Reviews of Owen Wister's Books

Following are reviews of the two latest works of Owen Wister '82, who will speak at the meeting for the award of academic distinctions this evening:

THE SEVEN AGES OF WASHINGTON. Macmillan Co.

Seventy-five years ago, the "dignity of history" necessitated the portrayal of Washington as a man of frigid formality; nowadays, popularizers seek to strip the Father of his Country and show that he possessed many of the worst attributes of erring hamanity. Mr. Owen Wister has down neither of these things. He has given us a life-like representation of Washington, setting forth the kindliness of his character and showing that his greatness lay not in lacking human passions, but in controlling them, except on those rare occasions when to have done so would have been more than human. One of the most wholesome things that an American can do is to read a good bit of Washington's correspondence during the Revolutionary War. Then he can appreciate the constancy and grandeur of the man in the midst of unparalleled difficulties. For him who has not the time or the opportunity to do this, the fifth chapter of "The Seven Ages of Washington" can be commended.

The pleasantness anecdote and the newest which Mr. Wister has set before his readers is that of the visit of Jeremiah Smith to Mount Vernon and the kindly hospitality with which Washington received him, and, when the time for retiring came, escorted him to his room, pointed to the blazing fire with the reassuring remark that it was the perfectly safe and bade his guest good-night with the permission to keep his light burning until morning if he wished. Mr. Smith notes the awe with which the master of Mount Vernon impressed him, but Mr. Wister explains that this was the inevitable result of long preoccupation in official affairs. It is greatly to be desired that the author of "The Virginian" might give us a portrayal of the characters of Franklin and Lincoln as true to life as is this one of Washington. EDWARD CHANNING '78.

MOTHER. Dodd, Mead & Co.

Ephemeral as the stock-market quotations which lend humor to the situations, and as slender as the broker's tape out of which the plot is spun, Mr. Owen Wister's little story of "Mother" is nevertheless not unworthwhile. On these few genial pages, the author's touch is light and graceful; and if one cares for a moral, there is perhaps, one to be found. Not the least amusing part of the story is that "Mother" turns out to be--but this is infringing on Mr. Wister's copyright.   P. A. HUTCHISON '98.