Play, Fair

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MISCELLANEOUS. 59CHRISTMAS.Time hath not sundered every chainThat holds us to the ruder thought,For many a link our fathers wroughtTwists in and out our heart and brain.We treasure still an ample storeOf myth and fable, tale and song,That to the elder days belong,—Bloom that the race's childhood bore.And be its vision ne'er so dim.Through all the strivings of our raceMessiah-hopes we faintly trace,—Age after age hath looked for him.He came, men dreamt, in Palestine;Upon the holy Christmas nightA mother gave a child to light.Whom longing hearts proclaimed divine.And legend saith, a bright star ledEarth's wisest to the cradled God;While shepherds, who their night-watch trod,Heard angel-voices overhead.The myth may fade, the dream may melt,God's truth within it never dies ;Though sweeter visions bless our eyes,W^e read the word our fathers spelt.To-day no star the wise men brings.The simplest soul can find the child;O'er every cradle undefiledThe mother-heart her Christ-child sings.Alexander F. Chamberlain.Clark University, Worcester, Mass.TOLSTOY AND FRAU SEURON.To the Editor of The Open Court:Mr. Aylmer Maude's article "The Misinterpretation of Tolstoy" in The OfenCourt for October repeatedly calls attention to Mrs. Evans's transliteration of thedistinguished Russian's name and graciously condescends to "correct her orthog-raphy" ; he also adduces her " wrong spelling " as conclusive proof of her igno-rance of Tolstoy's works, but only succeeds in revealing his own narrow-minded-ness and petty pedantry. So far as the pronunciation is concerned it makes no6o THE OPEN COURT.difference whether Tolstoy or Tolstoi is used, and although the former is the usualEnglish orthography, the latter is by no means incorrect and is preferred by manygood writers of the English language. Mr. Ernest Howard Crosby, a disciple ofTolstoy in the province of social reform, who forwarded Mr. Maude's article to theeditor of The Opeyi Court, informs us in the sketch of his own life that on his re"turn home from Alexandria to New York he "visited Tolstoi in Russia" ; and abook recently published by G. P. Putnam's Sons bears the title Tolstoi as Mana?id Artist. With an Essay on Dostoievski. By Dmitri Merejkoivski. Ofcourse it would be sufficient for Mr. Maude to read the title-page of this volume inorder to be convinced that the author " knows nothing about Russia and nothingabout Tolstoy."Mr. Maude was formerly an English tradesman in Moscow and seems to showin his present occupation as an interpreter of Tolstoy a marked tendency to whatthe Germans call Aleinkramerei. It is a characteristic common to men who de-vote themselves to a specialty to imagine that no one else knows anything about itand Mr. Maude seems to furnish a striking illustration of this general truth. Asregards Frau Seuron the very fact that she submitted the manuscript of her bookto Tolstoy for correction shows that she was not animated by malice and that shewished to tell the truth Tolstoy's remark that "he felt sure she would not writewhat should not be written " implies that he had confidence in her. This wouldnot have been the case if she had been "dismissed for disgraceful conduct" asMr. Maude affirms. Fair Play.BOOK REVIEWS.Our Benevolent Feudalism. By IV. J. Ghent. New York : The MacmillanCompany. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1902. Pages, vii, 202. Price,$1 25 net.This interesting book is a caustic criticism of recent industrial, social, and po-litical tendencies in the United States. The irresistible movement toward greatcombinations in certain trades, toward coalescence of kindred industries and theconsequent complete integration of capital, and the rise of the social, industrial,and political power of the captains and lieutenants of industry,—these are the dom-inating marks of the time. The state is growing stronger, so the author argues, inits relation to the propertyless citizen and weaker in its relation to the man of cap-ital ; subordination of classes and a tremendous increase in the numbers of thelower orders follow; the petty industries are eliminated ; defenceless labor,—thelabor of women and children,—increases both absolutely and relatively ; men'swages decline or remain stationary, while the value of the product and the cost ofliving advance by steady steps ; the old system of independent farming is beinggradually done away with ; in a word, says Mr. Ghent : " They who desire to live—whether farmers, workmen, middlemen, teachers, or ministers—must make theirpeace with those who have the disposition of the livings The result is a renascentFeudalism, which, though it differs in many forms from that of the time of Ed-ward L, is yet based upon the same status of lord, agent, and underling. It is aFeudalism somewhat graced by a sense of ethics and somewhat restrained by afear of democracy. The new barons seek a public sanction through conspicuousgiving, and they avoid a too obvious exercise of their power upon political institu-tions. Their beneficence, however, though large, is but rarely prodigal. It be-tokens, as in the case of the careful spouse of John Gilpin, a frugal mind. They

Tolstoy and Frau Seuron.

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Tolstoy and Frau Seuron.

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