choate upon the death of  
,webster1 that the sailor on the distant

 sea would feel less safe--as if a      
protecting providence had been withdrawn
 from the world4 ,his mastery of finance
 and of economic problems1 his skill in 
debate1 his marvelous achievements in   
oratory1 have extorted the admiration of
 his enemies4 ,there is scarcely a      
province in government1 letters1 art1 or
 research in which the mind can win     
triumphs that he has not invaded and    
displayed his power in2 scarcely a      
question in politics1 reform1 letters1  
religion1 archaeology1 sociology1 which 
he has not discussed with ability4 ,he  
is a scholar1 critic1 parliamentarian1  
orator1 voluminous writer4 ,he seems    
equally at home in every field of human 
activity--a man of prodigious capacity  
and enormous acquirements4 ,he can take 
up1 with a turn of the hand1 and always 
with vigor1 the cause of the ,greeks1   
,papal power1 education1 theology1 the  
influence of ,egypt on ,homer1 the      
effect of ,english legislation on ,king 
,o',brien1 contributing something       

noteworthy to all the discussions of the
 day4 ,but ,i am not aware that he has  
ever produced a single page of          
literature4 ,whatever space he has      
filled in his own country1 whatever and 
however enduring the impression he has  
made upon ,english life and society1    
does it seem likely that the sum total  
of his immense activity in so many      
fields1 after the passage of so many    
years1 will be worth to the world as    
much as the simple story of ,rab and his
 ,friends8 ,already in ,america ,i doubt
 if it is4 ,the illustration might have 
more weight with some minds if ,i       
contrasted the work of this great       
man--as to its answering to a deep want 
in human nature--with a novel like      
',henry ,esmond' or a poem like ',in    
,memoriam'2 but ,i think it is          
sufficient to rest it upon so slight a  
performance as the sketch by ,dr4 ,john 
,brown1 of ,edinburgh4 ,for the truth is
 that a little page of literature1      
nothing more than a sheet of paper with 

a poem written on it1 may have that     
vitality1 that enduring quality1 that   
adaptation to life1 that make it of more
 consequence to all who inherit it than 
every material achievement of the age   
that produced it4 ,it was nothing but a 
sheet of paper with a poem on it1       
carried to the door of his ,london      
patron1 for which the poet received a   
guinea1 and perhaps a seat at the foot  
of my lord's table4 ,what was that scrap
 compared to my lord's business1 his    
great establishment1 his equipages in   
the ,park1 his position in society1 his 
weight in the ,house of ,lords1 his     
influence in ,europe8 ,and yet that     
scrap of paper has gone the world over2 
it has been sung in the camp1 wept over 
in the lonely cottage2 it has gone with 
the marching regiments1 with the        
explorers--with mankind1 in short1 on   
its way down the ages1 brightening1     
consoling1 elevating life2 and my lord1 
who regarded as scarcely above a menial 
the poet to whom he tossed the          

guinea--my lord1 with all his pageantry 
and power1 has utterly gone and left no 
witness4