diff options
Diffstat (limited to '38091-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 38091-8.txt | 15780 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 15780 deletions
diff --git a/38091-8.txt b/38091-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8f6fbc2..0000000 --- a/38091-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,15780 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Letters of William James, Vol. II, by William James - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Letters of William James, Vol. II - -Author: William James - -Editor: Henry James - -Release Date: November 22, 2011 [EBook #38091] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES V.2 *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES - -[Illustration: WILLIAM JAMES - -FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ABOUT 1895] - - - - -THE LETTERS OF -WILLIAM JAMES - -EDITED BY HIS SON -HENRY JAMES - -IN TWO VOLUMES - -VOLUME II - -[Illustration] - -THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS -BOSTON - -COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY -HENRY JAMES - - - - -CONTENTS - - -XI. 1893-1899 1-52 - -_Turning to Philosophy--A Student's Impressions--Popular -Lecturing--Chautauqua._ - -LETTERS:-- - -To Dickinson S. Miller 17 - -To Henry Holt 19 - -To Henry James 20 - -To Henry James 20 - -To Mrs. Henry Whitman 20 - -To G. H. Howison 22 - -To Theodore Flournoy 23 - -To his Daughter 25 - -To E. L. Godkin 28 - -To F. W. H. Myers 30 - -To F. W. H. Myers 32 - -To Henry Holt 33 - -To his Class at Radcliffe College 33 - -To Henry James 34 - -To Henry James 36 - -To Benjamin P. Blood 38 - -To Mrs. James 40 - -To Miss Rosina H. Emmet 44 - -To Charles Renouvier 44 - -To Theodore Flournoy 46 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 48 - -To Henry James 51 - -XII. 1893-1899 (Continued) 53-91 - -_The Will to Believe--Talks to Teachers--Defense of Mental -Healers--Excessive Climbing in the Adirondacks._ - -LETTERS:-- - -To Theodore Flournoy 53 - -To Henry W. Rankin 56 - -To Benjamin P. Blood 58 - -To Henry James 60 - -To Miss Ellen Emmet 62 - -To E. L. Godkin 64 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 65 - -To James J. Putnam 66 - -To James J. Putnam 72 - -To François Pillon 73 - -To Mrs. James 75 - -To G. H. Howison 79 - -To Henry James 80 - -To his Son Alexander 81 - -To Miss Rosina H. Emmet 82 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 84 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 86 - -To Henry Rutgers Marshall 86 - -To Henry Rutgers Marshall 88 - -To Mrs. Henry Whitman 88 - - -XIII. 1899-1902 92-170 - -_Two Years of Illness in Europe--Retirement from Active Duty at -Harvard--The First and Second Series of the Gifford Lectures._ - -LETTERS:-- - -To Miss Pauline Goldmark 95 - -To Mrs. E. P. Gibbens 96 - -To William M. Salter 99 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 102 - -To Mrs. Henry Whitman 103 - -To Thomas Davidson 106 - -To John C. Gray 108 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 109 - -To Mrs. Glendower Evans 112 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 115 - -To Francis Boott 117 - -To Hugo Münsterberg 119 - -To G. H. Palmer 120 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 124 - -To his Son Alexander 129 - -To his Daughter 130 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 133 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 133 - -To Josiah Royce 135 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 138 - -To James Sully 140 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 142 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 142 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 143 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 146 - -To Henry W. Rankin 148 - -To Charles Eliot Norton 150 - -To N. S. Shaler 153 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 155 - -To Henry James 159 - -To E. L. Godkin 159 - -To E. L. Godkin 161 - -To Miss Pauline Goldmark 162 - -To H. N. Gardiner 164 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 164 - -To Charles Eliot Norton 166 - -To Mrs. Henry Whitman 167 - -XIV. 1902-1905 171-218 - -_The Last Period (I)--Statements of Religious Belief--Philosophical -Writing._ - -LETTERS:-- - -To Henry L. Higginson 173 - -To Miss Grace Norton 173 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 175 - -To Henry L. Higginson 176 - -To Henri Bergson 178 - -To Mrs. Louis Agassiz 180 - -To Henry L. Higginson 182 - -To Henri Bergson 183 - -To Theodore Flournoy 185 - -To Henry James 188 - -To his Daughter 192 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 193 - -To Henry James 195 - -To Henry W. Rankin 196 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 197 - -To Mrs. Henry Whitman 198 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 200 - -To Mrs. Henry Whitman 201 - -To Henry James 202 - -To François Pillon 203 - -To Henry James 204 - -To Charles Eliot Norton 206 - -To L. T. Hobhouse 207 - -To Edwin D. Starbuck 209 - -To James Henry Leuba 211 - -Answers to the Pratt Questionnaire on Religious Belief 212 - -To Miss Pauline Goldmark 215 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 216 - -To F. J. E. Woodbridge 217 - -To Edwin D. Starbuck 217 - -To F. J. E. Woodbridge 218 - - -XV. 1905-1907 219-282 - -_The Last Period (II)--Italy and Greece--Philosophical Congress in -Rome--Stanford University--The Earthquake--Resignation of -Professorship._ - -LETTERS:-- - -To Mrs. James 221 - -To his Daughter 223 - -To Mrs. James 225 - -To George Santayana 228 - -To Mrs. James 229 - -To Mrs. James 230 - -To H. G. Wells 230 - -To Henry L. Higginson 231 - -To T. S. Perry 232 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 233 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 235 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 237 - -To Daniel Merriman 238 - -To Miss Pauline Goldmark 238 - -To Henry James 239 - -To Theodore Flournoy 241 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 245 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 247 - -To Henry James and W. James, Jr. 250 - -To W. Lutoslawski 252 - -To John Jay Chapman 255 - -To Henry James 258 - -To H. G. Wells 259 - -To Miss Theodora Sedgwick 260 - -To his Daughter 262 - -To Henry James and W. James, Jr. 263 - -To Moorfield Storey 265 - -To Theodore Flournoy 266 - -To Charles A. Strong 268 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 270 - -To Clifford W. Beers 273 - -To William James, Jr. 275 - -To Henry James 277 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 280 - - -XVI. 1907-1909 283-332 - -_The Last Period (III)--Hibbert Lectures in Oxford--The Hodgson Report._ - -LETTERS:-- - -To Charles Lewis Slattery 287 - -To Henry L. Higginson 288 - -To W. Cameron Forbes 288 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 290 - -To Henri Bergson 290 - -To T. S. Perry 294 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 295 - -To Miss Pauline Goldmark 296 - -To W. Jerusalem 297 - -To Henry James 298 - -To Theodore Flournoy 300 - -To Norman Kemp Smith 301 - -To his Daughter 301 - -To Henry James 302 - -To Henry James 303 - -To Miss Pauline Goldmark 303 - -To Charles Eliot Norton 306 - -To Henri Bergson 308 - -To John Dewey 310 - -To Theodore Flournoy 310 - -To Shadworth H. Hodgson 312 - -To Theodore Flournoy 313 - -To Henri Bergson 315 - -To H. G. Wells 316 - -To Henry James 317 - -To T. S. Perry 318 - -To Hugo Münsterberg 320 - -To John Jay Chapman 321 - -To G. H. Palmer 322 - -To Theodore Flournoy 322 - -To Miss Theodora Sedgwick 324 - -To F. C. S. Schiller 325 - -To Theodore Flournoy 326 - -To Shadworth H. Hodgson 328 - -To John Jay Chapman 329 - -To John Jay Chapman 330 - -To John Jay Chapman 330 - -To Dickinson S. Miller 331 - - -XVII. 1910 333-350 - -_Final Months--The End._ - -LETTERS:-- - -To Henry L. Higginson 334 - -To Miss Frances R. Morse 335 - -To T. S. Perry 335 - -To François Pillon 336 - -To Theodore Flournoy 338 - -To his Daughter 338 - -To Henry P. Bowditch 341 - -To François Pillon 342 - -To Henry Adams 344 - -To Henry Adams 346 - -To Henry Adams 347 - -To Benjamin P. Blood 347 - -To Theodore Flournoy 349 - - -APPENDIX I. 353 - -Three Criticisms for Students. - -APPENDIX II. 357 - -Books by William James. - -INDEX 363 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - -William James in middle life _Frontispiece_ - -"Damn the Absolute": two snapshots of William -James and Josiah Royce 135 - -William James and Henry James posing for a -kodak in 1900 161 - -William James and Henry Clement at the "Putnam -Shanty" in the Adirondacks (1907?) 315 - -Facsimile of Post-card addressed to Henry Adams 347 - - - - - -THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES - - - - -XI - -1893-1899 - - _Turning to Philosophy--A Student's Impressions--Popular - Lecturing--Chautauqua_ - - -When James returned from Europe, he was fifty-two years old. If he had -been another man, he might have settled down to the intensive -cultivation of the field in which he had already achieved renown and -influence. He would then have spent the rest of his life in working out -special problems in psychology, in deducing a few theories, in making -particular applications of his conclusions, in administering a growing -laboratory, in surrounding himself with assistants and disciples--in -weeding and gathering where he had tilled. But the fact was that the -publication of his two books on psychology operated for him as a welcome -release from the subject. - -He had no illusion of finality about what he had written.[1] But he -would have said that whatever original contribution he was capable of -making to psychology had already been made; that he must pass on and -leave addition and revision to others. He gradually disencumbered -himself of responsibility for teaching the subject in the College. The -laboratory had already been placed under Professor Münsterberg's charge. -For one year, during which Münsterberg returned to Germany, James was -compelled to direct its conduct; but he let it be known that he would -resign his professorship rather than concern himself with it -indefinitely. - -Readers of this book will have seen that the centre of his interest had -always been religious and philosophical. To be sure, the currents by -which science was being carried forward during the sixties and seventies -had supported him in his distrust of conclusions based largely on -introspection and _a priori_ reasoning. As early as 1865 he had said, -apropos of Agassiz, "No one sees farther into a generalization than his -own knowledge of details extends." In the spirit of that remark he had -spent years on brain-physiology, on the theory of the emotions, on the -feeling of effort in mental processes, in studying the measurements and -exact experiments by means of which the science of the mind was being -brought into quickening relation with the physical and biological -sciences. But all the while he had been driven on by a curiosity that -embraced ulterior problems. In half of the field of his consciousness -questions had been stirring which now held his attention completely. -Does consciousness really exist? Could a radically empirical conception -of the universe be formulated? What is knowledge? What truth? Where is -freedom? and where is there room for faith? Metaphysical problems -haunted his mind; discussions that ran in strictly psychological -channels bored him. He called psychology "a nasty little subject," -according to Professor Palmer, and added, "all one cares to know lies -outside." He would not consider spending time on a revised edition of -his textbook (the "Briefer Course") except for a bribe that was too -great ever to be urged upon him. As time went on, he became more and -more irritated at being addressed or referred to as a "psychologist." In -June, 1903, when he became aware that Harvard was intending to confer an -honorary degree on him, he went about for days before Commencement in a -half-serious state of dread lest, at the fatal moment, he should hear -President Eliot's voice naming him "Psychologist, psychical researcher, -willer-to-believe, religious experiencer." He could not say whether the -impossible last epithets would be less to his taste than "psychologist." - -Only along the borderland between normal and pathological mental states, -and particularly in the region of "religious experience," did he -continue to collect psychological data and to explore them. - -The new subjects which he offered at Harvard during the nineties are -indicative of the directions in which his mind was moving. In the first -winter after his return he gave a course on Cosmology, which he had -never taught before and which he described in the department -announcement as "a study of the fundamental conceptions of natural -science with especial reference to the theories of evolution and -materialism," and for the first time announced that his graduate -"seminar" would be wholly devoted to questions in mental pathology -"embracing a review of the principal forms of abnormal or exceptional -mental life." In 1895 the second half of his psychological seminar was -announced as "a discussion of certain theoretic problems, as -Consciousness, Knowledge, Self, the relations of Mind and Body." In 1896 -he offered a course on the philosophy of Kant for the first time. In -1898 the announcement of his "elective" on Metaphysics explained that -the class would consider "the unity or pluralism of the world ground, -and its knowability or unknowability; realism and idealism, freedom, -teleology and theism."[2] - -But there is another aspect of the nineties which must be touched upon. -After getting back "to harness" in 1893 James took up, not only his full -college duties, but an amount of outside lecturing such as he had never -done before. In so doing he overburdened himself and postponed the -attainment of his true purpose; but the temptation to accept the -requests which now poured in on him was made irresistible by practical -considerations. He not only repeated some of his Harvard courses at -Radcliffe College, and gave instruction in the Harvard Summer School in -addition to the regular work of the term; but delivered lectures at -teachers' meetings and before other special audiences in places as far -from Cambridge as Colorado and California. A number of the papers that -are included in "The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular -Philosophy" (1897) and "Talks to Teachers and Students on Some of Life's -Ideals" (1897) were thus prepared as lectures. Some of them were read -many times before they were published. When he stopped for a rest in -1899, he was exhausted to the verge of a formidable break-down. - -Even a glance at this period tempts one to wonder whether this record -would not have been richer if it had been different. Might-have-beens -can never be measured or verified; and yet sometimes it cannot be -doubted that possibilities never realized were actual possibilities -once. By 1893 James was inwardly eager, as has already been said, to -devote all his thought and working time to metaphysical and religious -questions. More than that--he had already conceived the important terms -of his own _Welt-anschauung_. "The Will to Believe" was written by 1896. -In the preface to the "Talks to Teachers" he said of the essay called "A -Certain Blindness in Human Beings," "it connects itself with a definite -view of the World and our Moral relations to the same.... I mean the -pluralistic or individualistic philosophy." This was no more than a -statement of a general philosophic attitude which had for some years -been familiar to his students and to readers of his occasional papers. -The lecture on "Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results," -delivered at the University of California in 1898, forecast "Pragmatism" -and the "Meaning of Truth." If his time and energy had not been -otherwise consumed, the nineties might well have witnessed the -appearance of papers which were not written until the next decade. If he -had been able to apply an undistracted attention to what his spirit was -all the while straining toward, the disastrous breakdown of 1899-1902 -might not have happened. But instead, these best years of his maturity -were largely sacrificed to the practical business of supporting his -family. His salary as a Harvard professor was insufficient to his needs. -On his salary alone he could not educate his four children as he wanted -to, and make provision for his old age and their future and his wife's, -except by denying himself movement and social and professional contacts -and by withdrawing into isolation that would have been utterly -paralyzing and depressing to his genius. He possessed private means, to -be sure; but, considering his family, these amounted to no more than a -partial insurance against accident and a moderate supplement to his -salary. His books had not yet begun to yield him a substantial increase -of income. It is true that he made certain lecture engagements serve as -the occasion for casting philosophical conceptions in more or less -popular form, and that he frequently paid the expenses of refreshing -travels by means of these lectures. But after he had economized in every -direction,--as for instance, by giving up horse and hired man at -Chocorua,--the bald fact remained that for six years he spent most of -the time that he could spare from regular college duties, and about all -his vacations, in carrying the fruits of the previous fifteen years of -psychological work into the popular market. His public reputation was -increased thereby. Teachers, audiences, and the "general reader" had -reason to be thankful. But science and philosophy paid for the gain. His -case was no worse than that of plenty of other men of productive genius -who were enmeshed in an inadequately supported academic system. It would -have been much more distressing under the conditions that prevail today. -So James took the limitations of the situation as a matter of course and -made no complaint. But when he died, the systematic statement of his -philosophy had not been "rounded out" and he knew that he was leaving it -"too much like an arch built only on one side." - - * * * * * - -James's appearance at this period is well shown by the frontispiece of -this volume. Almost anyone who was at Harvard in the nineties can recall -him as he went back and forth in Kirkland Street between the College and -his Irving Street house, and can in memory see again that erect figure -walking with a step that was somehow firm and light without being -particularly rapid, two or three thick volumes and a note-book under -one arm, and on his face a look of abstraction that used suddenly to -give way to an expression of delighted and friendly curiosity. Sometimes -it was an acquaintance who caught his eye and received a cordial word; -sometimes it was an occurrence in the street that arrested him; -sometimes the terrier dog, who had been roving along unwatched and -forgotten, embroiled himself in an adventure or a fight and brought -James out of his thoughts. One day he would have worn the Norfolk jacket -that he usually worked in at home to his lecture-room; the next, he -would have forgotten to change the black coat that he had put on for a -formal occasion. At twenty minutes before nine in the morning he could -usually be seen going to the College Chapel for the fifteen-minute -service with which the College day began. If he was returning home for -lunch, he was likely to be hurrying; for he had probably let himself be -detained after a lecture to discuss some question with a few of his -class. He was apt then to have some student with him whom he was -bringing home to lunch and to finish the discussion at the family table, -or merely for the purpose of establishing more personal relations than -were possible in the class-room. At the end of the afternoon, or in the -early evening, he would frequently be bicycling or walking again. He -would then have been working until his head was tired, and would have -laid his spectacles down on his desk and have started out again to get a -breath of air and perhaps to drop in on a Cambridge neighbor. - -In his own house it seemed as if he was always at work; all the more, -perhaps, because it was obvious that he possessed no instinct for -arranging his day and protecting himself from interruptions. He managed -reasonably well to keep his mornings clear; or rather he allowed his -wife to stand guard over them with fair success. But soon after he had -taken an essential after-lunch nap, he was pretty sure to be "caught" by -callers and visitors. From six o'clock on, he usually had one or two of -the children sitting, more or less subdued, in the library, while he -himself read or dashed off letters, or (if his eyes were tired) dictated -them to Mrs. James. He always had letters and post-cards to write. At -any odd time--with his overcoat on and during a last moment before -hurrying off to an appointment or a train--he would sit down at his desk -and do one more note or card--always in the beautiful and flowing hand -that hardly changed between his eighteenth and his sixty-eighth years. -He seemed to feel no need of solitude except when he was reading -technical literature or writing philosophy. If other members of the -household were talking and laughing in the room that adjoined his study, -he used to keep the door open and occasionally pop in for a word, or to -talk for a quarter of an hour. It was with the greatest difficulty that -Mrs. James finally persuaded him to let the door be closed up. He never -struck an equilibrium between wishing to see his students and neighbors -freely and often, and wishing not to be interrupted by even the most -agreeable reminder of the existence of anyone or anything outside the -matter in which he was absorbed. - -It was customary for each member of the Harvard Faculty to announce in -the college catalogue at what hour of the day he could be consulted by -students. Year after year James assigned the hour of his evening meal -for such calls. Sometimes he left the table to deal with the caller in -private; sometimes a student, who had pretty certainly eaten already and -was visibly abashed at finding himself walking in on a second dinner, -would be brought into the dining-room and made to talk about other -things than his business. - -He allowed his conscience to be constantly burdened with a sense of -obligation to all sorts of people. The list of neighbors, students, -strangers visiting Cambridge, to whom he and Mrs. James felt responsible -for civilities, was never closed, and the cordiality which animated his -intentions kept him reminded of every one on it. - -And yet, whenever his wife wisely prepared for a suitable time and made -engagements for some sort of hospitality otherwise than by hap-hazard, -it was perversely likely to be the case, when the appointed hour -arrived, that James was "going on his nerves" and in no mood for "being -entertaining." The most comradely of men, nothing galled him like -_having to be_ sociable. The "hollow mockery of our social conventions" -would then be described in furious and lurid speech. Luckily the guests -were not yet there to hear him. But they did not always get away without -catching a glimpse of his state of mind. On one such occasion,--an -evening reception for his graduate class had been arranged,--Mrs. James -encountered a young man in the hall whose expression was so perturbed -that she asked him what had happened to him. "I've come in again," he -replied, "to get my hat. I was trying to find my way to the dining-room -when Mr. James swooped at me and said, 'Here, Smith, you want to get out -of this _Hell_, don't you? I'll show you how. There!' And before I could -answer, he'd popped me out through a back-door. But, really, I do not -want to go!" - -The dinners of a club to which allusions will occur in this volume, (in -letters to Henry L. Higginson, T. S. Perry, and John C. Gray) were -occasions apart from all others; for James could go to them at the last -moment, without any sense of responsibility and knowing that he would -find congenial company and old friends. So he continued to go to these -dinners, even after he had stopped accepting all invitations to dine. -The Club (for it never had any name) had been started in 1870. James had -been one of the original group who agreed to dine together once a month -during the winter. Among the other early members had been his brother -Henry, W. D. Howells, O. W. Holmes, Jr., John Fiske, John C. Gray, Henry -Adams, T. S. Perry, John C. Ropes, A. G. Sedgwick, and F. Parkman. The -more faithful diners, who constituted the nucleus of the Club during the -later years, included Henry L. Higginson, Sturgis Bigelow, John C. -Ropes, John T. Morse, Charles Grinnell, James Ford Rhodes, Moorfield -Storey, James W. Crafts, and H. P. Walcott. - - * * * * * - -Every little while James's sleep would "go to pieces," and he would go -off to Newport, the Adirondacks, or elsewhere, for a few days. This -happened both summer and winter. It was not the effect of the place or -climate in which he was living, but simply that his dangerously high -average of nervous tension had been momentarily raised to the snapping -point. Writing was almost certain to bring on this result. When he had -an essay or a lecture to prepare, he could not do it by bits. In order -to begin such a task, he tried to seize upon a free day--more often a -Sunday than any other. Then he would shut himself into his library, or -disappear into a room at the top of the house, and remain hidden all -day. If things went well, twenty or thirty sheets of much-corrected -manuscript (about twenty-five hundred words in his free hand) might -result from such a day. As many more would have gone into the -waste-basket. Two or three successive days of such writing "took it out -of him" visibly. - -Short holidays, or intervals in college lecturing, were often employed -for writing in this way, the longer vacations of the latter nineties -being filled, as has been said, with traveling and lecture engagements. -In the intervals there would be a few days, or sometimes two or three -whole weeks, at Chocorua. Or, one evening, all the windows of the -deserted Irving Street house would suddenly be wide open to the night -air, and passers on the sidewalk could see James sitting in his -shirt-sleeves within the circle of the bright light that stood on his -library table. He was writing letters, making notes, and skirmishing -through the piles of journals and pamphlets that had accumulated during -an absence. - - * * * * * - -The impression which he made on a student who sat under him in several -classes shortly before the date at which this volume begins have been -set down in a form in which they can be given here. - -"I have a vivid recollection" (writes Dr. Dickinson S. Miller) "of -James's lectures, classes, conferences, seminars, laboratory interests, -and the side that students saw of him generally. Fellow-manliness seemed -to me a good name for his quality. The one thing apparently impossible -to him was to speak _ex cathedra_ from heights of scientific erudition -and attainment. There were not a few 'if's' and 'maybe's' in his -remarks. Moreover he seldom followed for long an orderly system of -argument or unfolding of a theory, but was always apt to puncture such -systematic pretensions when in the midst of them with some entirely -unaffected doubt or question that put the matter upon a basis of common -sense at once. He had drawn from his laboratory experience in chemistry -and his study of medicine a keen sense that the imposing formulas of -science that impress laymen are not so 'exact' as they sound. He was -not, in my time at least, much of a believer in lecturing in the sense -of continuous exposition. - -"I can well remember the first meeting of the course in psychology in -1890, in a ground-floor room of the old Lawrence Scientific School. He -took a considerable part of the hour by reading extracts from Henry -Sidgwick's Lecture against Lecturing, proceeding to explain that we -should use as a textbook his own 'Principles of Psychology,' appearing -for the first time that very week from the press, and should spend the -hours in conference, in which we should discuss and ask questions, on -both sides. So during the year's course we read the two volumes through, -with some amount of running commentary and controversy. There were four -or five men of previous psychological training in a class of (I think) -between twenty and thirty, two of whom were disposed to take up cudgels -for the British associational psychology and were particularly troubled -by the repeated doctrine of the 'Principles' that a state of -consciousness had no parts or elements, but was one indivisible fact. He -bore questions that really were criticisms with inexhaustible patience -and what I may call (the subject invites the word often) _human_ -attention; invited written questions as well, and would often return -them with a reply penciled on the back when he thought the discussion -too special in interest to be pursued before the class. Moreover, he -bore with us with never a sign of impatience if we lingered after class, -and even walked up Kirkland Street with him on his way home. Yet he was -really not argumentative, not inclined to dialectic or pertinacious -debate of any sort. It must always have required an effort of -self-control to put up with it. He almost never, even in private -conversation, contended for his own opinion. He had a way of often -falling back on the language of perception, insight, sensibility, vision -of possibilities. I recall how on one occasion after class, as I parted -with him at the gate of the Memorial Hall triangle, his last words were -something like these: 'Well, Miller, that theory's not a warm reality to -me yet--still a cold conception'; and the charm of the comradely smile -with which he said it! The disinclination to formal logical system and -the more prolonged purely intellectual analyses was felt by some men as -a lack in his classroom work, though they recognized that these analyses -were present in the 'Psychology.' On the other hand, the very tendency -to _feel_ ideas lent a kind of emotional or ĉsthetic color which -deepened the interest. - -"In the course of the year he asked the men each to write some word of -suggestion, if he were so inclined, for improvement in the method with -which the course was conducted; and, if I remember rightly, there were -not a few respectful suggestions that too much time was allowed to the -few wrangling disputants. In a pretty full and varied experience of -lecture-rooms at home and abroad I cannot recall another where the class -was asked to criticize the methods of the lecturer. - -"Another class of twelve or fourteen, in the same year, on Descartes, -Spinoza, and Leibnitz, met in one of the 'tower rooms' of Sever Hall, -sitting around a table. Here we had to do mostly with pure metaphysics. -And more striking still was the prominence of humanity and sensibility -in his way of taking philosophic problems. I can see him now, sitting at -the head of that heavy table of light-colored oak near the bow-window -that formed the end of the room. My brother, a visitor at Cambridge, -dropping in for an hour and seeing him with his vigorous air, bronzed -and sanguine complexion, and brown tweeds, said, 'He looks more like a -sportsman than a professor.' I think that the sporting men in college -always felt a certain affinity to themselves on one side in the -freshness and manhood that distinguished him in mind, appearance, and -diction. It was, by the way, in this latter course that I first heard -some of the philosophic phrases now identified with him. There was a -great deal about the monist and pluralist views of the universe. The -world of the monist was described as a 'block-universe' and the monist -himself as 'wallowing in a sense of unbridled unity,' or something of -the sort. He always wanted the men to write one or two 'theses' in the -course of the year and to get to work early on them. He made a great -deal of bibliography. He would say, 'I am no man for editions and -references, no exact bibliographer.' But none the less he would put upon -the blackboard full lists of books, English, French, German, and -Italian, on our subject. His own reading was immense and systematic. No -one has ever done justice to it, partly because he spoke with unaffected -modesty of that side of his equipment. - -"Of course this knowledge came to the foreground in his 'seminar.' In my -second year I was with him in one of these for both terms, the first -half-year studying the psychology of pleasure and pain, and the second, -mental pathology. Here each of us undertook a special topic, the reading -for which was suggested by him. The students were an interesting group, -including Professor Santayana, then an instructor, Dr. Herbert Nichols, -Messrs. Mezes (now President of the City College, New York), Pierce -(late Professor at Smith College), Angell (Professor of Psychology at -Chicago, and now President of the Carnegie Corporation), Bakewell -(Professor at Yale), and Alfred Hodder (who became instructor at Bryn -Mawr College, then abandoned academic life for literature and politics). -In this seminar I was deeply impressed by his judicious and often -judicial quality. His range of intellectual experience, his profound -cultivation in literature, in science and in art (has there been in our -generation a more cultivated man?), his absolutely unfettered and -untrammeled mind, ready to do sympathetic justice to the most -unaccredited, audacious, or despised hypotheses, yet always keeping his -own sense of proportion and the balance of evidence--merely to know -these qualities, as we sat about that council-board, was to receive, so -far as we were capable of absorbing it, in a heightened sense of the -good old adjective, 'liberal' education. Of all the services he did us -in this seminar perhaps the greatest was his running commentary on the -students' reports on such authors as Lombroso and Nordau, and all -theories of degeneracy and morbid human types. His thought was that -there is no sharp line to be drawn between 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' -minds, that all have something of both. Once when we were returning from -two insane asylums which he had arranged for the class to visit, and at -one of which we had seen a dangerous, almost naked maniac, I remember -his saying, 'President Eliot might not like to admit that there is no -sharp line between himself and the men we have just seen, but it is -true.' He would emphasize that people who had great nervous burdens to -carry, hereditary perhaps, could order their lives fruitfully and -perhaps derive some gain from their 'degenerate' sensitiveness, whatever -it might be. The doctrine is set forth with regard to religion in an -early chapter of his 'Varieties of Religious Experience,' but for us it -was applied to life at large. - -"In private conversation he had a mastery of words, a voice, a vigor, a -freedom, a dignity, and therefore what one might call an authority, in -which he stood quite alone. Yet brilliant man as he was, he never quite -outgrew a perceptible shyness or diffidence in the lecture-room, which -showed sometimes in a heightened color. Going to lecture in one of the -last courses he ever gave at Harvard, he said to a colleague whom he met -on the way, 'I have lectured so and so many years, and yet here am I on -the way to my class in trepidation!' - -"Professor Royce's style of exposition was continuous, even, unfailing, -composed. Professor James was more conversational, varied, broken, at -times struggling for expression--in spite of what has been mentioned as -his mastery of words. This was natural, for the one was deeply and -comfortably installed in a theory (to be sure a great theory), and the -other was peering out in quest of something greater which he did not -distinctly see. James's method gave us in the classroom more of his own -exploration and _aperçu_. We felt his mind at work. - -"Royce in lecturing sat immovable. James would rise with a peculiar -suddenness and make bold and rapid strokes for a diagram on the -black-board--I can remember his abstracted air as he wrestled with some -idea, standing by his chair with one foot upon it, elbow on knee, hand -to chin. A friend has described a scene at a little class that, in a -still earlier year, met in James's own study. In the effort to -illustrate he brought out a black-board. He stood it on a chair and in -various other positions, but could not at once write upon it, hold it -steady, and keep it in the class's vision. Entirely bent on what he was -doing, his efforts resulted at last in his standing it on the floor -while he lay down at full length, holding it with one hand, drawing with -the other, and continuing the flow of his commentary. I can myself -remember how, after one of his lectures on Pragmatism in the Horace Mann -Auditorium in New York, being assailed with questions by people who came -up to the edge of the platform, he ended by sitting on that edge -himself, all in his frock-coat as he was, his feet hanging down, with -his usual complete absorption in the subject, and the look of human and -mellow consideration which distinguished him at such moments, meeting -the thoughts of the inquirers, whose attention also was entirely -riveted. If this suggests a lack of dignity, it misleads, for dignity -never forsook him, such was the inherent strength of tone and bearing. -In one respect these particular lectures (afterwards published as his -book on Pragmatism) stand alone in my recollection. An audience may -easily be large the first time, but if there is a change it usually -falls away more or less on the subsequent occasions. These lectures were -announced for one of the larger lecture-halls. This was so crowded -before the lecture began, some not being able to gain admittance, that -the audience had to be asked to move to the large 'auditorium' I have -mentioned. But in it also the numbers grew, till on the last day it -presented much the same appearance as the other hall on the first." - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -Cambridge, _Nov._ 19, 1893. - -MY DEAR MILLER,--I have found the work of recommencing teaching -unexpectedly formidable after our year of gentlemanly irresponsibility. -I seem to have forgotten everything, especially psychology, and the -subjects themselves have become so paltry and insignificant-seeming that -each lecture has appeared a ghastly farce. Of late things are getting -more real; but the experience brings startlingly near to one the wild -desert of old-age which lies ahead, and makes me feel like impressing on -all chicken-professors like you the paramount urgency of providing for -the time when you'll be old fogies, by laying by from your very first -year of service a fund on which you may be enabled to "retire" before -you're sixty and incapable of any cognitive operation that wasn't ground -into you twenty years before, or of any emotion save bewilderment and -jealousy of the thinkers of the rising generation. - -I am glad to hear that you have more writings on the stocks. I read your -paper on "Truth and Error" with bewilderment and jealousy. Either it is -Dr. Johnson _redivivus_ striking the earth with his stick and saying, -"Matter exists and there's an end on 't," or it is a new David Hume, -reincarnated in your form, and so subtle in his simplicity that a -decaying mind like mine fails to seize any of the deeper import of his -words. The trouble is, I can't tell which it is. But with the help of -God I will go at it again this winter, when I settle down to my final -bout with Royce's theory, which must result in my either _actively_ -becoming a propagator thereof, or actively its enemy and destroyer. It -is high time that this more decisive attitude were generated in me, and -it ought to take place this winter. - -I hardly see more of my colleagues this winter than I did last year. -Each of us lies in his burrow, and we meet on the street. Münsterberg is -going really _splendidly_ and the Laboratory is a bower of delight. But -I do not work there. Royce is in powerful condition.... Yours ever, - -W. J. - -Although, in the next letter, James poked fun at reformed spelling, he -was really in sympathy with the movement to which his correspondent was -giving an outspoken support--as Mr. Holt of course understood. "Isn't it -abominable"--Professor Palmer has quoted James as exclaiming--"that -everybody is expected to spell the same way!" He lent his name to Mr. -Carnegie's simplified spelling program, and used to wax honestly -indignant when people opposed spelling reform with purely conservative -arguments. He cared little about etymology, and saw clearly enough that -mere accident and fashion have helped to determine orthography. But in -his own writing he never put himself to great pains to reëducate his -reflexes. He let his hand write _through_ as often as _thro'_ or _thru_, -and only occasionally bethought him to write 'filosofy' and 'telefone.' -When he published, the text of his books showed very few reforms. - - - - -_To Henry Holt._ - - -Cambridge, _March_ 27[1894]. - -_Autographically written, and spelt spontaneously._ - -DEAR HOLT,--The Introduction to filosofy is what I ment--I dont no the -other book. - -I will try Nordau's Entartung this summer--as a rule however it duzn't -profit me to read Jeremiads against evil--the example of a little good -has more effect. - -A propo of kitchen ranges, I wish you wood remoov your recommendation -from that Boynton Furnace Company's affair. We have struggld with it for -five years--lost 2 cooks in consequens--burnt countless tons of extra -coal, never had anything decently baikt, and now, having got rid of it -for 15 dollars, are having a happy kitchen for the 1st time in our -experience--all through your unprinsipld recommendation! You ought to -hear my wife sware when she hears your name! - -I will try about a translator for Nordau--though the only man I can -think of needs munny more than fame, and coodn't do the job for pure -love of the publisher or author, or on an unsertainty. - -Yours affectionately, -WILLIAM JAMES. - - - - -_To Henry James_. - - -PRINCETON, _Dec. 29, 1894_. - -DEAR H.,--I have been here for three days at my co-psychologist -Baldwin's house, presiding over a meeting of the American Association of -Psychologists, which has proved a very solid and successful affair.[3] -Strange to say, we are getting to be veterans, and the brunt of the -discussions was borne by former students of mine. It is a very healthy -movement. Alice is with me, the weather is frosty clear and cold, -touching zero this A.M. and the country robed in snow. Princeton is a -beautiful place.... - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 26, 1895_. - -...I have been reading Balfour's "Foundations of Belief" with immense -gusto. It almost makes me a Liberal-Unionist! If I mistake not, it will -have a profound effect eventually, and it is a pleasure to see old -England coming to the fore every time with some big stroke. There is -more real philosophy in such a book than in fifty German ones of which -the eminence consists in heaping up subtleties and technicalities about -the subject. The English genius makes the vitals plain by scuffing the -technicalities away. B. is a great man.... - - - - -_To Mrs. Henry Whitman._ - - -SPRINGFIELD CENTRE, N.Y., _June 16, 1895_. - -MY DEAR FRIEND,--About the 22nd! I will come if you command it; but -reflect on my situation ere you do so. Just reviving from the addled and -corrupted condition in which the Cambridge year has left me; just at the -portals of that Adirondack wilderness for the breath of which I have -sighed for years, unable to escape the cares of domesticity and get -there; just about to get a little health into me, a little -simplification and solidification and purification and sanification--things -which will never come again if this one chance be lost; just filled to -satiety with all the simpering conventions and vacuous excitements of -so-called civilization; hungering for their opposite, the smell of the -spruce, the feel of the moss, the sound of the cataract, the bath in its -waters, the divine outlook from the cliff or hill-top over the unbroken -forest--oh, Madam, Madam! do you know what medicinal things you ask me -to give up? Alas! - -I aspire downwards, and really _am_ nothing, _not becoming_ a savage as -I would be, and failing to be the civilizee that I really ought to be -content with being! But I wish that _you_ also aspired to the -wilderness. There are some nooks and summits in that Adirondack region -where one can really "recline on one's divine composure," and, as long -as one stays up there, seem for a while to enjoy one's birth-right of -freedom and relief from every fever and falsity. Stretched out on such a -shelf,--with thee beside me singing in the wilderness,--what babblings -might go on, what judgment-day discourse! - -Command me to give it up and return, if you will, by telegram addressed -"Adirondack Lodge, North Elba, N.Y." In any case I shall return before -the end of the month, and later shall be hanging about Cambridge some -time in July, giving lectures (for my sins) in the Summer School. I am -staying now with a cousin on Otsego Lake, a dear old country-place that -has been in their family for a century, and is rich and ample and -reposeful. The Kipling visit went off splendidly--he's a regular little -brick of a man; but it's strange that with so much sympathy with the -insides of every living thing, brute or human, drunk or sober, he -should have so little sympathy with those of a Yankee--who also is, in -the last analysis, one of God's creatures. I have stopped at -Williamstown, at Albany, at Amsterdam, at Utica, at Syracuse, and -finally here, each time to visit human beings with whom I had business -of some sort or other. The best was Benj. Paul Blood at Amsterdam, a son -of the soil, but a man with extraordinary power over the English tongue, -of whom I will tell you more some day. I will by the way enclose some -clippings from his latest "effort." "Yes, Paul is quite a -_correspondent_!" as a citizen remarked to me from whom I inquired the -way to his dwelling. Don't you think "correspondent" rather a good -generic term for "man of letters," from the point of view of the -country-town newspaper reader?... - -Now, dear, noble, incredibly perfect Madam, you won't take ill my -reluctance about going to Beverly, even to your abode, so soon. I am a -badly mixed critter, and I experience a certain organic need for -simplification and solitude that is quite imperious, and so vital as -actually to be respectable even by others. So be indulgent to your ever -faithful and worshipful, - -W. J. - - - - -_To G. H. Howison._ - -Cambridge, _July 17, 1895_. - -MY DEAR HOWISON,--How you _have_ misunderstood the application of my -word "trivial" as being discriminatively applied to your pluralistic -idealism! Quite the reverse--if there be a philosophy that I believe in, -it's that. The word came out of one who is unfit to be a philosopher -because at bottom he hates philosophy, especially at the beginning of a -vacation, with the fragrance of the spruces and sweet ferns all soaking -him through with the conviction that it is better to _be_ than to define -your being. I am a victim of neurasthenia and of the sense of hollowness -and unreality that goes with it. And philosophic literature _will_ often -seem to me the hollowest thing. My word trivial was a general reflection -exhaling from this mood, vile indeed in a supposed professor. Where it -will end with me, I do not know. I wish I could give it all up. But -perhaps it is a grand climacteric and will pass away. At present I am -philosophizing as little as possible, in order to do it the better next -year, if I can do it at all. And I envy you your stalwart and steadfast -enthusiasm and faith. Always devotedly yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -GLENWOOD SPRINGS, -COLORADO, _Aug. 13, 1895_. - -MY DEAR FLOURNOY,--Ever since last January an envelope addressed to you -has been lying before my eyes on my library table. I mention this to -assure you that you have not been absent from my thoughts; but I will -waste no time or paper in making excuses. As the sage Emerson says, when -you visit a man do not degrade the occasion with apologies for not -having visited him before. Visit him now! Make him feel that the highest -truth has come to see him in you its lowliest organ. I don't know about -the highest truth transpiring through this letter, but I feel as if -there were plenty of affection and personal gossip to express -themselves. To begin with, your photograph and Mrs. Flournoy's were -splendid. What we need now is the photographs of those fair -_demoiselles_! I may say that one reason of my long silence has been the -hope that when I wrote I should have my wife's photograph to send you. -But alas! it has not been taken yet. She is well, very well, and is now -in our little New Hampshire country-place with the children, living very -quietly and happily. We have had a rather large _train de maison_ -hitherto, and this summer we are shrunken to our bare essentials--a very -pleasant change. - -I, you see, am farther away from home than I have ever been before on -this side of the Atlantic, namely, in the state of Colorado, and just -now in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. I have been giving a course of -six lectures on psychology "for teachers" at a so-called "summer-school" -in Colorado Springs. I had to remain for three nights and three days in -the train to get there, and it has made me understand the vastness of my -dear native land better than I ever did before.... The trouble with all -this new civilization is that it is based, not on saving, but on -borrowing; and when hard times come, as they did come three years ago, -everyone goes bankrupt. But the vision of the future, the dreams of the -possible, keep everyone enthusiastic, and so the work goes on. Such -conditions have never existed before on so enormous a scale. But I must -not write you a treatise on national economy!--I got through the year -very well in regard to health, and gave in the course of it, what I had -never done before, a number of lectures to teachers in Boston and New -York. I also repeated my course in Cosmology in the new woman's College -which has lately been established in connection with our University. The -consequence is that I laid by more than a thousand dollars, an -absolutely new and proportionately pleasant experience for me. To make -up for it, I haven't had an idea or written anything to speak of except -the "presidential address" which I sent you, and which really contained -nothing new.... - -And now is not that enough gossip about ourselves? I wish I could, by -telephone, at this moment, hear just where and how you all are, and what -you are all doing. In the mountains somewhere, of course, and I trust -all well; but it is perhaps fifteen or twenty years too soon for -transatlantic telephone. My surroundings here, so much like those of -Switzerland, bring you before me in a lively manner. I enclose a picture -of one of the streets at Colorado Springs for Madame Flournoy, and -another one of a "cowboy" for that one of the _demoiselles_ who is most -_romanesque_. Alice, Blanche--but I have actually gone and been and -forgotten the name of the magnificent third one, whose resplendent face -I so well remember notwithstanding. _Dulcissima mundi nomina_, all of -them; and I do hope that they are being educated in a thoroughly -emancipated way, just like true American girls, with no laws except -those imposed by their own sense of fitness. I am sure it produces the -best results! How did the teaching go last year? I mean your own -teaching. Have you started any new lines? And how is Chantre? and how -Ritter? And how Monsieur Gowd? Please give my best regards to all round, -especially to Ritter. Have you a copy left of your "Métaphysique et -Psychologie"? In some inscrutable way my copy has disappeared, and the -book is reported _épuisé_. - -With warmest possible regards to both of you, and to all five of the -descendants, believe me ever faithfully yours, - -W. JAMES. - - - - -_To his Daughter._ - - -EL PASO, COLO., _Aug. 8, 1895_. - -SWEETEST OF LIVING Pegs,--Your letter made glad my heart the day before -yesterday, and I marveled to see what an improvement had come over your -handwriting in the short space of six weeks. "Orphly" and "ofly" are -good ways to spell "awfully," too. I went up a high mountain yesterday -and saw all the kingdoms of the world spread out before me, on the -illimitable prairie which looked like a map. The sky glowed and made the -earth look like a stained-glass window. The mountains are bright red. -All the flowers and plants are different from those at home. There is an -immense mastiff in my house here. I think that even you would like him, -he is so tender and gentle and mild, although fully as big as a calf. -His ears and face are black, his eyes are yellow, his paws are -magnificent, his tail keeps wagging _all_ the time, and he makes on me -the impression of an angel hid in a cloud. He longs to do good. - -I must now go and hear two other men lecture. Many kisses, also to -Tweedy, from your ever loving, - -DAD. - - * * * * * - -On December 17, 1895, President Cleveland's Venezuela message startled -the world and created a situation with which the next three letters are -concerned. The boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana had -been dragging along for years. The public had no reason to suppose that -it was becoming acute, or that the United States was particularly -interested in it, and had, in fact, not been giving the matter so much -as a thought. All at once the President sent a message to Congress in -which he announced that it was incumbent upon the United States to "take -measures to determine ... the true" boundary line, and then to "resist -by every means in its power as a willful aggression upon its rights and -interests" any appropriation by Great Britain of territory not thus -determined to be hers. In addition he sent to Congress, and thus -published, the diplomatic despatches which had already passed between -Mr. Olney and Lord Salisbury. In these Mr. Olney had informed the -representative of the Empire which was sovereign in British Guiana "that -distance and three thousand miles of intervening ocean make any -permanent political union between a European and an American state -unnatural and inexpedient," and that "today the United States is -practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law upon the -subjects to which it confines its interposition." Lord Salisbury had -squarely declined to concede that the United States could, of its own -initiative, assume to settle the boundary dispute. It was difficult to -see how either Great Britain or the United States could with dignity -alter the position which its minister had assumed. - -James was a warm admirer of the President, but this seemingly wanton -provocation of a friendly nation horrified him. He considered that no -blunder in statesmanship could be more dangerous than a premature appeal -to a people's fighting pride, and that no perils inherent in the -Venezuela boundary dispute were as grave as was the danger that popular -explosions on one or both sides of the Atlantic would make it impossible -for the two governments to proceed moderately. He was appalled at the -outburst of Anglophobia and war-talk which followed the message. The -war-cloud hung in the heavens for several weeks. Then, suddenly, a -breeze from a strange quarter relieved the atmosphere. The Jameson raid -occurred in Africa, and the Kaiser sent his famous message to President -Kruger.[4] The English press turned its fire upon the Kaiser. The -world's attention was diverted from Venezuela, and the boundary dispute -was quietly and amicably disposed of. - - - - -_To E. L. Godkin._ - - -Cambridge, _Christmas Eve [1895]_. - -DARLING OLD GODKIN,--The only Christmas present I can send you is a word -of thanks and a _bravo bravissimo_ for your glorious fight against the -powers of darkness. I swear it brings back the days of '61 again, when -the worst enemies of our country were in our own borders. But now that -defervescence has set in, and the long, long campaign of discussion and -education is about to begin, you will have to bear the leading part in -it, and I beseech you to be as non-expletive and patiently explanatory -as you can, for thus will you be the more effective. Father, forgive -them for they know not what they do! The insincere propaganda of -jingoism as a mere weapon of attack on the President was diabolic. But -in the rally of the country to the President's message lay that instinct -of obedience to leaders which is the prime condition of all effective -greatness in a nation. And after all, when one thinks that the only -England most Americans are taught to conceive of is the bugaboo -coward-England, ready to invade the Globe wherever there is no danger, -the rally does not necessarily show savagery, but only ignorance. We are -all ready to be savage in _some_ cause. The difference between a good -man and a bad one is the choice of the cause. - -Two things are, however, _désormais_ certain: Three days of fighting -mob-hysteria at Washington can at any time undo peace habits of a -hundred years; and the only permanent safeguard against irrational -explosions of the fighting instinct is absence of armament and -opportunity. Since this country has absolutely nothing to fear, or any -other country anything to gain from its invasion, it seems to me that -the party of civilization ought immediately, at any cost of discredit, -to begin to agitate against any increase of either army, navy, or coast -defense. That is the one form of protection against the internal enemy -on which we can most rely. We live and learn: the labor of civilizing -ourselves is for the next thirty years going to be complicated with this -other abominable new issue of which the seed was sown last week. _You_ -saw the new kind of danger, as you always do, before anyone else; but it -grew gigantic much more suddenly than even you conceived to be possible. -Olney's Jefferson Brick style makes of our Foreign Office a -laughing-stock, of course. But why, oh why, couldn't he and Cleveland -and Congress between them have left out the infernal war-threat and -simply asked for $100,000 for a judicial commission to enable us to see -exactly to what effect we ought, in justice, to exert our influence. -That commission, if its decision were adverse, would have put England -"in a hole," awakened allies for us in all countries, been a solemn step -forward in the line of national righteousness, covered us with dignity, -and all the rest. But no--_omnia ademit una dies infesta tibi tot prĉmia -vitĉ!