AMERICAN LETTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17199, 20 June 1916, Page 9

AMERICAN LETTER.

WILSON'S DIFFICULTIES

TROUBLES WITH GERMANY AND MEXICO. [From Our Correspondent.] NEW YORK, May 19The alarms of war have subsided temporarily. President. Wilson has patched up a truce with Germans', which may and may not last, and P/euident Oarranza, of Mexico, is showing more disposition to allow our troops row in his country to continue tho pursuit of Villa. It is by no means certain, however, that our Mexican difficulties aro much less serious than they were two weeks ago, for several raids have be?n made during the last few days upon towns within our borders by Mexican bandits, and some of Curranza's generals are not showing a friendly spirit, toward the United .States soldiers. Whether President Wilson has made any political capital by his anaugerr.cnt with Germany remains to be seen. Tho German pledge to discontinue submarino attacks upon merchant vessels lias a string to it, the last paragraph of the Noto from Berlin declaring that Germany might resume submarine warfare along the old lines if this country fails to bring Great Britain to terms in the discussion ovqr holding up foodstuffs bound for Germany. (Recent news shows that the difficulty with Mexico has resumed an acute form.) A SPEECH-MAKING PRESIDENT. . President Wilson takes more delight in stringing words together than most statesmen, and what ho says is always interesting, whatever the effect on the electorate may be. But, as some of tho newspapers observe, he will have to look for votes on tho basis of what ho has done, not on what he says. Here is an extract from an'address he made to the Washington correspondents tho other day; an address that is arousing widespread comment:—"l am constantly reminded as I go about, as I do sometimes at the week-end. cf tho personal inconvenience of being President of the United States. If I want to know how many people live in a small town, all I have to do is to go there and they at once lino up to ba counted. I might in a census-tak-ing year save the census-takers a great deal of trouble by asking them to accompany mo and count the peoplo on the spot."

After turning into a more serious vein, the President said:—"There are two reasons why the chief wish of America is for peace. Gno is that they love peace and have, nothing to do with the present quarrel, and tho other is that they believe the present quarrel has carried those engaged in it so far that they cannot be held to.ordinary standards of responsibility, and that, •therefore, as some men have expressed tit to me, since the rest of the world is mad, why should we not simply refuse to have anything to do with the rest o? the world in the ordinary channels of action ? Why not let the storm pass, and then, when it is all over, have tho reckonings? Knowing that from both these two points of view tho passion of America was for peace. I was, nevertheless, aware that America is one of the nations of the world not only, but one of the chief nations of the world—a nation that grows and more powerful almost in spite of herself; that grows morally mora and more influential even when she is not aware of it, and that if she is to play tho part which she most covets it is necessary that she should act more or less from the point of view of tho rest of the world. If I cannot retain my moral influence over a man except by occasionally knocking him down-r if that is the only basis on which he will respect me, then for the sako of his soul I have gob occasionally to knock him down; You know how wo have read in—isn't it in Ralph Connor's stories of Western life in Canada?—that all his sky-pilots are ready for a fracas-at any time, and how the ultimate salvation of the souls of their parishioners depends upon their using their fists occasionally. If a man will not listen to you quietly in a seat,_ sit on his neck and make him listen—just as I have always maintained, particularly in view of certain experiences of mine, that the shortest road to a boy's moral sense is through his cuticle. There is a direct and, if I may be permitted the pun. a fundamental connection between tho surface of __ his "skin and his moral consciousness. You arrest his attention first that way, and then get the moral lesson combed to him in milder ways that, if ho wero grow-n up, would be the only ways you would use. So I say that I have been aware that, to do the very thing that we are proudest of the ability to do, there might come a time when we would have to do it in a way that we would prefer not to do it; and the great burden on my spirits, gentlemen, has been that it has been up to mo to chooso when that time came. Can you imagine a thing more calculated to keep a man awake at nights than that?" A, JEWISH AUTHOR, Solomon Rabinowitz, widely known as "the Jewish Mark Twain," and the author of more than twenty volumes of plays, novels, poems and sketches, all of 'which were published under his nom-de-plumo of Sholem Aleichem. died in this citv this week from chronic nephritis, in'his fifty-eighth year. He was said to be the greatest Jewish writer and humorist of these times, and all the Jewish theatres of tho city were closed as a tribute to him. Many of the Jewish newspapers issued extras telling of his death. Mr RabmowilK was born in Peresjaslow, near Poltava, in Russia, and commenced writing while very young. Ho first wrote in Hebrew, afterwards translating his works into Russian and Yiddish. His first humorous novel, " Dos Mesorel," was published when he was twenty-four years old, and then followed a number of others. He was a prolific and versatile writer, and twenty volumes of his works were published in Warsaw. Many of these were translated in German, and one, •'•'Stempeniou," was translated into English and published in London. In addition to his published work"; he left ten volumes of manuscripts. He first visited this country ei'dit vears ago and returned here in December, 1914, after being arrested in Rerlin and kept a prisoner lor twen-ty-four hours in company with M.Kassow, the Russian Minister of Education. Since his arrival here he had written for the Jewish dailies.