_--Still, the campaign of education may raise us out of it all yet. -Distrust of each other must not be suffered to go too far, for that way -lies destruction. - -Dear old Godkin--I don't know whether you will have read more than the -first page--I didn't expect to write more than one and a half, but the -steam will work off. I haven't slept right for a week. - -I have just given my Harry, now a freshman, your "Comments and -Reflections," and have been renewing my youth in some of its admirable -pages. But why the dickens did you leave out some of the most delectable -of the old sentences in the cottager and boarder essay?[5] - -Don't curse God and die, dear old fellow. Live and be patient and fight -for us a long time yet in this new war. Best regards to Mrs. Godkin and -to Lawrence, and a merry Christmas. Yours ever affectionately, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To F. W. H. Myers._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan. 1, 1896_. - -MY DEAR MYERS,--Here is a happy New Year to you with my presidential -address for a gift.[6] _Valeat quantum._ The end could have been -expanded, but probably this is enough to set the S. P. R. against a -lofty _Kultur-historisch_ background; and where we have to do so much -champing of the jaws on minute details of cases, that seems to me a good -point in a president's address. - -In the first half, it has just come over me that what I say of one line -of fact being "strengthened in the flank" by another is an "uprush" from -my subliminal memory of words of Gurney's--but that does no harm.... - -Well, our countries will soon be soaked in each other's gore. You will -be disemboweling me, and Hodgson cleaving Lodge's skull. It will be a -war of extermination when it comes, for neither side can tell when it is -beaten, and the last man will bury the penultimate one, and then die -himself. The French will then occupy England and the Spaniards America. -Both will unite against the Germans, and no one can foretell the end. - -But seriously, all true patriots here have had a hell of a time. It has -been a most instructive thing for the dispassionate student of history -to see how near the surface in all of us the old fighting instinct lies, -and how slight an appeal will wake it up. Once _really_ waked, there is -no retreat. So the whole wisdom of governors should be to avoid the -direct appeals. This your European governments know; but we in our -bottomless innocence and ignorance over here know nothing, and Cleveland -in my opinion, by his explicit allusion to war, has committed the -biggest political crime I have ever seen here. The secession of the -southern states had more excuse. There was absolutely no need of it. A -commission solemnly appointed to pronounce justice in the Venezuela case -would, if its decision were adverse to your country, have doubtless -aroused the Liberal party in England to espouse the policy of -arbitrating, and would have covered us with dignity, if no threat of war -had been uttered. But as it is, who can see the way out? - -Every one goes about now saying war is not to be. But with these -volcanic forces who can tell? I suppose that the offices of Germany or -Italy might in any case, however, save us from what would be the worst -disaster to civilization that our time could bring forth. - -The astounding thing is the latent Anglophobia now revealed. It is most -of it directly traceable to the diabolic machinations of the party of -protection for the past twenty years. They have lived by every sort of -infamous sophistication, and hatred of England has been one of their -most conspicuous notes.... - -I hope _you'll_ read my address--unless indeed Gladstone will consent!! - -Ever thine--I hate to think of "embruing" my hands in (or with?) your -blood. - -W. J. - -[S. P. R.] _Proceedings XXIX_ just in--hurrah for your 200-odd pages! - -I have been ultra non-committal as to our evidence,--thinking it to be -good presidential policy,--but I may have overdone the impartiality -business. - - - - -_To F. W. H. Myers._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb. 5, 1896_. - -DEAR MYERS,--_Voici_ the proof! Pray _send me a revise_--Cattell wants -to print it simultaneously _in extenso_ in "Science," which I judge to -be a very good piece of luck for it. When will the next "Proceedings" be -likely to appear? - -I hope your rich tones were those that rolled off its periods, and that -you didn't flinch, but rather raised your voice, when your own genius -was mentioned. I read it both in New York and Boston to full houses, but -heard no comments on the spot.... - -As for Venezuela, Ach! of that be silent! as Carlyle would have said. It -is a sickening business, but some good may come out of it yet. Don't -feel too badly about the Anglophobia here. It doesn't mean so much. -Remember by what words the country was roused: "Supine submission to -wrong and injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect and -honor."[7] If any other country's ruler had expressed himself with equal -moral ponderosity wouldn't the population have gone twice as -fighting-mad as ours? Of course it would; the wolf would have been -aroused; and when the wolf once gets going, we know that there is no -crime of which it doesn't sincerely begin to believe its oppressor, the -lamb down-stream, to be guilty. The great proof that civilization _does_ -move, however, is the magnificent conduct of the British press. Yours -everlastingly, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry Holt, Esq._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan. 19, 1896_. - -MY DEAR HOLT,--At the risk of displeasing you, I think I won't have my -photograph taken, even at no cost to myself. I abhor this hawking about -of everybody's phiz which is growing on every hand, and don't see why -having written a book should expose one to it. I am sorry that you -should have succumbed to the supposed trade necessity. In any case, I -will stand on my rights as a free man. You may kill me, but you shan't -publish my photograph. Put a blank "thumbnail" in its place. Very very -sorry to displease a man whom I love so much. Always lovingly yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To his Class at Radcliffe College which had sent a potted azalea to -him at Easter._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 6, 1896_. - -DEAR YOUNG LADIES,--I am deeply touched by your remembrance. It is the -first time anyone ever treated me so kindly, so you may well believe -that the impression on the heart of the lonely sufferer will be even -more durable than the impression on your minds of all the teachings of -Philosophy 2A. I now perceive one immense omission in my -Psychology,--the deepest principle of Human Nature is the _craving to be -appreciated_, and I left it out altogether from the book, because I had -never had it gratified till now. I fear you have let loose a demon in -me, and that all my actions will now be for the sake of such rewards. -However, I will try to be faithful to this one unique and beautiful -azalea tree, the pride of my life and delight of my existence. Winter -and summer will I tend and water it--even with my tears. Mrs. James -shall never go near it or touch it. If it dies, I will die too; and if I -die, it shall be planted on my grave. - -Don't take all this too jocosely, but believe in the extreme pleasure -you have caused me, and in the affectionate feelings with which I am and -shall always be faithfully your friend, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -[Cambridge] _Apr. 17, 1896_. - -DEAR H.,--Too busy to live almost, lectures and laboratory, dentists and -dinner-parties, so that I am much played out, but get off today for -eight days' vacation _via_ New Haven, where I deliver an "address" -tonight, to the Yale Philosophy Club. I shall make it the title of a -small volume of collected things called "The Will to Believe, and Other -Essays in Popular Philosophy," and then I think write no more addresses, -of which the form takes it out of one unduly. If I do anything more, it -will be a book on general Philosophy. I have been having a bad -conscience about not writing to you, when your letter of the 7th came -yesterday expressing a bad conscience of your own. You certainly do your -duty best. I am glad to think of you in the country and hope it will -succeed with you and make you thrive. I look forward with much -excitement to the fruit of all this work.... Just a word of good-will -and good wish. I think I shall go to the Hot Springs of Virginia for -next week. The spring has burst upon us, hot and droughtily, after a -glorious burly winter-playing March. Yours ever, - -W. J. - - * * * * * - -The next letter begins by acknowledging one which had alluded to the -death of a Cambridge gentleman who had been run over in the street, -almost under William James's eyes. Henry James had closed his allusion -by exclaiming, "What melancholy, what terrible duties _vous incombent_ -when your neighbours are destroyed. And telling that poor man's -wife!--Life _is_ heroic--however we 'fix' it! Even as I write these -words the St. Louis horror bursts in upon me in the evening paper. -Inconceivable--I can't try; and I _won't_. Strange how practically all -one's sense of news from the U. S. here is huge Horrors and -Catastrophes. It's a terrible country _not_ to live in." He would have -exclaimed even more if he had witnessed the mescal experiment, that is -briefly mentioned in the letter that follows. He might then have gone on -to remark that the "fixing" of life seemed, in William's neighborhood, -to be quite gratuitously heroic. William James and his wife and the -youngest child were alone in the Chocorua cottage for a few days, -picnicking by themselves without any servant. They had no horse; at that -season of the year hours often went by without any one passing the -house; there was no telephone, no neighbor within a mile, no good doctor -within eighteen miles. It was quite characteristic of James that he -should think such conditions ideal for testing an unknown drug on -himself. There would be no interruptions. He had no fear. He was -impatient to satisfy his curiosity about the promised hallucinations of -color. But the effects of one dose were, for a while, much more alarming -than his letter would give one to understand. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -CHOCORUA, _June 11, 1896_. - -Your long letter of Whitsuntide week in London came yesterday evening, -and was read by me aloud to Alice and Harry as we sat at tea in the -window to get the last rays of the Sunday's [sun]. You have too much -feeling of duty about corresponding with us, and, I imagine, with -everyone. I think you have behaved most handsomely of late--and always, -and though your letters are the great _fête_ of our lives, I won't be -"on your mind" for worlds. Your general feeling of unfulfilled -obligations is one that runs in the family--I at least am often -afflicted by it--but it is "morbid." The horrors of _not_ living in -America, as you so well put it, are not shared by those who do live -here. All that the telegraph imparts are the shocks; the "happy homes," -good husbands and fathers, fine weather, honest business men, neat new -houses, punctual meetings of engagements, etc., of which the country -mainly consists, are never cabled over. Of course, the Saint Louis -disaster is dreadful, but it will very likely end by "improving" the -city. The really bad thing here is the silly wave that has gone over the -public mind--protection humbug, silver, jingoism, etc. It is a case of -"mob-psychology." Any country is liable to it if circumstances conspire, -and our circumstances have conspired. It is very hard to get them out of -the rut. It _may_ take another financial crash to get them out--which, -of course, will be an expensive method. It is no more foolish and -considerably less damnable than the Russophobia of England, which would -seem to have been responsible for the Armenian massacres. That to me is -the biggest indictment "of our boasted civilization"!! It _requires_ -England, I say nothing of the other powers, to maintain the Turks at -that business. We have let our little place, our tenant arrives the day -after tomorrow, and Alice and I and Tweedie have been here a week -enjoying it and cleaning house and place. She has worked like a beaver. -I had two days spoiled by a psychological experiment with _mescal_, an -intoxicant used by some of our Southwestern Indians in their religious -ceremonies, a sort of cactus bud, of which the U. S. Government had -distributed a supply to certain medical men, including Weir Mitchell, -who sent me some to try. He had himself been "in fairyland." It gives -the most glorious visions of color--every object thought of appears in a -jeweled splendor unknown to the natural world. It disturbs the stomach -somewhat, but that, according to W. M., was a cheap price, etc. I took -one bud three days ago, was violently sick for 24 hours, and had no -other symptom whatever except that and the _Katzenjammer_ the following -day. I will take the visions on trust! - -We have had three days of delicious rain--it all soaks into the sandy -soil here and leaves no mud whatever. The little place is the most -curious mixture of sadness with delight. The sadness of _things_--things -every one of which was done either by our hands or by our planning, old -furniture renovated, there isn't an object in the house that isn't -associated with past life, old summers, dead people, people who will -never come again, etc., and the way it catches you round the heart when -you first come and open the house from its long winter sleep is most -extraordinary. - -I have been reading Bourget's "Idylle Tragique," which he very kindly -sent me, and since then have been reading in Tolstoy's "War and Peace," -which I never read before, strange to say. I must say that T. rather -kills B., for my mind. B.'s moral atmosphere is anyhow so foreign to me, -a lewdness so obligatory that it hardly seems as if it were part of a -moral _donnée_ at all; and then his overlabored descriptions, and -excessive explanations. But with it all an earnestness and enthusiasm -for getting it said as well as possible, a richness of epithet, and a -warmth of heart that makes you like him, in spite of the unmanliness of -all the things he writes about. I suppose there is a stratum in France -to whom it is all manly and ideal, but he and I are, as Rosina says, a -bad combination.... - -Tolstoy is immense! - -I am glad _you_ are in a writing vein again, to go still higher up the -scale! I have abstained on principle from the "Atlantic" serial, wishing -to get it all at once. I am not going abroad; I can't afford it. I have -a chance to give $1500 worth of summer lectures here, which won't recur. -I have a heavy year of work next year, and shall very likely _need_ to -go the following summer, which will anyhow be after a more becoming -interval than this, so, _somme toute_, it is postponed. If I went I -should certainly enjoy seeing you at Rye more than in London, which I -confess tempts me little now. I love to _see_ it, but staying there -doesn't seem to agree with me, and only suggests constraint and -money-spending, apart from seeing you. I wish you could see how -comfortable our Cambridge house has got at last to be. Alice who is -upstairs sewing whilst I write below by the lamp--a great wood fire -hissing in the fireplace--sings out her thanks and love to you.... - - - - -_To Benjamin Paul Blood._ - - -CHATHAM, MASS., _June 28, 1896_. - -MY DEAR BLOOD,--Your letter was an "event," as anything always is from -your pen--though of course I never expected any acknowledgment of my -booklet. Fear of life in one form or other is the great thing to -exorcise; but it isn't reason that will ever do it. Impulse without -reason is enough, and reason without impulse is a poor makeshift. I take -it that no man is educated who has never dallied with the thought of -suicide. Barely more than a year ago I was sitting at your table and -dallying with the thought of publishing an anthology of your works. But, -like many other projects, it has been postponed in indefinition. The -hour never came last year, and pretty surely will not come next. -Nevertheless I shall work for your fame some time! Count on W. J.[8] I -wound up my "seminary" in speculative psychology a month ago by reading -some passages from the "Flaw in Supremacy"--"game flavored as a hawk's -wing." "Ever not quite" covers a deal of truth--yet it seems a very -simple thing to have said. "There is no _Absolute_" were my last words. -Whereupon a number of students asked where they could get "that -pamphlet" and I distributed nearly all the copies I had from you. I wish -you would keep on writing, but I see you are a man of discontinuity and -insights, and not a philosophic pack-horse, or pack-mule.... - -I rejoice that ten hours a day of toil makes you feel so hearty. Verily -Mr. Rindge says truly. He is a Cambridge boy, who made a fortune in -California, and then gave a lot of public buildings to his native town. -Unfortunately he insisted on bedecking them with "mottoes" of his own -composition, and over the Manual Training School near my house one -reads: "_Work is one of our greatest blessings. Every man should have an -honest occupation_"--which, if not lapidary in style, is at least what -my father once said. Swedenborg's writings were, viz., "insipid with -veracity," as your case now again demonstrates. Have you read Tolstoy's -"War and Peace"? I am just about finishing it. It is undoubtedly the -greatest novel ever written--also insipid with veracity. The man is -infallible--and the anesthetic revelation[9] plays a part as in no -writer. You have very likely read it. If you haven't, sell all you have -and buy the book, for I know it will speak to your very gizzard. Pray -thank Mrs. Blood for her appreciation of my "booklet" (such things -encourage a writer!), and believe me ever sincerely yours, - -Wm. James. - -In July, 1896, James delivered, in Buffalo and at the Chautauqua -Assembly, the substance of the lectures that were later published as -"Talks to Teachers." His impressions of Chautauqua were so -characteristic and so lively that they must be included here, even -though they duplicate in some measure a well-known passage in the essay -called "A Certain Blindness in Human Beings." - - - - -_To Mrs. James._ - - -CHAUTAUQUA, _July 23, 1896_. - -...The audience is some 500, in an open-air auditorium where (strange to -say) everyone seems to hear well; and it is very good-looking--mostly -teachers and women, but they make the best impression of any audience of -that sort that I have seen except the Brooklyn one. So here I go -again!... - - -_July 24_, 9.30 P.M. - -...X---- departed after breakfast--a good inarticulate man, farmer's -boy, four years soldier from private to major, business man in various -States, great reader, editor of a "Handbook of Facts," full of swelling -and bursting _Weltschmerz_ and religious melancholy, yet no more -flexibility or self-power in his mind than in a boot-jack. Altogether, -what with the teachers, him and others whom I've met, I'm put in conceit -of college training. It certainly gives glibness and flexibility, if it -doesn't give earnestness and depth. I've been meeting minds so earnest -and helpless that it takes them half an hour to get from one idea to its -immediately adjacent next neighbor, and that with infinite creaking and -groaning. And when they've got to the next idea, they lie down on it -with their whole weight and can get no farther, like a cow on a -door-mat, so that you can get neither in nor out with them. Still, -glibness is not all. Weight is something, even cow-weight. Tolstoy feels -these things so--I am still in "Anna Karenina," volume I, a book almost -incredible and supernatural for veracity. I wish we were reading it -aloud together. It has rained at intervals all day. Young Vincent, a -powerful fellow, took me over and into the whole vast college side of -the institution this A.M. I have heard 4-1/2 lectures, including the one -I gave myself at 4 o'clock, to about 1200 or more in the vast open -amphitheatre, which seats 6000 and which has very good acoustic -properties. I think my voice sufficed. I can't judge of the effect. Of -course I left out all that gossip about my medical degree, etc. But I -don't want any more sporadic lecturing--I must stick to more inward -things. - - -_July 26_, 12:30 P.M. - -...'T is the sabbath and I am just in from the amphitheatre, where the -Rev.---- has been chanting, calling and bellowing his -hour-and-a-quarter-long sermon to 6000 people at least--a sad audition. -The music was bully, a chorus of some 700, splendidly drilled, with the -audience to help. I have myself been asked to lead, or, if not to lead, -at least to do something prominent--I declined so quick that I didn't -fully gather what it was--in the exercise which I have marked on the -program I enclose. Young Vincent, whom I take to be a splendid young -fellow, told me it was the characteristically "Chautauquan" event of the -day. I would give anything to have you here. I didn't write yesterday -because there is no mail till tomorrow. I went to four lectures, in -whole or in part. All to hundreds of human beings, a large proportion -unable to get seats, who transport themselves from one lecture-room to -another _en masse_. One was on bread-making, with practical -demonstrations. One was on _walking_, by a graceful young Delsartian, -who showed us a lot. One was on telling stories to children, the -psychology and pedagogy of it. The audiences interrupt and ask questions -occasionally in spite of their size. There is hardly a pretty woman's -face in the lot, and they seem to have little or no humor in their -composition. No _epicureanism_ of any sort! - -Yesterday was a beautiful day, and I sailed an hour and a half down the -Lake again to "Celoron," "America's greatest pleasure resort,"--in other -words popcorn and peep-show place. A sort of Midway-Pleasance in the -wilderness--supported Heaven knows how, so far from any human habitation -except the odd little Jamestown from which a tramway leads to it. Good -monkeys, bears, foxes, etc. Endless peanuts, popcorn, bananas, and soft -drinks; crowds of people, a ferris wheel, a balloon ascension, with a -man dropping by a parachute, a theatre, a vast concert hall, and all -sorts of peep-shows. I feel as if I were in a foreign land; even as far -east as this the accent of everyone is terrific. The "Nation" is no more -known than the London "Times." I see no need of going to Europe when -such wonders are close by. I breakfasted with a Methodist parson with 32 -false teeth, at the X's table, and discoursed of demoniacal possession. -The wife said she had my portrait in her bedroom with the words written -under it, "I want to bring a balm to human lives"!!!!! Supposed to be a -quotation from me!!! After breakfast an extremely interesting lady who -has suffered from half-possessional insanity gave me a long account of -her case. Life _is_ heroic indeed, as Harry wrote. I shall stay through -tomorrow, and get to Syracuse on Tuesday.... - - -_July 27._ - -...It rained hard last night, and today a part of the time. I took a -lesson in roasting, in Delsarte, and I made with my own fair hands a -beautiful loaf of graham bread with some rolls, long, flute-like, and -delicious. I should have sent them to you by express, only it seemed -unnecessary, since I can keep the family in bread easily after my return -home. Please tell this, with amplifications, to Peggy and Tweedy.... - - -BUFFALO, N.Y., _July 29_. - -...The Chautauqua week, or rather six and a half days, has been a real -success. I have learned a lot, but I'm glad to get into something less -blameless but more admiration-worthy. The flash of a pistol, a dagger, -or a devilish eye, anything to break the unlovely level of 10,000 good -people--a crime, murder, rape, elopement, anything would do. I don't see -how the younger Vincents stand it, because they are people of such -spirit.... - - -SYRACUSE, N.Y., _July 31_. - -...Now for Utica and Lake Placid by rail, with East Hill in prospect for -tomorrow. You bet I rejoice at the outlook--I long to escape from -tepidity. Even an Armenian massacre, whether to be killer or killed, -would seem an agreeable change from the blamelessness of Chautauqua as -she lies soaking year after year in her lakeside sun and showers. Man -wants to be _stretched_ to his utmost, if not in one way then in -another!... - - - - -_To Miss Rosina H. Emmet._ - - -BURLINGTON, VT., _Aug. 2, 1896_. - -...I have seen more women and less beauty, heard more voices and less -sweetness, perceived more earnestness and less triumph than I ever -supposed possible. Most of the American nation (and probably all -nations) is white-trash,--but Tolstoy has borne me up--and I say unto -_you_: "_Smooth out your voices_ if you want to be saved"!!... - - - - -_To Charles Renouvier._ - - -BURLINGTON, VT., _Aug. 4, 1896_. - -DEAR MR. RENOUVIER,--My wife announces to me from Cambridge the -reception of two immense volumes from you on the Philosophy of History. -I thank you most heartily for the gift, and am more and more amazed at -your intellectual and moral power--physical power, too, for the nervous -energy required for your work has to be extremely great. - -My own nervous energy is a small teacup-full, and is more than consumed -by my duties of teaching, so that almost none is left over for writing. -I sent you a "New World" the other day, however, with an article in it -called "The Will to Believe," in which (if you took the trouble to -glance at it) you probably recognized how completely I am still your -disciple. In this point perhaps more fully than in any other; and this -point is central! - -I have to lecture on general "psychology" and "morbid psychology," "the -philosophy of nature" and the "philosophy of Kant," thirteen lectures a -week for half the year and eight for the rest. Our University moreover -inflicts a monstrous amount of routine business on one, faculty meetings -and committees of every sort,[10] so that during term-time one can do no -continuous reading at all--reading of books, I mean. When vacation -comes, my brain is so tired that I can read nothing serious for a month. -During the past month I have only read Tolstoy's two great novels, -which, strange to say, I had never attacked before. I don't like his -fatalism and semi-pessimism, but for infallible veracity concerning -human nature, and absolute simplicity of method, he makes all the other -writers of novels and plays seem like children. - -All this proves that I shall be slow in attaining to the reading of your -book. I have not yet read Pillon's last _Année_ except some of the book -notices and Danriac's article. How admirably clear P. is in style, and -what a power of reading he possesses. - -I hope, dear Mr. Renouvier, that the years are not weighing heavily upon -you, and that this letter will find you well in body and in mind. Yours -gratefully and faithfully, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -LAKE GENEVA, WISCONSIN, _Aug. 30, 1896_. - -MY DEAR FLOURNOY,--You see the electric current of sympathy that binds -the world together--I turn towards you, and the place I write from -repeats the name of your Lake Leman. I was informed yesterday, however, -that the lake here was named after Lake Geneva _in the State of New -York_! and _that_ Lake only has Leman for its Godmother. Still you see -how dependent, whether immediately or remotely, America is on Europe. I -was at Niagara some three weeks ago, and bought a photograph as souvenir -and addressed it to you after getting back to Cambridge. Possibly Madame -Flournoy will deign to accept it. I have thought of you a great deal -without writing, for truly, my dear Flournoy, there is hardly a human -being with whom I feel as much sympathy of aims and character, or feel -as much "at home," as I do with you. It is as if we were of the same -stock, and I often mentally turn and make a remark to you, which the -pressure of life's occupations prevents from ever finding its way to -paper. - -I am hoping that you may have figured, or at any rate _been_, at the -Munich "Congress"--that apparently stupendous affair. If they keep -growing at this rate, the next Paris one will be altogether too heavy. I -have heard no details of the meeting as yet. But whether you have been -at Munich or not, I trust that you have been having a salubrious and -happy vacation so far, and that Mrs. Flournoy and the young people are -all well. I will venture to suppose that your illness of last year has -left no bad effects whatever behind. I myself have had a rather busy and -instructive, though possibly not very hygienic summer, making money (in -moderate amounts) by lecturing on psychology to teachers at different -"summer schools" in this land. There is a great fermentation in -"pĉdagogy" at present in the U.S., and my wares come in for their share -of patronage. But although I learn a good deal and become a better -American for having all the travel and social experience, it has ended -by being too tiresome; and when I give the lectures at Chicago, which I -begin tomorrow, I shall have them stenographed and very likely published -in a very small volume, and so remove from myself the temptation ever to -give them again. - -Last year was a year of hard work, and before the end of the term came, -I was in a state of bad neurasthenic fatigue, but I got through -outwardly all right. I have definitely given up the laboratory, for -which I am more and more unfit, and shall probably devote what little -ability I may hereafter have to purely "speculative" work. My inability -to read troubles me a good deal: I am in arrears of several years with -psychological literature, which, to tell the truth, does grow now at a -pace too rapid for anyone to follow. I was engaged to review Stout's new -book (which I fancy is very good) for "Mind," and after keeping it two -months had to back out, from sheer inability to read it, and to ask -permission to hand it over to my colleague Royce. Have you seen the -colossal Renouvier's two vast volumes on the philosophy of -history?--that will be another thing worth reading no doubt, yet very -difficult to read. I give a course in Kant for the first time in my life -(!) next year, and at present and for many months to come shall have to -put most of my reading to the service of that overgrown subject.... - -Of course you have read Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina." I -never had that exquisite felicity before this summer, and now I feel as -if I knew _perfection_ in the representation of human life. Life indeed -seems less real than his tale of it. Such infallible veracity! The -impression haunts me as nothing literary ever haunted me before. - -I imagine you lounging on some steep mountainside, with those -demoiselles all grown too tall and beautiful and proud to think -otherwise than with disdain of their elderly _commensal_ who spoke such -difficult French when he took walks with them at Vers-chez-les-Blanc. -But I hope that they are happy as they were then. Cannot we all pass -some summer near each other again, and can't it next time be in Tyrol -rather than in Switzerland, for the purpose of increasing in all of us -that "knowledge of the world" which is so desirable? I think it would be -a splendid plan. At any rate, wherever you are, take my most -affectionate regards for yourself and Madame Flournoy and all of yours, -and believe me ever sincerely your friend, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -LAKE GENEVA, WISCONSIN, _Aug. 30, 1896_. - -DEAR MILLER,--Your letter from Halle of June 22nd came duly, but -treating of things eternal as it did, I thought it called for no reply -till I should have caught up with more temporal matters, of which there -has been no lack to press on my attention. To tell the truth, regarding -you as my most penetrating critic and intimate enemy, I was greatly -relieved to find that you had nothing worse to say about "The Will to -Believe." You say you are no "rationalist," and yet you speak of the -"sharp" distinction between beliefs based on "inner evidence" and -beliefs based on "craving." I can find _nothing_ sharp (or susceptible -of schoolmaster's codification) in the different degrees of "liveliness" -in hypotheses concerning the universe, or distinguish _a priori_ between -legitimate and illegitimate cravings. And when an hypothesis _is_ once a -live one, one _risks_ something in one's practical relations towards -truth and error, _whichever_ of the three positions (affirmation, doubt, -or negation) one may take up towards it. _The individual himself is the -only rightful chooser of his risk._ Hence respectful toleration, as the -only law that logic can lay down. - -You don't say a word against my _logic_, which seems to me to cover your -cases entirely in its compartments. I class you as one to whom the -religious hypothesis is _von vornherein_ so dead, that the risk of error -in espousing it now far outweighs for you the chance of truth, so you -simply stake your money on the field as against it. If you _say_ this, -of course I can, as logician, have no quarrel with you, even though my -own choice of risk (determined by the irrational impressions, -suspicions, cravings, senses of direction in nature, or what not, that -make religion for me a more live hypothesis than for you) leads me to an -opposite methodical decision. - -Of course if any one comes along and says that men at large don't need -to have facility of faith in their inner convictions preached to them, -[that] they have only too much readiness in that way already, and the -one thing needful to preach is that they should hesitate with their -convictions, and take their faiths out for an airing into the howling -wilderness of nature, I should also agree. But my paper wasn't addressed -to mankind at large but to a limited set of studious persons, badly -under the ban just now of certain authorities whose simple-minded faith -in "naturalism" also is sorely in need of an airing--and an airing, as -it seems to me, of the sort I tried to give. - -But all this is unimportant; and I still await criticism of my -_Auseinandersetzung_ of the _logical situation_ of man's mind -_gegenüber_ the Universe, in respect to the risks it runs. - -I wish I could have been with you at Munich and heard the deep-lunged -Germans roar at each other. I care not for the matters uttered, if I -only could hear the voice. I hope you met [Henry] Sidgwick there. I sent -him the American Hallucination-Census results, after considerable toil -over them, but S. never acknowledges or answers anything, so I'll have -to wait to hear from someone else whether he "got them off." I have had -a somewhat unwholesome summer. Much lecturing to teachers and sitting up -to talk with strangers. But it is instructive and makes one patriotic, -and in six days I shall have finished the Chicago lectures, which begin -tomorrow, and get straight to Keene Valley for the rest of September. My -conditions just now are materially splendid, as I am the guest of a -charming elderly lady, Mrs. Wilmarth, here at her country house, and in -town at the finest hotel of the place. The political campaign is a bully -one. Everyone outdoing himself in sweet reasonableness and persuasive -argument--hardly an undignified note anywhere. It shows the deepening -and elevating influence of a big topic of debate. It is difficult to -doubt of a people part of whose life such an experience is. But imagine -the country being saved by a McKinley! If only Reed had been the -candidate! There have been some really splendid speeches and -documents.... - -Ever thine, -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -BURLINGTON, VT., _Sept. 28, 1896_. - -DEAR HENRY,--The summer is over! alas! alas! I left Keene Valley this -A.M. where I have had three life-and-health-giving weeks in the forest -and the mountain air, crossed Lake Champlain in the steamer, not a cloud -in the sky, and sleep here tonight, meaning to take the train for Boston -in the A.M. and read Kant's Life all day, so as to be able to lecture on -it when I first meet my class. School begins on Thursday--this being -Monday night. It has been a rather cultivating summer for me, and an -active one, of which the best impression (after that of the Adirondack -woods, or even before it) was that of the greatness of Chicago. It needs -a Victor Hugo to celebrate it. But as you won't appreciate it without -demonstration, and I can't give the demonstration (at least not now and -on paper), I will say no more on that score! Alice came up for a week, -but went down and through last night. She brought me up your letter of I -don't remember now what date (after your return to London, about Wendell -Holmes, Baldwin and Royalty, etc.) which was very delightful and for -which I thank. But don't take your epistolary duties hard! -Letter-writing becomes to me more and more of an affliction, I get so -many business letters now. At Chicago, I tried a stenographer and -type-writer with an alleviation that seemed almost miraculous. I think -that I shall have to go in for one some hours a week in Cambridge. It -just goes "whiff" and six or eight long letters are _done_, so far as -you're concerned. I hear great reports of your "old things," and await -the book. My great literary impression this summer has been Tolstoy. On -the whole his atmosphere absorbs me into it as no one's else has ever -done, and even his religious and melancholy stuff, his insanity, is -probably more significant than the sanity of men who haven't been -through that phase at all. - -But I am forgetting to tell you (strange to say, since it has hung over -me like a cloud ever since it happened) of dear old Professor Child's -death. We shall never see his curly head and thickset figure more. He -had aged greatly in the past three years, since being thrown out of a -carriage, and went to the hospital in July to be treated surgically. He -never recovered and died in three weeks, after much suffering, his -family not being called down from the country till the last days. He had -a moral delicacy and a richness of heart that I never saw and never -expect to see equaled.[1] The children bear it well, but I fear it will -be a bad blow for dear Mrs. Child. She and Alice, I am glad to say, are -great friends.... Good-night. _Leb' wohl!_ - -W. J. - - - - -XII - - -1893-1899 (CONTINUED) - - - _The Will to Believe--Talks to Teachers--Defense of Mental - Healers--Excessive Climbing in the Adirondacks_ - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - -[Dictated] - -Cambridge, _Dec. 7, 1896_. - -MY DEAR FLOURNOY,--Your altogether precious and delightful letter -reached me duly, and you see I am making a not altogether too dilatory -reply. In the first place, we congratulate you upon the new-comer, and -think if she only proves as satisfactory a damsel as her charming elder -sisters, you will never have any occasion to regret that she is not a -boy. I hope that Madame Flournoy is by this time thoroughly strong and -well, and that everything is perfect with the baby. I should like to -have been at Munich with you; I have heard a good many accounts of the -jollity of the proceedings there, but on the whole I did a more -wholesome thing to stay in my own country, of which the dangers and dark -sides are singularly exaggerated in Europe. - -Your lamentations on your cerebral state make me smile, knowing, as I -do, under all your subjective feelings, how great your vigor is. Of -course I sympathize with you about the laboratory, and advise you, since -it seems to me you are in a position to make conditions rather than have -them imposed on you, simply to drop it and teach what you prefer. -Whatever the latter may be, it will be as good for the students as if -they had something else from you in its place, and I see no need in this -world, when there is someone provided somewhere to do everything, for -anyone of us to do what he does least willingly and well. - -_I_ have got rid of the laboratory forever, and should resign my place -immediately if they reimposed its duties upon me. The results that come -from all this laboratory work seem to me to grow more and more -disappointing and trivial. What is most needed is new ideas. For every -man who has one of them one may find a hundred who are willing to drudge -patiently at some unimportant experiment. The atmosphere of your mind is -in an extraordinary degree sane and balanced on philosophical matters. -That is where your forte lies, and where your University ought to see -that its best interests lie in having you employed. Don't consider this -advice impertinent. Your temperament is such that I think you need to be -strengthened from without in asserting your right to carry out your true -vocation. - -Everything goes well with us here. The boys are developing finely; both -of them taller than I am, and Peggy healthy and well. I have just been -giving a course of public lectures of which I enclose you a ticket to -amuse you.[11] The audience, a thousand in number, kept its numbers to -the last. I was careful not to tread upon the domains of psychical -research, although many of my hearers were eager that I should do so. _I -am teaching Kant for the first time in my life_, and it gives me much -satisfaction. I am also sending a collection of old essays through the -press, of which I will send you a copy as soon as they appear; I am sure -of your sympathy in advance for much of their contents. But I am afraid -that what you never will appreciate is their wonderful English style! -Shakespeare is a little street-boy in comparison! - -Our political crisis is over, but the hard times still endure. Lack of -confidence is a disease from which convalescence is not quick. I doubt, -notwithstanding certain appearances, whether the country was ever -morally in as sound a state as it now is, after all this discussion. And -the very silver men, who have been treated as a party of dishonesty, are -anything but that. They very likely are victims of the economic -delusion, but their intentions are just as good as those of the other -side.... - -If you meet my friend Ritter, please give him my love. I shall write to -you again ere long _eigenhändig_. Meanwhile believe me, with lots of -love to you all, especially to _ces demoiselles_, and felicitations to -their mother, Always yours, - -Wm. James. - -My wife wishes to convey to Madame Flournoy her most loving regards and -hopes for the little one. - - * * * * * - -James had already been invited to deliver a course of "Gifford Lectures -on Natural Religion" at the University of Edinburgh. He had not yet -accepted for a definite date; but he had begun to collect illustrative -material for the proposed lectures. A large number of references to such -material were supplied to him by Mr. Henry W. Rankin of East -Northfield. - - - - -_To Henry W. Rankin._ - - -NEWPORT, R.I., _Feb. 1, 1897_. - -DEAR MR. RANKIN,--A pause in lecturing, consequent upon our midyear -examinations having begun, has given me a little respite, and I am -paying a three-days' visit upon an old friend here, meaning to leave for -New York tomorrow where I have a couple of lectures to give. It is an -agreeable moment of quiet and enables me to write a letter or two which -I have long postponed, and chiefly one to you, who have given me so much -without asking anything in return. - -One of my lectures in New York is at the Academy of Medicine before the -Neurological Society, the subject being "Demoniacal Possession." I shall -of course duly advertise the Nevius book.[12] I am not as positive as -you are in the belief that the obsessing agency is really demonic -individuals. I am perfectly willing to adopt that theory if the facts -lend themselves best to it; for who can trace limits to the hierarchies -of personal existence in the world? But the lower stages of mere -automatism shade off so continuously into the highest supernormal -manifestations, through the intermediary ones of imitative hysteria and -"suggestibility," that I feel as if no _general theory_ as yet would -cover all the facts. So that the most I shall plead for before the -neurologists is the recognition of demon possession as a regular -"morbid-entity" whose commonest homologue today is the "spirit-control" -observed in test-mediumship, and which tends to become the more -benignant and less alarming, the less pessimistically it is regarded. -This last remark seems certainly to be true. Of course I shall not -ignore the sporadic cases of old-fashioned malignant possession which -still occur today. I am convinced that we stand with all these things -at the threshold of a long inquiry, of which the end appears as yet to -no one, least of all to myself. And I believe that the best theoretic -work yet done in the subject is the beginning made by F. W. H. Myers in -his papers in the S. P. R. Proceedings. The first thing is to start the -medical profession out of its idiotically _conceited ignorance_ of all -such matters--matters which have everywhere and at all times played a -vital part in human history. - -You have written me at different times about conversion, and about -miracles, getting as usual no reply, but not because I failed to heed -your words, which come from a deep life-experience of your own -evidently, and from a deep acquaintance with the experiences of others. -In the matter of conversion I am quite willing to believe that a new -truth may be supernaturally revealed to a subject when he really _asks_. -But I am sure that in many cases of conversion it is less a new truth -than a new power gained over life by a truth always known. It is a case -of the conflict of two _self-systems_ in a personality up to that time -heterogeneously divided, but in which, after the conversion-crisis, the -higher loves and powers come definitively to gain the upper-hand and -expel the forces which up to that time had kept them down in the -position of mere grumblers and protesters and agents of remorse and -discontent. This broader view will cover an enormous number of cases -_psychologically_, and leaves all the _religious importance_ to the -result which it has on any other theory. - -As to true and false miracles, I don't know that I can follow you so -well, for in any case the notion of a miracle as a mere attestation of -superior power is one that I cannot espouse. A miracle must in any case -be an expression of personal purpose, but the demon-purpose of -antagonizing God and winning away his adherents has never yet taken -hold of my imagination. I prefer an open mind of inquiry, first _about -the facts_, in all these matters; and I believe that the S. P. R. -methods, if pertinaciously stuck to, will eventually do much to clear -things up.--You see that, although religion is the great interest of my -life, I am rather hopelessly non-evangelical, and take the whole thing -too impersonally. - -But my College work is lightening in a way. Psychology is being handed -over to others more and more, and I see a chance ahead for reading and -study in other directions from those to which my very feeble powers in -that line have hitherto been confined. I am going to give all the -fragments of time I can get, after this year is over, to religious -biography and philosophy. Shield's book, Steenstra's, Gratry's, and -Harris's, I don't yet know, but can easily get at them. - -I hope your health is better in this beautiful winter which we are -having. I am very well, and so is all my family. Believe me, with -affectionate regards, truly yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Benjamin Paul Blood._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 28, 1897_. - -DEAR BLOOD,--Your letter is delectable. From your not having yet -acknowledged the book,[13] I began to wonder whether you had got it, but -this acknowledgment is almost too good. Your thought is -obscure--lightning flashes darting gleams--but that's the way truth is. -And altho' I "put pluralism in the place of philosophy," I do it only so -far as philosophy means the articulate and the scientific. Life and -mysticism exceed the articulable, and if there is a _One_ (and surely -men will never be weaned from the idea of it), it must remain only -mystically expressed. - -I have been roaring over and quoting some of the passages of your -letter, in which my wife takes as much delight as I do. As for your -strictures on my English, I accept them humbly. I have a tendency -towards too great colloquiality, I know, and I trust your sense of -English better than any man's in the country. I have a fearful job on -hand just now: an address on the unveiling of a military statue. Three -thousand people, governor and troops, etc. Why they fell upon me, God -knows; but being challenged, I could not funk. The task is a mechanical -one, and the result somewhat of a school-boy composition. If I thought -it wouldn't bore you, I should send you a copy for you to go carefully -over and correct or rewrite as to the English. I should probably adopt -every one of your corrections. What do you say to this? Yours ever, - -Wm. James. - -_P.S._ Please don't betitle _me_! - - * * * * * - -The "copy" which was offered for correction with so much humility was -the "Oration" on the unveiling of St. Gaudens's monument to Colonel -Robert Gould Shaw of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (the first colored -regiment). James was quite accustomed to lecturing from brief notes and -to reading from a complete manuscript; but on this occasion he thought -it necessary to commit his address to memory. He had never done this -before and he never tried to do it again. He memorized with great -difficulty, found himself placed in an entirely unfamiliar relation to -his audience, and felt as much nervous trepidation as any inexperienced -speaker.[14] - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -Cambridge, _June 5, 1897_. - -DEAR H.,--Alice wrote you (I think) a brief word after the crisis of -last Monday. It took it out of me nervously a good deal, for it came at -the end of the month of May, when I am always fagged to death; and for a -week previous I had almost lost my voice with hoarseness. At nine -o'clock the night before I ran in to a laryngologist in Boston, who -sprayed and cauterized and otherwise tuned up my throat, giving me -pellets to suck all the morning. By a sort of miracle I spoke for -three-quarters of an hour without becoming perceptibly hoarse. But it is -a curious kind of physical effort to fill a hall as large as Boston -Music Hall, unless you are trained to the work. You have to shout and -bellow, and you seem to yourself wholly unnatural. The day was an -extraordinary occasion for sentiment. The streets were thronged with -people, and I was toted around for two hours in a barouche at the tail -end of the procession. There were seven such carriages in all, and I had -the great pleasure of being with St. Gaudens, who is a most charming and -modest man. The weather was cool and the skies were weeping, but not -enough to cause any serious discomfort. They simply formed a harmonious -background to the pathetic sentiment that reigned over the day. It was -very peculiar, and people have been speaking about it ever since--the -last wave of the war breaking over Boston, everything softened and made -poetic and unreal by distance, poor little Robert Shaw erected into a -great symbol of deeper things than he ever realized himself,--"the -tender grace of a day that is dead,"--etc. We shall never have anything -like it again. The monument is really superb, certainly one of the -finest things of this century. Read the darkey [Booker T.] Washington's -speech, a model of elevation and brevity. The thing that struck me most -in the day was the faces of the old 54th soldiers, of whom there were -perhaps about thirty or forty present, with such respectable old darkey -faces, the heavy animal look entirely absent, and in its place the -wrinkled, patient, good old darkey citizen. - -As for myself, I will never accept such a job again. It is entirely -outside of my legitimate line of business, although my speech seems to -have been a great success, if I can judge by the encomiums which are -pouring in upon me on every hand. I brought in some mugwumpery at the -end, but it was very difficult to manage it.... Always affectionately -yours, - -Wm. James. - - * * * * * - -Letters to Ellen and Rosina Emmet, which now enter the series, will be -the better understood for a word of reminder. "Elly" Temple, one of the -Newport cousins referred to in the very first letters, had married, and -gone with her husband, Temple Emmet, to California. But in 1887, after -his death, she had returned to the East to place her daughters in a -Cambridge school. In 1895 and 1896 Ellen and Rosina had made several -visits to the house in Irving Street; and thus the comradely cousinship -of the sixties had been maintained and reëstablished with the younger -generation. At the date now reached, Ellen, or "Bay" as she was usually -called, was studying painting. She and Rosina had been in Paris during -the preceding winter. Now they and their mother were spending the summer -on the south coast of England, at Iden, quite close to Rye, where Henry -James was already becoming established. - - - - -_To Miss Ellen Emmet (Mrs. Blanchard Rand)._ - - -BAR HARBOR, ME., _Aug. 11, 1897_. - -DEAR OLD BAY (and DEAR ROSINA),--For I have letters from both of you and -my heart inclines to both so that I can't write to either without the -other--I hope you are enjoying the English coast. A rumor reached me not -long since that my brother Henry had given up his trip to the Continent -in order to be near to you, and I hope for the sakes of all concerned -that it is true. He will find in you both that eager and vivid artistic -sense, and that direct swoop at the vital facts of human character from -which I am sure he has been weaned for fifteen years at least. And I am -sure it will rejuvenate him again. It is more Celtic than English, and -when joined with those faculties of soul, conscience, or whatever they -be that make England rule the waves, as they are joined in you, Bay, -they leave no room for any anxiety about the creature's destiny. But -Rosina, who is all senses and intelligence, alarms me by her recital of -midnight walks on the Boulevard des Italiens with bohemian artists.... -You can't live by gaslight and excitement, nor can naked intelligence -run a _jeune fille's_ life. Affections, pieties, and prejudices must -play their part, and only let the intelligence get an occasional peep at -things from the midst of their smothering embrace. That again is what -makes the British nation so great. Intelligence doesn't flaunt itself -there quite naked as in France. - -As for the MacMonnies Bacchante,[15] I only saw her faintly looming -through the moon-light one night when she was _sub judice_, so can frame -no opinion. The place certainly calls for a lightsome capricious figure, -but the solemn Boston mind declared that anything but a solemn figure -would be desecration. As to her immodesty, opinions got very hot. My -knowledge of MacMonnies is confined to one statue, that of Sir Henry -Vane, also in our Public Library, an impressionist sketch in bronze (I -think), sculpture treated like painting--and I must say I don't admire -the result _at all_. But you _know_; and I wish I could see other things -of his also. How I wish I could _talk_ with Rosina, or rather hear her -talk, about Paris, _talk in her French_ which I doubt not is by this -time admirable. The only book she has vouchsafed news of having read, to -me, is the d'Annunzio one, which I have ordered in most choice Italian; -but of Lemaître, France, etc., she writes never a word. Nor of V. Hugo. -She ought to read "La Légende des Siècles." For the picturesque pure and -simple, go there! laid on with a trowel so generous that you really get -your glut. But the things in French literature that I have gained most -from--the next most to Tolstoy, in the last few years--are the whole -cycle of Geo. Sand's life: her "Histoire," her letters, and now lately -these revelations of the de Musset episode. The whole thing is beautiful -and uplifting--an absolute "liver" harmoniously leading her own life and -_neither_ obedient nor defiant to what others expected or thought. - -We are passing the summer very quietly at Chocorua, with our bare feet -on the ground. Children growing up bullily, a pride to the parental -heart.... Alice and I have just spent a rich week at North Conway, at a -beautiful "place," the Merrimans'. I am now here at a really grand -place, the Dorrs'--tell Rosina that I went to a domino party last night -but was so afraid that some one of the weird and sinister sisters would -speak to me that I came home at 12 o'clock, when it had hardly begun. I -am so sensitive! Tell her that a lady from Michigan was recently shown -the sights of Cambridge by one of my Radcliffe girls. She took her to -the Longfellow house, and as the visitor went into the gate, said, "I -will just wait here." To her surprise, the visitor went up to the house, -looked in to one window after the other, then rang the bell, and the -door closed upon her. She soon emerged, and said that the servant had -shown her the house. "I'm so sensitive that at first I thought I would -only peep in at the windows. But then I said to myself, 'What's the use -of being so sensitive?' So I rang the bell." - -Pray be happy this summer. I see nothing more of Rosina's in the papers. -How is that sort of thing going on?... As for your mother, give her my -old-fashioned love. For some unexplained reason, I find it very hard to -write to her--probably it is the same reason that makes it hard for her -to write to me--so we can sympathize over so strange a mystery. Anyhow, -give her my best love, and with plenty for yourself, old Bay, and for -Rosina, believe me, yours ever, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To E. L. Godkin._ - - -CHOCORUA, _Aug. 17, 1897_. - -DEAR GODKIN,--Thanks for your kind note _in re_ "Will to Believe." I -suppose you expect as little a reply to it as I expected one from you to -the book; but since you ask what I _du_ mean by Religion, and add that -until I define that word my essay cannot be effective, I can't forbear -sending you a word to clear up that point. I mean by religion for a man -_anything_ that for _him_ is a live hypothesis in that line, altho' it -may be a dead one for anyone else. And what I try to show is that -whether the man believes, disbelieves, or doubts his hypothesis, the -moment he does either, on principle and methodically, he runs a risk of -one sort or the other from his own point of view. There is no escaping -the risk; why not then admit that one's human function is to run it? By -settling down on that basis, and respecting each other's choice of risk -to run, it seems to me that we should be in a clearer-headed condition -than we now are in, postulating as most all of us do a rational -certitude which doesn't exist and disowning the semi-voluntary mental -action by which we continue in our own severally characteristic -attitudes of belief. Since our willing natures are active here, why not -face squarely the fact without humbug and get the benefits of the -admission? - -I passed a day lately with the [James] Bryces at Bar Harbor, and we -spoke--not altogether unkindly--of you. I hope you are enjoying, both of -you, the summer. All goes well with us. Yours always truly, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller_ [Corpus Christi, Oxford]. - - -Cambridge, _Oct. 23, 1897_. - -DEAR SCHILLER,--Did you ever hear of the famous international prize -fight between Tom Sayers and Heenan the Benicia Boy, or were you too -small a baby in 1857 [1860?] The "Times" devoted a couple of pages of -report and one or more eulogistic editorials to the English champion, -and the latter, brimming over with emotion, wrote a letter to the -"Times" in which he touchingly said that he would live in future as one -who had been once deemed worthy of commemoration in its leaders. After -reading your review of me in the October "Mind" (which only reached me -two days ago) I feel as the noble Sayers felt, and think I ought to -write to Stout to say I will try to live up to such a character. My -past has not deserved such words, but my future shall. Seriously, your -review has given me the keenest possible pleasure. This philosophy must -be thickened up most decidedly--your review represents it as something -to rally to, so we must fly a banner and start a school. Some of your -phrases are bully: "reckless rationalism," "pure science is pure bosh," -"infallible _a priori_ test of truth to screen us from the consequences -of our choice," etc., etc. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! - -The enclosed document [a returned letter addressed to Christ Church] -explains itself. The Church and the Body of Christ are easily confused -and I haven't a scholarly memory. I wrote you a post-card recently to -the same address, patting you on the back for your article on -Immortality in the "New World." A staving good thing. I am myself to -give the "Ingersoll Lecture on Human Immortality" here in November--the -second lecturer on the foundation. I treat the matter very inferiorly to -you, but use your conception of the brain as a sifting agency, which -explains my question in the letter. Young [R. B.] Merriman is at Balliol -and a really good fellow in all possible respects. Pray be good to him -if he calls on you. I hope things have a peacock hue for you now that -term has begun. They are all going well here. Yours always gratefully, - -W. J. - - - - -_To James J. Putnam._ - - -Cambridge, _Mar. 2, 1898_. - -DEAR JIM,--On page 7 of the "Transcript" tonight you will find a -manifestation of me at the State House, protesting against the proposed -medical license bill. - -If you think I _enjoy_ that sort of thing you are mistaken. I never did -anything that required as much moral effort in my life. My vocation is -to treat of things in an all-round manner and not make _ex-parte_ pleas -to influence (or seek to) a peculiar jury. _Aussi_, why do the medical -brethren force an unoffending citizen like me into such a position? -Legislative license is sheer humbug--mere abstract paper thunder under -which every ignorance and abuse can still go on. Why this mania for more -laws? Why seek to stop the really extremely important experiences which -these peculiar creatures are rolling up? - -Bah! I'm sick of the whole business, and I well know how all my -colleagues at the Medical School, who go only by the label, will view me -and my efforts. But if Zola and Col. Picquart can face the whole French -army, can't I face their disapproval?--Much more easily than that of my -own conscience! - -You, I fancy, are not one of the fully disciplined demanders of more -legislation. So I write to you, as on the whole my dearest friend -hereabouts, to explain just what my state of mind is. Ever yours, - -W. J. - -James was not indulging in empty rhetoric when he said that his -conscience drove him to face the disapproval of his medical colleagues. -Some of them never forgave him, and to this day references to his -"appearance" at the State House in Boston are marked by partisanship -rather than understanding. - -What happened cannot be understood without recalling that thirty-odd -years ago the licensing of medical practitioners was just being -inaugurated in the United States. Today it is evident that everyone must -be qualified and licensed before he can be permitted to write -prescriptions, to sign statements upon which public records, inquests, -and health statistics are to be based, and to go about the community -calling himself a doctor. On the other hand, experience has proved that -those people who do not pretend to be physicians, who do not use drugs -or the knife, and who attempt to heal only by mental or spiritual -influence, cannot be regulated by the clumsy machinery of the criminal -law. But either because the whole question of medical registration was -new, or because professional men are seldom masters of the science of -lawmaking, the sponsors of the bills proposed to the Massachusetts -Legislature in 1894 and 1898 ignored these distinctions. James did not -name them, although his argument implied them and rested upon them. The -bills included clauses which attempted to abolish the faith-curers by -requiring them to become Doctors of Medicine. The "Spiritualists" and -Christian Scientists were a numerous element in the population and -claimed a religious sanction for their beliefs. The gentlemen who mixed -an anti-spiritualist program in their effort to have doctors examined -and licensed by a State Board were either innocent of political -discretion or blind to the facts. For it was idle to argue that -faith-curers would be able to continue in their own ways as soon as they -had passed the medical examinations of the State Board, and that -accordingly the proposed law could not be said to involve their -suppression. Obviously, medical examinations were barriers which the -faith-curers could not climb over. This was the feature of the proposed -law which roused James to opposition, and led him to take sides for the -moment with all the spokesmen of all the-isms and-opathies. - -"I will confine myself to a class of diseases" (he wrote to the Boston -"Transcript" in 1894) "with which my occupation has made me somewhat -conversant. I mean the diseases of the nervous system and the mind.... -Of all the new agencies that our day has seen, there is but one that -tends steadily to assume a more and more commanding importance, and that -is the agency of the patient's mind itself. Whoever can produce effects -there holds the key of the situation in a number of morbid conditions of -which we do not yet know the extent; for systematic experiments in this -direction are in their merest infancy. They began in Europe fifteen -years ago, when the medical world so tardily admitted the facts of -hypnotism to be true; and in this country they have been carried on in a -much bolder and more radical fashion by all those 'mind-curers' and -'Christian Scientists' with whose results the public, and even the -profession, are growing gradually familiar. - -"I assuredly hold no brief for any of these healers, and must confess -that my intellect has been unable to assimilate their theories, so far -as I have heard them given. But their _facts_ are patent and startling; -and anything that interferes with the multiplication of such facts, and -with our freest opportunity of observing and studying them, will, I -believe, be a public calamity. The law now proposed will so interfere, -simply because the mind-curers will not take the examinations.... -Nothing would please some of them better than such a taste of -imprisonment as might, by the public outcry it would occasion, bring the -law rattling down about the ears of the mandarins who should have -enacted it. - -"And whatever one may think of the narrowness of the mind-curers, their -logical position is impregnable. They are proving by the most brilliant -new results that the therapeutic relation may be what we can at present -describe only as a relation of one person to another person; and they -are consistent in resisting to the uttermost any legislation that would -make 'examinable' information the root of medical virtue, and hamper -the free play of personal force and affinity by mechanically imposed -conditions." - -James knew as well as anyone that in the ranks of the healers there were -many who could fairly be described as preying on superstition and -ignorance. "X---- personally is a rapacious humbug" was his privately -expressed opinion of one of them who had a very large following. He had -no reverence for the preposterous theories with which their minds were -befogged; but "every good thing like _science_ in medicine," as he once -said, "has to be imitated and grimaced by a rabble of people who would -be at the required height; and the folly, humbug and mendacity is -pitiful." Furthermore he saw a quackery quite as odious and much more -dangerous than that of the "healers" in the patent-medicine business, -which was allowed to advertise its lies and secret nostrums in the -newspapers and on the bill-boards, and which flourished behind the -counter of every apothecary and village store-keeper at that time. (The -Federal Pure Food and Drug Act was still many years off.) - -The spokesmen of the medical profession were ignoring what he believed -to be instructive phenomena. "What the real interests of medicine -require is that mental therapeutics should _not_ be stamped out, but -studied, and its laws ascertained. For that the mind-curers must at -least be suffered to make their experiments. If they cannot interpret -their results aright, why then let the orthodox M.D.'s follow up their -facts, and study and interpret them? But to force the mind-curers to a -State examination is to kill the experiments outright." But instead of -the open-minded attitude which he thus advocated, he saw doctors who -"had no more exact science in them than a fox terrier"[16] invoking the -holy name of Science and blundering ahead with an air of moral -superiority. - -"One would suppose," he exclaimed again in the 1898 hearing, "that any -set of sane persons interested in the growth of medical truth would -rejoice if other persons were found willing to push out their -experiences in the mental-healing direction, and provide a mass of -material out of which the conditions and limits of such therapeutic -methods may at last become clear. One would suppose that our orthodox -medical brethren might so rejoice; but instead of rejoicing they adopt -the fiercely partisan attitude of a powerful trades-union, demanding -legislation against the competition of the 'scabs.' ... The mind-curers -and their public return the scorn of the regular profession with an -equal scorn, and will never come up for the examination. Their movement -is a religious or quasi-religious movement; personality is one condition -of success there, and impressions and intuitions seem to accomplish more -than chemical, anatomical or physiological information.... Pray do not -fail, Mr. Chairman, to catch my point. You are not to ask yourselves -whether these mind-curers do really achieve the successes that are -claimed. It is enough for you as legislators to ascertain that a large -number of our citizens, persons as intelligent and well-educated as -yourself, or I, persons whose number seems daily to increase, are -convinced that they do achieve them, are persuaded that a valuable new -department of medical experience is by them opening up. Here is a purely -medical question, regarding which our General Court, not being a -well-spring and source of medical virtue, not having any private test of -therapeutic truth, must remain strictly neutral under penalty of making -the confusion worse.... Above all things, Mr. Chairman, let us not be -infected with the Gallic spirit of regulation and reglementation for -their own abstract sakes. Let us not grow hysterical about law-making. -Let us not fall in love with enactments and penalties because they are -so logical and sound so pretty, and look so nice on paper."[17] - - - - -_To James J. Putnam._ - - -Cambridge, _Mar. [3?] 1898_. - -DEAR JIM,--Thanks for your noble-hearted letter, which makes me feel -warm again. I am glad to learn that you feel positively _agin_ the -proposed law, and hope that you will express yourself freely towards the -professional brethren to that effect. - -Dr. Russell Sturgis has written me a similar letter. - -Once more, thanks! - -W. J. - -P.S. _March 3._ The "Transcript" report, I am sorry to say, was a good -deal cut. I send you another copy, to keep and use where it will do most -good. The rhetorical problem with me was to say things to the Committee -that might neutralize the influence of their medical advisers, who, I -supposed, had the inside track, and all the _prestige_. I being banded -with the spiritists, faith-curers, magnetic healers, etc., etc. Strange -affinities![18] - -W. J. - - - - -_To François Pillon._ - - -Cambridge, _June 15, 1898_. - -MY DEAR PILLON,--I have just received your pleasant letter and the -_Année_, volume 8, and shall immediately proceed to read the latter, -having finished reading my examinations yesterday, and being now free to -enjoy the vacation, but excessively tired. I grieve to learn of poor -Mrs. Pillon's continued ill health. How much patience both of you -require. I think of you also as spending most of the summer in Paris, -when the country contains so many more elements that are good for body -and soul. - -How much has happened since I last heard from you! To say nothing of the -Zola trial, we now have the Cuban War! A curious episode of history, -showing how a nation's ideals can be changed in the twinkling of an eye, -by a succession of outward events partly accidental. It is quite -possible that, without the explosion of the Maine, we should still be at -peace, though, since the _basis_ of the whole American attitude is the -persuasion on the part of the people that the cruelty and misrule of -Spain in Cuba call for her expulsion (so that in that sense our war is -just what a war of "the powers" against Turkey for the Armenian -atrocities would have been), it is hardly possible that peace could have -been maintained indefinitely longer, unless Spain had gone out--a -consummation hardly to be expected by peaceful means. The actual -declaration of war by Congress, however, was a case of _psychologie des -foules_, a genuine hysteric stampede at the last moment, which shows -how unfortunate that provision of our written constitution is which -takes the power of declaring war from the Executive and places it in -Congress. Our Executive has behaved very well. The European nations of -the Continent cannot believe that our pretense of humanity, and our -disclaiming of all ideas of conquest, is sincere. It has been -_absolutely_ sincere! The self-conscious feeling of our people has been -entirely based in a sense of philanthropic duty, without which not a -step would have been taken. And when, in its ultimatum to Spain, -Congress denied any project of conquest in Cuba, it genuinely meant -every word it said. But here comes in the psychologic factor: once the -excitement of action gets loose, the taxes levied, the victories -achieved, etc., the old human instincts will get into play with all -their old strength, and the ambition and sense of mastery which our -nation has will set up new demands. We shall never take Cuba; I imagine -that to be very certain--unless indeed after years of unsuccessful -police duty there, for that is what we have made ourselves responsible -for. But Porto Rico, and even the Philippines, are not so sure. We had -supposed ourselves (with all our crudity and barbarity in certain ways) -a better nation morally than the rest, safe at home, and without the old -savage ambition, destined to exert great international influence by -throwing in our "moral weight," etc. Dreams! Human Nature is everywhere -the same; and at the least temptation all the old military passions -rise, and sweep everything before them. It will be interesting to see -how it will end. - -But enough of this!--It all shows by what short steps progress is made, -and it confirms the "criticist" views of the philosophy of history. I am -going to a great popular meeting in Boston today where a lot of my -friends are to protest against the new "Imperialism." - -In August I go for two months to California to do some lecturing. As I -have never crossed the continent or seen the Pacific Ocean or those -beautiful _parages_, I am very glad of the opportunity. The year after -next (_i.e._ one year from now) begins a new year of absence from my -college duties. I _may_ spend it in Europe again. In any case I shall -hope to see you, for I am appointed to give the "Gifford Lectures" at -Edinburgh during 1899-1901--two courses of 10 each on the philosophy of -religion. A great honor.--I have also received the honor of an election -as "Correspondent" of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. -Have I _your_ influence to thank for this? Believe me, with most -sympathetic regards to Mrs. Pillon and affectionate greetings to -yourself, yours most truly - -Wm. James. - -Before starting for California, James went to the Adirondack Lodge to -snatch a brief holiday. One episode in this holiday can best be -described by an extract from a letter to Mrs. James. - - - - -_To Mrs. James._ - - -ST. HUBERT'S INN, -KEENE VALLEY, _July 9, 1898_. - -...I have had an eventful 24 hours, and my hands are so stiff after it -that my fingers can hardly hold the pen. I left, as I informed you by -post-card, the Lodge at seven, and five hours of walking brought us to -the top of Marcy--I carrying 18 lbs. of weight in my pack. As usual, I -met two Cambridge acquaintances on the mountain top--"Appalachians" from -Beede's. At four, hearing an axe below, I went down (an hour's walk) to -Panther Lodge Camp, and there found Charles and Pauline Goldmark, Waldo -Adler and another schoolboy, and two Bryn Mawr girls--the girls all -dressed in boys' breeches, and cutaneously desecrated in the extreme -from seven of them having been camping without a male on Loon Lake to -the north of this. My guide had to serve for the party, and quite -unexpectedly to me the night turned out one of the most memorable of all -my memorable experiences. I was in a wakeful mood before starting, -having been awake since three, and I may have slept a little during this -night; but I was not aware of sleeping at all. My companions, except -Waldo Adler, were all motionless. The guide had got a magnificent -provision of firewood, the sky swept itself clear of every trace of -cloud or vapor, the wind entirely ceased, so that the fire-smoke rose -straight up to heaven. The temperature was perfect either inside or -outside the cabin, the moon rose and hung above the scene before -midnight, leaving only a few of the larger stars visible, and I got into -a state of spiritual alertness of the most vital description. The -influences of Nature, the wholesomeness of the people round me, -especially the good Pauline, the thought of you and the children, dear -Harry on the wave, the problem of the Edinburgh lectures, all fermented -within me till it became a regular Walpurgis Nacht. I spent a good deal -of it in the woods, where the streaming moonlight lit up things in a -magical checkered play, and it seemed as if the Gods of all the -nature-mythologies were holding an indescribable meeting in my breast -with the moral Gods of the inner life. The two kinds of Gods have -nothing in common--the Edinburgh lectures made quite a hitch ahead. The -intense significance of some sort, of the whole scene, if one could only -_tell_ the significance; the intense inhuman remoteness of its inner -life, and yet the intense _appeal_ of it; its everlasting freshness and -its immemorial antiquity and decay; its utter Americanism, and every -sort of patriotic suggestiveness, and you, and my relation to you part -and parcel of it all, and beaten up with it, so that memory and -sensation all whirled inexplicably together; it was indeed worth coming -for, and worth repeating year by year, if repetition could only procure -what in its nature I suppose must be all unplanned for and unexpected. -It was one of the happiest lonesome nights of my existence, and I -understand now what a poet is. He is a person who can feel the immense -complexity of influences that I felt, and make some partial tracks in -them for verbal statement. In point of fact, I can't find a single word -for all that significance, and don't know what it was significant of, so -there it remains, a mere boulder of _impression_. Doubtless in more ways -than one, though, things in the Edinburgh lectures will be traceable to -it. - -In the morning at six, I shouldered my undiminished pack and went up -Marcy, ahead of the party, who arrived half an hour later, and we got in -here at eight [P.M.] after 10-1/2 hours of the solidest walking I ever -made, and I, I think, more fatigued than I have been after any walk. We -plunged down Marcy, and up Bason Mountain, led by C. Goldmark, who had, -with Mr. White, blazed a trail the year before;[19] then down again, -away down, and up the Gothics, not counting a third down-and-up over an -intermediate spur. It was the steepest sort of work, and, as one looked -from the summits, seemed sheer impossible, but the girls kept up -splendidly, and were all fresher than I. It was true that they had slept -like logs all night, whereas I was "on my nerves." I lost my Norfolk -jacket at the last third of the course--high time to say good-bye to -that possession--and staggered up to the Putnams to find Hatty Shaw[20] -taking me for a tramp. Not a soul was there, but everything spotless and -ready for the arrival today. I got a bath at Bowditch's bath-house, -slept in my old room, and slept soundly and well, and save for the -unwashable staining of my hands and a certain stiffness in my thighs, am -entirely rested and well. But I don't believe in keeping it up too long, -and at the Willey House will lead a comparatively sedentary life, and -cultivate sleep, if I can.... - -W. J. - -The intense experience which James thus described had consequences that -were not foreseen at the time. He had gone to the Adirondacks at the -close of the college term in a much fatigued condition. He had been -sleeping badly for some weeks, and when he started up Mount Marcy he had -neuralgia in one foot; but he had characteristically determined to -ignore and "bully" this ailment. Under such conditions the prolonged -physical exertion of the two days' climb, aggravated by the fact that he -carried a pack all the second day, was too much for a man of his years -and sedentary occupations. As the summer wore on, pain or discomfort in -the region of his heart became constant. He tried to persuade himself -that it signified nothing and would pass away, and concealed it from his -wife until mid-winter. To Howison--who was himself a confessed heart -case--he wrote, "My heart has been kicking about terribly of late, -stopping, and hurrying and aching and so forth, but I do not propose to -give up to it too much." The fact was that the strain of the two days' -climb had caused a valvular lesion that was irreparable, although not -great enough seriously to curtail his activities if he had given heed -to his general condition and avoided straining himself again. - -In August James went to California to give the lectures which have -already been mentioned in a letter to Pillon. Again, these lectures were -in substance the "Talks to Teachers." The next letter, written just -before he left Cambridge, answers a request to him to address the -Philosophical Club at the University of California. - - - - -_To G. H. Howison._ - - -Cambridge, _July 24, 1898_. - -DEAR HOWISON,--Your kind letter greeted me on my arrival here three days -ago--but I have waited to answer it in order to determine just what my -lecture's title should be. I wanted to make something entirely popular, -and as it were emotional, for technicality seems to me to spell -"failure" in philosophy. But the subject in the margin of my -consciousness failed to make connexion with the centre, and I have -fallen back on something less vital, but still, I think, sufficiently -popular and practical, which you can advertise under the rather -ill-chosen title of "Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results," -if you wish. - -I am just back from a month of practical idleness in the Adirondacks, -but such is the infirmity of my complexion that I am not yet in proper -working trim. You ask me, like an angel, in what form I like to take my -sociability. The spirit is willing to take it in any form, but the flesh -is weak, and it runs to destruction of nerve-tissue and madness in me to -go to big stand-up receptions where the people scream and breathe in -each other's faces. But I know my duties; and one such reception I will -gladly face. For the rest, I should infinitely prefer a chosen few at -dinner. But this enterprise is going, my friend, to give you and Mrs. -Howison a heap of trouble. My purpose is to arrive on the eve of the -26th. I will telegraph you the hour and train. When the lectures to the -teachers are over, I will make for the Yosemite Valley, where I want to -spend a fortnight if I can, and come home.... Yours ever truly, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -OCCIDENTAL HOTEL, -SAN FRANCISCO, _Aug. 11, 1898_. - -DEAR OLD HENRY,--You see I have worked my way across the Continent, and, -full of the impressions of this queer place, I must overflow for a page -or two to you. I saw some really grand and ferocious scenery on the -Canadian Pacific, and wish I could go right back to see it again. But it -doesn't mean much, on the whole, for human habitation, and the British -Empire's investment in Canada is in so far forth but _scenic_. It is -grand, though, in its vastness and simplicity. In Washington and Oregon -the whole foreground consisted of desolation by fire. The magnificent -coniferous forests burnt and burning, as they have been for years and -years back. Northern California one pulverous earth-colored mass of -hills and heat, with green spots produced by irrigation hardly showing -on the background. I drove through a wheatfield at Harry's Uncle -Christopher's on a machine, drawn by 26 mules, which cut a swathe 18 -feet wide through the wheat and threw it out in bags to be taken home, -as fast as the leisurely mules could walk. It is like Egypt. Down here, -splendid air, and a city so indescribably odd and unique in its -suggestions that I have been saying to myself all day that _you_ ought -to have taken it in when you were under 30 and added it to your -portraits of places. So remote and terminal, so full of the sea-port -nakedness, yet so new and American, with its queer suggestions of a -history based on the fifties and the sixties. But at my age those -impressions are curiously weak to what they once were, and the time to -travel is between one's 20th and 30th year. This hotel--an old house -cleaned into newness--is redolent of '59 or '60, when it must have been -built. Hideous vast stuccoed thing, with long undulating balustrades and -wells and lace curtains. The fare is very good, but the servants all -Irish, who seem cowed in the dining-room, and go about as if they had -corns on their feet and for that reason had given up the pick and -shovel.... Tomorrow, in spite of drouth and dust, I leave for the -Yosemite Valley, with a young Californian philosopher, named [Charles -M.] Bakewell, as companion. On the whole I prefer the works of God to -those of man, and the alternative, a trip down the coast, beauties as it -would doubtless show, would include too much humanity.... - - - - -_To his Son Alexander._ - - -BERKELEY, CAL., _Aug. 28, 1898_. - -DARLING OLD CHERUBINI,--See how brave this girl and boy are in the -Yosemite Valley![21] I saw a moving sight the other morning before -breakfast in a little hotel where I slept in the dusty fields. The young -man of the house had shot a little wolf called a coyote in the early -morning. The heroic little animal lay on the ground, with his big furry -ears, and his clean white teeth, and his jolly cheerful little body, but -his brave little life was gone. It made me think how brave all these -living things are. Here little coyote was, without any clothes or house -or books or anything, with nothing but his own naked self to pay his -way with, and risking his life so cheerfully--and losing it--just to -see if he could pick up a meal near the hotel. He was doing his -coyote-business like a hero, and you must do your boy-business, and I my -man-business bravely too, or else we won't be worth as much as that -little coyote. Your mother can find a picture of him in those green -books of animals, and I want you to copy it. Your loving - -DAD. - - - - -_To Miss Rosina H. Emmet._ - - -MONTEREY, _Sept. 9, 1898_. - -DEAR OLD ROSINA,--I have seen your native state and even been driven by -dear, good, sweet Hal Dibblee (who is turning into a perfectly ideal -fellow) through the charming and utterly lovable place in which you all -passed your childhood. (How your mother must sometimes long for it -again!) Of California and its greatness, the half can never be told. I -have been on a ranch in the white, bare dryness of Siskiyou County, and -reaped wheat with a swathe of 18 feet wide on a machine drawn by a -procession of 26 mules. I've been to Yosemite, and camped for five days -in the high Sierras; I've lectured at the two universities of the state, -and seen the youths and maidens lounge together at Stanford in cloisters -whose architecture is purer and more lovely than aught that Italy can -show. I've heard Mrs. Dibblee read letter after letter from Anita -concerning your life together; and even one letter to Anita from Bay, -which the former enclosed. (Dear Bay!) All this, dear old Rosina, is a -"summation of stimuli" which at last carries me over the dam that has so -long obstructed all my epistolary efforts in your direction. - -Over and over again I have been on the point of writing to you, more -than once I have actually written a page or two, but something has -always checked the flow, and arrested the current of the soul. What is -it? I think it is this: I naturally tend, when "familiar" with what the -authors of the beginning of the century used to call "a refined female," -to indulge in chaffing personalities in writing to her. There is -something in you that doubtfully enjoys the chaffing; and subtly feeling -that, I stop. But some day, when experience shall have winnowed you with -her wing; when the illusions and the hopes of youth alike are faded; -when eternal principles of order are more to you than sensations that -pass in a day, however exciting; when friends that know you and your -roots and derivations are more satisfactory, however humdrum and hoary -they be, than the handsome recent acquaintances that know nothing of you -but the hour; when, in short, your being is mellowed, dulled and -harmonized by time so as to be a grave, wise, deep, and discerning moral -and intellectual unity (as mine is already from the height of my 40 -centuries!), then, Rosina, we two shall be the most perfect of -combinations, and I shall write to you every week of my life and you -will be utterly unable to resist replying. That will not be, however, -before you are forty years old. You are sure to come to it! For you see -the truth, irrespective of persons, as few people see it; and after all, -you care for that more than for anything else--and that means a rare and -unusual destiny, and ultimate salvation.--But here I am, chaffing, quite -against my intentions and altogether in spite of myself. The ruling -passion is irresistible. Let me stop! - -But still I must be personal, and not write merely of the climate and -productions of California, as I have been doing to others for the past -four weeks. How I do wish I could be dropped amongst you for but 24 -hours! What talk I should hear! What perceptions of truth from you and -Bay (and probably young Leslie) would pour into my receptive soul. How -I _should_ like to hear you hold forth about the French, their art, -their literature, their nature, and all else about them! How I should -like to hear you _talk_ French! How I should like to note the changes -wrought in you by all this experience, and take all sorts of excursions -in your company! Don't come home for one more year if you can help it. -Stay and let the impressions set and tie themselves in with a hard knot, -so that they will be worth something and definitive. - -I am so glad to hear that Bay is doing so well, and doubly glad (as Mrs. -Dibblee tells me from Anita) that H. J. is going to sit to her for his -portrait. I am a bit sorry that the youthful Harry didn't accept your -invitation, but his time was after all so short that it has been perhaps -good for him to get the massive English impression. What times we live -in! Dreyfus, Cuba, and Khartoum!--I keep well, though fragile as a -worker. You will have heard of my Edinburgh appointment and my election -to the Institut de France as _Correspondant_. The latter is silly, but -the former a serious scrape out of which I am praying all the gods to -help me, as the time for preparation is so short. All Cambridge friends -are well. You heard of dear Child's death, last summer, I suppose. -Good-bye! Write to me, dear old Rosina. Kiss Bay and Leslie--even -_effleurez_ your own cheek, for me. Give my best love to your mother, -and believe me always your affectionate - -W. J. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -Cambridge, _Dec. 3, 1898_. - -ILLUSTRIOUS FRIEND AND JOY OF MY LIVER,--I am much pleased to hear from -you, for I have wished to know of your destinies, and Bakewell couldn't -give me a very precise account. I congratulate you on getting your -review of me off your hands--you must experience a relief similar to -that of Christian when he lost his bag of sin. I imagine your account of -its unsatisfactoriness is a little hyperĉsthetic, and that what you have -brooded over so long will, in spite of anything in the accidents of its -production, prove solid and deep, and reveal _ex pede_ the Hercules. Of -course, if you do not unconditionally subscribe to my "Will to Believe" -essay, it shows that you still are groping in the darkness of -misunderstanding either of my meaning or of the truth; for in spite of -"the bludgeonings of fate," my head is "bloody but unbowed" as to the -rightness of my contention there, in both its parts. But we shall see; -and I hope you are now free for more distant flights. - -I am extremely sorry to hear you have been not well again, even though -you say you are so much better now. You ought to be _entirely_ well and -every inch a king. Remember that, _whenever_ you need a change, your bed -is made in this house for as many weeks as you care to stay. I know -there will come feelings of disconsolateness over you occasionally, from -being so out of the academic swim. But that is nothing! And while this -time is on, you should think exclusively of its unique characteristics -of blessedness, which will be irrecoverable when you are in the harness -again. - -I spent the first six weeks after term began in trying to clear my table -of encumbering tasks, in order to get at my own reading for the Gifford -lectures. In vain. Each day brought its cargo, and I never got at my own -work, until a fortnight ago the brilliant resolve was communicated to -me, by divine inspiration, of not doing anything for anybody else, not -writing a letter or looking at a MS., on any day until I should have -done at least one hour of work for _myself_. If you spend your time -preparing to be ready, you _never_ will be ready. Since that wonderful -insight into the truth, despair has given way to happiness. I do my hour -or hour and a half of free reading; and don't care what extraneous -interest suffers.... Good-night, dear old Miller. Your ever loving, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan. 31, 1899_. - -...Your account of Josiah Royce is adorable--we have both gloated over -it all day. The best intellectual character-painting ever limned by an -English pen! Since teaching the "Conception of God," I have come to -perceive what I didn't trust myself to believe before, that looseness of -thought is R.'s _essential_ element. He _wants_ it. There isn't a tight -joint in his system; not one. And yet I thought that a mind that could -talk me blind and black and numb on mathematics and logic, and whose -favorite recreation is works on those subjects, must necessarily conceal -closeness and exactitudes of ratiocination that I hadn't the wit to find -out. But no! he is the Rubens of philosophy. Richness, abundance, -boldness, color, but a sharp contour never, and never any _perfection_. -But isn't fertility better than perfection? Deary me! Ever thine, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry Rutgers Marshall._ - - -Cambridge [_Feb. 7, 1899_?]. - -DEAR MARSHALL,--I will hand your paper to Eliot, though I am sure that -nothing will come of it in _this_ University. - -Moreover, it strikes me that no good will ever come to Art as such from -the analytic study of Ĉsthetics--harm rather, if the abstractions could -in any way be made the basis of practice. We should get stark things -done on system with all the intangible personal _je ne sçais quaw_ left -out. The difference between the first-and second-best things in art -absolutely seems to escape verbal definition--it is a matter of a hair, -a shade, an inward quiver of some kind--yet what miles away in point of -preciousness! Absolutely the same verbal formula applies to the supreme -success and to the thing that just misses it, and yet verbal formulas -are all that your aesthetics will give. - -Surely imitation in the concrete is better for results than any amount -of gabble in the abstract. Let the rest of us philosophers gabble, but -don't mix us up with the interests of the art department as such! Them's -my sentiments. - -Thanks for the "cudgels" you are taking up for the "Will to Believe." -Miller's article seems to be based solely on my little catchpenny -_title_. Where would he have been if I had called my article "a critique -of pure faith" or words to that effect? As it is, he doesn't touch a -_single_ one of my points, and slays a mere abstraction. I shall -greedily read what you write. - -I have been too lazy and hard pressed to write to you about your -"Instinct and Reason," which contains many good things in the way of -psychology and morals, but which--I tremble to say it before you--on the -whole _does_ disappoint me. The religious part especially seems to me to -rest on too narrow a phenomenal base, and the formula to be too simple -and abstract. But it is a good contribution to American scholarship all -the same, and I hope the Philippine Islanders will be forced to study -it. - -Forgive my brevity and levity. Yours ever, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry Rutgers Marshall._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb. 8 [1899]_. - -DEAR MARSHALL,--Your invitation was perhaps the finest "tribute" the -Jameses have ever received, but it is plumb impossible that either of us -should accept. Pinned down, by ten thousand jobs and duties, like two -Gullivers by the threads of the Lilliputians. - -I should "admire" to see the Kiplings again, but it is no go. Now that -by his song-making power he is the mightiest force in the formation of -the "Anglo-Saxon" character, I wish he would hearken a bit more to his -deeper human self and a bit less to his shallower jingo self. If the -Anglo-Saxon race would drop its sniveling cant it would have a good deal -less of a "burden" to carry. We're the most loathsomely canting crew -that God ever made. Kipling knows perfectly well that our camps in the -tropics are not college settlements or our armies bands of -philanthropists, slumming it; and I think it a shame that he should -represent us to ourselves in that light. I wish he would try a bit -interpreting the savage _soul_ to us, as he _could_, instead of using -such official and conventional phrases as "half-devil and half-child," -which leaves the whole insides out. - -Heigh ho! - -I have only had time to glance at the first 1/2 of your paper on Miller. -I am delighted you are thus going for him. His whole paper is an -_ignoratio elenchi_, and he doesn't touch a single one of my positions. - -Believe me with great regrets and thanks, yours ever, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Mrs. Henry Whitman._ - - -CHOCORUA, _June 7, 1899_. - -DEAR MRS. WHITMAN,--I got your penciled letter the day before leaving. -The R.R. train seems to be a great stimulus to the acts of the higher -epistolary activity and correspondential amicality in you--a fact for -which I have (occasional) reason to be duly grateful. So here, in the -cool darkness of my road-side "sitting-room," with no pen in the house, -with the soft tap of the carpenter's hammer and the pensive scrape of -the distant wood-saw stealing through the open wire-netting door, along -with the fragrant air of the morning woods, I get stimulus responsive, -and send you penciled return. Yes, the daylight that now seems shining -through the Dreyfus case is glorious, and if the President only gets his -back up a bit, and mows down the whole gang of Satan, or as much of it -as can be touched, it will perhaps be a great day for the distracted -France. I mean it may be one of those moral crises that become starting -points and high-water marks and leave traditions and rallying cries and -new forces behind them. One thing is certain, that no other alternative -form of government possible to France in this century could have stood -the strain as this democracy seems to be standing it. - -Apropos of which, a word about Woodberry's book.[22] I didn't know him -to be that kind of a creature at all. The essays are grave and noble in -the extreme. I hail another American author. They can't be popular, and -for cause. The respect of him for the Queen's English, the classic -leisureliness and explicitness, which give so rare a dignity to his -style, also take from it that which our generation seems to need, the -sudden word, the unmediated transition, the flash of perception that -makes reasonings unnecessary. Poor Woodberry, so high, so true, so good, -so original in his total make-up, and yet so unoriginal if you take him -spot-wise--and therefore so ineffective. His paper on Democracy is very -fine indeed, though somewhat too abstract. I haven't yet read the first -and last essays in the book, which I shall buy and keep, and even send a -word of gratulation to the author for it. - -As for me, my bed is made: I am against bigness and greatness in all -their forms, and with the invisible molecular moral forces that work -from individual to individual, stealing in through the crannies of the -world like so many soft rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, -and yet rending the hardest monuments of man's pride, if you give them -time. The bigger the unit you deal with, the hollower, the more brutal, -the more mendacious is the life displayed. So I am against all big -organizations as such, national ones first and foremost; against all big -successes and big results; and in favor of the eternal forces of truth -which always work in the individual and immediately unsuccessful way, -under-dogs always, till history comes, after they are long dead, and -puts them on the top.--You need take no notice of these ebullitions of -spleen, which are probably quite unintelligible to anyone but myself. -Ever your - -W. J. - -When the College term ended in June, 1899, the sailing date of the -European steamer on which James had taken passage for his wife and -daughter and himself was still three weeks away. He turned again to the -Adirondack Lodge and there persuaded himself, to his intense -satisfaction, that if he walked slowly and alone, so that there was no -temptation to talk while walking, or to keep on when he felt like -stopping, he could still spend several hours a day on the mountain sides -without inconvenience to his heart. But one afternoon he took a wrong -path and did not discover his mistake until he had gone so far that it -seemed safer to go on than to turn back. So he kept on. But the "trail" -he was following was not the one he supposed it to be and led him -farther and farther. He fainted twice; it grew dark; but having neither -food, coat, nor matches, he stumbled along until at last he came out on -the Keene Valley road and, at nearly eleven o'clock at night, reached a -house where he could get food and a conveyance. - -He ought to have avoided all exertion for weeks thereafter, but he tried -again to make light of what had occurred, and, on getting back to -Cambridge, spent a very active few days over final arrangements for his -year of absence. When his boat had sailed and the stimulus which his -last duties supplied had been withdrawn, he began to discover what -condition he was in. - - - - -XIII - -1899-1902 - - _Two years of Illness in Europe--Retirement from Active Duty at - Harvard--The First and Second Series of the Gifford Lectures_ - - -WHEN James sailed for Hamburg on July 15, he planned quite definitely to -devote the summer to rest and the treatment of his heart, then to write -out the Gifford Lectures during the winter, and to deliver them by the -following spring; and, happily, could not foresee that he was to spend -nearly two years in exile and idleness. For nearly six years he had -driven himself beyond the true limits of his strength. Now it became -evident that the strain of his second over-exertion in the Adirondacks -had precipitated a complete collapse. He had been advised during the -winter to go to Nauheim for a course of baths. But when he got there, -the eminent specialists who examined his heart ignored his nervous -prostration. He was doubtless a difficult patient to diagnose or -prescribe for. Matters went from bad to worse; little by little all his -plans had to be abandoned. A year went by, and a return to regular work -in Cambridge was unthinkable. He was no better in the summer of 1900 -than when he landed in Germany in July of 1899. His daughter had been -sent to school in England. The three other children remained in America. -He and Mrs. James moved about between England, Nauheim, the south of -France, Switzerland and Rome, consulting a specialist in one place or -trying the baths or the climate in another--with how much homesickness, -and with how much courage none the less, the letters will indicate. - -His only systematic reading was a persistent, though frequently -intermitted, exploration of religious biographies and the literature of -religious conversion, in preparation for the Gifford Lectures. During -the second year he managed to get one course of these lectures written -out. Not until he had delivered them in Edinburgh, in May, 1901, did he -know that he had turned the corner and feel as if he had begun to live -again. - -Every letter that came to him from his family and friends at home was -comforting beyond measure, and he poured out a stream of acknowledgment -in long replies, which he dictated to Mrs. James. His own writing was -usually limited to jottings in a note-book and to post-cards. He always -had a fountain-pen and a few post-cards in his pocket, and often, when -sitting in a chair in the open air, or at a little table in one of the -outdoor restaurants that abound in Nauheim and in southern Europe, he -would compress more news and messages into one of these little missives -than most men ever get into a letter. A few of his friends at home -divined his situation, and were at pains to write him regularly and -fully. Letters that follow show how grateful he was for such devotion. - - * * * * * - -In this state of enforced idleness he browsed through newspapers and -journals more than he had before or than he ever did again, and so his -letters contained more comments on daily events. It will be clear that -what was happening did not always please him. He was an individualist -and a liberal, both by temperament and by reason of having grown up with -the generation which accepted the doctrines of the _laissez-faire_ -school in a thoroughgoing way. The Philippine policy of the McKinley -administration seemed to him a humiliating desertion of the principles -that America had fought for in the Revolution and the War of -Emancipation. The military occupation of the Philippines, described by -the President as "benevolent assimilation," and what he once called the -"cold pot-grease of McKinley's eloquence" filled him with loathing. He -saw the Republican Party in the light in which Mr. Dooley portrayed it -when he represented its leaders as praying "that Providence might remain -under the benevolent influence of the present administration." When -McKinley and Roosevelt were nominated by the Republicans in 1900, he -called them "a combination of slime and grit, soap and sand, that ought -to scour anything away, even the moral sense of the country." He was -ready to vote for Bryan if there were no other way of turning out the -administration responsible for the history of our first years in the -Philippines, "although it would doubtless have been a premature victory -of a very mongrel kind of reform." In the same way, the cant with which -many of the supporters of England's program in South Africa extolled the -Boer War in the British press provoked his irony. The uproar over the -Dreyfus case was at its height. The "intellectuels," as they were called -in France, the "Little Englanders" as they were nicknamed in England, -and the Anti-Imperialists in his own country had his entire sympathy. -The state of mind of a member of the liberal minority, observing the -phase of history that was disclosing itself at the end of the century, -is admirably indicated in his correspondence. - - * * * * * - -Miss Pauline Goldmark, next addressed, and her family were in the habit -of spending their summers in Keene Valley, where they had a cottage that -was not far from the Putnam Shanty. James had often joined forces with -them for a day's climb when he was staying at the Shanty. The reader -will recall that it was their party that he had joined on Mt. Marcy the -year before. - - - - -_To Miss Pauline Goldmark._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _Aug. 12, 1899_. - -MY DEAR PAULINE,--I am afraid we are stuck here till the latter half of -September. Once a donkey, always a donkey; at the Lodge in June, after -some slow walks which seemed to do me no harm at all, I drifted one day -up to the top of Marcy, and then (thanks to the Trail Improvement -Society!) found myself in the Johns Brook Valley instead of on the Lodge -trail back; and converted what would have been a three-hours' downward -saunter into a seven-hours' scramble, emerging in Keene Valley at 10.15 -P.M. This did me no good--quite the contrary; so I have come to Nauheim -just in time. My carelessness was due to the belief that there was only -one trail in the Lodge direction, so I didn't attend particularly, and -when I found myself off the track (the trail soon stopped) I thought I -was going to South Meadow, and didn't reascend. Anyhow I was an ass, and -you ought to have been along to steer me straight. I fear we shall -ascend no more acclivities together. "Bent is the tree that should have -grown full straight!" You have no idea of the moral repulsiveness of -this _Curort_ life. Everybody fairly revelling in disease, and -abandoning themselves to it with a sort of _gusto_. "Heart," "heart," -"heart," the sole topic of attention and conversation. As a "phase," -however, one ought to be able to live through it, and the extraordinary -nerve-rest, crawling round as we do, is beneficial. Man is never -satisfied! Perhaps I shall be when the baths, etc., have had their -effect. We go then straight to England.