IX HONOUR OF SHAKESPEARE. The masque, "Caliban by the Yellow Sands." to be enacted next week in the stadium of the City College, is primarily intended to honour the memory of Shakespeare on tho three hundredth anniversary of his death. But its significance goes further than the purpose of commemoration. Percy Mac Kaye, the author, says ho sees his masque as part of a movement which shall bring poetry to the service of tho entire community, which shall mako poetrv democratic, in tho best sense of the word, and that the result of this movement will bo to create conditions likely to produce out of the soil of [Vmerica a great renascence of the drama. "The fact," says Mr Mac Kaye, "that tho masquo is a poem primarily intended to bo heard rather than to 1)0 read, is itself a movement toward the earlier and more democratic uses of poetry. Poetry appeals essentially to tlhe oar. and is an art of tho sntokdu word, yet, on account of our condim

sorb of worl that I am doing is shown a return to the old ideal." AN AMERICAN VERSAILLES. If the dreams of some of Americans most celebrated painters, sculptors and architects come true, several thousand Americans will in «■ few years be living in much tho same splendid environment that surrounded King Louis XIV. Thomas Hastings, tho architect, J. Aided Weir, Frederick MucMonnies, Maxlield Parrish and. ot-har celebrities aro planning an American Versailles, on Mauhaiisoi; Bay, north shore of Long Island, live miles from tho Now York City limits. This distance from his work in New York will bo no hardship for the American who lives like a kiivg &,z Veivaillcs, because Versailles is to own three yachts, a larger fleet later on, two of which will servo as free ferric.-! between Manhattan and rvianhasset. And while frho Louis XlV.'s are delving in Manhattan, all tho Mari:i Th-.;rems, as respite from their spinning, wilt have the third yacht at their tree disposal for cruising on tho Sound. They will also have indoor and outdoor theatres, a Montessori kindergarten, and a Peter Pan house in the woods for their children, and a groat pipe organ. Iho tones of which will permeate to tho far corners of the gardens and forests—to say nothing of the forty-six tennis courts. There will bo no rent to pay, because the dwellers in Versailles will own it. The great co-operative palace, a quarter of a mile long and with a bulk of forty-four million cubic feet, which Hastings has designed, will be divided into 2500 space units for individual homes, each unit to cost from ten thousand dollars up, according to its location. Tho man who qualifies for election as a member in Versailles will purchase one or nioro of these units, and it will become his property in the same sense that a house, and lot would,belong to him. "Each unit," says Mr Stanlaws, president of the organisation, "contains ten thousand cubic feet. From a single unit it will be possible to" get a living room, a dining room, a kitchenette', and two sleeping rooms. _ The average size of all these rooms will be twelve by thirteen feet. "In a threeunit apartment there will be space for a large studio room, 20ft wide by 26ft lon<4 by 20ft high; a large dining room adjoining, with a pantry and kitchen, and enough additional spaco for a library and six bedrooms. All the rooms except the studio will have 10ft ceilings. A person may purchase as many of these units as he wishes. Five units, for example, would contain more usable space than there is in the largest of country houses. The cost would be much less. In the beauty of the structure, the appointments, and the surroundings there is no country estate in America or the wcrld that will compare with this American Versailles." DICKENS LETTERS. A series of 125 unpublished autograph letters written by Charles Dickens to William Henry Wills, his subeditor, on " Household Words " and " All The Year Round," a correspondence covering twenty years -of tho closest friendship, was sold three days ago in the " Anderson Galleries to George D. Smith for 4150d01. The letters contain the frankest possible comments and many biting criticisms on tho literary productions of some of Dickens's friends who were—or sought to become—contributors to his periodicals. Among tho names mentioned are: Bulwer Lytton, Leigh Hunt, Wilkie Collins, Mrs Gaskell and many others. Tho series contain several letters written from America on his second lecturo tour. One of tho last letters written by Dickens and addressed to Miss Hogarth, dated May 12, 1870, in which ho dwells on his illness,- was bought-by G. D. Smith for 208dol. Another interesting item was a list of sixteen titles in Dickens's autograph being suggestions for the title" for his publication, which he later decided to call "Household Words." The letter was bought by G. D. Smith for 103.E0d01. The autograph letter written to W. H. Wills and published with numerous others in "Charles Dickens as Editor,'.' dated Broadstairs, July 27, 1851, with . regard to his "Child's History of England," was bought, by G. D. Smith for lOldoi. An autograph letter written during his second American tour m which 0 ho pays a glowing compliment to tho women of Baltimore was sold to G. D. Smith for 102.E0d01. Another letter referring to the walking match in Boston, arranged for his diversion, and also to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, was sold to G. D. Smith for 122.50d01.