--I do hope that you are all -getting what you wish in Switzerland, and that for all of you the entire -adventure is proving golden. Mrs. James sends her love, and I am, as -always, yours most affectionately, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Mrs. E. P. Gibbens._ - - -VILLA LUISE, BAD-NAUHEIM, _Aug. 22, 1899_. - -DARLING BELLE-MÈRE,--The day seems to have come for another letter to -you, though my fingers are so cold that I can hardly write. We have had -a most conveniently dry season--convenient in that it doesn't coop us up -in the house--but a deal of cloud and cold. Today is sunny but -frigid--like late October. Altogether the difference of weather is very -striking. European weather is stagnant and immovable. It is as if it got -stuck, and needed a kick to start it; and although it is doubtless -better for the nerves than ours, I find my soul thinking most kindly -from this distance of our glorious quick passionate American climate, -with its transparency and its impulsive extremes. This weather is as if -fed on solid pudding. We inhabit one richly and heavily furnished -bedroom, 21 x 14, with good beds and a balcony, and are rapidly making -up for all our estrangement, locally speaking, in the past. It is a -great "nerve-rest," though the listlessness that goes with all -nerve-rest makes itself felt. Alice seems very well.... The place has -wonderful adaptation to its purposes in the possession of a vast park -with noble trees and avenues and incessant benches for rest; restaurants -with out-of-door tables everywhere in sight; music morning, afternoon -and night; and charming points to go to out of town. Cab-fare is cheap. -But nothing else.... The Gifford lectures are in complete abeyance. I -have word from Seth that under the circumstances the Academic Senate -will be sure to grant me any delay or indulgence I may ask for; so this -relieves tension. I can make nothing out yet about my heart.... So I -_try_ to take long views and not fuss about temporary feelings, though I -dare say I keep dear Alice worried enough by the fuss I imagine myself -_not_ to make. It is a loathsome world, this medical world; and I -confess that the thought of another six weeks here next year doesn't -exhilarate me, in spite of the decency of all our physical conditions. I -still remain faithful to Irving St. (95 and 107),[23] Chocorua, Silver -Lake, and Keene Valley! - -We get almost no syllable of American news, in spite of the fact that we -take the London "Chronicle." Pray send the "Nation" and the "Literary -Digest." _Don't_ send the "Sciences" as heretofore. Let them accumulate. -I think that after reception of this you had better address us care of -H. J., Rye, Sussex. We shall probably be off by the 10th or 12th of -Sept. I hope that public opinion is gathering black against the -Philippine policy--in spite of my absence! I hope that Salter will pitch -in well in the fall. The still blacker nightmare of a Dreyfus case hangs -over us; and there is little time in the day save for reading the -"Figaro's" full reports of the trial. Like all French happenings, it is -as if they were edited expressly for literary purpose. Every "witness" -so-called has a power of statement equal to that of a first-class -lawyer; and the various human types that succeed each other, exhibiting -their several peculiarities in full blossom, make the thing like a -novel. Esterhazy seems to me the _great_ hero. How Shakespeare would -have enjoyed such a fantastic scoundrel,--knowing all the secrets, -saying what he pleases, mystifying all Europe, leading the whole French -army (except apparently Picquart) by the nose,--a regular Shakespearean -type of villain, with an insane exuberance of rhetoric and fancy about -his vanities and hatreds, that literature has never given yet. It would -seem incredible that the Court-Martial should condemn. Henry was -evidently the spy, employed by Esterhazy, and afterwards Du Paty helped -their machinations, in order not to stultify his own record at the -original trial--at least this seems the plausible theory. The older -generals seem merely to have been passive connivers, stupidly and -obstinately holding to the original official mistake rather than -surrender under fire. And such is the prestige of caste-opinion, such -the solidity of the professional spirit, that, incredible as it may -seem, it is still quite probable that the officers will obey the lead of -their superiors, and condemn Dreyfus again. The President, Jouaust, who -was supposed to be impartial, is showing an apparently bad animus -against Picquart. P. is a real _hero_--a precious possession for any -country. He ought to be made Minister of War; though that would -doubtless produce a revolution. I suppose that Loubet will pardon -Dreyfus immediately if he is recondemned. Then Dreyfus, and perhaps -Loubet, will be assassinated by some Anti-Semite, and who knows what -will follow? But before you get this, you will know far more about the -trial than I can tell you. - -We long for news from the boys--not a word from Billy since he left -Tacoma. I am glad their season promises to be shorter! Enough is as good -as a feast! What a scattered lot we are! I hope that Margaret will be -happy in Montreal. As for you in your desolation, I could almost weep -for you. My only advice is that you should cling to Aleck as to a -life-preserver. I trust you got the $200 I told Higginson to send you. I -am mortified beyond measure by that overdrawn bank account, and do not -understand it at all. - -Oceans of love from your affectionate son, - -WILLIAM. - - - - -_To William M. Salter._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _Sept. 11, 1899_. - -DEAR MACKINTIRE,--The incredible has happened, and Dreyfus, without one -may say a single particle of _positive_ evidence that he was guilty, has -been condemned again. The French Republic, which seemed about to turn -the most dangerous corner in her career and enter on the line of -political health, laying down the finest set of political precedents in -her history to serve as standards for future imitation and habit, has -slipped Hell-ward and all the forces of Hell in the country will proceed -to fresh excesses of insolence. But I don't believe the game is lost. -"Les intellectuels," thanks to the Republic, are now aggressively -militant as they never were before, and will grow stronger and stronger; -so we may hope. I have sent you the "Figaro" daily; but of course the -reports are too long for you to have read through. The most grotesque -thing about the whole trial is the pretension of awful holiness, of -semi-divinity in the diplomatic documents and waste-paper-basket scraps -from the embassies--a farce kept up to the very end--these same -documents being, so far as they were anything (and most of them were -nothing), mere records of treason, lying, theft, bribery, corruption, -and every crime on the part of the diplomatic agents. Either the German -and Italian governments will now publish or not publish all the details -of their transactions--give the exact documents meant by the -_bordereaux_ and the exact names of the French traitors. If they do not, -there will be only two possible explanations: either Dreyfus's guilt, -or the pride of their own sacrosanct etiquette. As it is scarcely -conceivable that Dreyfus can have been guilty, their silences will be -due to the latter cause. (Of course it can't be due to what they owe in -honor to Esterhazy and whoever their other allies and servants may have -been. E. is safe over the border, and a pension for his services will -heal all his wounds. Any other person can quickly be put in similar -conditions of happiness.) And they and Esterhazy will then be exactly on -a par morally, actively conspiring to have an innocent man bear the -burden of their own sins. By their carelessness with the documents they -got Dreyfus accused, and now they abandon him, for the sake of their own -divine etiquette. - -The breath of the nostrils of all these big institutions is crime--that -is the long and short of it. We must thank God for America; and hold -fast to every advantage of our position. Talk about our corruption! It -is a mere fly-speck of superficiality compared with the rooted and -permanent forces of corruption that exist in the European states. The -only serious permanent force of corruption in America is party spirit. -All the other forces are shifting like the clouds, and have no -partnerships with any permanently organized ideal. Millionaires and -syndicates have their immediate cash to pay, but they have no intrenched -prestige to work with, like the church sentiment, the army sentiment, -the aristocracy and royalty sentiment, which here can be brought to bear -in favor of every kind of individual and collective crime--appealing not -only to the immediate pocket of the persons to be corrupted, but to the -ideals of their imagination as well.... My dear Mack, we "intellectuals" -in America must all work to keep our precious birthright of -individualism, and freedom from these institutions. _Every_ great -institution is perforce a means of corruption--whatever good it may also -do. Only in the free personal relation is full ideality to be found.--I -have vomited all this out upon you in the hope that it may wake a -responsive echo. One must do _something_ to work off the effect of the -Dreyfus sentence. - -I rejoice immensely in the purchase [on our behalf] of the two pieces of -land [near Chocorua], and pine for the day when I can get back to see -them. If all the same to you, I wish that you would buy Burke's in your -name, and Mother-in-law Forrest's in her name. But let this be exactly -as each of you severally prefers. - -We leave here in a couple of days, I imagine. I am better; but I can't -tell how much better for a few weeks yet. I hope that you will smite the -ungodly next winter. What a glorious gathering together of the forces -for the great fight there will be. It seems to me as if the proper -tactics were to pound McKinley--put the whole responsibility on him. It -is he who by his purely drifting "non-entanglement" policy converted a -splendid opportunity into this present necessity of a conquest of -extermination. It is he who has warped us from our continuous national -habit, which, if we repudiate him, it will not be impossible to resume. - -Affectionately thine, Mary's, Aleck's, Dinah's, Augusta's,[24] and -everyone's, - -W. J. - -P.S. Damn it, America doesn't know the meaning of the word corruption -compared with Europe! Corruption is so permanently organized here that -it isn't thought of as such--it is so transient and shifting in America -as to make an outcry whenever it appears. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _Sept. 17, 1899_. - -...In two or three days more I shall be discharged (in very decent -shape, I trust) and after ten days or so of rigorously prescribed -"Nachkur" in the cold and rain of Switzerland (we have seen the sun only -in short but entrancing glimpses since Sept. 1, and you know what bad -weather is when it once begins in Europe), we shall pick up our Peggy at -Vevey, and proceed to Lamb House, Rye, _über_ Paris, with all possible -speed. God bless the American climate, with its transparent, passionate, -impulsive variety and headlong fling. There are deeper, slower tones of -earnestness and moral gravity here, no doubt, but ours is more like -youth and youth's infinite and touching promise. God bless America in -general! _Conspuez_ McKinley and the Republican party and the Philippine -war, and the Methodists, and the voices, etc., as much as you please, -but bless the innocence. Talk of corruption! We don't know what the word -corruption means at home, with our improvised and shifting agencies of -crude pecuniary bribery, compared with the solidly intrenched and -permanently organized corruptive geniuses of monarchy, nobility, church, -army, that penetrate the very bosom of the higher kind as well as the -lower kind of people in all the European states (except Switzerland) and -sophisticate their motives away from the impulse to straightforward -handling of any simple case. _Temoin_ the Dreyfus case! But no matter! -Of all the forms of mental crudity, that of growing earnest over -international comparisons is probably the most childish. Every nation -has its ideals which are a dead secret to other nations, and it has to -develop in its own way, in touch with them. It can only be judged by -itself. If each of us does as well as he can in his own sphere at home, -he will do all he _can_ do; that is why I hate to remain so long -abroad.... - -We have been having a visit from an extraordinary Pole named -Lutoslawski, 36 years old, author of philosophical writings in seven -different languages,--"Plato's Logic," in English (Longmans) being his -chief work,--and knower of several more, handsome, and to the last -degree genial. He has a singular philosophy--the philosophy of -friendship. He takes in dead seriousness what most people admit, but -only half-believe, viz., that we are _Souls_ (Zoolss, he pronounces it), -that souls are immortal, and agents of the world's destinies, and that -the chief concern of a soul is to get ahead by the help of other souls -with whom it can establish confidential relations. So he spends most of -his time writing letters, and will send 8 sheets of reply to a -post-card--that is the exact proportion of my correspondence with him. -Shall I rope you in, Fanny? He has a great chain of friends and -correspondents in all the countries of Europe. The worst of them is that -they think a secret imparted to one may at his or her discretion become, -_de proche en proche_, the property of all. He is a _wunderlicher -Mensch_: abstractly his scheme is divine, but there is something on -which I can't yet just lay my defining finger that makes one feel that -there is some need of the corrective and critical and arresting judgment -in his manner of carrying it out. These Slavs seem to be the great -radical livers-out of their theories. Good-bye, dearest Fanny.... - -Your affectionate - -W. J. - - - - -_To Mrs. Henry Whitman._ - - -LAMB HOUSE, RYE, _Oct. 5, 1899_. - -DEAR MRS. WHITMAN,--You see where at last we have arrived, at the end of -the first _étape_ of this pilgrimage--the second station of the cross, -so to speak--with the Continent over, and England about to begin. The -land is bathed in greenish-yellow light and misty drizzle of rain. The -little town, with its miniature brick walls and houses and nooks and -coves and gardens, makes a curiously vivid and quaint picture, -alternately suggesting English, Dutch, and Japanese effects that one has -seen in pictures--all exceedingly tiny (so that one wonders how -_families_ ever could have been reared in most of the houses) and neat -and _zierlich_ to the last degree. _Refinement_ in architecture -certainly consists in narrow trim and the absence of heavy mouldings. -Modern Germany is incredibly bad from that point of view--much worse, -apparently, than America. But the German people are a good safe fact for -great powers to be intrusted to--earnest and serious, and pleasant to be -with, as we found them, though it was humiliating enough to find how -awfully imperfect were one's powers of conversing in their language. -French not much better. I remember nothing of this extreme mortification -in old times, and am inclined to think that it is due less to loss of -ability to speak, than to the fact that, as you grow older, you speak -better English, and expect more of yourself in the way of -accomplishment. I am sure _you_ spoke no such English as now, in the -seventies, when you came to Cambridge! And how could I, as yet untrained -by conversation with you? - -Seven mortal weeks did we spend at the _Curort_, Nauheim, for an -infirmity of the heart which I contracted, apparently, not much more -than a year ago, and which now must be borne, along with the rest of the -white man's burden, until additional visits to Nauheim have removed it -altogether for ordinary practical purposes. N. was a sweetly pretty -spot, but I longed for more activity. A glorious week in Switzerland, -solid in its sometimes awful, sometimes beefy beauty; two days in -Paris, where I could gladly have stayed the winter out, merely for the -fun of the sight of the intelligent and interesting streets; then -hither, where H. J. has a real little _bijou_ of a house and garden, and -seems absolutely adapted to his environment, and very well and contented -in the leisure to write and to read which the place affords. - -In a few days we go almost certainly to the said H. J.'s apartment, -still unlet, in London, where we shall in all probability stay till -January, the world forgetting, by the world forgot, or till such later -date as shall witness the completion of the awful Gifford job, at which -I have not been able to write one line since last January. I long for -the definitive settlement and ability to get to work. I am very glad -indeed, too, to be in an English atmosphere again. Of course it will -conspire better with my writing tasks, and after all it is more -congruous with one's nature and one's inner ideals. Still, one loves -America above all things, for her youth, her greenness, her plasticity, -innocence, good intentions, friends, everything. Je veux que mes cendres -reposent sur les bords du Charles, au milieu de ce bon peuple de Harvarr -Squerre que j'ai tant aimé. That is what I say, and what Napoleon B. -would have said, had his life been enriched by your and my educational -and other experiences--poor man, he knew too little of life, had never -even heard of us, whilst we have heard of him! - -Seriously speaking, though, I believe that international comparisons are -a great waste of time--at any rate, international judgments and passings -of sentence are. Every nation has ideals and difficulties and sentiments -which are an impenetrable secret to one not of the blood. Let them -alone, let each one work out its own salvation on its own lines. They -talk of the decadence of France. The hatreds, and the _coups de gueule_ -of the newspapers there are awful. But I doubt if the better ideals were -ever so aggressively strong; and I fancy it is the fruit of the much -decried republican régime that they have become so. My brother -represents English popular opinion as less cock-a-whoop for war than -newspaper accounts would lead one to imagine; but I don't know that he -is in a good position for judging. I hope if they do go to war that the -Boers will give them fits, and I heartily emit an analogous prayer on -behalf of the Philippinos. - -I have had pleasant news of Beverly, having had letters both from Fanny -Morse and Paulina Smith. I hope that your summer has been a good one, -that work has prospered and that Society has been less _énervante_ and -more nutritious for the higher life of the Soul than it sometimes is. -_We_ have met but one person of any accomplishments or interest all -summer. But I have managed to read a good deal about religion, and -religious people, and care less for accomplishments, except where (as in -you) they go with a sanctified heart. Abundance of accomplishments, in -an unsanctified heart, only make one a more accomplished devil. - -Good bye, angelic friend! We both send love and best wishes, both to you -and Mr. Whitman, and I am as ever yours affectionately, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Thomas Davidson._ - - -34 DE VERE GARDENS, -LONDON, _Nov. 2, 1899_. - -DEAR OLD T. D.,--A recent letter from Margaret Gibbens says that you -have gone to New York in order to undergo a most "radical operation." I -need not say that my thoughts have been with you, and that I have felt -anxiety mixed with my hopes for you, ever since. I do indeed hope that, -whatever the treatment was, it has gone off with perfect success, and -that by this time you are in the durable enjoyment of relief, and nerves -and everything upon the upward track. It has always seemed to me that, -were I in a similar plight, I should choose a kill-or-cure operation -rather than anything merely palliative--so poisonous to one's whole -mental and moral being is the irritation and worry of the complaint. It -would truly be a spectacle for the Gods to see you rising like a -phoenix from your ashes again, and shaking off even the memory of -disaster like dew-drops from a lion's mane, etc.--and I hope the -spectacle will be vouchsafed to us men also, and that you will be -presiding over Glenmore as if nothing had happened, different from the -first years, save a certain softening of your native ferocity of heart, -and gentleness towards the shortcomings of weaker people. Dear old East -Hill![25] I shall never forget the beauty of the morning (it had rained -the night before) when I took my bath in the brook, before driving down -to Westport one day last June. - -We got your letter at Nauheim, a sweet safe little place, made for -invalids, to which it took long to reconcile me on that account. But -nous en avons vu bien d'autres depuis, and from my present retirement in -my brother's still unlet flat (he living at Rye), Nauheim seems to me -like New York for bustle and energy. My heart, in short, has gone back -upon me badly since I was there, and my doctor, Bezley Thorne, the first -specialist here, and a man who inspires me with great confidence, is -trying to tide me over the crisis, by great quiet, in addition to a -dietary of the strictest sort, and more Nauheim baths, _à domicile_. -Provided I can only get safely out of the Gifford scrape, the deluge has -leave to come.--Write, dear old T. D., and tell how you are, and let it -be good news if possible. Give much love to the Warrens, and believe me -always affectionately yours, - -Wm. James. - -The woman thou gavest unto me comes out strong as a nurse, and treats me -much better than I deserve. - - - - -_To John C. Gray._ - - -[Dictated to Mrs. James] - -LONDON, _Nov. 23, 1899_. - -DEAR JOHN,--A week ago I learnt from the "Nation"--strange to have heard -it in no directer way!--that dear old John Ropes had turned his back on -us and all this mortal tragi-comedy. No sooner does one get abroad than -that sort of thing begins. I am deeply grieved to think of never seeing -or hearing old J. C. R. again, with his manliness, good-fellowship, and -cheeriness, and idealism of the right sort, and can't hold in any longer -from expression. You, dear John, seem the only fitting person for me to -condole with, for you will miss him most tremendously. Pray write and -tell me some details of the manner of his death. I hope he didn't suffer -much. Write also of your own personal and family fortunes and give my -love to the members of our dining club collectively and individually, -when you next meet. - -I have myself been shut up in a sick room for five weeks past, seeing -hardly anyone but my wife and the doctor, a bad state of the heart being -the cause. We shall be at West Malvern in ten days, where I hope to -begin to mend. - -Hurrah for Henry Higginson and his gift[26] to the University! I think -the Club cannot fail to be useful if they make it democratic enough. - -I hope that Roland is enjoying Washington, but not so far -transubstantiated into a politician as to think that McKinley & Co. are -the high-water mark of human greatness up to date. - -John Ropes, more than most men, seems as if he would be natural to meet -again. - -Please give our love to Mrs. Gray, and believe me, affectionately yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -LAMB HOUSE, _Dec. 23, 1899_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--About a week ago I found myself thinking a good deal -about you. - -I may possibly have begun by wondering how it came that, after showing -such a spontaneous tendency towards that "clandestine correspondence" -early in the season, you should recently, in spite of pathetic news -about me, and direct personal appeals, be showing such great epistolary -reserve. I went on to great lengths about you; and ended by realizing -your existence, and its significance, as it were, very acutely. I -composed a letter to you in my mind, whilst lying awake, dwelling in a -feeling manner on the fact that human beings are born into this little -span of life of which the best thing is its friendships and intimacies, -and soon their places will know them no more, and yet they leave their -friendships and intimacies with no cultivation, to grow as they will by -the roadside, expecting them to "keep" by force of mere inertia; they -contribute nothing empirical to the relation, treating it as something -transcendental and metaphysical altogether; whereas in truth it -deserves from hour to hour the most active care and nurture and -devotion. "There's that Fanny," thought I, "the rarest and most -precious, perhaps, of all the phenomena that enter into the circle of my -experience. I take her for granted; I seldom see her--she _has never -passed a night in our house!_[27] and yet of all things she is the one -that probably deserves the closest and most unremitting attention on my -part. This transcendental relation of persons to each other in the -absolute won't do! I must write to Fanny and tell her, in spite of her -deprecations, just how perfect and rare and priceless a fact I know her -existence in this Universe eternally to be. This very morrow I will -dictate such a letter to Alice." The morrow came, and several days -succeeded, and brought each its impediment with it, so that letter -doesn't get written till today. And now Alice, who had suddenly to take -Peggy (who is with us for ten days) out to see a neighbor's little girl, -comes in; so I will give the pen to her. - -[Remainder of letter dictated to Mrs. James] - -Sunday, 24th. - -Brother Harry and Peggy came in with Alice last evening, so my letter -got postponed till this morning. What I was going to say was this. The -day before yesterday we received in one bunch seven letters from you, -dating from the 20th of October to the 8th of December, and showing that -you, at any rate, had been alive to the duty of actively nourishing -friendship by deeds.... Your letters were sent to Baring Brothers, -instead of Brown, Shipley and Co., and it was a mercy that we ever got -them at all. You are a great letter-writer inasmuch as your pen flows -on, giving out easily such facts and feelings and thoughts as form the -actual contents of your day, so that one gets a live impression of -concrete reality. _My_ letters, I find, tend to escape into humorisms, -abstractions and flights of fancy, which are not nutritious things to -impart to friends thousands of miles away who wish to realize the facts -of your private existence. We are now received into the shelter of H. -J.'s "Lamb House," where we have been a week, having found West Malvern -(where the doctor sent me after my course of baths) rather too bleak a -retreat for the drear-nighted December. (Heaven be praised! we have just -lived down the solstice after which the year always seems a brighter, -hopefuller thing.) Harry's place is a most exquisite collection of -quaint little stage properties, three quarters of an acre of -brick-walled English garden, little brick courts and out-houses, -old-time kitchen and offices, paneled chambers and tiled fire-places, -but all very simple and on a small scale. Its host, soon to become its -proprietor, leads a very lonely life but seems in perfect equilibrium -therewith, placing apparently his interest more and more in the -operations of his fancy. His health is good, his face calm, his spirits -equable, and he will doubtless remain here for many years to come, with -an occasional visit to London. He has spoken of you with warm affection -and is grateful for the letters which you send him in spite of the lapse -of years.... - -I have resigned my Gifford lectureship, but they will undoubtedly grant -me indefinite postponement. I have also asked for a second year of -absence from Harvard, which of course will be accorded. If I improve, I -may be able to give my first Gifford course next year. I can do no work -whatsoever at present, but through the summer and half through the fall -was able to do a good deal of reading in religious biography. Since -July, in fact, my only companions have been saints, most excellent, -though sometimes rather lop-sided company. In a general manner I can -see my way to a perfectly bully pair of volumes, the first an objective -study of the "Varieties of Religious Experience," the second, my own -last will and testament, setting forth the philosophy best adapted to -normal religious needs. I hope I may be spared to get the thing down on -paper. So far my progress has been rather downhill, but the last couple -of days have shown a change which possibly may be the beginning of -better things. I mean to take great care of myself from this time on. In -another week or two we hope to move to a climate (possibly near Hyères) -where I may sit more out of doors. Gathering some strength there, I -trust to make for Nauheim in May. If I am benefited there, we shall stay -over next winter; otherwise we return by midsummer. Were Alice not -holding the pen, I should celebrate her unselfish devotion, etc., and -were I not myself dictating, I should celebrate my own uncomplaining -patience and fortitude. As it is, I leave you to imagine both. Both are -simply beautiful! - -...There, dear Fanny, this is all I can do today in return for your -seven glorious epistles. Take a heartful of love and gratitude from both -of us. Remember us most affectionately to your Mother and Mary. Write -again soon, I pray you, but always to _Brown, Shipley and Co._ Stir up -Jim Putnam to write when he can, and believe me, lovingly yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Mrs. Glendower Evans._ - - -[Dictated to Mrs. James] - -COSTEBELLE, HYÈRES, _Jan. 17, 1900_. - -DEAR BESSIE,--Don't think that this is the first time that my spirit has -turned towards you since our departure. Away back in Nauheim I began -meaning to write to you, and although that meaning was "fulfilled" long -before you were born, in Royce's Absolute, yet there was a hitch about -it in the finite which gave me perplexity. I think that the real reason -why I kept finding myself able to dictate letters to other persons--not -many, 't is true--and yet postponing ever until next time my letter unto -you, was that my sense of your value was so much greater than almost -anybody else's--though I wouldn't have anything in this construed -prejudicial to Fanny Morse. Bowed as I am by the heaviest of matrimonial -chains, ever dependent for expression on Alice here, how can my spirit -move with perfect spontaneity, or "voice itself" with the careless -freedom it would wish for in the channels of its choice? I am sure you -understand, and under present conditions of communication anything more -explicit might be imprudent. - -She has told you correctly all the outward facts. I feel within a week -past as if I might really be taking a turn for the better, and I know -you will be glad. - -I have, in the last days, gone so far as to read Royce's book[28] from -cover to cover, a task made easy by the familiarity of the thought, as -well as the flow of the style. It is a charming production--it is odd -that the adjectives "charming" and "pretty" emerge so strongly to -characterize my impression. R. has got himself much more organically -together than he ever did before, the result being, in its _ensemble_, a -highly individual and original _Weltanschauung_, well-fitted to be the -storm-centre of much discussion, and to form a wellspring of suggestion -and education for the next generation of thought in America. But it -makes youthful anew the paradox of philosophy--so trivial and so -ponderous at once. The book leaves a total effect on you like a -picture--a summary impression of charm and grace as light as a breath; -yet to bring forth that light nothing less than Royce's enormous organic -temperament and technical equipment, and preliminary attempts, were -required. The book consolidates an impression which I have never before -got except by glimpses, that Royce's system is through and through to be -classed as a light production. It is a charming, romantic sketch; and it -is only by handling it after the manner of a sketch, keeping it within -sketch technique, that R. can make it very impressive. In the few places -where he tries to grip and reason close, the effect is rather -disastrous, to my mind. But I do think of Royce now in a more or less -settled way as primarily a sketcher in philosophy. Of course the -sketches of some masters are worth more than the finished pictures of -others. But stop! if this was the kind of letter I meant to write to -you, it is no wonder that I found myself unable to begin weeks ago. My -excuse is that I only finished the book two hours ago, and my mind was -full to overflowing. - -Next Monday we are expecting to move into the neighboring Château de -Carqueiranne, which my friend Professor Richet of Paris has offered -conjointly to us and the Fred Myerses, who will soon arrive. A whole -country house in splendid grounds and a perfect Godsend under the -conditions. If I can only bear the talking to the Myerses without too -much fatigue! But that also I am sure will come. Our present situation -is enviable enough. A large bedroom with a balcony high up on the vast -hotel façade; a terrace below it graveled with white pebbles containing -beds of palms and oranges and roses; below that a downward sloping -garden full of plants and winding walks and seats; then a wide hillside -continuing southward to the plain below, with its gray-green olive -groves bordered by great salt marshes with salt works on them, shut in -from the sea by the causeways which lead to a long rocky island, perhaps -three miles away, that limits the middle of our view due south, and -beyond which to the East and West appears the boundless Mediterranean. -But delightful as this is, there is no place like home; Otis Place is -better than Languedoc and Irving Street than Provence. And I am sure, -dear Bessie, that there is no maid, wife or widow in either of these -countries that is half as good as you. But here I must absolutely stop; -so with a good-night and a happy New Year to you, I am as ever, -affectionately your friend, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -[Dictated to Mrs. James] - -HOTEL D' ALBION, -COSTEBELLE, HYÈRES, _Jan. 18, 1900_. - -DARLING MILLER,--Last night arrived your pathetically sympathetic letter -in comment on the news you had just received of my dropping out for the -present from the active career. I want you to understand how deeply I -value your unflagging feeling of friendship, and how much we have been -touched by this new expression of it.... My strength and spirits are -coming back to me with the open-air life, and I begin to feel quite -differently towards the future. Even if this amelioration does not -develop fast, it is a check to the deterioration, and shows that -curative forces are still there. I look perfectly well at present, and -that of itself is a very favorable sign. In a couple of weeks I mean to -begin the Gifford lectures, writing, say, a page a day, and having all -next year before me empty, am very likely to get, at any rate, the first -course finished. A letter from Seth last night told me that the -Committee [on the Gifford Lectureship] had refused my resignation and -simply shoved my appointment forward by one year. So be of good cheer, -Miller; we shall yet fight the good fight, sometimes side by side, -sometimes agin one another, as merrily as if no interruption had -occurred. Show this to Harry, to whom his mother will write today. - -We enjoyed Royce's visit very much, and yesterday I finished reading his -book, which I find perfectly charming as a composition, though as far as -cogent reasoning goes, it leaks at every joint. It is, nevertheless, a -big achievement in the line of philosophic fancy-work, perhaps the most -important of all except religious fancy-work. He has got himself -together far more intricately than ever before, and ought, after this, -to be recognized by the world according to the measure of his real -importance. To me, however, the book has brought about a curious -settlement in my way of classing Royce. In spite of the great technical -freight he carries, and his extraordinary mental vigor, he belongs -essentially among the lighter skirmishers of philosophy. A sketcher and -popularizer, not a pile-driver, foundation-layer, or wall-builder. -Within his class, of course, he is simply magnificent. It all goes with -his easy temperament and rare good-nature in discussion. The subject is -not really vital to him, it is just fancy-work. All the same I do hope -that this book and its successor will prove a great ferment in our -philosophic schools. Only with schools and living masters can philosophy -_bloom_ in a country, in a generation. - -No more, dear Miller, but endless thanks. All you tell me of yourself -deeply interests me. I am deeply sorry about the eyes. Are you sure it -is not a matter for glasses? With much love from both of us. Your ever -affectionate, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Francis Boott._ - - -[Dictated to Mrs. James] - -CHÂTEAU DE CARQUEIRANNE, _Jan. 31, 1900_. - -DEAR OLD FRIEND,--Every day for a month past I have said to Alice, -"Today we must get off a letter to Mr. Boott"; but every day the -available strength was less than the call upon it. Yours of the 28th -December reached us duly at Rye and was read at the cheerful little -breakfast table. I must say that you are the only person who has caught -the proper tone for sympathizing with an invalid's feelings. Everyone -else says, "We are glad to think that you are by this time in splendid -condition, richly enjoying your rest, and having a great success at -Edinburgh"--this, where what one craves is mere pity for one's unmerited -sufferings! _You_ say, "it is a great disappointment, more I should -think than you can well bear. I wish you could give up the whole affair -and turn your prow toward home." That, dear Sir, is the proper note to -strike--la voix du coeur qui seul au coeur arrive; and I thank you for -recognizing that it is a case of agony and patience. I, for one, should -be too glad to turn my prow homewards, in spite of all our present -privileges in the way of simplified life, and glorious climate. What -wouldn't I give at this moment to be partaking of one of your recherchés -déjeuners à la fourchette, ministered to by the good Kate. From the bed -on which I lie I can "sense" it as if present--the succulent roast pork, -the apple sauce, the canned asparagus, the cranberry pie, the dates, the -"To Kalon,"[29]--above all the _rire en barbe_ of the ever-youthful -host. Will they ever come again? - -Don't understand me to be disparaging our present meals which, cooked by -a broadbuilt sexagenarian Provençale, leave nothing to be desired. -Especially is the fish good and the artichokes, and the stewed lettuce. -Our _commensaux_, the Myerses, form a good combination. The house is -vast and comfortable and the air just right for one in my condition, -neither relaxing nor exciting, and floods of sunshine. - -Do you care much about the war? For my part I think Jehovah has run the -thing about right, so far; though on utilitarian grounds it will be very -likely better if the English win. When we were at Rye an interminable -controversy raged about a national day of humiliation and prayer. I -wrote to the "Times" to suggest, in my character of traveling American, -that both sides to the controversy might be satisfied by a service -arranged on principles suggested by the anecdote of the Montana settler -who met a grizzly so formidable that he fell on his knees, saying, "O -Lord, I hain't never yet asked ye for help, and ain't agoin' to ask ye -for none now. But for pity's sake, O Lord, don't help the bear." The -solemn "Times" never printed my letter and thus the world lost an -admirable epigram. You, I know, will appreciate it. - -Mrs. Gibbens speaks with great pleasure of your friendly visits, and I -should think you might find Mrs. Merriman good company. I hope you are -getting through the winter without any bronchial trouble, and I hope -that neither the influenza nor the bubonic plague has got to Cambridge -yet. The former is devastating Europe. If you see dear Dr. Driver, give -him our warmest regards. One ought to stay among one's own people. I -seem to be mending--though very slowly, and the least thing knocks me -down. This noon I am still in bed, a little too much talking with the -Myerses yesterday giving me a strong pectoral distress which is not yet -over. This dictation begins to hurt me, so I will stop. My spirits now -are first-rate, which is a great point gained. - -Good-bye, dear old man! We both send our warmest love and are, ever -affectionately yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Hugo Münsterberg._ - - -CARQUEIANNE, _March 13, 1900_. - -DEAR MÜNSTERBERG,--Your letter of the 7th "ult." was a most delightful -surprise--all but the part of it which told of your being ill again--and -of course the news of poor Solomons's death was a severe shock.... As -regards Solomons, it is pathetically tragic, and I hope that you will -send me full details. There was something so lonely and self-sustaining -about poor little S., that to be snuffed out like this before he had -fairly begun to live in the eyes of the world adds a sort of tragic -dramatic unity to his young career. Certainly the _keenest_ intellect we -ever had, and one of the loftiest characters! But there was always a -mysterious side to me about his mind: he appeared so critical and -destructive, and yet kept alluding all the while to ethical and -religious ideals of his own which he wished to live for, and of which he -never vouchsafed a glimpse to anyone else. He was the only student I -have ever had of whose criticisms I felt afraid: and that was partly -because I never quite understood the region from which they came, and -with the authority of which he spoke. His surface thoughts, however, of -a scientific order, were extraordinarily _treffend_ and clearly -expressed; in fact, the way in which he went to the heart of a subject -in a few words was masterly. Of course he must have left, apart from his -thesis, a good deal of MS. fit for publication. I have not seen our -philosophical periodicals since leaving home. Have any parts of his -thesis already appeared? If not, the whole thing should be published as -"Monograph Supplement" to the "Psychological Review," and his papers -gone over to see what else there may be. An adequate obituary of him -ought also to be written. Who knew him most intimately? I think the -obituary and a portrait ought also to be posted in the laboratory. Can -you send me the address of his mother?--I think his father is dead. I -should also like to write a word about him to Miss S----, if you can -give me her address. If we had foreseen this early end to poor little -Solomons, how much more we should have made of him, and how considerate -we should have been! - -It pleases me much to think of so many other good young fellows, as you -report them, in the laboratory this year. How many candidates for Ph.D.? -How glad I am to be clear of those examinations, certainly the most -disagreeable part of the year's work.... - - - - -_To George H. Palmer._ - - -CARQUEIRANNE, _Apr. 2, 1900_. - -GLORIOUS OLD PALMER,--I had come to the point of feeling that my next -letter _must_ be to you, when in comes your delightful "favor" of the -18th, with all its news, its convincing clipping, and its enclosures -from Bakewell and Sheldon. I have had many impulses to write to -Bakewell, but they have all aborted--my powers being so small and so -much _in Anspruch genommen_ by correspondence already under way. I judge -him to be well and happy. What think you of his wife? I suppose she is -no relation of yours. I shouldn't think any of your three candidates -would do for that conventional Bryn Mawr. She stoneth the prophets, and -I wish she would get X---- and get stung. He made a _deplorable_ -impression on me many years ago. The only comment _I_ heard when I gave -my address there lately (the last one in my "Talks") was that A---- had -hoped for something more technical and psychological! Nevertheless, some -good girls seem to come out at Bryn Mawr. I am awfully sorry that Perry -is out of place. Unless he gets something good, it seems to me that we -ought to get him for a course in Kant. He is certainly the soundest, -most normal all-round man of our recent production. Your list for next -year interests me muchly. I am glad of Münsterberg's and Santayana's new -courses, and hope they'll be good. I'm glad you're back in Ethics and -glad that Royce has "Epistemology"--portentous name, and small result, -in my opinion, but a substantive _discipline_ which ought, _par le temps -qui court_, to be treated with due formality. I look forward with -eagerness to his new volume.[30] What a colossal feat he has performed -in these two years--all thrown in by the way, as it were. - -Certainly Gifford lectures are a good institution for stimulating -production. They have stimulated me so far to produce two lectures of -wishy-washy generalities. What is that for a "showing" in six months of -absolute leisure? The second lecture used me up so that I must be off a -good while again. - -No! dear Palmer, the best I can possibly hope for at Cambridge after my -return is to be able to carry one half-course. So make all calculations -accordingly. As for Windelband, how can I ascertain anything except by -writing to him? I shall see no one, nor go to any University -environment. My impression is that we must go in for budding genius, if -we seek a European. If an American, we can get a _sommité_! But who? in -either case? Verily there is room at the top. S---- seems to be the -only Britisher worth thinking of. I imagine we had better train up our -own men. A----, B----, C----, either would no doubt do, especially A---- -if his health improves. D---- is our last card, from the point of view -of policy, no doubt, but from that of inner organization it seems to me -that he may have too many points of coalescence with both Münsterberg -and Royce, especially the latter. - -The great event in my life recently has been the reading of Santayana's -book.[31] Although I absolutely reject the platonism of it, I have -literally squealed with delight at the imperturbable perfection with -which the position is laid down on page after page; and grunted with -delight at such a thickening up of our Harvard atmosphere. If our -students now could begin really to understand what Royce means with his -voluntaristic-pluralistic monism, what Münsterberg means with his -dualistic scientificism and platonism, what Santayana means by his -pessimistic platonism (I wonder if he and Mg. have had any close -mutually encouraging intercourse in this line?), what I mean by my crass -pluralism, what you mean by your ethereal idealism, that these are so -many religions, ways of fronting life, and worth fighting for, we should -have a genuine philosophic universe at Harvard. The best condition of it -would be an open conflict and rivalry of the diverse systems. (Alas! -that I should be out of it, just as my chance begins!) The world might -ring with the struggle, if we devoted ourselves exclusively to -belaboring each other. - -I now understand Santayana, the man. I never understood him before. But -what a perfection of rottenness in a philosophy! I don't think I ever -knew the anti-realistic view to be propounded with so impudently -superior an air. It is refreshing to see a representative of moribund -Latinity rise up and administer such reproof to us barbarians in the -hour of our triumph. I imagine Santayana's _style_ to be entirely -spontaneous. But it has curious classic echoes. Whole pages of pure Hume -in style; others of pure Renan. Nevertheless, how fantastic a -philosophy!--as if the "world of values" _were_ independent of -existence. It is only as _being_, that one thing is better than another. -The idea of darkness is as good as that of light, as ideas. There is -more value in light's _being_. And the exquisite consolation, when you -have ascertained the badness of all fact, in knowing that badness is -inferior to goodness, to the end--it only rubs the pessimism in. A man -whose egg at breakfast turns out always bad says to himself, "Well, bad -and good are not the same, anyhow." That is just the trouble! Moreover, -when you come down to the facts, what do your harmonious and integral -ideal systems prove to be? in the concrete? Always things burst by the -growing content of experience. Dramatic unities; laws of versification; -ecclesiastical systems; scholastic doctrines. Bah! Give me Walt Whitman -and Browning ten times over, much as the perverse ugliness of the latter -at times irritates me, and intensely as I have enjoyed Santayana's -attack. The barbarians are in the line of mental growth, and those who -do insist that the ideal and the real are dynamically continuous are -those by whom the world is to be saved. But I'm nevertheless delighted -that the other view, always existing in the world, should at last have -found so splendidly impertinent an expression among ourselves. I have -meant to write to Santayana; but on second thoughts, and to save myself, -I will just ask you to send him this. It saves him from what might be -the nuisance of having to reply, and on my part it has the advantage of -being more free-spoken and direct. He is certainly an _extraordinarily -distingué_ writer. Thank him for existing! - -As a contrast, read Jack Chapman's "Practical Agitation." The other pole -of thought, and a style all splinters--but a gospel for our rising -generation--I hope it will have its effect. - -Send me your Noble lectures. I don't see how you could risk it without a -MS. If you did fail (which I doubt) you deserved to. Anyhow the printed -page makes everything good. - -I can no more! Adieu! How is Mrs. Palmer this winter? I hope entirely -herself again. You are impartially silent of her and of my wife! The -"Transcript" continues to bless us. We move from this hospitable roof to -the hotel at Costebelle today. Thence after a fortnight to Geneva, and -in May to Nauheim once more, to be reëxamined and sentenced by Schott. -Affectionately yours, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -COSTEBELLE, _Apr. 12, 1900_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--Your letters continue to rain down upon us with a -fidelity which makes me sure that, however it may once have been, _now_, -on the principle of the immortal Monsieur Perrichon, we must be firmly -rooted in your affections. You can never "throw over" anybody for whom -you have made such sacrifices. All qualms which I might have in the -abstract about the injury we must be inflicting on so busy a Being by -making her, through our complaints of poverty, agony, and exile, keep us -so much "on her mind" as to tune us up every two or three days by a long -letter to which she sacrifices all her duties to the family and state, -disappear, moreover, when I consider the character of the letters -themselves. They are so easy, the facts are so much the immediate -out-bubblings of the moment, and the delicious philosophical reflexions -so much like the spontaneous breathings of the soul, that the _effort_ -is manifestly at the zero-point, and into the complex state of affection -which necessarily arises in you for the objects of so much loving care, -there enter none of those curious momentary arrows of impatience and -vengefulness which might make others say, if they were doing what you do -for us, that they wished we were dead or in some way put beyond reach, -so that our eternal "appeal" might stop. No, Fanny! we have no repinings -and feel no responsibilities towards you, but accept you and your -letters as the gifts you are. The infrequency of our answering proves -this fact; to which you in turn must furnish the correlative, if the -occasion comes. On the day when you temporarily hate us, or don't "feel -like" the usual letter, don't let any thought of inconsistency with your -past acts worry you about not taking up the pen. Let us go; though it be -for weeks and months--I shall know you will come round again. "Neither -heat nor frost nor thunder shall ever do away, I ween, the marks of that -which once hath been." And to think that you should never have spent a -night, and only once taken a meal, in our house! When we get back, we -must see each other daily, and may the days of both of us be right long -in the State of Massachusetts! Bless her! - -I got a letter from J. J. Chapman praising her strongly the other day. -And sooth to say the "Transcript" and the "Springfield Republican," the -reception of whose "weeklies" has become one of the solaces of my life, -do make a first-rate showing for her civilization. One can't just say -what "tone" consists in, but these papers hold their own excellently in -comparison with the English papers. There is far less alertness of mind -in the general make-up of the latter; and the "respectability" of the -English editorial columns, though it shows a correcter literary drill, -is apt to be due to a remorseless longitude of commonplace -conventionality that makes them deadly dull. (The "Spectator" appears to -be the only paper with a nervous system, in England--that of a -_carnassier_ at present!) The English people seem to have positively a -passionate hunger for this mass of prosy stupidity, never less than a -column and a quarter long. The Continental papers of course are -"nowhere." As for our yellow papers--every country has its criminal -classes, and with us and in France, they have simply got into journalism -as part of their professional evolution, and they must be got out. Mr. -Bosanquet somewhere says that so far from the "dark ages" being over, we -are just at the beginning of a new dark-age period. He means that -ignorance and unculture, which then were merely brutal, are now -articulate and possessed of a literary voice, and the fight is -transferred from fields and castles and town walls to "organs of -publicity"; but it is the same fight, of reason and goodness against -stupidity and passions; and it must be fought through to the same kind -of success. But it means the reëducating of perhaps twenty more -generations; and by that time some altogether new kind of institutional -opportunity for the Devil will have been evolved. - -_April_ 13th. I had to stop yesterday.... Six months ago, I shouldn't -have thought it possible that a life deliberately founded on pottering -about and dawdling through the day would be endurable or even possible. -I have attained such skill that I doubt if my days ever at any time -seemed to glide by so fast. But it corrodes one's soul nevertheless. I -scribble a little in bed every morning, and have reached page 48 of my -third Gifford lecture--though Lecture II, alas! must be rewritten -entirely. The conditions don't conduce to an energetic grip of the -subject, and I am afraid that what I write is pretty slack and not what -it would be if my vital tone were different. The problem I have set -myself is a hard one: _first_, to defend (against all the prejudices of -my "class") "experience" against "philosophy" as being the real backbone -of the world's religious life--I mean prayer, guidance, and all that -sort of thing immediately and privately felt, as against high and noble -general views of our destiny and the world's meaning; and _second_, to -make the hearer or reader believe, what I myself invincibly do believe, -that, although all the special manifestations of religion may have been -absurd (I mean its creeds and theories), yet the life of it as a whole -is mankind's most important function. A task well-nigh impossible, I -fear, and in which I shall fail; but to attempt it is _my_ religious -act. - -We got a visit the other day from [a Scottish couple here who have heard -that I am to give the Gifford lectures]; and two days ago went to -afternoon tea with them at their hotel, next door. _She_ enclosed a -tract (by herself) in the invitation, and proved to be a [mass] of holy -egotism and conceit based on professional invalidism and self-worship. I -wish my sister Alice were there to "react" on her with a description! -Her husband, apparently weak, and the slave of her. No talk but -evangelical talk. It seemed assumed that a Gifford lecturer must be one -of Moody's partners, and it gave me rather a foretaste of what the -Edinburgh atmosphere may be like. Well, I shall enjoy sticking a knife -into its gizzard--if atmospheres have gizzards? Blessed be -Boston--probably the freest place on earth, that isn't merely heathen -and sensual. - -I have been supposing, as one always does, that you "ran in" to the -Putnams' every hour or so, and likewise they to No. 12. But your late -allusion to the telephone and the rarity of your seeing Jim [Putnam] -reminded me of the actual conditions--absurd as they are. (Really you -and we are nearer together now at this distance than we have ever been.) -Well, let Jim see this letter, if you care to, flattering him by saying -that it is more written for him than for you (which it certainly has not -been till this moment!), and thanking him for existing in this naughty -world. His account of the Copernican revolution (studento-centric) in -the Medical School is highly exciting, and I am glad to hear of the -excellent little Cannon becoming so prominent a reformer. Speaking of -reformers, do you see Jack Chapman's "Political Nursery"? of which the -April number has just come. (I have read it and taken my bed-breakfast -during the previous page of this letter, though you may not have -perceived the fact.) If not, _do_ subscribe to it; it is awful fun. He -just looks at things, and tells the truth about them--a strange thing -even to _try_ to do, and he doesn't always succeed. Office 141 Broadway, -$1.00 a year. - -Fanny, you won't be reading as far as this in this interminable letter, -so I stop, though 100 pent-up things are seeking to be said. The weather -has still been so cold whenever the sun is withdrawn that we have -delayed our departure for Geneva to the 22nd--a week later. We make a -short visit to our friends the Flournoys (a couple of days) and then -proceed towards Nauheim _via_ Heidelberg, where I wish to consult the -great Erb about the advisability of more baths in view of my nervous -complications, before the great Schott examines me again. I do wish I -could send for Jim for a consultation. Good-bye, dearest and best of -Fannys. I hope your Mother is wholly well again. Much love to her and -to Mary Elliot. It interested me to hear of Jack E.'s great operation. -Yours ever, - -W. J. - - - - -_To his Son Alexander._ - - -[GENEVA, _circa May 3, 1900_.] - -DEAR FRANÇOIS,--Here we are in Geneva, at the Flournoys'--dear people -and splendid children. I wish Harry could marry Alice, Billy marry -Marguerite, and you marry Ariane-Dorothée--the absolutely jolliest and -beautifullest 3-year old I ever saw. I am trying to get you engaged! I -enclose pictures of the dog. Ariane-Dorothée r-r-r-olls her r-r-r's like -fury. I got your picture of the elephant--very good. Draw everything you -see, no matter how badly, trying to notice how the lines run--one line -every day!--just notice it and draw it, no matter how badly, and at the -end of the year you'll be s'prised to see how well you can draw. Tell -Billy to get you a big blank book at the Coöp., and every day take one -page, just drawing down on it some _thing_, or _dog_, or _horse_, or -_man_ or _woman_, or _part_ of a man or woman, which you have looked at -that day just for the purpose, to see how the lines run. I bet the last -page of that book will be better than the first! Do this for my sake. -Kiss your dear old Grandma. P'r'aps, we shall get home this summer after -all. In two or three days I shall see a doctor and know more about -myself. Will let you know. Keep motionless and listen as much as you -can. Take in things without speaking--it'll make you a better man. Your -Ma thinks you'll grow up into a filosopher like me and write books. It -is easy enuff, all but the writing. You just get it out of other books, -and write it down. Always your loving, - -DAD. - -At this time James's thirteen-year-old daughter was living with family -friends--the Joseph Thatcher Clarkes--in Harrow, and was going to an -English school with their children. She had been passing through such -miseries as a homesick child often suffers, and had written letters -which evoked the following response. - - - - -_To his Daughter._ - - -VILLA LUISE, -BAD-NAUHEIM, _May 26, 1900_. - -DARLING PEG,--Your letter came last night and explained sufficiently the -cause of your long silence. You have evidently been in a bad state of -spirits again, and dissatisfied with your environment; and I judge that -you have been still more dissatisfied with the inner state of trying to -consume your own smoke, and grin and bear it, so as to carry out your -mother's behests made after the time when you scared us so by your -inexplicable tragic outcries in those earlier letters. Well! I believe -you have been trying to do the manly thing under difficult -circumstances, but one learns only gradually to do the _best_ thing; and -the best thing for you would be to write at least weekly, if only a -post-card, and say just how things are going. If you are in bad spirits, -there is no harm whatever in communicating that fact, and defining the -character of it, or describing it as exactly as you like. The bad thing -is to pour out the _contents_ of one's bad spirits on others and leave -them with it, as it were, on their hands, as if it was for them to do -something about it. That was what you did in your other letter which -alarmed us so, for your shrieks of anguish were so excessive, and so -unexplained by anything you told us in the way of facts, that we didn't -know but what you had suddenly gone crazy. That is the _worst_ sort of -thing you can do. The middle sort of thing is what you do this -time--namely, keep silent for more than a fortnight, and when you do -write, still write rather mysteriously about your sorrows, not being -quite open enough. - -Now, my dear little girl, you have come to an age when the inward life -develops and when some people (and on the whole those who have most of a -destiny) find that all is not a bed of roses. Among other things there -will be waves of terrible sadness, which last sometimes for days; and -dissatisfaction with one's self, and irritation at others, and anger at -circumstances and stony insensibility, etc., etc., which taken together -form a melancholy. Now, painful as it is, this is sent to us for an -enlightenment. It always passes off, and we learn about life from it, -and we ought to learn a great many good things if we react on it -rightly. [_From margin._] (For instance, you learn how good a thing your -home is, and your country, and your brothers, and you may learn to be -more considerate of other people, who, you now learn, may have their -inner weaknesses and sufferings, too.) Many persons take a kind of -sickly delight in hugging it; and some sentimental ones may even be -proud of it, as showing a fine sorrowful kind of sensibility. Such -persons make a regular habit of the luxury of woe. That is the worst -possible reaction on it. It is usually a sort of disease, when we get it -strong, arising from the organism having generated some poison in the -blood; and we mustn't submit to it an hour longer than we can help, but -jump at every chance to attend to anything cheerful or comic or take -part in anything active that will divert us from our mean, pining inward -state of feeling. When it passes off, as I said, we know more than we -did before. And we must try to make it last as short a time as possible. -The worst of it often is that, while we are in it, we don't _want_ to -get out of it. We hate it, and yet we prefer staying in it--that is a -part of the disease. If we find ourselves like that, we must make -ourselves do something different, go with people, speak cheerfully, set -ourselves to some hard work, make ourselves sweat, etc.; and that is the -good way of reacting that makes of us a valuable character. The disease -makes you think of _yourself_ all the time; and the way out of it is to -keep as busy as we can thinking of _things_ and of _other people_--no -matter what's the matter with our self. - -I have no doubt you are doing as well as you know how, darling little -Peg; but we have to learn everything, and I also have no doubt that -you'll manage it better and better if you ever have any more of it, and -soon it will fade away, simply leaving you with more experience. The -great thing for you _now_, I should suppose, would be to enter as -friendlily as possible into the interest of the Clarke children. If you -like them, or acted as if you liked them, you needn't trouble about the -question of whether they like you or not. They probably will, fast -enough; and if they don't, it will be their funeral, not yours. But this -is a great lecture, so I will stop. The great thing about it is that it -is all true. - -The baths are threatening to disagree with me again, so I may stop them -soon. Will let you know as quick as anything is decided. Good news from -home: the Merrimans have taken the Irving Street house for another year, -and the Wambaughs (of the Law School) have taken Chocorua, though at a -reduced rent. The weather here is almost continuously cold and sunless. -Your mother is sleeping, and will doubtless add a word to this when she -wakes. Keep a merry heart--"time and the hour run through the roughest -day"--and believe me ever your most loving - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -[Post-card] - -ALTDORF, LAKE LUZERN, _July 20, [1900]_. - -Your last letter was, if anything, a more unmitigated blessing than its -predecessors; and I, with my curious inertia to overcome, sit _thinking -of letters_, and of the soul-music with which they might be filled if my -tongue could only utter the thoughts that arise in me to youward, the -beauty of the world, the conflict of life and death and youth and age -and man and woman and righteousness and evil, etc., and Europe and -America! but it stays all caked within and gets no articulation, the -power of speech being so non-natural a function of our race. We are -staying above Luzern, near a big spruce wood, at "Gutsch," and today -being hot and passivity advisable, we came down and took the boat, for a -whole day on the Lake. The works both of Nature and of Man in this -region seem too perfect to be credible almost, and were I not a bitter -Yankee, I would, without a moment's hesitation, be a Swiss, and probably -then glad of the change. The _goodliness_ of this land is one of the -things I ache to utter to you, but can't. Some day I will write, also to -Jim P. My condition baffles me. I have lately felt better, but been bad -again, and altogether can _do_ nothing without repentance afterwards. We -have just lunched in this bowery back verandah, water trickling, -beautiful old convent sleeping up the hillside. Love to you all! - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _Sept. 16, 1900_. - -DEAREST FANNY,-- ...Here I am having a little private picnic all by -myself, on this effulgent Sunday morning--real American September -weather, by way of a miracle. I ordered my bath-chair man to wheel me -out to the "Hochwald," where, he having been dismissed for three hours, -until two o'clock, I am lying in the said luxurious throne, writing this -on my knee, with nothing between but a number of Kuno Fischer's "Hegel's -Leben, Werke und Lehre," now in process of publication, and the -flexibility of which accounts for the poor handwriting. I am alone, save -for the inevitable restaurant which hovers on the near horizon, in a -beautiful grove of old oak trees averaging some 16 or 18 feet apart, -through whose leaves the sunshine filters and dapples the clear ground -or grass that lies between them. Alice is still in England, having -finally at my command had to give up her long-cherished plan of a run -home to see her mother, the children, you, and all the other _dulcissima -mundi nomina_ that make of life a thing worth living for. I _funked_ the -idea of being alone so long when I came to the point. It is not that I -am worse, but there will be cold weather in the next couple of months; -and, unable to sit out of doors then, as here and now, I shall probably -either have to over-walk or over-read, and both things will be bad for -me. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: "Damn the Absolute!" - -Chocorua, September, 1903. One morning James and Royce strolled into the -road and sat down on a wall in earnest discussion. When James heard the -camera click, as his daughter took the upper snap-shot, he cried, -"Royce, you're being photographed! Look, out! I say _Damn the -Absolute_!"] - -As things are _now_, I get on well enough, for the bath business -(especially the "bath-chair") carries one through a good deal of the -day. The great Schott has positively forbidden me to go to England as I -did last year; so, early in October, our faces will be turned towards -Italy, and by Nov. 1 we shall, I hope, be ensconced in a _pension_ close -to the Pincian Garden in Rome, to see how long _that_ resource will -last. I confess I am in the mood of it, and that there is a suggestion -of more richness about the name of Rome than about that of Rye, which, -until Schott's veto, was the plan. How the Gifford lectures will fare, -remains to be seen. I have felt strong movings towards home this -fall, but reflection says: "Stay another winter," and I confess that now -that October is approaching, it feels like the home-stretch and as if -the time were getting short and the limbs of "next summer" in America -burning through the veil which seems to hide them in the shape of the -second European winter months. Who knows? perhaps I may be spry and -active by that time! I have still one untried card up my sleeve, that -may work wonders. All I can say of this third course of baths is that so -far it seems to be doing me no harm. That it will do me any substantial -good, after the previous experiences, seems decidedly doubtful. But one -must suffer some inconvenience to please the doctors! Just as in most -women there is a wife that craves to suffer and submit and be bullied, -so in most men there is a _patient_ that needs to have a doctor and obey -his orders, whether they be believed in or not.... - -Don't take the Malwida book[32] too seriously. I sent it _faute de -mieux_. I don't think I ever told you how much I enjoyed hearing the -Lesley volume[33] read aloud by Alice. We were just in the exactly right -condition for enjoying that breath of old New England. Good-bye, dearest -Fanny. Give my love to your mother, Mary, J. J. P., and all your circle. -_Leb' wohl_ yourself, and believe me, your ever affectionate, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Josiah Royce._ - - -NAUHEIM, _Sept. 26, 1900_. - -BELOVED ROYCE,--Great was my, was _our_ pleasure in receiving your long -and delightful letter last night. Like the lioness in Ĉsop's fable, you -give birth to one young one only in the year, but that one is a lion. I -give birth mainly to guinea-pigs in the shape of post-cards; but despite -such diversities of epistolary expression, the heart of each of us is in -the right place. I need not say, my dear old boy, how touched I am at -your expressions of affection, or how it pleases me to hear that you -have missed me. I too miss you profoundly. I do not find in the hotel -waiters, chambermaids and bath-attendants with whom my lot is chiefly -cast, that unique mixture of erudition, originality, profundity and -vastness, and human wit and leisureliness, by accustoming me to which -during all these years you have spoilt me for inferior kinds of -intercourse. You are still the centre of my gaze, the pole of my mental -magnet. When I write, 'tis with one eye on the page, and one on you. -When I compose my Gifford lectures mentally, 'tis with the design -exclusively of overthrowing your system, and ruining your peace. I lead -a parasitic life upon you, for my highest flight of ambitious ideality -is to become your conqueror, and go down into history as such, you and I -rolled in one another's arms and silent (or rather loquacious still) in -one last death-grapple of an embrace. How then, O my dear Royce, can I -forget you, or be contented out of your close neighborhood? Different as -our minds are, yours has nourished mine, as no other social influence -ever has, and in converse with you I have always felt that my life was -being lived importantly. Our minds, too, are not different in the -_Object_ which they envisage. It is the whole paradoxical -physico-moral-spiritual Fatness, of which most people single out some -skinny fragment, which we both cover with our eye. We "aim at him -generally"--and most others don't. I don't believe that we shall dwell -apart forever, though our formulas may. - -Home and Irving Street look very near when seen through these few winter -months, and tho' it is still doubtful what I may be able to do in -College, for social purposes I shall be available for probably numerous -years to come. I haven't got at work yet--only four lectures of the -first course written (strange to say)--but I am decidedly better today -than I have been for the past ten months, and the matter is all ready in -my mind; so that when, a month hence, I get settled down in Rome, I -think the rest will go off fairly quickly. The second course I shall -have to resign from, and write it out at home as a book. It must seem -strange to you that the way from the mind to the pen should be as -intraversable as it has been in this case of mine--you in whom it always -seems so easily pervious. But Miller will be able to tell you all about -my condition, both mental and physical, so I will waste no more words on -that to me decidedly musty subject. - -I fully understand your great aversion to letters and other off-writing. -You have done a perfectly Herculean amount of the most difficult -productive work, and I believe you to be much more tired than you -probably yourself suppose or know. Both mentally and physically, I -imagine that a long vacation, in other scenes, with no sense of duty, -would do you a world of good. I don't say the full fifteen months--for I -imagine that one summer and one academic half-year would perhaps do the -business better--you could preserve the relaxed and desultory condition -as long as that probably, whilst later you'd begin to chafe, and _then_ -you'd better be back in your own library. If _my_ continuing abroad is -hindering this, my sorrow will be extreme. Of course I must some time -come to a definite decision about my own relations to the College, but I -am reserving that till the end of 1900, when I shall write to Eliot in -full. There is still a therapeutic card to play, of which I will say -nothing just now, and I don't want to commit myself before that has been -tried. - -You say nothing of the second course of Aberdeen lectures, nor do you -speak at all of the Dublin course. Strange omissions, like your not -sending me your Ingersoll lecture! I assume that the publication of -[your] Gifford Volume II will not be very long delayed. I am eager to -read them. I can read philosophy now, and have just read the first three -_Lieferungen_ of K. Fischer's "Hegel." I must say I prefer the original -text. Fischer's paraphrases always flatten and dry things out; and he -gives no rich sauce of his own to compensate. I have been sorry to hear -from Palmer that he also has been very tired. One can't keep going -forever! P. has been like an archangel in his letters to me, and I am -inexpressibly grateful. Well! everybody has been kinder than I -deserve.... - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -ROME, _Dec. 25, 1900_. - -...Rome is simply the most satisfying lake of picturesqueness and guilty -suggestiveness known to this child. Other places have single features -better than anything in Rome, perhaps, but for an _ensemble_ Rome seems -to beat the world. Just a FEAST for the eye from the moment you leave -your hotel door to the moment you return. Those who say that beauty is -all made up of suggestion are well disproved here. For the things the -eyes most gloat on, the inconceivably corrupted, besmeared and ulcerated -surfaces, and black and cavernous glimpses of interiors, have no -suggestions save of moral horror, and their "tactile values," as -Berenson would say, are pure gooseflesh. Nevertheless the sight of them -delights. And then there is such a geologic stratification of history! I -dote on the fine equestrian statue of Garibaldi, on the Janiculum, -quietly bending his head with a look half-meditative, half-strategical, -but wholly victorious, upon Saint Peter's and the Vatican. What luck for -a man and a party to have opposed to it an enemy that stood up for -_nothing_ that was ideal, for _everything_ that was mean in life. -Austria, Naples, and the Mother of harlots here, were enough to deify -anyone who defied them. What glorious things are some of these Italian -inscriptions--for example on Giordano Bruno's statue:-- - -A BRUNO - -_il secolo da lui divinato -qui -dove il rogo arse_. - ---"here, where the faggots burned." It makes the tears come, for the -poetic justice; though I imagine B. to have been a very pesky sort of a -crank, worthy of little sympathy had not the "rogo" done its work on -him. Of the awful corruptions and cruelties which this place suggests -there is no end. - -Our neighbors in rooms and _commensaux_ at meals are the J. G. -Frazers--he of the "Golden Bough," "Pausanias," and other three-and -six-volume works of anthropological erudition, Fellow of Trinity -College, Cambridge, and a sucking babe of humility, unworldliness and -molelike sightlessness to everything except _print_.... He, after Tylor, -is the greatest authority now in England on the religious ideas and -superstitions of primitive peoples, and he knows nothing of psychical -research and thinks that the trances, etc., of savage soothsayers, -oracles and the like, are all _feigned_! Verily science is amusing! But -he is conscience incarnate, and I have been stirring him up so that I -imagine he will now proceed to put in big loads of work in the morbid -psychological direction. - -Dear Fanny ... I can write no more this morning. I hope your Christmas -is "merry," and that the new year will be "happy" for you all. Pray take -our warmest love, give it to your mother and Mary, and some of it to the -brothers. I will write better soon. Your ever grateful and affectionate - -W. J. - -Don't let up on your own writing, so say we both! Your letters are pure -blessings. - - - - -_To James Sully._ - - -ROME, _Mar. 3, 1901_. - -DEAR SULLY,--Your letter of Feb. 8th arrived duly and gave me much -pleasure _qua_ epistolary manifestation of sympathy, but less _qua_ -revelation of depression on your own part. I have been so floundering up -and down, now above and now below the line of bad nervous prostration, -that I have written no letters for three weeks past, hoping thereby the -better to accomplish certain other writing; but the other writing had to -be stopped so letters and post-cards may begin. - -I see you take the war still very much to heart, and I myself think that -the blundering way in which the Colonial Office drove the Dutchmen into -it, with no conception whatever of the psychological situation, is only -outdone by our still more anti-psychological blundering in the -Philippines. Both countries have lost their moral prestige--we far more -completely than you, because for our conduct there is literally _no_ -excuse to be made except _absolute_ stupidity, whilst you can make out a -very fair case, as such cases go. But we can, and undoubtedly shall, -draw back, whereas that for an Empire like yours seems politically -impossible. Empire anyhow is half crime by necessity of Nature, and to -see a country like the United States, lucky enough to be born outside of -it and its fatal traditions and inheritances, perversely rushing to -wallow in the mire of it, shows how strong these ancient race instincts -be. And that is my consolation! We are no worse than the best of men -have ever been. We are simply not superhuman; and the loud reaction -against the brutal business, in both countries, shows how the _theory_ -of the matter has really advanced during the last century. - -Yes! H. Sidgwick is a sad loss, with all his remaining philosophic -wisdom unwritten. I feel greatly F. W. H. Myers's loss also. He suffered -terribly with suffocation, but bore it stunningly well. He died in this -very hotel, where he had been not more than a fortnight. I don't know -_how_ tolerant (or intolerant) you are towards his pursuits and -speculations. I regard them as fragmentary and conjectural--of course; -but as most laborious and praiseworthy; and knowing how much -psychologists as a rule have counted him out from their profession, I -have thought it my duty to write a little tribute to his service to -psychology to be read on March 8th, at a memorial meeting of the S. P. -R. in his honor. It will appear, whether read or not, in the -Proceedings, and I hope may not appear to you exaggerated. I seriously -believe that the general problem of the subliminal, as Myers propounds -it, promises to be one of the _great_ problems, possibly even the -greatest problem, of psychology.... - -We leave Rome in three days, booked for Rye the first of April. I _must_ -get into the _country!_ If I do more than just pass through London, I -will arrange for a meeting. My Edinburgh lectures begin early in -May--after that I shall have freedom. Ever truly yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -[Post-card] - -FLORENCE, _March 18, 1901_. - -Thus far towards home, thank Heaven! after a week at Perugia and Assisi. -Glorious air, memorable scenes. Made acquaintance of Sabatier, author of -St. Francis's life--very jolly. Best of all, made acquaintance with -Francis's retreat in the mountain. _Navrant!_--it makes one see medieval -Christianity face to face. The lair of the individual wild animal, and -that animal the saint! I hope you saw it. Thanks for your last letter to -Alice. Lots of love. - -W. J. - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -RYE, _April 13, 1901_. - -DEAR SCHILLER,--You are showering benedictions on me. I return the bulky -ones, keeping the lighter weights. I think the parody on Bradley -amazingly good--if I had his book here I would probably revive my memory -of his discouraged style and scribble a marginal contribution of my own. -He is, really, an extra humble-minded man, I think, but even more -humble-minded about his reader than about himself, which gives him that -false air of arrogance. How you concocted those epigrams, _à la_ preface -of B., I don't see. In general I don't see how an epigram, being a pure -bolt from the blue, with no introduction or cue, ever gets itself writ. -On the Limericks, as you call them, I set less store, much less. If -everybody is to come in for a share of allusion, I am willing, but I -don't want my name to figure in the ghostly ballet with but few -companions. Royce wrote a _very_ funny thing in pedantic German some -years ago, purporting to be the proof by a distant-future professor that -I was an habitual drunkard, based on passages culled from my writings. -He may have it yet. If I ever get any animal spirits again, I may get -warmed up, by your example, into making jokes, and may then contribute. -But I beg you let this thing mull till you get a _lot_ of matter--and -then _sift_. It's the only way. But Oxford seems a better climate for -epigram than is the rest of the world. - -I shall stay here--I find myself much more comfortable thoracically -already than when I came--until my Edinburgh lectures begin on May 16th, -though I shall have to run up to London towards the end of the month to -get some clothes made, and to meet my son who arrives from home. I much -regret that it will be quite impossible for me to go either to Oxford or -Cambridge--though, if things took an unexpectedly good turn, I might -indeed do so after June 18th, when my lecture course ends. Do you -meanwhile keep hearty and "funny"! I stopped at Gersau half a day and -found it a sweet little place. Fondly yours, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -ROXBURGHE HOTEL, -EDINBURGH, _May 15, 1901_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--You see where we are! I give _you_ the first news of -life's journey being so far advanced! It is a deadly enterprise, I'm -afraid, with the social entanglements that lie ahead, and I feel a cake -of ice in my epigastrium at the prospect, but _le vin est versé, il faut -le boire_, and from the other point of view, that it is real life -beginning once more, it is perfectly glorious, and I feel as if -yesterday in leaving London I had said good-bye to a rather dreadful -and death-bound segment of life. As regards the sociability, it is -fortunately a time of year in which only the medical part of the -University is present. The professors of the other faculties are already -in large part scattered, I think,--at least the two Seths (who are the -only ones I directly know) are away, and I have written to the Secretary -of the Academic Senate, Sir Ludovic Grant of the Law Faculty, that I am -unable to "dine out" or attend afternoon receptions, so we may be pretty -well left alone. I always hated lecturing except as regular instruction -to students, of whom there will probably be none now in the audience. -But to compensate, there begins next week a big convocation here of all -ministers in Scotland, and there will doubtless be a number of them -present, which, considering the matter to be offered, is probably -better. - -We had a splendid journey yesterday in an American (almost!) train, -first-class, and had the pleasure of some talk with our Cambridge -neighbor, Mrs. Ole Bull, on her way to Norway to the unveiling of a -monument to her husband. She was accompanied by an extraordinarily fine -character and mind--odd way of expressing myself!--a young Englishwoman -named Noble, who has Hinduized herself (converted by Vivekananda to his -philosophy) and lives now for the Hindu people. These free individuals -who live their own life, no matter what domestic prejudices have to be -snapped, are on the whole a refreshing sight to me, who can do nothing -of the kind myself. And Miss Noble[34] is a most deliberate and balanced -person--no frothy enthusiast in point of character, though I believe her -philosophy to be more or less false. Perhaps no more so than anyone -else's! - -We are in one of those deadly respectable hotels where you have to ring -the front-door-bell. Give me a cheerful, blackguardly place like the -Charing Cross, where we were in London. The London tailor and -shirtmaker, it being in the height of the Season, didn't fulfill their -promises; and as I sloughed my ancient cocoon at Rye, trusting to pick -up my iridescent wings the day before yesterday in passing through the -metropolis, I am here with but two _chemises_ at present (one of them -now in the wash) and fear that tomorrow, in spite of tailors' promises -to send, I may have to lecture in my pyjamas--that would give a cachet -of American originality. The weather is fine--we have just finished -breakfast. - -Our son Harry ... and his mother will soon sally out to explore the -town, whilst I lie low till about noon, when I shall report my presence -and receive instructions from my boss, Grant, and prepare to meet the -storm. It is astonishing how pusillanimous two years of invalidism can -make one. Alice and Harry both send love, and so do I in heaps and -steamer-loads, dear Fanny, begging your mother to take of it as much as -she requires for her share. I will write again--doubtless--tomorrow. - -_May 17._ - -It proved quite impossible to write to you yesterday, so I do it the -first thing this morning. I have made my plunge and the foregoing chill -has given place to the warm "reaction." The audience was more numerous -than had been expected, some 250, and exceedingly sympathetic, laughing -at everything, even whenever I used a polysyllabic word. I send you the -"Scotsman," with a skeleton report which might have been much worse -made. I am all right this morning again, so have no doubts of putting -the job through, if only I don't have too much sociability. I have got -a week free of invitations so far, and all things considered, fancy -that we shan't be persecuted. - -Edinburgh is surely the noblest city ever built by man. The weather has -been splendid so far, and cold and bracing as the top of Mount -Washington in early April. Everyone here speaks of it however as "hot." -One needs fires at night and an overcoat out of the sun. The full-bodied -air, half misty and half smoky, holds the sunshine in that way which one -sees only in these islands, making the shadowy side of everything quite -black, so that all perspectives and vistas appear with objects cut -blackly against each other according to their nearness, and plane rising -behind plane of flat dark relieved against flat light in ever-receding -gradation. It is magnificent. - -But I mustn't become a Ruskin!--the purpose of this letter being merely -to acquaint you with our well-being and success so far. We have found -bully lodgings, spacious to one's heart's content, upon a cheerful -square, and actually with a book-shelf fully two feet wide and two -stories high, upon the wall, the first we have seen for two years! -(There were of course book-cases enough at Lamb House, but all tight -packed already.) We now go out to take the air. I feel as if a decidedly -bad interlude in the journey of my life were closed, and the real honest -thing gradually beginning again. Love to you all! Your ever affectionate - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -EDINBURGH, _May 30, 1901_. - -DEAREST FANNY,-- ...Beautiful as the spring is here, the words you so -often let drop about American weather make me homesick for that article. -It is blasphemous, however, to pine for anything when one is in -Edinburgh in May, and takes an open drive every afternoon in the -surrounding country by way of a constitutional. The green is of the -vividest, splendid trees and acres, and the air itself an _object_, -holding watery vapor, tenuous smoke, and ancient sunshine in solution, -so as to yield the most exquisite minglings and gradations of silvery -brown and blue and pearly gray. As for the city, its vistas are -magnificent. - -We are _comblés_ with civilities, which Harry and Alice are to a certain -extent enjoying, though I have to hang back and spend much of the time -between my lectures in bed, to rest off the aortic distress which that -operation gives. I call it aortic because it feels like that, but I can -get no information from the Drs., so I won't swear I'm right. My heart, -under the influence of that magical juice, tincture of digitalis,--only -6 drops daily,--is performing _beautifully_ and gives no trouble at all. -The audiences grow instead of dwindling, and in spite of rain, being -about 300 and just crowding the room. They sit as still as death and -then applaud magnificently, so I am sure the lectures are a success. -Previous Gifford lectures have had audiences beginning with 60 and -dwindling to 15. In an hour and a half (I write this in bed) I shall be -beginning the fifth lecture, which will, when finished, put me half way -through the arduous job. I know you will relish these details, which -please pass on to Jim P. I would send you the reports in the "Scotsman," -but they distort so much by their sham continuity with vast omission -(the reporters get my MS.), that the result is caricature. Edinburgh is -_spiritually_ much like Boston, only stronger and with more temperament -in the people. But we're all growing into much of a sameness everywhere. - -I have dined out once--an almost fatal experiment! I was introduced to -Lord Somebody: "How often do you lecture?"--"Twice a week."--"What do -you do between?--play golf?" Another invitation: "Come at 6--the dinner -at 7.30--and we can walk or play bowls till dinner so as not to fatigue -you"--I having pleaded my delicacy of constitution. - -I rejoice in the prospect of Booker W.'s[35] book, and thank your mother -heartily. My mouth had been watering for just that volume. -Autobiographies take the cake. I mean to read nothing else. Strange to -say, I am now for the first time reading Marie Bashkirtseff. It takes -hold of me tremenjus. I feel as if I had lived inside of her, and in -spite of her hatefulness, esteem and even like her for her incorruptible -way of telling the truth. I have not seen Huxley's life yet. It must be -delightful, only I can't agree to what seems to be becoming the -conventionally accepted view of him, that he possessed the exclusive -specialty of living for the truth. A good deal of humbug about that!--at -least when it becomes a professional and heroic attitude. - -Your base remark about Aguinaldo is clean forgotten, if ever heard. I -know you wouldn't harm the poor man, who, unless Malay human nature is -weaker than human nature elsewhere, has pretty surely some surprises up -his sleeve for us yet. Best love to you all. Your affectionate - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Henry W. Rankin._ - - -EDINBURGH, _June 16, 1901_. - -DEAR MR. RANKIN,--I have received all your letters and missives, -inclusive of the letter which you think I must have lost, some months -back. I professor-ed you because I had read your name printed with that -title in a newspaper letter from East Northfield, and supposed that, by -courtesy at any rate, that title was conferred on you by a public -opinion to which I liked to conform. - -I have given nine of my lectures and am to give the tenth tomorrow. They -have been a success, to judge by the numbers of the audience (300-odd) -and their non-diminution towards the end. No previous "Giffords" have -drawn near so many. It will please you to know that I am stronger and -tougher than when I began, too; so a great load is off my mind. You have -been so extraordinarily brotherly to me in writing of your convictions -and in furnishing me ideas, that I feel ashamed of my churlish and chary -replies. You, however, have forgiven me. Now, at the end of this first -course, I feel my "matter" taking firmer shape, and it will please you -less to hear me say that I believe myself to be (probably) permanently -incapable of believing the Christian scheme of vicarious salvation, and -wedded to a more continuously evolutionary mode of thought. The reasons -you from time to time have given me, never better expressed than in your -letter before the last, have somehow failed to convince. In these -lectures the ground I am taking is this: The mother sea and -fountain-head of all religions lie in the mystical experiences of the -individual, taking the word mystical in a very wide sense. All -theologies and all ecclesiasticisms are secondary growths superimposed; -and the experiences make such flexible combinations with the -intellectual prepossessions of their subjects, that one may almost say -that they have no proper _intellectual_ deliverance of their own, but -belong to a region deeper, and more vital and practical, than that which -the intellect inhabits. For this they are also indestructible by -intellectual arguments and criticisms. I attach the mystical or -religious consciousness to the possession of an extended subliminal -self, with a thin partition through which messages make irruption. We -are thus made convincingly aware of the presence of a sphere of life -larger and more powerful than our usual consciousness, with which the -latter is nevertheless continuous. The impressions and impulsions and -emotions and excitements which we thence receive help us to live, they -found invincible assurance of a world beyond the sense, they melt our -hearts and communicate significance and value to everything and make us -happy. They do this for the individual who has them, and other -individuals follow him. Religion in this way is absolutely -indestructible. Philosophy and theology give their conceptual -interpretations of this experiential life. The farther margin of the -subliminal field being unknown, it can be treated as by Transcendental -Idealism, as an Absolute mind with a part of which we coalesce, or by -Christian theology, as a distinct deity acting on us. Something, not our -immediate self, does act on our life! So I seem doubtless to my audience -to be blowing hot and cold, explaining away Christianity, yet defending -the more general basis from which I say it proceeds. I fear that these -brief words may be misleading, but let them go! When the book comes out, -you will get a truer idea. - -Believe me, with profound regards, your always truly, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Charles Eliot Norton._ - - -RYE, _June 26, 1901_. - -DEAR CHARLES NORTON,--Your delightful letter of June 1st has added one -more item to my debt of gratitude to you; and now that the Edinburgh -strain is over, I can sit down and make you a reply a little more -adequate than heretofore has been possible. The lectures went off most -successfully, and though I got tired enough, I feel that I am -essentially tougher and stronger for the old familiar functional -activity. My _tone_ is changed immensely, and that is the main point. To -be actually earning one's salt again, after so many months of listless -waiting and wondering whether such a thing will ever again become -possible, puts a new heart into one, and I now look towards the future -with aggressive and hopeful eyes again, though perhaps not with quite -the cannibalistic ones of the youth of the new century. - -Edinburgh is great. A strong broad city, and, in its spiritual essence, -almost exactly feeling to me like old Boston, _nuclear_ Boston, though -on a larger, more important scale. People were very friendly, but we had -to dodge invitations--_hoffentlich_ I may be able to accept more of them -next year. The audience was extraordinarily attentive and reactive--I -never had an audience so keen to catch every point. I flatter myself -that by blowing alternately hot and cold on their Christian prejudices I -succeeded in baffling them completely till the final quarter-hour, when -I satisfied their curiosity by showing more plainly my hand. Then, I -think, I permanently dissatisfied both extremes, and pleased a mean -numerically quite small. _Qui vivra verra_. London seemed curiously -profane and free-and-easy, not exactly _shabby_, but go-as-you-please, -in aspect, as we came down five days ago. Since then I spent a day with -poor Mrs. Myers.... I mailed you yesterday a notice I wrote in Rome of -him.[36] He "looms" upon me after death more than he did in life, and I -think that his forthcoming book about "Human Personality" will probably -rank hereafter as "epoch-making." - -At London I saw Theodora [Sedgwick] and the W. Darwins. Theodora was as -good and genial as ever, and Sara [Darwin] looked, I thought, -wonderfully "distinguished" and wonderfully little changed considering -the length of intervening years and the advance of the Enemy. I was too -tired to look up Leslie Stephen, or anyone else save Mrs. John Bancroft -when in London, although I wanted much to see L. S. The first volume of -his "Utilitarians" seems to me a wonderfully spirited performance--I -haven't yet got at the other two. - -I am hoping to get off to Nauheim tomorrow, leaving Alice and Harry to -follow a little later. I confess that the Continent "draws" me again. I -don't know whether it be the essential identity of soul that expresses -itself in English things, and makes them seem known by heart already and -intellectually dead and unexciting, or whether it is the singular lack -of visible _sentiment_ in England, and absence of "charm," or the -oppressive ponderosity and superfluity and prominence of the -unnecessary, or what it is, but I'm blest if I ever wish to be in -England again. Any continental country whatever stimulates and refreshes -vastly more, in spite of so much strong picturesqueness here, and so -beautiful a Nature. England is ungracious, unamiable and heavy; whilst -the Continent is everywhere light and amiably quaint, even where it is -ugly, as in many elements it is in Germany. To tell the truth, I long to -steep myself in America again and let the broken rootlets make new -adhesions to the native soil. A man coquetting with too many countries -is as bad as a bigamist, and loses his soul altogether. - -I suppose you are at Ashfield and I hope surrounded, or soon to be so, -by more children than of late, and all well and happy. Don't feel too -bad about the country. We've thrown away our old privileged and -prerogative position among the nations, but it only showed we were less -sincere about it than we supposed we were. The eternal fight of -liberalism has now to be fought by us on much the same terms as in the -older countries. We have still the better chance in our freedom from all -the corrupting influences from on top from which they suffer.--Good-bye -and love from both of us, to you all. Yours ever faithfully, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Nathaniel S. Shaler._ - - -[1901?] - -DEAR SHALER,--Being a man of methodical sequence in my reading, which in -these days is anyhow rather slower than it used to be, I have only just -got at your book.[37] Once begun, it slipped along "like a novel," and I -must confess to you that it leaves a good taste behind; in fact a sort -of _haunting_ flavor due to its individuality, which I find it hard to -explain or define. - -To begin with, it doesn't seem exactly like you, but rather like some -quiet and conscientious old passive contemplator of life, not bristling -as you are with "points," and vivacity. Its light is dampened and -suffused--and all the better perhaps for that. Then it is essentially a -confession of faith and a religious attitude--which one doesn't get so -much from you upon the street, although even there 'tis clear that you -have that within which passeth show. The optimism and healthy-mindedness -are yours through and through, so is the wide imagination. But the -moderate and non-emphatic way of putting things is not; nor is the -absence of any "American humor." So I don't know just when or where or -how you wrote it. I can't place it in the Museum or University Hall. -Probably it was in Quincy Street, and in a sort of Piperio-Armadan -trance! Anyhow it is a sincere book, and tremendously impressive by the -gravity and dignity and peacefulness with which it suggests rather than -proclaims conclusions on these eternal themes. No more than you can I -believe that death is due to selection; yet I wish you had framed some -hypothesis as to the physico-chemical necessity thereof, or discussed -such hypotheses as have been made. I think you deduce a little too -easily from the facts the existence of a general guiding tendency toward -ends like those which our mind sets. We never know what ends may have -been kept from realization, for the dead tell no tales. The surviving -witness would in any case, and whatever he were, draw the conclusion -that the universe was planned to make him and the like of him succeed, -for it actually did so. But your argument that it is millions to one -that it didn't do so by chance doesn't apply. It would apply if the -witness had preëxisted in an independent form and framed his scheme, and -then the world had realized it. Such a coincidence would prove the world -to have a kindred mind to his. But there has been no such coincidence. -The world has come but once; the witness is there after the fact and -simply approves, dependently. As I understand improbability, it only -exists where independents coincide. Where only one fact is in question, -there is no relation of "probability" at all. I think, therefore, that -the excellences we have reached and now approve may be due to no general -design but merely to a succession of the short designs we actually know -of, taking advantage of opportunity, and adding themselves together from -point to point. We are all you say we are, as heirs; we are a mystery of -condensation, and yet of extrication and individuation, and we must -worship the soil we have so wonderfully sprung from. Yet I don't think -we are necessitated to worship it as the Theists do, in the shape of one -all-inclusive and all-operative designing power, but rather like -polytheists, in the shape of a collection of beings who have each -contributed and are now contributing to the realization of ideals more -or less like those for which we live ourselves. This more pluralistic -style of feeling seems to me both to allow of a warmer sort of loyalty -to our past helpers, and to tally more exactly with the mixed condition -in which we find the world as to its ideals. What if we did come where -we are by chance, or by mere fact, with no one general design? What is -gained, is gained, all the same. As to what may have been lost, who -knows of it, in any case? or whether it might not have been much better -than what came? But if it might, that need not prevent _us_ from -building on what _we_ have. - -There are lots of impressive passages in the book, which certainly will -live and be an influence of a high order. Chapters 8, 10, 14, 15 have -struck me most particularly. - -I gave at Edinburgh two lectures on "The Religion of -Healthy-Mindedness," contrasting it with that of "the sick soul." I -shall soon have to quote your book as a healthy-minded document of the -first importance, though I believe myself that the sick soul must have -its say, and probably carries authority too.... Ever yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -NAUHEIM, _July 10, 1901_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--Your letter of June 28th comes just as I was working -myself up to a last European farewell to you, anyhow, the which has far -more instigative spur now, with your magnificent effusion in my hands. -Dear Fanny, whatever you do, don't _die_ before our return! In these -two short years so many of my best friends have been mown down, that I -feel uncertainty everywhere, and gasp till the interval is over. John -Ropes, Henry Sidgwick, F. Myers, T. Davidson, Carroll Everett, Edward -Hooper, John Fiske, all intimate and valuable, some of them extremely -so, and the circle grows ever smaller and will grow so to the end of -one's own life. Now comes Whitman, whom I never knew very well, but whom -I always liked thoroughly, and wish I had known better.... It will be -interesting to know what new turn it will give to S. W.'s existence. I -haven't the least idea how it will affect her outward life. Doubtless -she will be freer to come abroad; but I hope and trust she will not be -taking to staying any time in London or Paris, in the brutal cynical -atmosphere of which places her little eagerness and efflorescences and -cordialities would receive no such sympathetic treatment as they do with -us, until she had stayed long enough for people to know her thoroughly -and conquered a position by living down the first impression. Nothing so -_anti-English_ as S. W.'s whole "sphere." So keep her at home--with -occasional sallies abroad; and if she must ever winter abroad, let it be -in delightful slipshod old Rome! All which, as you perceive, is somewhat -confidential. I trust that the present failure of health with her is -something altogether transient, and that she will keep swimming long -after everyone else has put into shore. - -Which simile reminds me of Mrs. Holmes's panel, with its superb -inscription.[38] What a sense she has for such things! and how I thank -you for quoting it! With your and her permission, I shall make a vital -use of it in a future book. It sums up the attitude towards life of a -good philosophic pluralist, and that is what, in my capacity of author -of that book, I am to be. I thank you also for the reference to I -Corinthians, 1, 28, etc.[39] I had never expressly noticed that text; -but it will make the splendidest motto for Myers's two posthumous -volumes, and I am going to write to Mrs. Myers to suggest the same. I -thank you also for your sympathetic remarks about my paper on Myers. -Fifty or a hundred years hence, people will know better than now whether -his instinct for truth was a sound one; and perhaps will then pat me on -the back for backing him. At present they give us the cold shoulder. We -are righter, in any event, than the Münsterbergs and Jastrows are, -because we don't undertake, as a condition of our investigating -phenomena, to bargain with them that they shan't upset our -"presuppositions." - -It is a beautiful summer morning, and I write under an awning on the -high-perched corner balcony of the bedroom in which we live, of a corner -house on the edge of the little town, with houses on the west of us and -the fertile country spreading towards the east and south. A lovely -region, though a climate terribly _flat_. I expect to take my last bath -today, and to get my absolution from the terrible Schott; whereupon we -shall leave tomorrow morning for Strassburg and the Vosges, for a week -of touring up in higher air, and thence, _über_ Paris, as straight as -may be for Rye. I keep in a state of subliminal excitement over our -sailing on the 31st. It seems too good to be really possible. Yet the -ratchet of time will work along its daily cogs, and doubtless bring it -safe within our grasp. Last year I felt no distinctly beneficial effect -from the baths. This year it is distinct. I have, in other words, -continued pretty steadily getting better for four months past; so it is -evident that I am in a genuinely ameliorative phase of my existence, of -which the acquired momentum may carry me beyond any living man of my -age. At any rate, I set no limits now! - -When we return I shall go straight up to Chocorua to the Salters'. What -I _crave_ most is some wild American country. It is a curious -organic-feeling need. One's social relations with European landscape are -entirely different, everything being so fenced or planted that you can't -lie down and sprawl. Kipling, alluding to the "bleeding raw" appearance -of some of our outskirt settlements, says, "Americans don't mix much -with their landscape as yet." But we mix a darned sight more than -Europeans, so far as our individual organisms go, with our camping and -general wild-animal personal relations. Thank Heaven that our Nature is -so much less "redeemed"!... - -You see, Fanny, that we are in good spirits on the whole, although my -poor dear Alice has long sick-headaches that consume a good many -days--she is just emerging from a bad one. Happiness, I have lately -discovered, is no positive feeling, but a negative condition of freedom -from a number of restrictive sensations of which our organism usually -seems to be the seat. When they are wiped out, the clearness and -cleanness of the contrast is happiness. This is why anesthetics make us -so happy. But don't you take to drink on that account! Love to your -mother, Mary, and all. Write to us no more. How happy _that_ -responsibility gone must make you! We both send warmest love, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -[Post-card] - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _July 11, [1901]_. - -Your letter and paper, with the shock of John Fiske's death, came -yesterday. It is too bad, for he had lots of good work in him yet, and -is a loss to American letters as well as to his family. Singularly -simple, solid, honest creature, he will be hugely missed by many! -Everybody seems to be going! _We_ stay. Life here is absolutely -monotonous, but very sweet. The country is so innocently pretty. I sit -up here on a terrace-restaurant, looking down on park and town, with the -leaves playing in the warm breeze above me, and the little Gothic town -of Friedberg only a mile off, in the midst of the great fertile plain -all chequer-boarded with the different tinted crops and framed in a -far-off horizon of low hills and woods. Alice and Harry, kept in by the -heat, come later. He went for a distant walk yesterday P.M. and, not -returning till near eleven, we thought he might have got lost in the -woods. Yale beat the University race, _but_ Bill's four[-oared crew] -beat the Yale four. On such things is human contentment based. The baths -stir up my aortic feeling and make me depressed, but I've had 6 of them, -and the rest will pass quickly. Love. - -W. J. - - - - -_To E. L. Godkin._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _July 25, 1901_. - -DEAR GODKIN,--Yours of the 9th, which came duly, gave me great pleasure, -first because it showed that your love for me had not grown cold, and, -second, because it seemed to reveal in you tendencies towards -sociability at large which are incompatible with a very alarming -condition of health. Nothing can give us greater pleasure than to come -and see you before we sail. We shall stick here, probably, for a -fortnight longer, then go for a week to the Hartz mountains to brace up -a little--the baths being very debilitating and the air of Nauheim -sedative. Then straight to Rye until we sail--on August 31st. I hope -that you enjoy the "New Forest"--the "Children" thereof, by Capt. Mayne -Reid, I think, was one of my most mysteriously impressive books about -the age of ten. But I fear that there is not much primeval forest to be -seen there nowadays. Nauheim is a sweet little place. One never sees a -soldier and wouldn't know that _Militarismus_ existed. There are two -policemen, one of them an old fellow of 70 who shuffles along to keep -his weak knees from giving way. I went on business to the police office -t' other day. The building stood in a fine cabbage garden, and over the -first door one met on entering stood the word _Küche_[40] in large -letters. Quite like the old idyllic pre-Sadowan German days. My heart is -getting _well_! I made an excursion to Homburg yesterday, with J. B. -Warner of Cambridge, counsellor at law, and general disputant. For about -six hours we discussed the Philippine question, he damning the -anti-Imperialists--yet my thoracic contents remained as solid as if cast -in Portland cement. Six months ago I should have had the wildest -commotion there. Congratulate me! Kindest regards to you both, in which -my wife joins. Yours ever affectionately, - -Wm. James. - -It should perhaps be explained that E. L. Godkin had had a cerebral -hemorrhage the year before. It had left him clear in mind, but a -permanent invalid, with little power of locomotion. James spent several -days with him at Castle Malwood near Stony Cross before he sailed for -home; and when he was in England again the next year, he repeated the -visit. - -[Illustration: William James and Henry James posing for a Kodak in -1900.] - - - -_To E. L. Godkin._ - - -LAMB HOUSE, _Aug. 29, 1901_. - -MY DEAR GODKIN,--Just a line to bid you both farewell! We leave for -London tomorrow morning and at four on Saturday we shall be ploughing -the deep. All goes well, save that the wife has sprained her ankle, and -with the "firmness" that characterizes her lovely sex insists on -hobbling about and doing all the packing. I shan't be aisy till I see -her in her berth. - -After all, in spite of you and Henry, and all Americo-phobes, I'm glad -I'm going back to my own country again. Notwithstanding its -"humble"ness, its fatigues, and its complications, there's no place like -home--though I think the New Forest might come near it as a substitute. -England in general is too padded and cushioned for my rustic taste. - -The most elevating _moral_ thing I've seen during these two years -abroad, after Myers's heroic exit from this world at Rome last winter, -has been the gentleness and cheerful spirit with which you are still -able to remain in it after such a blow as you have received. Who could -suppose so much public ferocity to cover so much private sweetness? -Seriously speaking, it is more edifying to us others, dear Godkin, than -you yourself can understand it to be, and I for one have learned by the -example. I pray that your winter problems may gradually solve themselves -without perplexity, and that next spring may find you relieved of all -this helplessness. It is a very slow progress, with many steps -backwards, but if the length of the forward steps preponderates, one -may be well content. Good-bye and bless you both. Affectionately yours, - -Wm. James. - -James returned to America in early September, in advance of the -beginning of the College term. But from this time on he limited his -teaching to one half-course during the year. His intention was to -husband his strength for writing. The course which he offered during the -first half of the College year was accordingly announced as a course on -"The Psychological Elements of Religious Life." By the end of the -winter, the second series of Gifford lectures, constituting the last -half of the "Varieties," had been written out. - - - - -_To Miss Pauline Goldmark._ - - -SILVER LAKE, N. H., _Sept. 14, 1901_. - -DEAR PAULINE,--Your kind letter (excuse pencil--pen won't write) appears -to have reached London after our departure and has just followed us -hither. I had hoped for a word from you, first at Nauheim, then on the -steamer, then at Cambridge; but this makes everything right. How good to -think of you as the same old loveress of woods and skies and waters, and -of your Bryn-Mawr friends. May none of the lot of you ever grow -insufficient or forsake each other! The sight of you sporting in -Nature's bosom once lifted me into a sympathetic region, and made a -better boy of me in ways which it would probably amuse and surprise you -to learn of, so strangely are characters useful to each other, and so -subtly are destinies intermixed. But with you on the mountain-tops of -existence still, and me apparently destined to remain grubbing in the -cellar, we seem far enough apart at present and may have to remain so. -Alas! how brief is life's glory, at the best. I can't get to Keene -Valley this year, and [may] possibly never get there. Give a kindly -thought, my friend, to the spectre who once for a few times trudged by -your side, and who would do so again if he could. I'm a "motor," and -morally ill-adapted to the game of patience. I have reached home in -pretty poor case, but I think it's mainly "nerves" at present, and -therefore remediable; so I live on the future, but keep my expectations -modest. Two years away has been too long, and the "strangeness" which I -dreaded (from past experience of it) covers all things American as with -a veil. Pathetic and poverty-stricken is all I see! This will pass away, -but I don't want good things to pass away also, so I beseech you, -Pauline, to sit down and write me a good intimate letter telling me what -your life and interest were in New York last winter. - -I am very sorry to hear of your sister Susan's illness, and pray that -the summer will set her right. Did you see much of Miller this summer? I -hate to think of his having grown so delicate! Did you see Perry again? -He was at the Putnam Camp? How is Adler after his _Cur_?