• A FAMOUS SOPRANO. Clara Louise Kellogg is dead at her home in New Hartford, Connecticut, after a long illness. She was seventyfour years old. One of the noted American sopranos of the last century, sho retired in 1837, which was the year of her marriage to Carl Strakosch of tin managerial family of that name. Her time had been . divided since that time between tho United States and Italy. She went to Italy every fall until tho war broke out, and "returned in tho spring to her country home. Miss Kollogg was first heard of as a finished singer when in 1861 sho appeared in a concert given at his homo by Edward Cooper. In the same year sho made her first appearance at tho Academy of Music. This was on February 26. 1861. She sang Gilda in "lligoletto" at tho Academy of Music, of which Max Maretzck was then the impresario. Miss Kellogg, who soon found in other American cities tho same favour with which she had met in. New York, rapidly increased her repertoire, It was on November 25, 1863, that she sang "Faust" here. Gounod's opera heard for the first tirno created more sensation than an operatic composition bv Stravinsky might to-day, so complicated was its musical structure considered. In 1867 she went to England to begin her conquest of Europe. This was a period of wonderful singers. At Drury Lane, when sho arrived, there wero" Titiens, Niltson, Parana Rosa, Adelir.a Patti and names that are equally as impressive to-day. Miss Kellogg began with tho coloratura repertoiro and rapidly won her way. Sho was accompanied, as all youthful American prima donnas are supposed invariably to be, by her mother. Shelearned French and Italian, but did not know German. In Vienna sho had the privilege of singing in Italian when she apneared at the Imperial Opera House. "She sang in Russia lor a year and then returned to the United States in 1873 to found an English opera company. Under the management of C. F. Hess, sho travelled through the country for many seasons. It was Miss Kellogg who was instrumental in helping Emma Abbott to make her career. She was in a high degree typical of the energy and determination of her own people. Miss Keller's concert, appearance* wore not at first successful. Nor was her debut in opera brilliant in comparison with her later career. Finally she came to as high a degree of popular success as any other American prima donna ever did.