--or is he not -yet back? What have you read? What have you cared for? Be indulgent to -me, and write to me here--I stay for 10 days longer--the family--all -well--remain in Cambridge. I find letters a great thing to keep one from -slipping out of life. - -Love to you all! Your - -W. J. - -The next letter was written across the back of a circular invitation to -join the American Philosophical Association, then being formed, of which -Professor Gardiner was Secretary. - - - - -_To H. N. Gardiner._ - - -Cambridge, _Nov. 14, 1901_. - -DEAR GARDINER,--I am still pretty poorly and can't "jine" anything--but, -apart from that, I don't foresee much good from a Philosophical Society. -Philosophical discussion proper only succeeds between intimates who have -learned how to converse by months of weary trials and failure. The -philosopher is a lone beast dwelling in his individual burrow.--Count me -_out_!--I hope all goes well with you. I expect to get well, but it -needs _patience_. - -Wm. James. - -On April 1, 1902, James sailed for England, to deliver the second -"course" of his series of Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh. - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -HATLEY ST. GEORGE, -TORQUAY, _Apr. 20, 1902_. - -MY DEAR SCHILLER,--I could shed tears that you should have been so near -me and yet been missed. I got your big envelope on Thursday at the -hotel, and your two other missives here this morning. Of the Axioms -paper I have only read a sheet and a half at the beginning and the -superb conclusion which has just arrived. I shall fairly _gloat_ upon -the whole of it, and will write you my impressions and criticisms, if -criticisms there be. It is an uplifting thought that truth is to be told -at last in a radical and attention-compelling manner. I think I know, -though, how the attention of many will find a way not to be -compelled--their will is so set on having a technically and artificially -and _professionally_ expressed system, that all talk carried on as yours -is on principles of common-sense activity is as remote and little -worthy of being listened to as the slanging each other of boys in the -street as we pass. Men disdain to notice that. It is only after our -(_i.e._ your and my) general way of thinking gets organized enough to -become a regular part of the _bureaucracy_ of philosophy that we shall -get a serious hearing. Then, I feel inwardly convinced, our day will -have come. But then, you may well say, the brains will be out and the -man will be dead. Anyhow, _vive_ the Anglo-Saxon amateur, disciple of -Locke and Hume, and _pereat_ the German professional! - -We are here for a week with the Godkins--poor old G., once such a power, -and now an utter wreck after a stroke of paralysis three years ago. -Beautiful place, southeast gale, volleying rain and streaming panes and -volumes of soft sea-laden wind. - -I hope you are not serious about an Oxford degree for your humble -servant. If you are, pray drop the thought! I am out of the race for all -such vanities. Write me a degree on parchment and send it yourself--in -any case it would be but your award!--and it will be cheaper and more -veracious. I _had_ to take the Edinburgh one, and accepted the Durham -one to please my wife. Thank you, no coronation either! I am a poor New -Hampshire rustic, in bad health, and long to get back, after four -summers' absence, to my own cottage and children, and never come away -again for lectures or degrees or anything else. It all depends on a -man's age; and after sixty, if ever, one feels as if one ought to come -to some sort of equilibrium with one's native environment, and by means -of a regular life get one's small message to mankind on paper. That -nowadays is my only aspiration. The Gifford lectures are all facts and -no philosophy--I trust that you may receive the volume by the middle of -June. - -When, oh, when is your volume to appear? The sheet you send me leaves -off just at the point where Boyle-Gibson begins to me to be most -interesting! Ever fondly yours, - -Wm. James. - -Your ancient President, Schurman, was also at Edinburgh getting LL.D'd. -He is conducting a campaign in favor of Philippino independence with -masterly tactics, which reconcile me completely to him, laying his -finger on just the right and telling points. - - - - -_To Charles Eliot Norton._ - - -LAMB HOUSE, RYE, _May 4, 1902_. - -DEAR NORTON,--I hear with grief and concern that you have had a bad -fall. In a letter received this morning you are described as better, so -I hope it will have had no untoward consequences beyond the immediate -shock. We need you long to abide with us in undiminished vigor and -health. Our voyage was smooth, though cloudy, and we found Miss Ward a -very honest and lovable girl. Henry D. Lloyd, whose name you know as -that of a state-socialist writer, sat opposite to us, and proved one of -the most "winning" men it was ever my fortune to know. - -We went to Stratford for the first time. The absolute extermination and -obliteration of every record of Shakespeare save a few sordid material -details, and the general suggestion of narrowness and niggardliness -which ancient Stratford makes, taken in comparison with the way in which -the spiritual quantity "Shakespeare" has mingled into the soul of the -world, was most uncanny, and I feel ready to believe in almost any -mythical story of the authorship. In fact a visit to Stratford now seems -to me the strongest appeal a Baconian can make. The country round about -was exquisite. Still more so the country round about Torquay, where we -stayed with the Godkins for eight days--he holding his own, as it seemed -to me, but hardly improving, she earning palms of glory by her strength -and virtue. A regular little trump! They have taken for the next two -months the most beautiful country place I ever saw, occupying an elbow -of the Dart, and commanding a view up and down. We are here for but a -week, my lectures beginning on the 13th. H. J. seems tranquil and happy -in his work, though he has been much pestered of late by gout. - -I suppose you are rejoicing as much as I in the public interest finally -aroused in the Philippine conquest. A personal scandal, it seems, is -really the only thing that will wake the ordinary man's attention up. It -should be the first aim of every good leader of opinion to rake up one -on the opposite side. It should be introduced among our Faculty methods! - -Don't think, dear Norton, that you must answer this letter, which only -your accident has made me write. We shall be home so soon that I shall -see you face to face. The wife sends love, as I do, to you all. No warm -weather whatever as yet--I am having chilblains!! Ever affectionately -yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Mrs. Henry Whitman._ - - -R.M.S. IVERNIA, _June 18, 1902_. - -DEAR MRS. WHITMAN,--We ought to be off Boston tonight. After a cold and -wet voyage, including two days of head-gale and heavy sea, and one of -unbroken fog with lugubriously moo-ing fog-horn, the sun has risen upon -American weather, a strong west wind like champagne, blowing out of a -saturated blue sky right in our teeth, the sea all effervescing and -sparkling with white caps and lace, the strong sun lording it in the -sky, and hope presiding in the heart. What more natural than to report -all this happy turn of affairs to you, buried as you probably still are -in the blankets of the London atmosphere, beautiful opalescent blankets -though they be, and (when one's vitals once are acclimated) yielding -more wonderful artistic effects than anything to be seen in America. -"C'est le pays de la couleur," as my brother is fond of saying in the -words of Alphonse Daudet! But no matter for international comparisons, -which are the least profitable of human employments. Christ died for us -all, so let us all be as we are, save where we want to reform ourselves. -(The only unpardonable crime is that of wanting to reform _one another_, -after the fashion of the U. S. in the Philippines.) ... Your sweet -letter of several dates reached us just before we left Edinburgh--excuse -the insipid adjective "sweet," which after all does express something -which less simple vocables may easily miss--and gave an impression of -harmony and inner health which it warms the heart to become sensible of. -I understand your temptation to stay over, but I also understand your -temptation to get back; and I imagine that more and more you will solve -the problem by a good deal of alternation in future years. It is curious -how utterly distinct the three countries of England, Ireland and -Scotland are, which we so summarily lump together--Scotland so -democratic and so much like New England in many respects. But it would -be a waste of time for you to go there. Keep to the South and spend one -winter in Rome, before you die, and a spring in the smaller Italian -cities! - -I hope that Henry will have managed to get you and Miss Tuckerman to Rye -for a day--it is so curiously quaint and characteristic. I had a bad -conscience about leaving him, for I think he feels lonely as he grows -old, and friends pass over to the majority. He and I are so utterly -different in all our observances and springs of action, that we can't -rightly judge each other. I even feel great shrinking from urging him to -pay us a visit, fearing it might yield him little besides painful -shocks--and, after all, what besides pain and shock _is_ the right -reaction for anyone to make upon our vocalization and pronunciation? The -careful consonants and musical cadences of the Scotchwomen were such a -balm to the ear! I wish that you and poor Henry could become really -intimate. He is at bottom a very tender-hearted and generous being! No -more paper! so I cross! I wish when we once get settled again at -Chocorua that we might enclose you under our roof, even if only for one -night, on your way to or from the Merrimans. I should like to show you -true simplicity. - -[_No signature_.] - -The Gifford Lectures were published as "The Varieties of Religious -Experience, a Study in Human Nature," in June, 1902. The immediate -"popularity" of this psychological survey of man's religious -propensities was great; and the continued sales of the book contributed -not a little to relieve James of financial anxiety during the last years -of his life. - -The cordiality with which theological journals and private -correspondents of many creeds greeted the "Varieties," as containing a -fair treatment of facts which other writers had approached with a -sectarian or anti-theological bias, was striking. James was amused at -being told that the book had "supplied the protestant pulpits with -sermons for a twelve-month." Regarding himself as "a most protestant -protestant," as he once said, he was especially pleased by the manner in -which it was received by Roman Catholic reviewers. - -Certain philosophical conclusions were indicated broadly in the -"Varieties" without being elaborated. The book was a survey, an -examination, of the facts. James had originally conceived of the Gifford -appointment as giving him "an opportunity for a certain amount of -psychology and a certain amount of metaphysics," and so had thought of -making the first series of lectures descriptive of man's religious -propensities and the second series a metaphysical study of their -satisfaction through philosophy. The psychological material had grown to -unforeseen dimensions, and it ended by filling the book. The -metaphysical study remained to be elaborated; and to such work James now -turned. - - - - -XIV - -1902-1905 - -_The Last Period (I)--Philosophical Writing--Statements of Religious -Relief_ - - -JAMES now limited his teaching in Harvard University, as has been said, -to half a course a year and tried to devote his working energies to -formulating a statement of his philosophical conceptions. For two years -he published almost nothing; then the essays which were subsequently -collected in the volumes called "Pragmatism," "The Pluralistic -Universe," "The Meaning of Truth," and "Essays in Radical Empiricism," -began to appear in the philosophic journals, or were delivered as -special lectures. Whenever he accepted invitations to lecture outside -the College, as he still did occasionally, it was with the purpose of -getting these conceptions expressed and of throwing them into the arena -of discussion. But demands which correspondents and callers from all -parts of the globe now made on his time and sympathy were formidable, -for he could not rid himself of the habit of treating the most trivial -of these with consideration, or acquire the habit of using a secretary. -In this way there continued to be a constant drain on his strength. "It -is probably difficult [thus he wrote wearily to Mr. Lutoslawski, who had -begged him to collaborate with him on a book in 1904] for a man whose -cerebral machine works with such facility as yours does to imagine the -kind of consciousness of men like Flournoy and myself. The background of -my consciousness, so far as my own achievements go, is composed of a -_sense of impossibility_--a sense well warranted by the facts. For -instance, two years ago, the 'Varieties' being published, I decided -that everything was cleared and that my duty was immediately to begin -writing my metaphysical system. Up to last October, when the academic -year began, I had written some 200 pages of _notes_, _i.e._ disconnected -_brouillons_. I hoped this year to write 400 or 500 pages of straight -composition, and could have done so without the interruptions. As a -matter of fact, with the best will in the world, I have written exactly -32 pages! For an academic year's work, that is not brilliant! You see -that, when I refuse your request, it is, after a fashion, in order to -save my own life. My working day is anyhow, _at best_, only three hours -long--by working I mean writing and reading philosophy." This estimate -of his "notes" was, as always, self-deprecatory; but there was no -denying a great measure of truth to the statement. Frequently his health -made it necessary for him to escape from Cambridge and his desk. These -incidents will be noted separately wherever the context requires. - -Yet in spite of these difficulties and notwithstanding his complaints of -constant frustration, the spirit with which James still did his work -emerges from the essays of this time as well as from his letters. It was -as if the years that had preceded had been years of preparation for just -what he was now doing. At the age of sixty-three he turned to the -formulation of his empirical philosophy with the eagerness of a -schoolboy let out to play. Misunderstanding disturbed him only -momentarily, opposition stimulated him, he rejoiced openly in the -controversies which he provoked, and engaged in polemics with the good -humor and vigor that were the essence of his genius. His "truth" must -prevail! the Absolute should suffer its death-blow! Flournoy, Bergson, -Schiller, Papini, and others too were "on his side." He made merry at -the expense of his critics, or bewailed the perversity of their -opposition; but he always encouraged them to "lay on." The imagery of -contest and battle appeared in the letters which he threw off, and he -expressed himself as freely as only a man can who has outgrown the -reserves of his youth. - - - - -_To Henry L. Higginson._ - - -CHOCORUA, _July 3, 1902_. - -DEAR HENRY,--Thanks for your letter of the other day, etc. Alice tells -me of a queer conversation you and she had upon the cars. I am not -anxious about money, beyond wishing not to live on capital.... As I have -frequently said, I mean to support you in your old age. In fact the hope -of that is about all that I now live for, being surfeited with the glory -of academic degrees just escaped, like this last one which, in the -friendliness of its heart, your [Harvard] Corporation designed sponging -upon me at Commencement.[41] Boil it and solder it up from the microbes, -and it may do for another year, if I am not in prison! The friendliness -of such recognition is a delightful thing to a man about to graduate -from the season of his usefulness. "La renommé vient," as I have heard -John La Farge quote, "à ceux qui ont la patience d'attendre, et -s'accroit à raison de leur imbecillité." Best wishes to you all. Yours -ever, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Miss Grace Norton._ - - -CHOCORUA, _Aug. 29, 1902_. - -MY DEAR GRACE,--Will you kindly let me know, by the method of -effacement, on the accompanying post-card, whether the box from Germany -of which I wrote you some time ago has or has not yet been left at your -house. I paid the express, over twenty dollars, on it three weeks ago, -directing it to be left with you. - -The ice being thus broken, let me ramble on! How do-ist thou? And how is -the moist and cool summer suiting thee? I hope, well! It has certainly -been a boon to most people. Our house has been full of company of which -tomorrow the last boys will leave, and I confess I shall enjoy the -change to no responsibility. The scourge of life is _responsibility_--always -there with its scowling face, and when it ceases to someone else, it -begins to yourself, or to your God, if you have one. Consider the -lilies, how free they are from it, and yet how beautiful the expression -of their face. Especially should those emerging from "nervous -prostration" be suffered to be without it--they have trouble enough in -any case. I am getting on famously, but for that drawback, on which my -temper is liable to break; but I _walk_ somewhat as in old times, and -that is the main corner to have turned. The country seems as beautiful -as ever--it is good that, when age takes away the zest from so many -things, it seems to make no difference at all in one's capacity for -enjoying landscape and the aspects of Nature. We are all well, and shall -very soon be buzzing about Irving Street as of yore. Keep well yourself, -dear Grace; and believe me ever your friend, - -Wm. James. - -To this word about enjoying the aspects of nature may be added a few -lines from a letter to his son William, which James wrote from Europe in -1900:-- - -"Scenery seems to wear in one's consciousness better than any other -element in life. In this year of much solemn and idle meditation, I -have often been surprised to find what a predominant part in my own -spiritual experience it has played, and how it stands out as almost the -only thing the memory of which I should like to carry over with me -beyond the veil, unamended and unaltered. From the midst of every thing -else, almost, _surgit amari aliquid_; but from the days in the open air, -never any bitter whiff, save that they are gone forever." - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -STONEHURST, -INTERVALE, N. H., _Sept. 18, 1902_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--How long it is since we have exchanged salutations and -reported progress! Happy the country which is without a history! _I_ -have had no history to communicate, and I hope that you have had none -either, and that the summer has glided away as happily for you as it has -for us. Now it begins to fade towards the horizon over which so many -ancient summers have slipped, and our household is on the point of -"breaking up" just when the season invites one most imperiously to stay. -_Dang_ all schools and colleges, say I. Alice goes down tomorrow (I -being up here with the Merrimans only for one day) to start Billy for -Europe--he will spend the winter at Geneva University--and to get "the -house" ready for our general reception on the 26th. I may possibly make -out to stay up here till the Monday following, and spend the interval of -a few days by myself among the mountains, having stuck to the domestic -hearth unusually tight all summer.... - -We have had guests--too many of them, rather, at one time, for me--and a -little reading has been done, mostly philosophical technics, which, by -the strange curse laid upon Adam, certain of his descendants have been -doomed to invent and others, still more damned, to learn. But I've also -read Stevenson's letters, which everybody ought to read just to know how -charming a human being can be, and I've read a good part of Goethe's -_Gedichte_ once again, which are also to be read, so that one may -realize how absolutely healthy an organization may every now and then -eventuate into this world. To have such a lyrical gift and to treat it -with so little solemnity, so that most of the output consists of mere -escape of the over-tension into bits of occasional verse, irresponsible, -unchained, like smoke-wreaths!--it _du_ give one a great impression of -personal power. In general, though I'm a traitor for saying so, it seems -to me that the German race has been a more massive organ of expression -for the travail of the Almighty than the Anglo-Saxon, though we did seem -to have something more like it in Elizabethan times. Or are clearness -and dapperness the absolutely final shape of creation? Good-bye! dear -Fanny--you see how mouldy I am temporarily become. The moment I take my -pen, I can write in no other way. Write thou, and let me know that -things are greener and more vernal where you are. Alice would send much -love to you, were she here. Give mine to your mother, brother, and -sister-in-law, and all. Your loving, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry L. Higginson._ - - -CAMBRIDGE, MASS., _Nov. 1, 1902_. - -DEAR HENRY,--I am emboldened to the step I am taking by the -consciousness that though we are both at least sixty years old and have -known each other from the cradle, I have never but once (or possibly -twice) traded on your well-known lavishness of disposition to swell any -"subscription" which I was trying to raise. - -Now the doomful hour has struck. The altar is ready, and I take the -victim by the ear. I choose you for a victim because you still have some -undesiccated human feeling about you and can think in terms of pure -charity--for the love of God, without ulterior hopes of returns from the -investment. - -The subject is a man of fifty who can be recommended to no other kind of -a benefactor. His story is a long one, but it amounts to this, that -Heaven made him with no other power than that of thinking and writing, -and he has proved by this time a truly pathological inability to keep -body and soul together. He is abstemious to an incredible degree, is the -most innocent and harmless of human beings, isn't propagating his kind, -has never had a dime to spend except for vital necessities, and never -has had in his life an hour of what such as _we_ call freedom from care -or of "pleasure" in the ordinary exuberant sense of the term. He is -refinement itself mentally and morally; and his writings have all been -printed in first-rate periodicals, but are too scanty to "pay." There's -no excuse for him, I admit. But God made him; and after kicking and -cuffing and prodding him for twenty years, I have now come to believe -that he ought to be treated in charity pure and simple (even though that -be a vice) and I want to guarantee him $350 a year as a pension to be -paid to the Mills Hotel in Bleecker Street, New York, for board and -lodging and a few cents weekly over and above. I will put in $150. I -have secured $100 more. Can I squeeze £50 a year out of you for such a -non-public cause? If not, don't reply and forget this letter. If "ja" -and you think you really can afford it, and it isn't wicked, let me -know, and I will dun you regularly every year for the $50. Yours as -ever, - -Wm. James. - -It is a great compliment that I address you. Most men say of such a -case, "Is the man deserving?" Whereas the real point is, "Does he need -us?" What is deserving nowadays? - - * * * * * - -The beneficiary of this appeal was that same unfulfilled promise of a -metaphysician who appeared as "X" on page 292 of the first volume--a man -upon whom, in Cicero's phrase, none but a philosopher could look without -a groan. There were more parallels to X's case than it would be -permissible to cite here. James did not often appeal to others to help -such men with money, but he did things for them himself, even after it -had become evident that they could give nothing to the world in return, -and even when they had exhausted his patience. "Damn your -half-successes, your imperfect geniuses!" he exclaimed of another who -shall be called Z. "I'm tired of making allowances for them and propping -them up.... Z has never constrained himself in his life. Selfish, -conceited, affected, a monster of desultory intellect, he has become now -a seedy, almost sordid, old man without even any intellectual residuum -from his work that can be called a finished construction; only -'suggestions' and a begging old age." But Z, too, was helped to the end. - - - - -_To Henri Bergson._ - - -Cambridge, _Dec. 14, 1902_. - -MY DEAR SIR,--I read the copy of your "Matière et Mémoire" which you so -kindly sent me, immediately on receiving it, four years ago or more. I -saw its great originality, but found your ideas so new and vast that I -could not be sure that I fully understood them, although the _style_, -Heaven knows, was lucid enough. So I laid the book aside for a second -reading, which I have just accomplished, slowly and carefully, along -with that of the "Données Immédiates," etc. - -I think I understand the main lines of your system very well at -present--though of course I can't yet trace its proper relations to the -aspects of experience of which you do not treat. It needs much building -out in the direction of Ethics, Cosmology and Cosmogony, Psychogenesis, -etc., before one can apprehend it fully. That I should take it in so -much more easily than I did four years ago shows that even at the age of -sixty one's mind can grow--a pleasant thought. - -It is a work of exquisite genius. It makes a sort of Copernican -revolution as much as Berkeley's "Principles" or Kant's "Critique" did, -and will probably, as it gets better and better known, open a new era of -philosophical discussion. It fills _my_ mind with all sorts of new -questions and hypotheses and brings the old into a most agreeable -liquefaction. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. - -The _Hauptpunkt_ acquired for me is your conclusive demolition of the -dualism of object and subject in perception. I believe that the -"transcendency" of the object will not recover from your treatment, and -as I myself have been working for many years past on the same line, only -with other general conceptions than yours, I find myself most agreeably -corroborated. My health is so poor now that work goes on very slowly; -but I am going, if I live, to write a general system of metaphysics -which, in many of its fundamental ideas, agrees closely with what you -have set forth and the agreement inspires and encourages me more than -you can well imagine. It would take far too many words to attempt any -detail, but some day I hope to send you the book.[42] - -How good it is sometimes simply to _break away_ from all old categories, -deny old worn-out beliefs, and restate things _ab initio_, making the -lines of division fall into entirely new places! - -I send you a little popular lecture of mine on immortality,[43]--no -positive theory but merely an _argumentum ad hominem_ for the ordinary -cerebralistic objection,--in which it may amuse you to see a formulation -like your own that the brain is an organ of _filtration_ for spiritual -life. - -I also send you my last book, the "Varieties of Religious Experience," -which may some time beguile an hour. Believe, dear Professor Bergson, -the high admiration and regard with which I remain, always sincerely -yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Mrs. Louis Agassiz._ - - -Cambridge, _Dec. 15, 1902_. - -DEAR MRS. AGASSIZ,--I never dreamed of your replying to that note of -mine (of Dec. 5th). If you are replying to all the notes you received on -that eventful day, it seems to me a rather heavy penalty for becoming an -octogenarian.[44] But glad I am that you replied to mine, and so -beautifully. Indeed I do remember the meeting of those two canoes, and -the dance, over the river from Manaos; and many another incident and -hour of that wonderful voyage.[45] I remember your freshness of -interest, and readiness to take hold of everything, and what a blessing -to me it was to have one civilized lady in sight, to keep the memory of -cultivated conversation from growing extinct. I remember my own folly in -wishing to return home after I came out of the hospital at Rio; and my -general greenness and incapacity as a naturalist afterwards, with my -eyes gone to pieces. It was all because my destiny was to be a -"philosopher"--a fact which then I didn't know, but which only means, I -think, that, if a man is good for nothing else, he can at least teach -philosophy. But I'm going to write one book worthy of you, dear Mrs. -Agassiz, and of the Thayer expedition, if I am spared a couple of years -longer. - -I hope you were not displeased at the _applause_ the other night, as you -went out. _I_ started it; if I hadn't, someone else would a moment -later, for the tension had grown intolerable. - -How delightful about the Radcliffe building! - -Well, once more, dear Mrs. Agassiz, we both thank you for this beautiful -and truly affectionate letter. Your affectionate, - -Wm. James. - -E. L. Godkin had recently died, and at the date of the next letter a -movement was on foot to raise money for a memorial in commemoration of -his public services. The money was soon subscribed and the Memorial took -shape in the endowment of the Godkin Lectureship at Harvard. James had -started discussion of the project at a meeting of the dinner Club and -Henry L. Higginson had continued it in a letter to which the following -replied. - - - - -_To Henry L. Higginson._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb. 8, 1903_. - -DEAR HENRY,--I am sorry to have given a wrong impression, and made you -take the trouble of writing--nutritious though your letters be to -receive. My motive in mentioning the Godkin testimonial was pure -curiosity, and not desire to promote it. We were ten "liberals" -together, and I wanted to learn how many of us had been alienated from -Godkin by his temper in spite of having been influenced by his writing. -I found that it was just about half and half. I never said--Heaven bear -me witness--that I had learned more from G. than from anyone. I said I -had got more _political_ education from him. You see the "Nation" took -me at the age of 22--you were already older and wickeder. If you follow -my advice now, you don't subscribe a cent to this memorial. _I_ shall -subscribe $100, for mixed reasons. Godkin's "home life" was very -different from his life against the world. When a man differed in type -from him, and consequently reacted differently on public matters; he -thought him a preposterous monster, pure and simple, and so treated him. -He couldn't imagine a different kind of creature from himself in -politics. But in private relations he was simplicity and sociability and -affectionateness incarnate, and playful as a young opossum. I never knew -his first wife well, but I admire the pluck and fidelity of the second, -and I note your chivalrous remarks about the sex, including Mrs. W. J., -to whom report has been made of them, making her blush with pleasure. - -Don't subscribe, dear Henry. I am not trying to raise subscriptions. You -left too early Friday eve. Ever affectionately yours, - -W. J. - -James's college class finished its work at the end of the first half of -the academic year, and in early February he turned for a few days to the -thought of a Mediterranean voyage, as a vacation and a means of escape -from Cambridge during the bad weather of March. While considering this -plan, he cabled M. Bergson to inquire as to the possibility of a meeting -in Paris or elsewhere. - - - - -_To Henri Bergson._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb. 25, 1903_. - -DEAR PROFESSOR BERGSON,--Your most obliging cablegram (with 8 words -instead of four!) arrived duly a week ago, and now I am repenting that I -ever asked you to send it, for I have been feeling so much less fatigued -than I did a month ago, that I have given up my passage to the -Mediterranean, and am seriously doubting whether it will be necessary to -leave home at all. I _ought_ not to, on many grounds, unless my health -imperatively requires it. Pardon me for having so frivolously stirred -you up, and permit me at least to pay the cost (as far as I can -ascertain it) of the despatch which you were so liberal as to send. - -There is still a bare possibility (for I am so strongly tempted) that I -may, after the middle of March, take a cheaper vessel direct to England -or to France, and spend ten days or so in Paris and return almost -immediately. In that case, we could still have our interview. I think -there must be great portions of your philosophy which you have not yet -published, and I want to see how well they combine with mine. _Writing_ -is too long and laborious a process, and I would not inflict on you the -task of answering my questions by letter, so I will still wait in the -hope of a personal interview some time. - -I am convinced that a philosophy of _pure experience_, such as I -conceive yours to be, can be made to work, and will reconcile many of -the old inveterate oppositions of the schools. I think that your radical -denial (the manner of it at any rate) of the notion that the brain can -be in any way the _causa fiendi_ of consciousness, has introduced a very -sudden clearness, and eliminated a part of the idealistic paradox. But -your unconscious or subconscious permanence of memories is in its turn a -notion that offers difficulties, seeming in fact to be the equivalent of -the "soul" in another shape, and the manner in which these memories -"insert" themselves into the brain action, and in fact the whole -conception of the difference between the outer and inner worlds in your -philosophy, still need to me a great deal of elucidation. But behold me -challenging you to answer me _par écrit_! - -I have read with great delight your article in the "Revue de -Métaphysique" for January, agree thoroughly with all its critical part, -and wish that I might see in your _intuition métaphysique_ the full -equivalent for a philosophy of concepts. _Neither_ seems to be a full -equivalent for the other, unless indeed the intuition becomes completely -mystical (and that I am willing to believe), but I don't think that that -is just what _you_ mean. The _Syllabus_[46] which I sent you the other -day is (I fear), from its great abbreviation, somewhat unintelligible, -but it will show you the sort of lines upon which I have been working. I -think that a normal philosophy, like a science, must live by -hypotheses--I think that the indispensable hypothesis in a philosophy of -pure experience is that of many kinds of other experience than ours, - - { co-consciousness } -that the question of { } (its conditions, etc.) - { conscious synthesis } - -becomes a most urgent question, as does also the question of the -relations of what is possible only to what is actual, what is past or -future to what is present. These are all urgent matters in your -philosophy also, I imagine. How exquisitely you do _write_! Believe me, -with renewed thanks for the telegram, yours most sincerely, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 30, 1903_. - -MY DEAR FLOURNOY,--I forget whether I wrote you my applause or not, on -reading your chapter on religious psychology in the "Archives." I -thought it a splendid thing, and well adapted to set the subject in the -proper light before students. Abauzit has written to me for -authorization to translate my book, and both he and W. J., Junior, have -quoted you as assured of his competency. I myself feel confident of it, -and have given him the authorization required. Possibly you may supply -him with as much of your own translation as you have executed, so that -the time you have spent on the latter may not be absolutely lost. -"Billy" also says that you have executed a review of Myers's book,[47] -finding it a more difficult task than you had anticipated. I am highly -curious to see what you have found to say. I, also, wrote a notice of -the volumes, and found it exceeding difficult to know how to go at the -job. At last I decided just to skeletonize the points of his reasoning, -but on correcting the proof just now, what I have written seems deadly -flat and unprofitable and makes me wish that I had stuck to my original -intention of refusing to review the book at all. The fact is, such a -book need not be _criticized_ at all at present. It is obviously too -soon for it to be either refuted or established by mere criticism. It -is a hypothetical construction of genius which must be kept hanging up, -as it were, for new observations to be referred to. As the years -accumulate these in a more favorable or in a more unfavorable sense, it -will tend to stand or to fall. I confess that reading the volumes has -given me a higher opinion than ever of Myers's constructive gifts, but -on the whole a lower opinion of the objective solidity of the system. So -many of the facts which form its pillars are still dubious.[48] - -Bill says that you were again convinced by Eusapia,[49] but that the -conditions were not satisfactory enough (so I understood) to make the -experiments likely to convince absent hearers. Forever baffling is all -this subject, and I confess that I begin to lose my interest. Believe -me, in whatever difficulties your review of Myers may have occasioned -you, you have my fullest sympathy! - -Bill has had a perfectly splendid winter in Geneva, thanks almost -entirely to your introductions, and to the generous manner in which you -took him into your own family. I wish we could ever requite you by -similar treatment of Henri, or of _ces demoiselles_. He seems to labor -under an apprehension of not being able to make you all believe how -appreciative and grateful he is, and he urges me to "Make you understand -it" when I write. I imagine that you understand it anyhow, so far as he -is concerned, so I simply assure you that _our_ gratitude here is of the -strongest and sincerest kind. I imagine that this has been by far the -most profitable and educative winter of his life, and I rejoice -exceedingly that he has obtained in so short a time so complete a sense -of being at home in, and so lively an affection for, the Swiss people -and country. (As for _your_ family he has written more than once that -the Flournoy family seems to be "the finest family" he has ever seen in -his life.) - -His experience is a good measure of the improvement in the world's -conditions. Thirty years ago _I_ spent nine months in Geneva--but in how -inferior an "Academy," and with what inferior privileges and -experiences! Never inside a private house, and only after three months -or more familiar enough with other students to be admitted to -Zofingue.[50] Ignorant of 1000 things which have come to my son and -yours in the course of education. It _is_ a more evolved world, and no -mistake. - -I find myself very tired and unable to work this spring, but I think it -will depart when I get to the country, as we soon shall. I am neither -writing nor lecturing, and reading nothing heavy, only Emerson's works -again (divine things, some of them!) in order to make a fifteen-minute -address about him on his centennial birthday. What I want to get at, and -let no interruptions interfere, is (at last) my _system of tychistic and -pluralistic philosophy of pure experience_. - -I wish, and even more ardently does Alice wish, that you and Mrs. -Flournoy, and all the children, or any of them, might pay us a visit. I -don't _urge_ you, for there is so little in America that pays one to -come, except sociological observation. But in the big slow steamers, the -voyage is always interesting--and once here, how happy we should be to -harbor you. In any case, perhaps Henri and one of his sisters will come -and spend a year. From the point of view of education, Cambridge is -first-rate. Love to you all from us both. - -Wm. James. - -Late in April came a letter from Henry James in which he spoke, as if -with many misgivings, of returning to America for a six months' visit. -"I should wish," he said, "to write a book of 'impressions' and to that -end get quite away from Boston and New York--really _see_ the country at -large. On the other hand I don't see myself prowling alone in Western -cities and hotels or finding my way about by myself, and it is all -darksome and tangled. Some light may break--but meanwhile next Wednesday -(awful fact) is my 60th birthday." He had not been in America for more -than twenty years, and had never known anything of the country outside -of New England and New York. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -Cambridge, _May 3, 1903_. - -...Your long and _inhaltsvoll_ letter of April 10th arrived duly, and -constituted, as usual, an "event." Theodora had already given us your -message of an intended visit to these shores; and your letter made Alice -positively overflow with joyous anticipations. On my part they are less -unmixed, for I feel more keenly a good many of the _désagréments_ to -which you will inevitably be subjected, and imagine the sort of physical -loathing with which many features of our national life will inspire you. -It takes a long time to notice such things no longer. One thing, for -example, which would reconcile _me_ most easily to abandoning my native -country forever would be the certainty of immunity, when traveling, from -the sight of my fellow beings at hotels and dining-cars having their -boiled eggs brought to them, broken by a negro, two in a cup, and eaten -with butter. How irrational this dislike is, is proved both by logic, -and by the pleasure taken in the custom by the élite of mankind over -here.... Yet of such irrational sympathies and aversions (quite -conventional for the most part) does our pleasure in a country depend, -and in your case far more than in that of most men. The _vocalization_ -of our countrymen is really, and not conventionally, so ignobly awful -that the process of hardening oneself thereto is very slow, and would in -your case be impossible. It is simply incredibly loathsome. I should -hate to have you come and, as a result, feel that you had now _done_ -with America forever, even in an ideal and imaginative sense, which -after a fashion you can still indulge in. As far as your copyright -interests go, couldn't they be even more effectually and just as cheaply -or more cheaply attended to by your [engaging an agent] over here. Alice -foresees Lowell [Institute] lectures; but lectures have such an awful -side (when not academic) that I myself have foresworn them--it is a sort -of prostitution of one's person. This is rather a throwing of cold -water; but it is well to realize both sides, and I think I can realize -certain things for you better than the sanguine and hospitable Alice -does. - -Now for the other side, there are things in the American out-of-door -nature, as well as comforts indoors that can't be beat, and from which -_I_ get an infinite pleasure. If you avoided the _banalité_ of the -Eastern cities, and traveled far and wide, to the South, the Colorado, -over the Canadian Pacific to that coast, possibly to the Hawaiian -Islands, etc., you would get some reward, at the expense, it is true, of -a considerable amount of cash. I think you ought to come in March or -April and stay till the end of October or into November. The hot summer -months you could pass in an absolutely quiet way--if you wished to--at -Chocorua with us, where you could do as much writing as you liked, -continuous, and undisturbed, and would (I am sure) grow fond of, as you -grew more and more intimate with, the sweet rough country there. After -June, 1904, _I_ shall be free, to go and come as I like, for I have -fully decided to resign, and nothing would please me so well (if I found -then that I could afford it) as to do some of that proposed traveling -along with you. I could take you into certain places that perhaps you -wouldn't see alone. Don't come therefore, if you do come, before the -spring of 1904! - -I have been doing nothing in the way of work of late, and consequently -have kept my fatigue somewhat at bay. The reading of the divine Emerson, -volume after volume, has done me a lot of good, and, strange to say, has -thrown a strong practical light on my own path. The incorruptible way in -which he followed his own vocation, of seeing such truths as the -Universal Soul vouchsafed to him from day to day and month to month, and -reporting them in the right literary form, and thereafter kept his -limits absolutely, refusing to be entangled with irrelevancies however -urging and tempting, knowing both his strength and its limits, and -clinging unchangeably to the rural environment which he once for all -found to be most propitious, seems to me a moral lesson to all men who -have any genius, however small, to foster. I see now with absolute -clearness, that greatly as I have been helped and enlarged by my -University business hitherto, the time has come when the remnant of my -life must be passed in a different manner, contemplatively namely, and -with leisure and simplification for the one remaining thing, which is to -report in one book, at least, such impression as my own intellect has -received from the Universe. This I mean to stick to, and am only sorry -that I am obliged to stay in the University one other year. It is giving -up the inessentials which have grown beyond one's powers, for the sake -of the duties which, after all, are most essentially imposed on one by -the nature of one's powers. - -Emerson is exquisite! I think I told you that I have to hold forth in -praise of him at Concord on the 25th--in company with Senator Hoar, T. -W. Higginson, and Charles Norton--quite a _vieille garde_, to which I -now seem to belong. You too have been leading an Emersonian life--though -the environment differs to suit the needs of the different -psychophysical organism which you present. - -I have but little other news to tell you. Charles Peirce is lecturing -here--queer being.... Boott is in good spirits, and as sociable as ever. -Grace Norton ditto. I breakfasted this Sunday morning, as of yore, with -Theodora [Sedgwick], who had a bad voyage in length but not in quality, -though she lay in her berth the whole time. I can hardly conceive of -being willing to travel under such conditions. Otherwise we are well -enough, except Peggy, whose poor condition I imagine to result from -influenza. Aleck has been regenerated through and through by "bird -lore," happy as the day is long, and growing acquainted with the country -all about Boston. All in consequence of a neighboring boy on the street, -14 years old and an ornithological genius, having taken him under his -protection. Yesterday, all day long in the open air, from seven to -seven, at Wayland, spying and listening to birds, counting them, and -writing down their names! - -I shall go off tomorrow or next day to the country again, by myself, -joining Henry Higginson and a colleague at the end of the week, and -returning by the 14th for Ph.D. examinations which I hate profoundly. H. -H. has bought some five miles of the shore of Lake Champlain adjoining -his own place there, and thinks of handing it over to the University for -the surveying, engineering, forestry and mining school. He is as -liberal-hearted a man as the Lord ever walloped entrails into.... - -What a devil of a bore your forced purchase of the unnecessary -neighboring land must have been. _I_ am just buying 150 acres more at -Chocorua, to round off our second estate there. Keep well and -prolific--everyone speaks praise of your "Better Sort," which I am -keeping for the country.... - - - - -_To his Daughter._ - - -FABYANS, N. H., _May 6, 1903_. - -SWEET MARY,--Although I wrote to thy mother this P.M. I can't refrain -from writing to thee ere I go up to bed. I left Intervale at 3.30 under -a cloudy sky and slight rain, passing through the gloomy Notch to -Crawford's and then here, where I am lodged in a house full of working -men, though with a good clean bedroom. I write this in the office, with -an enormous air-tight stove, a parrot and some gold-fish as my -companions. I took a slow walk of an hour and a half before supper over -this great dreary mountain plateau, pent in by hills and woods still -free from buds. Although it is only 1500 feet high, the air is real -mountain air, soft and strong at once. I wish that you could have taken -that four-hour drive with Topsy[51] and me this morning. You would -already be well--it had so healing an influence. Poverty-stricken this -New Hampshire country may be--weak in a certain sense, shabby, thin, -pathetic--say all that, yet, like "Jenny," it _kissed_ me; and it is not -_vulgar_--even H. J. can't accuse it of that--or of "stodginess," -especially at this emaciated season. It remains pure, and clear and -distinguished--Bless it! Once more, would thou hadst been along! I have -just been reading Emerson's "Representative Men." What luminous truths -he communicates about their home-life--for instance: "Nature never -sends a Great Man into the planet without confiding the secret to -another soul"--namely your mother's! How he hits her off, and how I -recognized whom he meant immediately. Kiss the dear tender-hearted -thing. - -Common men also have their advantages. I have seen all day long such a -succession of handsome, stalwart, burnt-faced, out-of-door workers as -made me glad to be, however degenerate myself, one of their tribe. -Splendid, honest, good-natured fellows. - -Good-night! I'm now going to bed, to read myself to sleep with a tiptop -novel sent me by one Barry, an old pupil of mine. 'T is called "A -Daughter of Thespis." Is this the day of your mother's great and noble -lunch? If so, I pray that it may have gone off well. Kisses to her, and -all. Your loving - -PAPA. - -The next letter describes the Emerson Centenary at Concord. The Address -which James delivered was published in the special volume commemorative -of the proceedings, and also in "Memories and Studies." - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -Cambridge, _May 26, 1903_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--On Friday I called at your house and to my sorrow found -the blinds all down. I had not supposed that you would leave so soon, -though I might well have done so if I had reflected. It has been a -sorrow to me to have seen so little of you lately, but so goes the -_train du monde_. Collapsed condition, absences, interruptions of all -sorts, have made the year end with most of the desiderata postponed to -next year. I meant to write to you on Friday evening, then on Saturday -morning. But I went to Lincoln on Saturday P.M. and stayed over the -Emerson racket, without returning home, and have been packing and -winding up affairs all day in order to get off to Chocorua tomorrow at -7.30. These windings up of unfinished years continue till the unfinished -life winds up. - -I wish that you had been at Concord. It was the most harmoniously -ĉsthetic or ĉsthetically harmonious thing! The weather, the beauty of -the village, the charming old meeting-house, the descendants of the -grand old man in such profusion, the mixture of Concord and Boston -heads, so many of them of our own circle, the allusions to great -thoughts and things, and the old-time New England rusticity and -rurality, the silver polls and ancient voices of the _vieille garde_ who -did the orating (including this 'yer child), all made a matchless -combination, took one back to one's childhood, and made that rarely -realized marriage of reality with ideality, that usually only occurs in -fiction or poetry. - -It was a sweet and memorable day, and I am glad that I had an active -share in it. I thank you for your sweet words to Alice about my address. -I let R. W. E. speak for himself, and I find now, hearing so much from -others of him, that there are only a few things that _can_ be said of -him; he was so squarely and simply himself as to impress every one in -the same manner. Reading the whole of him over again continuously has -made me feel his real greatness as I never did before. He's really a -critter to be thankful for. Good-night, dear Fanny. I shall be back here -by Commencement, and somehow we must see you at Chocorua this summer. - -Love to your mother as well as to yourself, from your ever affectionate - -Wm. James. - -The letter of May 3rd drew from Henry James a long reply which may be -found in the "Letters of Henry James," under date of May 24th; the -reply, in its turn, elicited this response:-- - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -CHOCORUA, _June 6, 1903_. - -DEAREST HENRY,--Your long and excitingly interesting type-written letter -about coming hither arrived yesterday, and I hasten to retract all my -dampening remarks, now that I understand the motives fully. The only -ones I had imagined, blindling that I am, were fraternal piety and -patriotic duty. Against those I thought I ought to proffer the thought -of "eggs" and other shocks, so that when they came I might be able to -say that you went not unwarned. But the moment it appears that what you -crave is millions of just such shocks, and that a new lease of artistic -life, with the lamp of genius fed by the oil of twentieth-century -American life, is to be the end and aim of the voyage, all my stingy -doubts wither and are replaced by enthusiasm that you are still so -young-feeling, receptive and hungry for more raw material and -experience. It cheers me immensely, and makes me feel more so myself. It -is pathetic to hear you talk so about your career and its going to seed -without the contact of new material; but feeling as you do about the new -material, I augur a great revival of energy and internal effervescence -from the execution of your project. Drop your English ideas and take -America and Americans as they take themselves, and you will certainly -experience a rejuvenation. This is all I have to say _today_--merely to -let you see how the prospect exhilarates us. - -August, 1904, will be an excellent time to begin. I should like to go -South with you,--possibly to Cuba,--but as for California, I fear the -expense. I am sending you a decidedly moving book by a mulatto -ex-student of mine, Du Bois, professor of history at Atlanta (Georgia) -negro College.[52] Read Chapters VII to XI for local color, etc. - -We have been up here for ten days; the physical luxury of the -simplification is something that money can't buy. Every breath is a -pleasure--this in spite of the fact that the whole country is drying up -and burning up--it makes one ashamed that one can be so happy. The smoke -here has been so thick for five days that the opposite shore [of the -Lake] is hidden. We have a first-rate hired man, a good cow, nice horse, -dog, cook, second-girl, etc. Come up and see us in August, 1904! Your -ever loving - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry W. Rankin._ - - -CHOCORUA, _June 10, 1903_. - -MY DEAR RANKIN,--Once more has my graphophobia placed me heavily in your -debt. Your two long letters, though unanswered, were and are -appreciated, in spite of the fact that, as you know, I do not (and I -fear cannot) follow the gospel scheme as you do, and that the Bible -itself, in both its testaments (omitting parts of John and the -Apocalypse) seems to me, by its intense naturalness and humanness, the -most fatal document that one can read against the orthodox theology, in -so far as the latter claims the words of the Bible to be its basis. I -myself believe that the orthodox theology contains elements that are -permanently true, and that such writers as Emerson, by reason of their -extraordinary healthy-mindedness and "once-born"-ness, are incapable of -appreciating. I believe that they will have to be expressed in any -ultimately valid religious philosophy; and I see in the temper of -friendliness of such a man as you for such writings as Emerson's and -mine (_magnus comp. parvo_) a foretaste of the day when the abstract -essentials of belief will be the basis of communion more than the -particular forms and concrete doctrines in which they articulate -themselves. Your letter about Emerson seemed to me so admirably written -that I was on the point of sending it back to you, thinking it might be -well that you should publish it somewhere. I will still do so, if you -ask me. I have myself been a little scandalized at the non-resisting -manner in which orthodox sheets have celebrated his anniversary. An -"Emerson number" of "Zion's Herald" strikes me as _tant soit peu_ of an -anomaly, and yet I am told that such a number appeared. Rereading him -_in extenso_, almost _in toto_, lately, has made him loom larger than -ever to me as a human being, but I feel the distinct lack in him of too -little understanding of the morbid side of life. - -I have been in the country two weeks, delicious in spite of drought and -smoke, and still more delicious now that rain has come, and I cannot -bear to think of you still lingering in Brooklyn. Perhaps you are -already at Northfield. Indeed I hope so, and that the long Brooklyn -winter will have put you in a condition for its better enjoyment, and -for better cooperation with its work. - -I shall get at Shields some day--but I'm slow in getting round! Yours -ever faithfully, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -Cambridge, _Aug. 18, 1903_. - -DEAR M.,-- ...I am in good condition, but in somewhat of a funk about my -lectures,[53] now that the audience draws near. I have got my mind -working on the infernal old problem of mind and brain, and how to -construct the world out of pure experiences, and feel foiled again and -inwardly sick with the fever. But I verily believe that it is only work -that makes one sick in that way that has any chance of breaking old -shells and getting a step ahead. It is a sort of madness however when it -is on you. The total result is to make me admire "Common Sense" as -having done by far the biggest stroke of genius ever made in philosophy -when it reduced the chaos of crude experience to order by its luminous -_Denkmittel_ of the stable "thing," and its dualism of thought and -matter. - -I find Strong's book charming and a wonderful piece of clear and -thorough work--quite classical in fact, and surely destined to renown. -The Clifford-Prince-Strong theory has now full rights to citizenship. - -Nevertheless, in spite of his so carefully blocking every avenue which -leads sideways from his conclusion, he has not convinced me yet. But I -can[not] say briefly why.... Yours in haste, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Mrs. Henry Whitman._ - - -HOTEL ----, -PORT HENRY, N.Y., _Aug. 22, 1903_. - -DEAR FRIEND,--Obliged to "stop over" for the night at this loathsome -spot, for lack of train connexion, what is more natural than that I -should seek to escape the odious actual by turning to the distant -Ideal--by which term you will easily recognize _Yourself_. I didn't -write the conventional letter to you after leaving your house in June, -preferring to wait till the tension should accumulate, and knowing your -indulgence of my unfashionable ways. I haven't heard a word about you -since that day, but I hope that the times have treated you kindly, and -that you have not been "overdoing" in your usual naughty way. I, with -the exception of six days lately with the Merrimans, have been sitting -solidly at home, and have found myself in much better condition than I -was in last summer, and consequently better than for several years. It -is pleasant to find that one's organism has such reparative capacities -even after sixty years have been told out. But I feel as if the -remainder couldn't be very long, at least for "creative" purposes, and I -find myself eager to get ahead with work which unfortunately won't allow -itself to be done in too much of a hurry. I am convinced that the desire -to formulate truths is a virulent disease. It has contracted an alliance -lately in me with a feverish personal ambition, which I never had -before, and which I recognize as an unholy thing in such a connexion. I -actually dread to die until I have settled the Universe's hash in one -more book, which shall be _epoch-machend_ at last, and a title of honor -to my children! Childish idiot--as if formulas about the Universe could -ruffle its majesty, and as if the common-sense world and its duties were -not eternally the really real!--I am on my way from Ashfield, where I -was a guest at the annual dinner, to _feu_ Davidson's "school" at -Glenmore, where, in a sanguine hour, I agreed to give five discourses. -Apparently they are having a good season there. Mrs. Booker Washington -was the hero of the Ashfield occasion--a big hearty handsome natural -creature, quite worthy to be her husband's mate. Fred Pollock made a -tip-top speech.... Charles Norton appeared to great advantage as a -benignant patriarch, and the place was very pretty. Have you read Loti's -"Inde sans les Anglais"? If not, then begin. I seem to myself to have -been doing some pretty good reading this summer, but when I try to -recall it, nothing but philosophic works come up. Good-bye! and Heaven -keep you! Yours affectionately, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -CHOCORUA, _Sept. 24, 1903_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--It is so long since we have held communion that I think -it is time to recommence. Our summer is ending quietly enough, not only -you, but Theodora and Mary Tappan, having all together conspired to -leave us in September solitude, and some young fellows, companions of -Harry and Billy, having just gone down. The cook goes tomorrow for a -fortnight of vacation, but Alice and I, and probably both the older -boys, hope to stay up here more or less until the middle of October. My -"seminary" begins on Friday, October 2nd, and for the rest of the year -Friday is my only day with a college exercise in it--an arrangement -which leaves me extraordinarily free, and of which I intend to take -advantage by making excursions. Hitherto, during the entire 30 years of -my College service, I have had a midday exercise every day in the week. -This has always kept me tied too tight to Cambridge. I am _vastly_ -better in nervous tone than I was a year ago, my work is simplified down -to the exact thing I want to do, and I ought to be happy in spite of the -lopping off of so many faculties of activity. The only thing to do, as -with the process of the suns one finds one's faculties dropping away one -by one, is to be good-natured about it, remember that the next -generation is as young as ever, and try to live and have a sympathetic -share in their activities. I spent three days lately (only three, alas!) -at the "Shanty" [in Keene Valley], and was moved to admiration at the -foundation for a consciousness that was being laid in the children by -the bare-headed and bare-legged existence "close to nature" of which the -memory was being stored up in them in these years. They lay around the -camp-fire at night at the feet of their elders, in every attitude of -soft recumbency, heads on stomachs and legs mixed up, happy and dreamy, -just like the young of some prolific carnivorous species. The coming -generation ought to reap the benefit of all this healthy animality. What -wouldn't I give to have been educated in it!... - - - - -_To Mrs. Henry Whitman._ - - -Cambridge, _Oct. 29, 1903_. - -MY DEAR "S. W.,"--On inquiry at your studio last Monday I was told that -you would be in the country for ten days or a fortnight more. I confess -that this pleased me much for it showed you both happy and prudent. -Surely the winter is long enough, however much we cut off of this -end--the city winter I mean; and the country this month has been little -short of divine. - -We came down on the 16th, and I have to get mine (my country, I mean) -from the "Norton Woods." But they are very good indeed,--indeed, indeed! - -I am better, both physically and morally, than for years past. The whole -James family thrives; and were it not for one's "duties" one could be -happy. But that things should give pain proves that something is being -_effected_, so I take that consolation. I have the duty on Monday of -reporting at a "Philosophical Conference" on the Chicago School of -Thought. Chicago University has during the past six months given birth -to the fruit of its ten years of gestation under John Dewey. The result -is wonderful--a _real school_, and _real Thought_. Important thought, -too! Did you ever hear of such a city or such a University? Here we -have thought, but no school. At Yale a school, but no thought. Chicago -has both.... But this, dear Madam, is not intended as a letter--only a -word of greeting and congratulation at your absence. I don't know why it -makes me so happy to hear of anyone being in the country. I suppose -_they_ must be happy. - -Your last letter went to the right spot--but I don't expect to hear from -you now until I see you. Ever affectionately yours, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -NEWPORT, _Jan. 20, 1904_. - -...I came down here the night before last, to see if a change of air -might loosen the grip of my influenza, now in its sixth week and me -still weak as a baby, almost, from its virulent effects.... Yesterday -A.M. the thermometer fell to 4 below zero. I walked as far as Tweedy's -(I am staying at a boarding-house, Mrs. Robinson's, Catherine St., close -to Touro Avenue, Daisy Waring being the only other boarder)--the snow -loudly creaking under foot and under teams however distant, the sky -luminously white and dazzling, no distance, everything equally near to -the eye, and the architecture in the town more huddled, discordant, -cheap, ugly and contemptible than I had ever seen it. It brought back -old times so vividly. So it did in the evening, when I went after sunset -down Kay Street to the termination. That low West that I've so often fed -on, with a sombre but intense crimson vestige smouldering close to the -horizon-line, economical but profound, and the western well of sky -shading upward from it through infinite shades of transparent luminosity -in darkness to the deep blue darkness overhead. It was purely American. -You never see that western sky anywhere else. Solemn and wonderful. I -should think you'd like to see it again, if only for the sake of -shuddering at it!... - - - - -_To François Pillon._ - - -Cambridge, _June 12, 1904_. - -DEAR PILLON,--Once more I get your faithful and indefatigable "Année" -and feel almost ashamed of receiving it thus from you, year after year, -when I make nothing of a return! So you are 75 years old--I had no idea -of it, but thought that you were much younger. I am only(!) 62, and wish -that I could expect another 13 years of such activity as you have shown. -I fear I cannot. My arteries are senile, and none of my ancestors, so -far as I know of them, have lived past 72, many of them dying much -earlier. This is my last day in Cambridge; tomorrow I get away into the -country, where "the family" already is, for my vacation. I shall take -your "Année" with me, and shall be greatly interested in both Danriac's -article and yours. What a mercy it is that your eyes, in spite of -cataract-operations, are still good for reading. I have had a very bad -winter for work--two attacks of influenza, one very long and bad, three -of gout, one of erysipelas, etc., etc. I expected to have written at -least 400 or 500 pages of my magnum opus,--a general treatise on -philosophy which has been slowly maturing in my mind,--but I have -written only 32 pages! That tells the whole story. I resigned from my -professorship, but they would not accept my resignation, and owing to -certain peculiarities in the financial situation of our University just -now, I felt myself obliged in honor to remain. - -My philosophy is what I call a radical empiricism, a pluralism, a -"tychism," which represents order as being gradually won and always in -the making. It is theistic, but not _essentially_ so. It rejects all -doctrines of the Absolute. It is finitist; but it does not attribute to -the question of the Infinite the great methodological importance which -you and Renouvier attribute to it. I fear that you may find my system -too _bottomless_ and romantic. I am sure that, be it in the end judged -true or false, it is essential to the evolution of clearness in -philosophic thought that _someone_ should defend a pluralistic -empiricism radically. And all that I fear is that, with the impairment -of my working powers from which I suffer, the Angel of Death may -overtake me before I can get my thoughts on to paper. Life here in the -University consists altogether of _interruptions_. - -I thought much of you at the time of Renouvier's death, and I wanted to -write; but I let that go, with a thousand other things that had to go. -What a life! and what touching and memorable last words were those which -M. Pratt published in the "Revue de Métaphysique"--memorable, I mean -from the mere fact that the old man could dictate them at all. I have -left unread his last publications, except for some parts of the -"Monadologie" and the "Personalisme." He will remain a great figure in -philosophic history; and the sense of his absence must make a great -difference to your consciousness and to that of Madame Pillon. My own -wife and children are well.... Ever affectionately yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -Cambridge, _June 28, 1904_. - -DEAR H.,--I came down from Chocorua yesterday A.M. to go to-- - -Mrs. Whitman's funeral! - -She had lost ground steadily during the winter. The last time I saw her -was five weeks ago, when at noon I went up to her studio thinking she -might be there.... She told me that she was to go on the following day -to the Massachusetts General Hospital, for a cure of rest and seclusion. -There she died last Friday evening, having improved in her cardiac -symptoms, but pneumonia supervening a week ago. It's a great mercy that -the end was so unexpectedly quick. What I had feared was a slow -deterioration for a year or more to come, with all the nameless -misery--peculiarly so in her case--of death by heart disease. As it was, -she may be said to have died standing, a thing she always wished to do. -She went to every dinner-party and evening party last winter, had an -extension, a sort of ball-room, built to her Mount Vernon house, etc. -The funeral was beautiful both in Trinity Church and at the grave in Mt. -Auburn. I was one of the eight pall-bearers--the others of whom you -would hardly know. The flowers and greenery had been arranged in -absolutely Whitmanian style by Mrs. Jack Gardner, Mrs. Henry Parkman, -and Sally Fairchild. The scene at the grave was _beautiful_. She had no -blood relatives, and all Boston--I mean the few whom we know--had gone -out, and seemed swayed by an overpowering emotion which abolished all -estrangement and self-consciousness. It was the sort of ending that -would please her, could she know of it. An extraordinary and indefinable -creature! I used often to feel coldly towards her on account of her way -of taking people as a great society "business" proceeding, but now that -her agitated life of tip-toe reaching in so many directions, of -genuinest amiability, is over, pure tenderness asserts its own. Against -that dark background of natural annihilation she seems to have been a -pathetic little slender worm, writhing and curving blindly through its -little day, expending such intensities of consciousness to terminate in -that small grave. - -She was a most peculiar person. I wish that you had known her whole life -here more intimately, and understood its significance. You might then -write a worthy article about her. For me, it is impossible to define -her. She leaves a dreadful vacuum in Boston. I have often wondered -whether I should survive her--and here it has come in the night, without -the sound of a footstep, and the same world is here--but without her as -its witness.... - - - - -_To Charles Eliot Norton._ - - -Cambridge, _June 30, 1904_. - -DEAR CHARLES,--I have just read the July "Atlantic," and am so moved by -your Ruskin letters that I can't refrain from overflowing. They seem to -me immortal documents--as the clouds clear away he will surely take his -stable place as one of the noblest of the sons of men. Mere sanity is -the most philistine and (at bottom) unimportant of a man's attributes. -The chief "cloud" is the bulk of "Modern Painters" and the other -artistic writings, which have made us take him primarily as an -art-connoisseur and critic. Regard all that as inessential, and his -inconsistencies and extravagances fall out of sight and leave the Great -Heart alone visible. - -Do you suppose that there are many other correspondents of R. who will -yield up their treasures in our time to the light? I wish that your -modesty had not suppressed certain passages which evidently expressed -too much regard for yourself. The point should have been _his_ -expression of that sort of thing--no matter to whom addressed! I -understand and sympathize fully with his attitude about our war. Granted -him and his date, that is the way he ought to have felt, and I revere -him perhaps the more for it.... - -S. W.'s sudden defection is a pathetic thing! It makes one feel like -closing the ranks. - -Affectionately--to all of you--including Theodora, - -W. J. - - - - -_To L. T. Hobhouse._ - - -CHOCORUA, _Aug. 12, 1904_. - -DEAR BROTHER HOBHOUSE,--Don't you think it a _tant soit peu_ scurvy -trick to play on me ('tis true that you don't name me, but to the -informed reader the reference is transparent--I say nothing of poor -Schiller's case) to print in the "Aristotelian Proceedings" (pages 104 -_ff_.)[54] a beautiful duplicate of my own theses in the "Will to -Believe" essay (which should have been called by the less unlucky title -the _Right_ to Believe) in the guise of an _alternative and substitute_ -for my doctrine, for which latter you, in the earlier pages of your -charmingly written essay, _substitute a travesty_ for which I defy any -candid reader to find a single justification in my text? My essay hedged -the license to indulge in private over-beliefs with so many restrictions -and signboards of danger that the outlet was narrow enough. It made of -tolerance the essence of the situation; it defined the permissible -cases; it treated the faith-attitude as a necessity for individuals, -because the total "evidence," which only the race can draw, has to -include their experiments among its data. It tended to show only that -faith could not be absolutely _vetoed_, as certain champions of -"science" (Clifford, Huxley, etc.) had claimed it ought to be. It was a -function that might lead, and probably does lead, into a wider world. -You say identically the same things; only, from your special polemic -point of view, you emphasize more the dangers; while I, from _my_ -polemic point of view, emphasized more the right to run their risk. - -Your essay, granting that emphasis and barring the injustice to me, -seems to me exquisite, and, taking it as a unit, I subscribe -unreservedly to almost every positive word.--I say "positive," for I -doubt whether you have seen enough of the extraordinarily invigorating -effect of mind-_cum_-philosophy on certain people to justify your -somewhat negative treatment of that subject; and I say "almost" because -your distinction between "spurious" and "genuine" courage (page 91) -reminds me a bit too much of "true" and "false" freedom, and other -sanctimonious come-offs.--Could you not have made an equally sympathetic -reading of _me_? - -I shouldn't have cared a copper for the misrepresentation were it not a -"summation of stimuli" affair. I have just been reading Bradley on -Schiller in the July "Mind," and A. E. Taylor on the Will to Believe in -the "McGill Quarterly" of Montreal. Both are vastly worse than you; and -I cry to Heaven to tell me of what insane root my "leading -contemporaries" have eaten, that they are so smitten with blindness as -to the meaning of printed texts. Or are we others absolutely incapable -of making our meaning clear? - -I imagine that there is neither insane root nor unclear writing, but -that in these matters each man writes from out of a field of -consciousness of which the bogey in the background is the chief object. -Your bogey is superstition; my bogey is desiccation; and each, for his -contrast-effect, clutches at any text that can be used to represent the -enemy, regardless of exegetical proprieties. - -In my essay the evil shape was a vision of "Science" in the form of -abstraction, priggishness and sawdust, lording it over all. Take the -sterilest scientific prig and cad you know, compare him with the -richest religious intellect you know, and you would not, any more than I -would, give the former the exclusive right of way. But up to page 104 of -your essay he will deem you altogether on his side. - -Pardon the familiarity of this epistle. I like and admire your theory of -Knowledge so much, and you re-duplicate (I _don't_ mean _copy_) my views -so beautifully in this article, that I hate to let you go unchidden. - -Believe me, with the highest esteem (plus some indignation, for you -ought to know better!), Yours faithfully, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Edwin D. Starbuck._ - - -SALISBURY, CONN. _Aug, 24, 1904_. - -DEAR STARBUCK,-- ...Of the strictures you make [in your review of my -"Varieties"], the first one (undue emphasis on extreme case) is, I find, -almost universally made; so it must in some sense be correct. Yet it -would never do to study the passion of love on examples of ordinary -liking or friendly affection, or that of homicidal pugnacity on examples -of our ordinary impatiences with our kind. So here it must be that the -extreme examples let us more deeply into the secrets of the religious -life, explain why the tamer ones value their religion so much, tame -though it be, because it is so continuous with a so much acuter ideal. -But I have long been conscious that there is on this matter something to -be said which neither my critics have said, nor I can say, and which I -must therefore commit to the future. - -The second stricture (in your paragraph 4 on pages 104 _ff_.) is of -course deeply important, if true. At present I can see but vaguely just -what sort of outer relations our inner organism might respond to, which -our feelings and intellect interpret by religious thought. You ought to -work your program for all it is worth in the way of growth in -definiteness. I look forward with great eagerness to your forthcoming -book, and meanwhile urge strongly that you should publish the advance -article you speak of in Hall's new Journal. I can't see any possible -risk. It will objectify a part of your material for you, and possibly, -by arousing criticism, enable you to strengthen your points. - -Your third stricture, about Higher Powers, is also very important, and I -am not at all sure that you may not be right. I have frankly to confess -that my "Varieties" carried "theory" as far as I could then carry it, -and that I can carry it no farther today. I can't see clearly over that -edge. Yet I am sure that tracks have got to be made there--I think that -the fixed point with me is the conviction that our "rational" -consciousness touches but a portion of the real universe and that our -life is fed by the "mystical" region as well. I have no mystical -experience of my own, but just enough of the germ of mysticism in me to -recognize the region from which their voice comes when I hear it. - -I was much disappointed in Leuba's review of my book in the -"International Journal of Ethics." ... I confess that the way in which -he stamps out all mysticism whatever, using the common pathological -arguments, seemed to me unduly crude. I wrote him an expostulatory -letter, which evidently made no impression at all, and which he possibly -might send you if you had the curiosity to apply. - -I am having a happy summer, feeling quite hearty again. I congratulate -you on being settled, though I know nothing of the place. I congratulate -you and Mrs. Starbuck also on airy fairy Lilian, who makes, I believe, -the third. Long may they live and make their parents proud. With best -regards to you both, I am yours ever truly, - -Wm. James. - -The "expostulatory" letter to Professor Leuba began with a series of -objections to statements which he had made, and continued with the -passage which follows. - - - - -_To James Henry Leuba._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 17, 1904_. - -...My personal position is simple. I have no living sense of commerce -with a God. I envy those who have, for I know the addition of such a -sense would help me immensely. The Divine, for my _active_ life, is -limited to abstract concepts which, as ideals, interest and determine -me, but do so but faintly, in comparison with what a feeling of God -might effect, if I had one. It is largely a question of intensity, but -differences of intensity may make one's whole centre of energy shift. -Now, although I am so devoid of _Gottesbewustsein_ in the directer and -stronger sense, yet there is _something in me_ which _makes response_ -when I hear utterances made from that lead by others. I recognize the -deeper voice. Something tells me, "_thither lies truth_"--and I am -_sure_ it is not old theistic habits and prejudices of infancy. Those -are Christian; and I have grown so out of Christianity that entanglement -therewith on the part of a mystical utterance has to be abstracted from -and overcome, before I can listen. Call this, if you like, my mystical -_germ_. It is a very common germ. It creates the rank and file of -believers. As it withstands in my case, so it will withstand in most -cases, all purely atheistic criticism, but _interpretative_ criticism -(not of the mere "hysteria" and "nerves" order) it can energetically -combine with. Your criticism seems to amount to a pure _non possumus_: -"Mystical deliverances must be infallible revelations in every -particular, or nothing. Therefore they are _nothing_, for anyone else -than their owner." Why may they not be _something_, although not -everything? - -Your only consistent position, it strikes me, would be a dogmatic -atheistic naturalism; and, without any mystical germ in us, that, I -believe, is where we all should _unhesitatingly_ be today. - -Once allow the mystical germ to influence our beliefs, and I believe -that we are in my position. Of course the "subliminal" theory is an -inessential hypothesis, and the question of pluralism or monism is -equally inessential. - -I am letting loose a deluge on you! Don't reply at length, or at all. -_I_ hate to reply to anybody, and will sympathize with your silence. But -I had to restate my position more clearly. Yours truly, - -Wm. James. - -The following document is not a letter, but a series of answers to a -questionnaire upon the subject of religious belief, which was sent out -in 1904 by Professor James B. Pratt of Williams College, and to which -James filled out a reply at an unascertained date in the autumn of that -year. - - - QUESTIONNAIRE[55] - - - It is being realized as never before that religion, as one of the - most important things in the life both of the community and of the - individual, deserves close and extended study. Such study can be of - value only if based upon the personal experiences of many - individuals. If you are in sympathy with such study and are willing - to assist in it, will you kindly write out the answers to the - following questions and return them with this questionnaire, as - soon as you conveniently can, to JAMES B. PRATT, 20 Shepard Street, - Cambridge, Mass. - - Please answer the questions at length and in detail. Do not give - philosophical generalizations, but your own personal experience. - - 1. What does religion mean to you personally? Is it - - (1) A belief that something exists? _Yes._ - - (2) An emotional experience? _Not powerfully so, yet a_ social - _reality_. - - (3) A general attitude of the will toward God or toward - righteousness! _It involves these._ - - (4) Or something else? - - If it has several elements, which is for you the most important? - _The social appeal for corroboration, consolation, etc., when - things are going wrong with my causes (my truth denied)_, etc. - - - 2. What do you mean by God? _A combination of Ideality and (final) - efficacity._ - - (1) Is He a person--if so, what do you mean by His being a person? - _He must be cognizant and responsive in some way._ - - (2) Or is He only a Force? _He must_ do. - - (3) Or is God an attitude of the Universe toward you? _Yes, but - more conscious. "God" to me, is not the only spiritual reality to - believe in. Religion means primarily a universe of spiritual - relations surrounding the earthly practical ones, not merely - relations of "value," but agencies and their activities. I suppose - that the chief premise for my hospitality towards the religious - testimony of others is my conviction that "normal" or "sane" - consciousness is so small a part of actual experience. What e'er be - true, it is not true exclusively, as philistine scientific opinion - assumes. The other kinds of consciousness bear witness to a much - wider universe of experiences, from which our belief selects and - emphasizes such parts as best satisfy our needs._ - -How do you apprehend his relation to mankind } - and to you personally? } - } _Uncertain._ -If your position on any of these matters is uncertain, } - please state the fact. } - - - 3. Why do you believe in God? Is it - - (1) From some argument? _Emphatically, no._ - - Or (2) Because you have experienced His presence? _No, but rather - because I need it so that it "must" be true._ - - Or (3) From authority, such as that of the Bible or of some - prophetic person? _Only the whole tradition of religious people, to - which something in me makes admiring response._ - - Or (4) From any other reason? _Only for the social reasons._ - -If from several of these reasons, please indicate carefully the order of -their importance. - - -4. Or do you not so much _believe_ in God as want to _use_ Him? _I can't -use him very definitely, yet I believe._ Do you accept Him not so much -as a real existent Being, but rather as an ideal to live by? _More as a -more powerful ally of my own ideals._ If you should become thoroughly -convinced that there was no God, would it make any great difference in -your life--either in happiness, morality, or in other respects? _Hard to -say. It would surely make some difference._ - - -5. Is God very real to you, as real as an earthly friend, though -different? _Dimly [real]; not [as an earthly friend]._ - -Do you feel that you have experienced His presence? If so, please -describe what you mean by such an experience. _Never._ - -How vague or how distinct is it? How does it affect you mentally and -physically? - -If you have had no such experience, do you accept the testimony of -others who claim to have felt God's presence directly? Please answer -this question with special care and in as great detail as possible. -_Yes! The whole line of testimony on this point is so strong that I am -unable to pooh-pooh it away. No doubt there is a germ in me of something -similar that makes response._ - - -6. Do you pray, and if so, why? That is, is it purely from habit, and -social custom, or do you really believe that God hears your prayers? _I -can't possibly pray--I feel foolish and artificial._ - -Is prayer with you one-sided or two-sided--_i.e._, do you sometimes feel -that in prayer you receive something--such as strength or the divine -spirit--from God? Is it a real communion? - - -7. What do you mean by "spirituality"? _Susceptibility to ideals, but -with a certain freedom to indulge in imagination about them. A certain -amount of "other worldly" fancy. Otherwise you have mere morality, or -"taste."_ - -Describe a typical spiritual person. _Phillips Brooks._ - - -8. Do you believe in personal immortality? _Never keenly; but more -strongly as I grow older._ If so, why? _Because I am just getting fit to -live._ - - -9. Do you accept the Bible as _authority_ in religious matters? Are your -religious faith and your religious life based on it? If so, how would -your belief in God and your life toward Him and your fellow men be -affected by loss of faith in the _authority_ of the Bible? _No. No. No. -It is so human a book that I don't see how belief in its divine -authorship can survive the reading of it._ - -10. What do you mean by a "religious experience"? _Any moment of life -that brings the reality of spiritual things more "home" to one._ - - - - -_To Miss Pauline Goldmark._ - - -CHOCORUA, _Sept. 21, 1904_. - -DEAR PAULINE,--Alice went off this morning to Cambridge, to get the -house ready for the advent of the rest of us a week hence--viz., -Wednesday the 28th. Having breakfasted at 6:30 to bid her God speed, the -weather was so lordly fine (after a heavy rain in the night) that I -trudged across lots to our hill-top, which you never saw, and now lie -there with my back against a stone, scribbling you these lines at -half-past nine. The vacation has run down with an appalling rapidity, -but all has gone well with us, and I have been extraordinarily well and -happy, and mean to be a good boy all next winter, to say nothing of -remoter futures. My brother Henry stayed a delightful fortnight, and -seemed to enjoy nature here intensely--found so much _sentiment_ and -feminine delicacy in it all. It is a pleasure to be with anyone who -takes in things through the eyes. Most people don't. The two "savans" -who were here noticed _absolutely nothing_, though they had never been -in America before. - -Naturally I have wondered what things your eyes have been falling on. -Many views from hill-tops? Many magic dells and brooks? I hope so, and -that it has all done you endless good. Such a green and gold and scarlet -morn as this would raise the dead. I hope that your sister Susan has -also got great good from the summer, and that the fair Josephine is glad -to be at home again, and your mother reconciled to losing you. Perhaps -even now you are preparing to go down. I have only written as a -_Lebenszeichen_ and to tell you of our dates. I expect no reply, till -you write a word to say when you are to come to Boston. Unhappily we -can't ask you to Irving St, being mortgaged three deep to foreigners. -Ever yours, - -W. J. - -It will be recalled that the St. Louis Exposition had occurred shortly -before the date of the last letter and had led a number of learned and -scientific associations to hold international congresses in America. -James kept away from St. Louis, but asked several foreign colleagues to -visit him at Chocorua or in Cambridge before their return to Europe. -Among them were Dr. Pierre Janet of Paris and his wife, Professor C. -Lloyd Morgan of Bristol, and Professor Harold Höffding of Copenhagen. - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -Cambridge, _Oct. 26, 1904_. - -DEAR SCHILLER,-- ...Last night the Janets left us--a few days previous, -Lloyd Morgan. I am glad to possess my soul for a while alone. Make much -of dear old Höffding, who is a good pluralist and irrationalist. I took -to him immensely and so did everybody. Lecturing to my class, he told -against the Absolutists an anecdote of an "American" child who asked his -mother if God made the world in six days. "Yes."--"The whole of -it?"--"Yes."--"Then it is finished, all done?"--"Yes."--"Then in what -business now is God?" If he tells it in Oxford you must reply: "Sitting -for his portrait to Royce, Bradley, and Taylor." - -Don't return the "McGill Quarterly"!--I have another copy. Good-bye! - -W. J. - - - - -_To F. J. E. Woodbridge._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb. 6, 1905_. - -DEAR WOODBRIDGE,--I appear to be growing into a graphomaniac. Truth -boils over from my organism as muddy water from a Yellowstone Geyser. -Here is another contribution to my radical empiricism, which I send hot -on the heels of the last one. I promise that, with the possible -exception of one post-scriptual thing, not more than eight pages of MS. -long, I shall do no more writing this academic year. So if you accept -this,[56] you have not much more to fear.... I think, on the whole, that -though the present article directly hitches on to the last words of my -last article, "The Thing and Its Relations," the article called the -"Essence of Humanism" had better appear before it.... Always truly yours - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Edwin D. Starbuck._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb. 12, 1905_. - -DEAR STARBUCK,--I have read your article in No. 2 of Hall's Journal with -great interest and profit. It makes me eager for the book, but pray take -great care of your style in that--it seems to me that this article is -less well written than your "Psychology of Religion" was, less clear, -more involved, more technical in language--probably the result of -rapidity. Our American philosophic literature is dreadful from a -literary point of view. Pierre Janet told me he thought it was much -worse than German stuff--and I begin to believe so; technical and -semi-technical language, half-clear thought, fluency, and no -composition! Turn your face resolutely the other way! But I didn't start -to say this. Your thought in this article is both important and -original, and ought to be worked out in the clearest possible manner.... -Your thesis needs to be worked out with great care, and as concretely as -possible. It is a difficult one to put successfully, on account of the -vague character of all its terms. One point you should drive home is -that the anti-religious attitudes (Leuba's, Huxley's, Clifford's), so -far as there is any "pathos" in them, obey exactly the same logic. The -real crux is when you come to define objectively the ideals to which -feeling reacts. "God is a Spirit"--_darauf geht es an_--on the last -available definition of the term Spirit. It may be very abstract. - -Love to Mrs. Starbuck. Yours always truly, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To F. J. E. Woodbridge._ - - -[_Feb. 22, 1905._] - -DEAR WOODBRIDGE,--Here's another! But I solemnly swear to you that this -shall be my very last offense for some months to come. This is the -"postscriptual" article[57] of which I recently wrote you, and I have -now cleaned up the pure-experience philosophy from all the objections -immediately in sight.... Truly yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -XV - -1905-1907 - - _The Last Period (II)--Italy and Greece--Philosophical Congress in - Rome--Stanford University--The Earthquake--Resignation of - Professorship_ - - -In the spring of 1905 an escape from influenza, from Cambridge duties, -and from correspondents, became imperative. James had long wanted to see -Athens with his own eyes, and he sailed on April 3 for a short southern -holiday. During the journey he wrote letters to almost no one except his -wife. On his way back from Athens he stopped in Rome with the purpose of -seeing certain young Italian philosophers. A Philosophical Congress was -being held there at the time; and James, though he had originally -declined the invitation to attend it, inevitably became involved in its -proceedings and ended by seizing the occasion to discuss his theory of -consciousness. It was obvious that the appropriate language in which to -address a full meeting of the Congress would be French, and so he shut -himself up in his hotel and composed "La Notion de Conscience." His -experience in writing this paper threw an instructive sidelight on his -process of composition. Ordinarily--when he was writing in -English--twenty-five sheets of manuscript, written in a large hand and -corrected, were a maximum achievement for one day. The address in Rome -was not composed in English and then translated, but was written out in -French. When he had finished the last lines of one day's work, James -found to his astonishment that he had completed and corrected over forty -pages of manuscript. The inhibitions which a habit of careful attention -to points of style ordinarily called into play were largely inoperative -when he wrote in a language which presented to his mind a smaller -variety of possible expressions, and thus imposed limits upon his -self-criticism. - -In the following year (1906), James took leave of absence from Harvard -in January and accepted an invitation from Stanford University to give a -course during its spring term. He planned the course as a general -introduction to Philosophy. Had he not been interrupted by the San -Francisco earthquake, he would have rehearsed much of the projected -"Introductory Textbook of Philosophy," in which he meant to outline his -metaphysical system. But the earthquake put an end to the Stanford -lectures in April, as the reader will learn more fully. In the ensuing -autumn and winter (1907), James made the same material the basis of a -half-year's work with his last Harvard class. - -In November, 1906, the lectures which compose the volume called -"Pragmatism" were written out and delivered in November at the Lowell -Institute in Boston. In January, 1907, they were repeated at Columbia -University, and then James published them in the spring. - -The time had now come for him to stop regular teaching altogether. He -had been continuing to teach, partly in deference to the wishes of the -College; but it had become evident that he must have complete freedom to -use his strength and time for writing when he could write, for special -lectures, like the series on Pragmatism, when such might serve his ends, -and for rest and change when recuperation became necessary. So, in -February, 1907, he sent his resignation to the Harvard Corporation. The -last meeting of his class ended in a way for which he was quite -unprepared. His undergraduate students presented him with a silver -loving-cup, the graduate students and assistants with an inkwell. There -were a couple of short speeches, and words were spoken by which he was -very much moved. Unfortunately there was no record of what was said. - - - - -_To Mrs. James._ - - -AMALFI, _Mar. 30, 1905_. - -...It is good to get something in full measure, without haggling or -stint, and today I have had the picturesque ladled out in buckets full, -heaped up and running over. I never realized the beauties of this shore, -and forget (in my habit of never noticing proper names till I have been -there) whether you have ever told me of the drive from Sorrento to this -place. Anyhow, I wish that you could have taken it with me this day. -"Thank God for this day!" We came to Sorrento by steamer, and at 10:30 -got away in a carriage, lunching at the half-way village of Positano; -and proceeding through Amalfi to Ravello, high up on the mountain side, -whence back here in time for a 7:15 o'clock dinner. Practically six -hours driving through a scenery of which I had never realized the -beauty, or rather the interest, from previous descriptions. The -lime-stone mountains are as _strong_ as anything in Switzerland, though -of course much smaller. The road, a _Cornice_ affair cut for the most -part on the face of cliffs, and crossing little ravines (with beaches) -on the side of which nestle hamlets, is positively ferocious in its -grandeur, and on the side of it the azure sea, dreaming and blooming -like a bed of violets. I didn't look for such Swiss strength, having -heard of naught but beauty. It seems as if this were a race such that, -when anyone wished to express an emotion of any kind, he went and built -a bit of stone-wall and limed it onto the rock, so that now, when they -have accumulated, the works of God and man are inextricably mixed, and -it is as if mankind had been a kind of immemorial coral insect. Every -possible square yard is terraced up, reclaimed and planted, and the -human dwellings are the fiercest examples of cliff-building, -cave-habitation, staircase and foot-path you can imagine. How I do wish -that you could have been along today.... - - -_Mar. 31, 1905_. - -From half-past four to half-past six I walked alone through the _old_ -Naples, hilly streets, paved from house to house and swarming with the -very poor, vocal with them too (their voices carry so that every child -seems to be calling to the whole street, goats, donkeys, chickens, and -an occasional cow mixed in), and no light of heaven getting indoors. The -street floor composed of cave-like shops, the people doing their work on -chairs in the street for the sake of light, and in the black inside, -beds and a stove visible among the implements of trade. Such light and -shade, and grease and grime, and swarm, and apparent amiability would be -hard to match. I have come here too late in life, when the picturesque -has lost its serious reality. Time was when hunger for it haunted me -like a passion, and such sights would have then been the solidest of -mental food. I put up then with such inferior substitutional suggestions -as Geneva and Paris afforded--but these black old Naples streets are not -suggestions, they are the reality itself--full orchestra. I have got -such an impression of the essential sociability of this race, especially -in the country. A smile will go so far with them--even without the -accompanying copper. And the children are so sweet. Tell Aleck to drop -his other studies, learn _Italian_ (real Italian, not the awful -gibberish I try to speak), cultivate his beautiful smile, learn a -sentimental song or two, bring a tambourine or banjo, and come down -here and fraternize with the common people along the coast--he can go -far, and make friends, and be a social success, even if he should go -back to a clean hotel of some sort for sleep every night.... - - - - -_To his Daughter._ - - -On board S.S. Orénogne, approaching -PIRĈUS, GREECE, _Apr. 3, 1905_. - -DARLING PEG,--Your loving Dad is surely in luck sailing over this almost -oily sea, under the awning on deck, past the coast of Greece (whose -snow-capped mountains can be seen on the horizon), towards the Pirĉus, -where we are due to arrive at about two. I had some misgivings about the -steamer from Marseilles, but she has turned out splendid, and the voyage -perfect. A 4000-ton boat, bran new as to all her surface equipment, -stateroom all to myself, by a happy stroke of luck (the boat being -full), clean absolutely, large open window, sea like Lake Champlain, -with the color of Lake Leman, about a hundred and twenty first-class -passengers of the most interesting description, one sixth English -archeologists, one sixth English tourists, one third French -archeologists, etc.,--an international archeological congress opens at -Athens this week,--the rest Dagoes _quelconques_, many distinguished -men, almost all educated and pronounced individualities, and so much -acquaintance and sociability, that the somewhat small upper deck on -which I write resounds with conversation like an afternoon tea. The -meals are tip-top, and the whole thing almost absurdly ideal in its -kind. I only wish your mother could be wafted here for one hour, to sit -by my side and enjoy the scene. The best feature of the boat is little -Miss Boyd, the Cretan excavatress, from Smith College, a perfect little -trump of a thing, who has been through the Greco-Turkish war as nurse -(as well as being nurse at Tampa during our Cuban war), and is the -simplest, most generally intelligent little thing, who knows Greece by -heart and can smooth one's path beautifully. Waldstein of Cambridge is -on board, also M. Sylvain of the Théâtre Français, and his -daughter--going to recite prologues or something at the representation -of Sophocles's "Antigone," which is to take place--he looking just like -your uncle Henry--both eminent comedians--I mean the two Sylvains. On -the bench opposite me is the most beautiful woman on board, a sort of -Mary Salter translated into French, though she is with rather common -men. Well, now I will stop, and use my Zeiss glass on the land, which is -getting nearer. My heart wells over with love and gratitude at having -such a family--meaning Alice, you, Harry, Bill, Aleck, and -Mother-in-law--and resolutions to live so as to be more worthy of them. -I will finish this on land. - - * * * * * - -Well, dear family,--We got in duly in an indescribable _embrouillement_ -of small boats (our boatman, by the way, when Miss Boyd asked him his -name, replied "Dionysos"; our wine-bottle was labelled "John Solon and -Co."), sailing past the Island of Ĉgina and the Bay of Salamis, with the -Parthenon visible ahead--a worthy termination to a delightful voyage. We -drove the three miles from the Pirĉus in a carriage, common and very -dusty country road, also close by the Parthenon, through the cheap -little town to this hotel, after which George Putnam and I, washing our -hands, strolled forth to see what we could, the first thing being Mrs. -Sam Hoar at the theatre of Bacchus. Then the rest of the Acropolis, -which is all and more than all the talk. There is a mystery of -_rightness_ about that Parthenon that I cannot understand. It sets a -standard for other human things, showing that absolute rightness is not -out of reach. But I am not in descriptive mood, so I spare you. Suffice -it that I couldn't keep the tears from welling into my eyes. "J'ai vu la -beauté parfaite." Santayana is in a neighboring hotel, but we have -missed each other thrice. The Forbeses are on the Peloponnesus, but -expected back tomorrow. Well, dear ones all, good-night! Thus far, and -no farther! Hence I turn westward again. The Greek lower orders seem far -less avid and rapacious than the Southern Italians. God bless you all. I -must get to another hotel, and be more to myself. Good and dear as the -Putnams are and extremely helpful as they've been, it keeps me too much -in company. Good-night again. Your loving father, _respective_ husband, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Mrs. James._ - - -ROME, _Apr. 25, 1905_. - -...Strong telegraphed me yesterday from Lausanne that he ... expected to -be at Cannes on the 4th of May. I was glad of this, for I had been -feeling more and more as if I ought to stay here, and it makes -everything square out well. This morning I went to the meeting-place of -the Congress to inscribe myself definitely, and when I gave my name, the -lady who was taking them almost fainted, saying that all Italy loved me, -or words to that effect, and called in poor Professor de Sanctis, the -Vice President or Secretary or whatever, who treated me in the same -manner, and finally got me to consent to make an address at one of the -general meetings, of which there are four, in place of Sully, Flournoy, -Richet, Lipps, and Brentano, who were announced but are not to come. I -fancy they have been pretty unscrupulous with their program here, -printing conditional futures as categorical ones. So I'm in for it -again, having no power to resist flattery. I shall try to express my -"Does Consciousness Exist?" in twenty minutes--and possibly in the -French tongue! Strange after the deep sense of nothingness that has been -besetting me the last two weeks (mere fatigue symptom) to be told that -_my_ name was attracting many of the young professors to the Congress! - -Then I went to the Museum in the baths of Diocletian or whatever it is, -off there by the R. R., then to the Capitol, and then to lunch off the -Corso, at a restaurant, after buying a French book whose author says in -his preface that Sully, W. J., and Bergson are his masters. And I am -absolute 0 in my own home!... - - -_Apr. 30, 1905._ 7 P.M. - -...If you never had a tired husband, at least you've got one now! The -_ideer_ of being in such delightful conditions and interesting -surroundings, and being conscious of nothing but one's preposterous -physical distress, is too ridiculous! I have just said good-bye to my -circle of admirers, relatively youthful, at the hotel door, under the -pretext (a truth until this morning) that I had to get ready to go to -Lausanne tonight, and I taper off my activity by subsiding upon you. -Yesterday till three, and the day before till five, I was writing my -address, which this morning I gave--in French. I wrote it carefully and -surprised myself by the ease with which I slung the Gallic accent and -intonation, being excited by the occasion.[58] Janet expressed himself -as _stupéfait_, from the linguistic point of view. The thing lasted 40 -minutes, and was followed by a discussion which showed that the critics -with one exception had wholly failed to catch the point of view; but -that was quite _en régle_, so I don't care; and I have given the thing -to Claparède to print in Flournoy's "Archives." The Congress was far -too vast, but filled with strange and interesting creatures of all -sorts, and socially _very_ nutritious to anyone who can stand -sociability without distress. A fête of some sort every day--this P.M. I -have just returned from a great afternoon tea given us by some -"Minister" at the Borghese Palace--in the Museum. (The King, you know, -has bought the splendid Borghese park and given it to the City of Rome -as a democratic possession _in perpetuo_. A splendid gift.) The pictures -too! Tonight there is a great banquet with speeches, to which of course -I can't go. I lunched at the da Vitis,--a big table full, she very -simple and nice,--and I have been having this afternoon a very good and -rather intimate talk with the little band of "pragmatists," Papini, -Vailati, Calderoni, Amendola, etc., most of whom inhabit Florence, -publish the monthly journal "Leonardo" at their own expense, and carry -on a very serious philosophic movement, apparently _really_ inspired by -Schiller and myself (I never could believe it before, although Ferrari -had assured me), and show an enthusiasm, and also a literary swing and -activity that I know nothing of in our own land, and that probably our -damned academic technics and Ph.D.-machinery and university organization -prevents from ever coming to a birth. These men, of whom Ferrari is one, -are none of them _Fach-philosophers_, and few of them teachers at all. -It has given me a certain new idea of the way in which truth ought to -find its way into the world. - -I have seen such a lot of _important_-looking faces,--probably -everything in the stock in the shop-window,--and witnessed such -charmingly gracious manners, that it is a lesson. The woodenness of our -Anglo-Saxon social ways! I had a really splendid audience for quality -this A.M. (about 200), even though they didn't understand.... - - - - -_To George Santayana._ - - -ORVIETO, _May 2, 1905_. - -DEAR SANTAYANA,--I came here yesterday from Rome and have been enjoying -the solitude. I stayed at the exquisite Albergo de Russie, and didn't -shirk the Congress--in fact they stuck me for a "general" address, to -fill the vacuum left by Flournoy and Sully, who had been announced and -came not (I spoke _agin_ "consciousness," but nobody understood) and I -got _fearfully tired_. On the whole it was an agreeable -nightmare--agreeable on account of the perfectly charming _gentillezza_ -of the bloody Dagoes, the way they caress and flatter you--"il piu grand -psicologo del mondo," etc., and of the elaborate provisions for general -entertainment--nightmare, because of my absurd bodily fatigue. However, -these things are "neither here nor there." What I really write to you -for is to tell you to send (if not sent already) your "Life of Reason" -to the "Revue de Philosophie," or rather to its editor, M. Peillaube, -Rue des Revues 160, and to the editor of "Leonardo" (the great little -Florentine philosophical journal), Sig. Giovanni Papini, 14 Borgo -Albizi, Florence. The most interesting, and in fact genuinely edifying, -part of my trip has been meeting this little _cénacle_, who have taken -my own writings, _entre autres, au grand sérieux_, but who are carrying -on their philosophical mission in anything but a technically serious -way, inasmuch as "Leonardo" (of which I have hitherto only known a few -odd numbers) is devoted to good and lively literary form. The sight of -their belligerent young enthusiasm has given me a queer sense of the -gray-plaster temperament of our bald-headed young Ph.D.'s, boring each -other at seminaries, writing those direful reports of literature in the -"Philosophical Review" and elsewhere, fed on "books of reference," and -never confounding "Ĉsthetik" with "Erkentnisstheorie." Faugh! I shall -never deal with them again--on _those_ terms! Can't you and I, who in -spite of such divergence have yet so much in common in our -_Weltanschauung_, start a systematic movement at Harvard against the -desiccating and pedantifying process? I have been cracking you up -greatly to both Peillaube and Papini, and quoted you twice in my speech, -which was in French and will be published in Flournoy's "Archives de -Psychologie." I hope you're enjoying the Eastern Empire to the full, and -that you had some Grecian "country life." Münsterberg has been called to -Koenigsberg and has refused. Better be America's ancestor than Kant's -successor! Ostwald, to my great delight, is coming to us next year, not -as your replacer, but in exchange with Germany for F. G. Peabody. I go -now to Cannes, to meet Strong, back from his operation. Ever truly -yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Mrs. James._ - - -CANNES, _May 13, 1905_. - -...I came Sunday night, and this is Saturday. The six days have been -busy ones in one sense, but have rested me very much in another. No -sight-seeing fatigues, but more usual, and therefore more normal -occupations.... I have written some 25 letters, long and short, to -European correspondents since being here, have walked and driven with -Strong, and have had philosophy hot and heavy with him almost all the -time. I never knew such an unremitting, untiring, monotonous addiction -as that of his mind to truth. He goes by points, pinning each one -definitely, and has, I think, the very clearest mind I ever knew. Add to -it his absolute sincerity and candor and it is no wonder that he is a -"growing" man. I suspect that he will outgrow us all, for his rate -accelerates, and he never stands still. He is an admirable philosophic -figure, and I am glad to say that in most things he and I are fully in -accord. He gains a great deal from such talks, noting every point down -afterwards, and I gain great stimulation, though in a vaguer way. I -shall be glad, however, on Monday afternoon, to relax.... - - - - -_To Mrs. James._ - - -[Post-card] - -GENEVA, _May 17, 1905_. - -So far, thank Heaven, on my way towards home! A rather useful time with -the superior, but sticky X----, at Marseilles, and as far as Lyons in -the train, into which an hour beyond Lyons there came (till then I was -alone in my compartment) a Spanish bishop, canon and "familar," an aged -holy woman, sister of the bishop, a lay-brother and sister, a dog, and -more baggage than I ever saw before, including a feather-bed. They spoke -no French--the bishop about as much Italian as I, and the lay-sister as -much of English as I of Spanish. They took out their rosaries and began -mumbling their litanies forthwith, whereon I took off my hat, which -seemed to touch them so, when they discovered I was a Protestant, that -we all grew very affectionate and I soon felt ashamed of the way in -which I had at first regarded their black and superstitious invasion of -my privacy. Good, saintly people on their way to Rome. I go now to our -old haunts and to the Flournoys'.... - -W. - - - - -_To H. G. Wells._ - - -S. S. CEDRIC, _June 6, 1905_. - -MY DEAR MR. WELLS,--I have just read your "Utopia" (given me by F. C. S. -Schiller on the one day that I spent in Oxford on my way back to -Cambridge, Mass., after a few weeks on the Continent), and -"Anticipations," and "Mankind in the Making" having duly preceded, -together with numerous other lighter volumes of yours, the "summation of -stimuli" reaches the threshold of discharge and I can't help overflowing -in a note of gratitude. You "have your faults, as who has not?" but your -virtues are unparalleled and transcendent, and I believe that you will -prove to have given a shove to the practical thought of the next -generation that will be amongst the greatest of its influences for good. -All in the line of the English genius too, no wire-drawn French -doctrines, and no German shop technicalities inflicted in an -_unerbittlich consequent_ manner, but everywhere the sense of the full -concrete, and the air of freedom playing through all the joints of your -argument. You have a tri-dimensional human heart, and to use your own -metaphor, don't see different levels projected on one plane. In this -last book you beautifully soften cocksureness by the penumbra of the -outlines--in fact you're a trump and a jewel, and for human perception -you beat Kipling, and for hitting off a thing with the right word, you -are unique. Heaven bless and preserve you!--You are now an eccentric; -perhaps 50 years hence you will figure as a classic! Your Samurai -chapter is magnificent, though I find myself wondering what developments -in the way of partisan politics those same Samurai would develop, when -it came to questions of appointment and running this or that man in. -_That_ I believe to be human nature's ruling passion. Live long! and -keep writing; and believe me, yours admiringly and sincerely, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Henry L. Higginson._ - - -Cambridge, _July 18 [1905]_. - -DEAR H.,--You asked me how rich I was getting by my own (as -distinguished from _your_) exertions.... - -I find on reaching home today a letter from Longmans, Green & Co. with a -check ... which I have mailed to your house in State Street.... - -This ought to please you slightly; but don't reply! Instead, think of -the virtues of Roosevelt, either as permanent sovereign of this great -country, or as President of Harvard University. I've been having a -discussion with Fanny Morse about him, which has resulted in making me -his faithful henchman for life, Fanny was so violent. Think of the -mighty good-will of him, of his enjoyment of his post, of his power as a -preacher, of the number of things to which he gives his attention, of -the safety of his second thoughts, of the increased courage he is -showing, and above all of the fact that he is an open, instead of an -underground leader, whom the voters can control once in four years, when -he runs away, whose heart is in the right place, who is an enemy of red -tape and quibbling and everything that in general the word "politician" -stands for. That significance of him in the popular mind is a great -national asset, and it would be a shame to let it run to waste until it -has done a lot more work for us. His ambitions are not selfish--he wants -to do good only! Bless him--and damn all his detractors like you and F. -M.![59] - -Don't reply, but vote! Your affectionately - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To T. S. Perry._ - - -Cambridge, _Aug. 24, 1905_. - -DEAR THOS!--You're a _philosophe sans le savoir_ and, when you write -your treatise against philosophy, you will be classed as the -arch-metaphysician. Every philosopher (W. J., _e.g._) pretends that all -the others are metaphysicians against whom he is simply defending the -rights of common sense. As for Nietzsche, the worst break of his I -recall was in a posthumous article in one of the French reviews a few -months back. In his high and mighty way he was laying down the law about -all the European countries. Russia, he said, is "the only one that has -any possible future--and that she owes to the strength of the principle -of autocracy to which she alone remains faithful," Unfortunately one -can't appeal to the principle of democracy to explain Japan's recent -successes. - -I am very glad you've done something about poor dear old John Fiske, and -I should think that you would have no difficulty in swelling it up to -the full "Beacon Biography" size. If you want an extra anecdote, you -might tell how, when Chauncey Wright, Chas. Peirce, St. John Green, -Warner and I appointed an evening to discuss the "Cosmic Philosophy," -just out, J. F. went to sleep under our noses. - -I hope that life as a farmer agrees with you, and that your "womenkind" -wish nothing better than to be farmers' wives, daughters or other -relatives. Unluckily we let our farm this summer; so I am here in -Cambridge with Alice, both of us a prey to as bad an attack of grippe as -the winter solstice ever brought forth. Today, the 10th day, I am weaker -than any kitten. Don't ever let _your_ farm! Affectionately, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -Cambridge, _Nov. 10, 1905_. - -DEAR MILLER,--W. R. Warren has just been here and says he has just seen -you; the which precipitates me into a letter to you which has long hung -fire. I hope that all goes well. You must be in a rather cheerful -quarter of the City. Do you go home Sundays, or not? I hope that the -work is congenial. How do you like your students as compared with those -here? I reckon you get more out of your colleagues than you did -here--barring of course _der Einzige_. We are all such old stories to -each other that we say nothing. Santayana is the only [one] about whom -we had any curiosity, and he has now quenched that. Perry and Holt have -some ideas in reserve.... The fact is that the classroom exhausts our -powers of speech. Royce has never made a syllable of reference to all -the stuff I wrote last year--to me, I mean. He may have spoken of it to -others, if he has read, it, which I doubt. So we live in parallel -trenches and hardly show our heads. - -Santayana's book[60] is a great one, if the inclusion of opposites is a -measure of greatness. I think it will probably be reckoned great by -posterity. It has no _rational_ foundation, being merely one man's way -of viewing things: so much of experience admitted and no more, so much -criticism and questioning admitted and no more. He is a paragon of -Emersonianism.--declare your intuitions, though no other man share them; -and the integrity with which he does it is as fine as it is rare. And -his naturalism, materialism, Platonism, and atheism form a combination -of which the centre of gravity is, I think, very deep. But there is -something profoundly alienating in his unsympathetic tone, his -"preciousness" and superciliousness. The book is Emerson's first rival -and successor, but how different the reader's feeling! The same things -in Emerson's mouth would sound entirely different. E. receptive, -expansive, as if handling life through a wide funnel with a great -indraught; S. as if through a pin-point orifice that emits his cooling -spray outward over the universe like a nose-disinfectant from an -"atomizer." ... I fear that the real originality of the book will be -lost on nineteen-twentieths of the members of the Philosophical and -Psychological Association!! The enemies of Harvard will find lots of -blasphemous texts in him to injure us withal. But it is a great feather -in our cap to harbor such an absolutely free expresser of individual -convictions. But enough! - -"Phil. 9" is going well. I think I _lecture_ better than I ever did; in -fact I know I do. But this professional evolution goes with an -involution of all miscellaneous faculty. I am well, and efficient -enough, but purposely going slow so as to keep efficient into the Palo -Alto summer, which means that I have written nothing. I am pestered by -doubts as to whether to put my resignation through this year, in spite -of opposition, or to drag along another year or two. I think it is -inertia against energy, energy in my case meaning being my own man -absolutely. American philosophers, young and old, seem scratching where -the wool is short. Important things are being published; but all of them -too technical. The thing will never clear up satisfactorily till someone -writes out its resultant in decent English.... - - * * * * * - -The reader will have understood "the Palo Alto summer" to refer to the -lectures to be delivered at Stanford University during the coming -spring. The Stanford engagement was again in James's mind when he spoke, -in the next letter, of "dreading the prospect of lecturing till -mid-May." - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -Cambridge, _Dec. 6, 1905_. - -DEAR MILLER,-- ...You seem to take radical empiricism more simply than I -can. What I mean by it is the thesis that there is no fact "not -actually experienced to be such." In other words, the concept of "being" -or "fact" is not wider than or prior to the concept "content of -experience"; and you can't talk of _experiences being_ this or that, but -only of _things experienced as being_ this or that. But such a thesis -would, it seems to me, if literally taken, force one to drop the notion -that in point of fact one experience is _ex_ another, so long as the -_ex_-ness is not itself a "content" of experience. In the matter of two -minds not having the same content, it seems to me that your view commits -you to an assertion _about their experiences_; and such an assertion -assumes a realm in which the experiences lie, which overlaps and -surrounds the "content" of them. This, it seems to me, breaks down -radical empiricism, which I hate to do; and I can't yet clearly see my -way out of the quandary. I am much boggled and muddled; and the total -upshot with me is to see that all the hoary errors and prejudices of man -in matters philosophical are based on something pretty inevitable in the -structure of our thinking, and to distrust summary executions by -conviction of contradiction. I suspect your execution of being too -summary; but I have copied the last paragraph of the sheets (which I -return with heartiest thanks) for the extraordinarily neat statement.... - -I dread the prospect of lecturing till mid-May, but the wine being -ordered, I must drink it. I dislike lecturing more and more. Have just -definitely withdrawn my candidacy for the Sorbonne job, with great -internal relief, and wish I could withdraw from the whole business, and -get at writing.[61] Not a line of writing possible this year--except of -course occasional note-making. All the things that one is really -concerned with are too nice and fine to use in lectures. You remember -the definition of T. H. Greene's student: "The universe is a thick -complexus of intelligible relations." Yesterday I got _my_ system -similarly defined in an examination-book, by a student whom I appear to -have converted to the view that "the Universe is a vague pulsating mass -of next-to-next movement, always feeling its way along to a good -purpose, or trying to." That is about as far as lectures can carry them. -I particularly like the "trying to." - -I wish I could have been at your recent discussion. I am getting -impatient with the awful abstract rigmarole in which our American -philosophers obscure the truth. It will be fatal. It revives the palmy -days of Hegelianism. It means utter relaxation of intellectual duty, and -God will smite it. If there's anything he hates, it is that kind of oozy -writing. - -I have just read Busse's book, in which I find a lot of reality by the -way, but a pathetic waste of work on side issues--for against the -Strong-Heymans view of things, it seems to me that he brings no solid -objection whatever. Heymans's book is a wonder.[62] Good-bye, dear -Miller. _Come to us_, if you can, as soon as your lectures are over. - -Your affectionate - -W. J. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -[Post-card] - -Cambridge, _Dec. 9. 1905_. - -"My idea of Algebra," says a non-mathematically-minded student, "is that -it is a sort of form of low cunning." - -W. J. - - - - -_To Daniel Merriman._ - - -Cambridge, _Dec. 9, 1905_. - -No, dear Merriman, not "e'en for thy sake." After an unblemished record -of declining to give addresses, successfully maintained for four years -(I have certainly declined 100 in the past twelve-month), I am not going -to break down now, for Abbot Academy, and go dishonored to my grave. It -is better, as the "Bhagavat-Gita" says, to lead your own life, however -bad, than to lead another's, however good. Emerson teaches the same -doctrine, and I live by it as bad and congenial a life as I can. If -there is anything that God despises more than a man who is constantly -making speeches, it is another man who is constantly accepting -invitations. What must he think, when they are both rolled into one? Get -thee behind me, Merriman,--I 'm sure that your saintly partner would -never have sent me such a request,--and believe me, as ever, fondly -yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Miss Pauline Goldmark._ - - -EL TOVAR, -GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA, _Jan. 3, 1906_. - -DEAR PAOLINA,--I am breaking my journey by a day here, and it seems a -good place from which to date my New Year's greeting to you. But we -correspond so rarely that when it comes to the point of tracing actual -words with the pen, the last impressions of one's day and the more -permanent interest of one's life block the way for each other. I think, -however, that a word about the Canyon may fitly take precedence. It -certainly is equal to the brag; and, like so many of the more stupendous -freaks of nature, seems at first-sight smaller and more manageable than -one had supposed. But it grows in immensity as the eye penetrates it -more intimately. It is so entirely alone in character, that one has no -habits of association with "the likes" of it, and at first it seems a -foreign curiosity; but already in this one day I am feeling myself grow -nearer, and can well imagine that, with greater intimacy, it might -become the passion of one's life--so far as "Nature" goes. The -conditions have been unfavorable for intimate communion. Three degrees -above zero, and a spring overcoat, prevent that forgetting of "self" -which is said to be indispensable to absorption in Beauty. Moreover, I -have kept upon the "rim," seeing the Canyon from several points some -miles apart. I meant to go down, having but this day; but they couldn't -send me or any one today; and I confess that, with my precipice-disliking -soul, I was relieved, though it very likely would have proved less -uncomfortable than I have been told. (I resolved to go, in order to be -worthy of being your correspondent.) As Chas. Lamb says, there is -nothing so nice as doing good by stealth and being found out by -accident, so I now say it is even nicer to make heroic decisions and to -be prevented by "circumstances beyond your control" from even trying to -execute them. But if ever I get here in summer, I shall go straight down -and live there. I'm sure that it is indispensable. But it is vain to -waste descriptive words on the wondrous apparition, with its symphonies -of architecture and of color. I have just been watching its peaks blush -in the setting sun, and slowly lose their fire. Night nestling in the -depths. Solemn, solemn! And a unity of design that makes it seem like an -individual, an animated being. Good-night, old chasm!... - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -STANFORD UNIVERSITY, _Feb. 1, 1906_. - -BELOVED H.,--Verily 'tis long since I have written to thee, but I have -had many and mighty things to do, and lately many business letters to -write, so I came not at it. Your last was your delightful reply to my -remarks about your "third manner," wherein you said that you would -consider your bald head dishonored if you ever came to pleasing _me_ by -what you wrote, so shocking was my taste.[63] Well! only write _for_ me, -and leave the question of pleasing open! I have to admit that in "The -Golden Bowl" and "The Wings of the Dove," you have succeeded _in getting -there_ after a fashion, in spite of the perversity of the method and its -_longness_, which I am not the only one to deplore. - -But enough! let me tell you of my own fortunes! - -I got here (after five pestilentially close-aired days in the train, and -one entrancing one off at the Grand Canyon of the Colorado) on the 8th, -and have now given nine lectures, to 300 enrolled students and about 150 -visitors, partly colleagues. I take great pains, prepare a printed -syllabus, very fully; and really feel for the first time in my life, as -if I were lecturing _well_. High time, after 30 years of practice! It -earns me $5000, if I can keep it up till May 27th; but apart from that, -I think it is a bad way of expending energy. I ought to be writing my -everlastingly postponed book, which this job again absolutely adjourns. -I can't write a line of it while doing this other thing. (A propos to -which, I got a telegram from Eliot this A.M., asking if I would be -Harvard Professor for the first half of next year at the University of -Berlin. I had no difficulty in declining that, but I probably shall not -decline _Paris_, if they offer it to me year after next.) I am expecting -Alice to arrive in a fortnight. I have got a very decent little second -story, just enough for the two of us, or rather amply enough, sunny, -good fire-place, bathroom, little kitchen, etc., on one of the three -residential streets of the University land, and with a boarding-house -for meals just opposite, we shall have a sort of honeymoon picnic time. -And, sooth to say, Alice must need the simplification.... - -You've seen this wonderful spot, so I needn't describe it. It is really -a miracle; and so simple the life and so benign the elements, that for a -young ambitious professor who wishes to leave his mark on Pacific -civilization while it is most plastic, or for _any one_ who wants to -teach and work under the most perfect conditions for eight or nine -months, and _who is able to get to the East, or Europe, for the -remaining three_, I can't imagine anything finer. It is Utopian. -Perfection of weather. Cold nights, though above freezing. Fire pleasant -until 10 o'clock A.M., then unpleasant. In short, the "simple life" with -all the essential higher elements thrown in as communal possessions. The -drawback is, of course, the great surrounding human vacuum--the historic -silence fairly rings in your ears when you listen--and the social -insipidity. I'm glad I came, and with God's blessing I may pull through. -One calendar month is over, anyway. Do you know aught of G. K. -Chesterton? I've just read his "Heretics." A tremendously strong writer -and true thinker, despite his mannerism of paradox. Wells's "Kipps" is -good. Good-bye. Of course you 're breathing the fog of London while I am -bathed in warmest lucency. Keep well. Your loving, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -STANFORD UNIVERSITY, _Feb. 9, 1906_. - -DEAR FLOURNOY.--Your post-card of Jan. 22nd arrives and reminds me how -little I have communicated with you during the past twelve months.... - -Let me begin by congratulating Mlle. Alice, but more particularly Mr. -Werner, on the engagement which you announce. Surely she is a splendid -prize for anyone to capture. I hope that it has been a romantic -love-affair, and will remain so to the end. May her paternal and -maternal example be the model which their married life will follow! They -could find no better model. You do not tell the day of the -wedding--probably it is not yet appointed. - -Yes! [Richard] Hodgson's death was ultra-sudden. He fell dead while -playing a violent game of "hand-ball." He was tremendously athletic and -had said to a friend only a week before that he thought he could -reasonably count on twenty-five years more of life. None of his work was -finished, vast materials amassed, which no one can ever get acquainted -with as he had gradually got acquainted; so now good-bye forever to at -least two unusually solid and instructive books which he would have soon -begun to write on "psychic" subjects. As a _man_, Hodgson was splendid, -a real man; as an investigator, it is my private impression that he -lately got into a sort of obsession about Mrs. Piper, cared too little -for other clues, and continued working with her when all the sides of -her mediumship were amply exhibited. I suspect that our American Branch -of the S.P.R. will have to dissolve this year, for lack of a competent -secretary. Hodgson was our only worker, except Hyslop, and _he_ is -engaged in founding an "Institute" of his own, which will employ more -popular methods. To tell the truth, I 'm rather glad of the prospect of -the Branch ending, for the Piper-investigation--and nothing else--had -begun to bore me to extinction.... - -To change the subject--you ought to see this extraordinary little -University. It was founded only fourteen years ago in the absolute -wilderness, by a pair of rich Californians named Stanford, as a memorial -to their only child, a son who died at 16. Endowed with I know not how -many square miles of land, which some day will come into the market and -yield a big income, it has already funds that yield $750,000 yearly, and -buildings, of really _beautiful_ architecture, that have been paid for -out of income, and have cost over $5,000,000. (I mention the cost to let -you see that they must be solid.) There are now 1500 students of both -sexes, who pay nothing for tuition, and a town of 15,000 inhabitants has -grown up a mile away, beyond the gates. The landscape is exquisite and -classical, San Francisco only an hour and a quarter away by train; the -climate is one of the most perfect in the world, life is absolutely -simple, no one being rich, servants almost unattainable (most of the -house-work being done by students who come in at odd hours), many of -them Japanese, and the professors' wives, I fear, having in great -measure to do their own cooking. No social excesses or complications -therefore. In fact, nothing but essentials, and _all_ the essentials. -Fine music, for example, every afternoon, in the Church of the -University. There couldn't be imagined a better environment for an -intellectual man to teach and work in, for eight or nine months in the -year, if he were then free to spend three or four months in the crowded -centres of civilization--for the social insipidity is great here, and -the historic vacuum and silence appalling, and one ought to be free to -change. - -Unfortunately the authorities of the University seem not to be gifted -with imagination enough to see its proper rôle. Its geographical -environment and material basis being unique, they ought to aim at unique -quality all through, and get _sommités_ to come here to work and teach, -by offering large stipends. They might, I think, thus easily build up -something very distinguished. Instead of which, they pay small sums to -young men who chafe at not being able to travel, and whose wives get -worn out with domestic drudgery. The whole thing _might_ be Utopian; it -_is_ only half-Utopian. A characteristic American affair! But the -half-success is great enough to make one see the great advantages that -come to this country from encouraging public-spirited millionaires to -indulge their freaks, however eccentric. In what the Stanfords have -already done, there is an assured potentiality of great things of _some_ -sort for all future time. My coming here is an exception. They have had -psychology well represented from the first by Frank Angell and Miss -Martin; but no philosophy except for a year at a time. I start a new -régime--next year they will have two good professors. - -I lecture three times a week to 400 listeners, printing a syllabus -daily, and making them read Paulsen's textbook for examinations. I find -it hard work,[64] and only pray that I may have strength to run till -June without collapsing. The students, though rustic, are very earnest -and wholesome. - -I am pleased, but also amused, by what you say of Woodbridge's Journal: -"la palme est maintenant à l'Amérique." It is true that a lot of -youngsters in that Journal are doing some real thinking, but of all the -_bad writing_ that the world has seen, I think that our American writing -is getting to be the worst. X----'s ideas have unchained formlessness of -expression that beats the bad writing of the Hegelian epoch in Germany. -I can hardly believe you sincere when you praise that journal as you do. -I am so busy teaching that I do no writing and but little reading this -year. I have declined to go to Paris next year, and also declined an -invitation to Berlin, as "International Exchange" [Professor]. The year -after, if asked, I _may_ go to Paris--but never to Berlin. We have had -Ostwald, a most delightful human _Erscheinung_, as international -exchange at Harvard this year. But I don't believe in the system.... - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -HOTEL DEL MONTE, -MONTEREY, CAL., _Apr. 7, 1906_. - -...What I really want to write about is Papini, the concluding chapter -of his "Crepuscolo dei Filosofi," and the February number of the -"Leonardo." Likewise Dewey's "Beliefs and Realities," in the -"Philosophical Review" for March. I must be very damp powder, slow to -burn, and I must be terribly respectful of other people, for I confess -that it is only after reading these things (in spite of all you have -written to the same effect, and in spite of your tone of announcing -judgment to a sinful world), that I seem to have grasped the full import -for life and regeneration, the _great_ perspective of the programme, and -the renovating character for _all things_, of Humanism; and the -outwornness as of a scarecrow's garments, simulating life by flapping in -the wind of nightfall, of all intellectualism, and the blindness and -deadness of all who worship intellectualist idols, the Royces and -Taylors, and, worse than all, their followers, who, with no inward -excuse of nature (being too unoriginal really to _prefer_ anything), -just blunder on to the wrong scent, when it is so easy to catch the -right one, and then stick to it with the fidelity of inorganic matter. -Ha! ha! would that I were young again with this inspiration! Papini is a -jewel! To think of that little Dago putting himself ahead of every one -of us (even of you, with his _Uomo-Dio_) at a single stride. And what a -writer! and what fecundity! and what courage (careless of nicknames, for -it is so easy to call him now the Cyrano de Bergerac of Philosophy)! and -what humor and what truth! Dewey's powerful stuff seems also to ring the -death-knell of a sentenced world. Yet none of _them_ will see it--Taylor -will still write his refutations, etc., etc., when the living world will -all be drifting after _us_. It is queer to be assisting at the -_éclosion_ of a great new mental epoch, life, religion, and philosophy -in one--I wish I didn't have to lecture, so that I might bear some part -of the burden of writing it all out, as we must do, pushing it into all -sort of details. But I must for one year longer. We don't get back till -June, but pray tell Wells (whose address _fehlt mir_) to make our house -his headquarters if he gets to Boston and finds it the least convenient -to do so. Our boys will hug him to their bosoms. Ever thine, - -W. J. - -The San Francisco earthquake occurred at about five o'clock in the -morning on April 18. Rumors of the destruction wrought in the city -reached Stanford within a couple of hours and were easily credited, for -buildings had been shaken down at Stanford. Miss L. J. Martin, a member -of the philosophical department, was thrown into great anxiety about -relatives of hers who were in the city, and James offered to accompany -her in a search for them, and left Stanford with her by an early morning -train. He also promised Mrs. Wm. F. Snow to try to get her news of her -husband. Miss Martin found her relatives, and James met Dr. Snow early -in the afternoon, and then spent several hours in wandering about the -stricken city. He subsequently wrote an account of the disaster, which -may be found in "Memories and Studies."[65] - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -STANFORD UNIVERSITY, _Apr. 22, 1906_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--Three letters from you and nary one from us in all these -weeks! Well, I have been heavily burdened, and although disposed to -write, have kept postponing; and with Alice--cooking, washing dishes and -doing housework, as well as keeping up a large social life--it has been -very much the same. All is now over, since the earthquake; I mean that -lectures and syllabuses are called off, and no more exams to be held -("ill-wind," etc.), so one can write. We shall get East again as soon as -we can manage it, and tell you face to face. We can now pose as experts -on Earthquakes--pardon the egotistic form of talking about the latter, -but it makes it more real. The last thing Bakewell said to me, while I -was leaving Cambridge, was: "I hope they'll treat you to a little bit of -an earthquake while you're there. It's a pity you shouldn't have that -local experience." Well, when I lay in bed at about half-past five that -morning, wide-awake, and the room began to sway, my first thought was, -"Here's Bakewell's earthquake, after all"; and when it went crescendo -and reached fortissimo in less than half a minute, and the room was -shaken like a rat by a terrier, with the most vicious expression you can -possibly imagine, it was to my mind absolutely an _entity_ that had been -waiting all this time holding back its activity, but at last saying, -"Now, _go_ it!" and it was impossible not to conceive it as animated by -a will, so vicious was the temper displayed--everything _down_, in the -room, that could go down, bureaus, etc., etc., and the shaking so rapid -and vehement. All the while no fear, only admiration for the way a -wooden house could prove its elasticity, and glee over the vividness of -the manner in which such an "abstract idea" as "earthquake" could verify -itself into sensible reality. In a couple of minutes everybody was in -the street, and then we saw, what I hadn't suspected in my room, the -extent of the damage. Wooden houses almost all intact, but every chimney -down but one or two, and the higher University buildings largely piles -of ruins. Gabble and babble, till at last automobiles brought the -dreadful news from San Francisco. - -I boarded the only train that went to the City, and got out in the -evening on the only train that left. I shouldn't have done it, but that -our co-habitant here, Miss Martin, became obsessed by the idea that she -_must_ see what had become of her sister, and I had to stand by her. Was -very glad I did; for the spectacle was memorable, of a whole population -in the streets with what baggage they could rescue from their houses -about to burn, while the flames and the explosions were steadily -advancing and making everyone move farther. The fires most beautiful in -the effulgent sunshine. Every vacant space was occupied by trunks and -furniture and people, and thousands have been sitting by them now for -four nights and will have to longer. The fire seems now controlled, but -the city is practically wiped out (thank Heaven, as to much of its -architecture!). The order has been wonderful, even the criminals struck -solemn by the disaster, and the military has done great service. - -But you will know all these details by the papers better than I know -them now, before this reaches you, and in three weeks we shall be back. - -I am very glad that Jim's [Putnam] lectures went off so well. He wrote -me himself a good letter--won't you, by the way, send him this one as a -partial answer?--and his syllabus was first-rate and the stuff must have -been helpful. It is jolly to think of both him and Marian really getting -off together to enjoy themselves! But between Vesuvius and San Francisco -enjoyment has small elbow-room. Love to your mother, dearest Fanny, to -Mary and the men folks, from us both. Your ever affectionate, - -W. J. - -A few days after the earthquake, train-service from Stanford to the East -was reëstablished and James and his wife returned to Cambridge. The -reader will infer correctly from the next letter that Henry James (and -William James, Jr., who was staying with him in Rye) had been in great -anxiety and had been by no means reassured by the brief cablegram which -was the only personal communication that it was possible to send them -during the days immediately following the disaster. - - - - -_To Henry James and William James, Jr._ - - -Cambridge, _May 9, 1906_. - -DEAREST BROTHER AND SON,--Your cablegram of response was duly received, -and we have been also "joyous" in the thought of your being together. I -knew, of course, Henry, that you would be solicitous about us in the -earthquake, but didn't reckon at all on the extremity of your anguish as -evinced by your frequent cablegrams home, and finally by the letter to -Harry which arrived a couple of days ago and told how you were unable to -settle down to any other occupation, the thought of our mangled forms, -hollow eyes, starving bodies, minds insane with fear, haunting you so. -We never reckoned on this extremity of anxiety on your part, I say, and -so never thought of cabling you direct, as we might well have done from -Oakland on the day we left, namely April 27th. I much regret this -callousness on our part. For _all_ the anguish was yours; and in general -this experience only rubs in what I have always known, that in battles, -sieges and other great calamities, the pathos and agony is in general -solely felt by those at a distance; and although physical pain is -suffered most by its immediate victims, those at the _scene of action_ -have no _sentimental_ suffering whatever. Everyone at San Francisco -seemed in a good hearty frame of mind; there was work for every moment -of the day and a kind of uplift in the sense of a "common lot" that took -away the sense of loneliness that (I imagine) gives the sharpest edge to -the more usual kind of misfortune that may befall a man. But it was a -queer sight, on our journey through the City on the 26th (eight days -after the disaster), to see the inmates of the houses of the quarter -left standing, all cooking their dinners at little brick camp-fires in -the middle of the streets, the chimneys being condemned. If such a -disaster had to happen, somehow it couldn't have chosen a better place -than San Francisco (where everyone knew about camping, and was familiar -with the creation of civilizations out of the bare ground), and at -five-thirty in the morning, when few fires were lighted and everyone, -after a good sleep, was in bed. Later, there would have been great loss -of life in the streets, and the more numerous foci of conflagration -would have burned the city in one day instead of four, and made things -vastly worse. - -In general you may be sure that when any disaster befalls our country it -will be _you_ only who are wringing of hands, and we who are smiling -with "interest or laughing with gleeful excitement." I didn't hear one -pathetic word uttered at the scene of disaster, though of course the -crop of "nervous wrecks" is very likely to come in a month or so. - -Although we have been home six days, such has been the stream of broken -occupations, people to see, and small urgent jobs to attend to, that I -have written no letter till now. Today, one sees more clearly and begins -to rest. "Home" looks extraordinarily pleasant, and though damp and -chilly, it is the divine budding moment of the year. Not, however, the -lustrous light and sky of Stanford University.... - -I have just read your paper on Boston in the "North American Review." I -am glad you threw away the scabbard and made your critical remarks so -straight. What you say about "pay" here being the easily won "salve" for -privations, in view of which we cease to "mind" them, is as true as it -is strikingly pat. _Les intellectuels_, wedged between the millionaires -and the handworkers, are the really pinched class here. They feel the -frustrations and they can't get the salve. _My_ attainment of so much -pay in the past few years brings home to me what an all-benumbing salve -it is. That whole article is of your best. We long to hear from W., Jr. -No word yet. Your ever loving, - -W. J. - -In "The Energies of Men" there is a long quotation from an unnamed -European correspondent who had been subjecting himself to Yoga -disciplinary exercise. What follows is a comment written upon the first -receipt of the report quoted in the "Energies." - - - - -_To W. Lutoslawski._ - - -Cambridge, _May 6, 1906_. - -...Your long and beautiful letter about Yoga, etc., greets me on my -return from California. It is a most precious human document, and some -day, along with that sketch of your religious evolution and other -shorter letters of yours, it must see the light of day. What strikes me -first in it is the evidence of improved moral "tone"--a calm, firm, -sustained joyousness, hard to describe, and striking a new note in your -epistles--which is already a convincing argument of the genuineness of -the improvement wrought in you by Yoga practices.... - -You are mistaken about my having tried Yoga discipline--I never meant to -suggest that. I have read several books (A. B., by the way, used to be a -student of mine, but in spite of many noble qualities, he always had an -unbalanced mind--obsessed by certain morbid ideas, etc.), and in the -slightest possible way tried breathing exercises. These go terribly -against the grain with me, are extremely disagreeable, and, even when -tried this winter (somewhat perseveringly), to put myself asleep, after -lying awake at night, failed to have any soporific effect. What -impresses me most in your narrative is the obstinate strength of will -shown by yourself and your chela in your methodical abstentions and -exercises. When could I hope for such will-power? I find, when my -general energy is _in Anspruch genommen_ by hard lecturing and other -professional work, that then particularly what little _ascetic_ energy I -have has to be remitted, because the exertion of inhibitory and -stimulative will required increases my general fatigue instead of -"tonifying" me. - -But your sober experience gives me new hopes. Your whole narrative -suggests in me the wonder whether the Yoga discipline may not be, after -all, in all its phases, simply a methodical way of _waking up deeper -levels of will-power than are habitually used_, and thereby increasing -the individual's vital tone and energy. I have no doubt whatever that -most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a -very restricted circle of their potential being. They _make use_ of a -very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's -resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily -organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little -finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital -resources are than we had supposed. Pierre Janet discussed lately some -cases of pathological impulsion or obsession in what he has called the -"psychasthenic" type of individual, bulimia, exaggerated walking, morbid -love of feeling pain, and explains the phenomenon as based on the -underlying _sentiment d'incomplétude_, as he calls it, or _sentiment de -l'irréel_ with which these patients are habitually afflicted, and which -they find is abolished by the violent appeal to some exaggerated -activity or other, discovered accidentally perhaps, and then used -habitually. I was reminded of his article in reading your descriptions -and prescriptions. May the Yoga practices not be, after all, methods of -getting at our deeper functional levels? And thus only be substitutes -for entirely different crises that may occur in other individuals, -religious crises, indignation-crises, love-crises, etc.? - -What you say of diet is in striking accordance with the views lately -made popular by Horace Fletcher--I dare say you have heard of them. You -see I am trying to generalize the Yoga idea, and redeem it from the -pretension that, for example, there is something intrinsically holy in -the various grotesque postures of Hatha Yoga. I have spoken with various -Hindus, particularly with three last winter, one a Yogi and apostle of -Vedanta; one a "Christian" of scientific training; one a Bramo-Somaj -professor. The former made great claims of increase of "power," but -admitted that those who had it could in no way demonstrate it _ad -oculos_, to outsiders. The other two both said that Yoga was less and -less frequently practised by the more intellectual, and that the -old-fashioned _Guru_ was becoming quite a rarity. - -I believe with you, fully, that the so-called "normal man" of commerce, -so to speak, the healthy philistine, is a mere extract from the -potentially realizable individual whom he represents, and that we all -have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream. The -practical problem is "how to get at them." And the answer varies with -the individual. Most of us never can, or never do get at them. _You_ -have indubitably got at your own deeper levels by the Yoga methods. I -hope that what you have gained will never again be lost to you. You must -keep there! _My_ deeper levels seem very hard to find--I am so -rebellious at all formal and prescriptive methods--a dry and bony -_individual_, repelling fusion, and avoiding voluntary exertion. No -matter, art is long! and _qui vivra verra_. I shall try fasting and -again try breathing--discovering perhaps some individual rhythm that is -more tolerable.... - - - - -_To John Jay Chapman._ - - -Cambridge, _May 18, 1906_. - -DEAR OLD JACK C.,--Having this minute come into the possession of a new -type-writer, what can I do better than express my pride in the same by -writing to you?[66] - -I spent last night at George Dorr's and he read me several letters from -you, telling me also of your visit, and of how well you seemed. For -years past I have been on the point of writing to you to assure [you] of -my continued love and to express my commiseration for your poor wife, -who has had so long to bear the brunt of your temper--you see I have -been there already and I know how one's irritability is exasperated by -conditions of nervous prostration--but now I can write and congratulate -you on having recovered, temper and all. (As I write, it bethinks me -that in a previous letter I have made identical jokes about your temper -which, I fear, will give Mrs. Chapman a very low opinion of my -humoristic resources, and in sooth they are small; but we are as God -makes us and must not try to be anything else, so pray condone the -silliness and let it pass.) The main thing is that you seem practically -to have recovered, in spite of everything; and I am heartily glad. - -I too am well enough for all practical purposes, but I have to go slow -and not try to do too many things in a day. Simplification of life and -consciousness I find to be the great thing, but a hard thing to compass -when one lives in city conditions. How our dear Sarah Whitman lived in -the sort of railroad station she made of her life--I confess it's a -mystery to me. If I lived at a place called Barrytown, it would probably -go better--don't you ever go back to New York to live! - -Alice and I had a jovial time at sweet little Stanford University. It -was the simple life in the best sense of the term. I am glad for once to -have been part of the working machine of California, and a pretty deep -part too, as it afterwards turned out. The earthquake also was a -memorable bit of experience, and altogether we have found it -mind-enlarging and are very glad we ben there. But the whole -intermediate West is awful--a sort of penal doom to have to live there; -and in general the result with me of having lived 65 years in America is -to make me feel as if I had at least bought the right to a certain -capriciousness, and were free now to live for the remainder of my days -wherever I prefer and can make my wife and children consent--it is more -likely to be in rural than in urban surroundings, and in the maturer -than in the _rawrer_ parts of the world. But the first thing is to get -out of the treadmill of teaching, which I hate and shall resign from -next year. After that, I can use my small available store of energy in -writing, which is not only a much more economical way of working it, but -more satisfactory in point of quality, and more lucrative as well. - -Now, J. C., when are you going to get at writing again? The world is -hungry for your wares. No one touches certain deep notes of moral truth -as you do, and your humor is _köstlich_ and _impayable_. You ought to -join the band of "pragmatistic" or "humanistic" philosophers. I almost -fear that Barrytown may not yet have begun to be disturbed by the rumor -of their achievements, the which are of the greatest, and seriously I du -think that the world of thought is on the eve of a renovation no less -important than that contributed by Locke. The leaders of the new -movement are Dewey, Schiller of Oxford, in a sense Bergson of Paris, a -young Florentine named Papini, and last and least worthy, W. J. H. G. -Wells ought to be counted in, and if I mistake not G. K. Chesterton as -well.[67] I hope you know and love the last-named writer, who seems to -me a great teller of the truth. His systematic preference for -contradictions and paradoxical forms of statement seems to me a -mannerism somewhat to be regretted in so wealthy a mind; but that is a -blemish from which some of our very greatest intellects are not -altogether free--the philosopher of Barrytown himself being not wholly -exempt. Join us, O Jack, and in the historic and perspective sense your -fame will be secure. All future Histories of Philosophy will print your -name. - -But although my love for you is not exhausted, my type-writing energy -is. It communicates stiffness and cramps, both to the body and the mind. -Nevertheless I think I have been doing pretty well for a first attempt, -don't you? If you return me a good long letter telling me more -particularly about the process of your recovery, I will write again, -even if I have to take a pen to do it, and in any case I will do it much -better than this time. - -Believe me, dear old J. C., with hearty affection and delight at your -recovery--all these months I have been on the brink of writing to find -out how you were--and with very best regards to your wife, whom some day -I wish we may be permitted to know better. Yours very truly, - -Wm. James. - -Everyone dead! Hodgson, Shaler, James Peirce this winter--to go no -further afield! _Resserrons les rangs!_ - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -Cambridge, _Sept. 10, 1906_. - -DEAREST H.,--I got back from the Adirondacks, where I had spent a -fortnight, the night before last, and in three or four hours Alice, -Aleck and I will be spinning towards Chocorua, it being now five A.M. -Elly [Temple] Hunter will join us, with Grenville, in a few days; but -for the most part, thank Heaven, we shall be alone till the end of the -month. I found two letters from you awaiting me, and two from Bill. They -all breathed a spirit of happiness, and brought a waft of the beautiful -European summer with them. It has been a beautiful summer here too; and -now, sad to say, it is counting the last beads of its chaplet of hot -days out--the hot days which are really the absolutely friendly ones to -man--you wish they would get cooler when you have them, and when they -are departed, you wish you could have their exquisite gentleness again. -I have just been reading in the volume by Richard Jefferies called the -"Life of the Fields" a wonderful rhapsody, "The Pageant of Summer." It -needs to be read twice over and very attentively, being nothing but an -enumeration of all the details visible in the corner of an old field -with a hedge and ditch. But rightly taken in, it is probably the highest -flight of human genius in the direction of nature-worship. I don't see -why it should not count as an immortal thing. You missed it, when here, -in not getting to Keene Valley, where I have just been, and of which the -sylvan beauty, especially by moonlight, is probably unlike aught that -Europe has to show. Imperishable freshness!... - -This is definitely my last year of lecturing, but I wish it were my -first of non-lecturing. Simplification of the field of duties I find -more and more to be the _summum bonum_ for me; and I live in -apprehension lest the Avenger should cut me off before I get my message -out. Not that the message is particularly needed by the human race, -which can live along perfectly well without any one philosopher; but -objectively I hate to leave the volumes I have already published without -their logical complement. It is an esthetic tragedy to have a bridge -begun, and stopped in the middle of an arch. - -But I hear Alice stirring upstairs, so I must go up and finish packing. -I hope that you and W. J., Jr., will again form a harmonious -combination. I hope also that he will stop painting for a time. He will -do all the better, when he gets home, for having had a fallow interval. - -Good-bye! and my blessing upon both of you. Your ever loving, - -W. J. - - - - -_To H. G. Wells._ - - -CHOCORUA, _Sept. 11, 1906_. - -DEAR MR. WELLS,--I've read your "Two Studies in Disappointment" in -"Harper's Weekly," and must thank you from the bottom of my heart. _Rem -acu tetegisti!_ Exactly that callousness to abstract justice is _the_ -sinister feature and, to me as well as to you, the incomprehensible -feature, of our U. S. civilization. How you hit upon it so neatly and -singled it out so truly (and talked of it so tactfully!) God only knows: -He evidently created you to do such things! I never heard of the -MacQueen case before, but I've known of plenty of others. When the -ordinary American hears of them, instead of the idealist within him -beginning to "see red" with the higher indignation, instead of the -spirit of English history growing alive in his breast, he begins to -pooh-pooh and minimize and tone down the thing, and breed excuses from -his general fund of optimism and respect for expediency. "It's probably -right enough"; "Scoundrelly, as you say," but understandable, "from the -point of view of parties interested"--but understandable in onlooking -citizens only as a symptom of the moral flabbiness born of the exclusive -worship of the bitch-goddess SUCCESS. That--with the squalid cash -interpretation put on the word success--is our national disease. Hit it -hard! Your book _must_ have a great effect. Do you remember the glorious -remarks about success in Chesterton's "Heretics"? You will undoubtedly -have written _the_ medicinal book about America. And what good humor! -and what tact! Sincerely yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Miss Theodora Sedgwick._ - - -CHOCORUA, _Sept. 13, 1906_. - -DEAR THEODORA,--Here we are in this sweet delicate little place, after a -pretty agitated summer, and the quiet seems very nice. Likewise the -stillness. I have thought often of you, and _almost_ written; but there -never seemed exactly to be time or place for it, so I let the sally of -the heart to-you-ward suffice. A week ago, I spent a night with H. L. -Higginson, whom I found all alone at his house by the Lake, and he told -me your improvement had been continuous and great, which I heartily hope -has really been the case. I don't see why it should not have been the -case, under such delightful conditions. What good things friends are! -And what better thing than lend it, can one do with one's house? I was -struck by Henry Higginson's high level of mental tension, so to call it, -which made him talk, incessantly and passionately about one subject -after another, never running dry, and reminding me more of myself when I -was twenty years old. It isn't so much a man's eminence of elementary -faculties that pulls him through. They may be rare, and he do nothing. -It is the steam pressure to the square inch behind that moves the -machine. The amount of that is what makes the great difference between -us. Henry has it high. Previous to seeing him I had spent ten days in -beautiful Keene Valley, dividing them between the two ends. The St. -Hubert's end is, I verily believe, one of the most beautiful things in -this beautiful world--too dissimilar to anything in Europe to be -compared therewith, and consequently able to stand on its merits all -alone. But the great [forest] fire of four years ago came to the very -edge of wiping it out! And any year it may go. - -I also had a delightful week all alone on the Maine Coast, among the -islands. - -Back here, one is oppressed by sadness at the amount of work waiting to -be done on the place and no one to be hired to do it. The entire meaning -and essence of "land" is something to be worked over--even if it be only -a wood-lot, it must be kept trimmed and cleaned. And for one who _can_ -work and who _likes_ work with his arms and hands, there is nothing so -delightful as a piece of land to work over--it responds to every hour -you give it, and smiles with the "improvement" year by year. I neither -can work now, nor do I like it, so an irremediable bad conscience -afflicts my ownership of this place. With Cambridge as headquarters for -August, and a little lot of land there, I think I could almost be ready -to give up this place, and trust to the luck of hotels, and other -opportunities of rustication without responsibility. But perhaps we can -get this place [taken care of?] some day! - -I don't know how much you read. I've taken great pleasure this summer in -Bielshowski's "Life of Goethe" (a wonderful piece of art) and in -Birukoff's "Life of Tolstoy." - -Alice is very well and happy in the stillness here. Elly Hunter is -coming this evening, tomorrow the Merrimans for a day, and then Mrs. -Hodder till the end of the month. - -Faithful love from both of us, dear Theodora. Your affectionate - -W. J. - - - - -_To his Daughter._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan. 20, 1907_, 6.15 P.M. - -SWEET PEGLEIN,--Just before tea! and your Grandam, Mar, and I going to -hear the Revd. Percy Grant in the College chapel just after. We are -getting to be great church-goers. 'T will have to be Crothers next. He, -sweet man, is staying with the Brookses. After him, the Christian -Science Church, and after that the deluge! - -I have spent all day preparing next Tuesday's lecture, which is my last -before a class in Harvard University, so help me God amen! I am almost -_afraid_ at so much freedom. Three quarters of an hour ago Aleck and I -went for a walk in Somerville; warm, young moon, bare trees, clearing in -the west, stars out, old-fashioned streets, not sordid--a beautiful -walk. Last night to Bernard Shaw's ex-_quis_-ite play of "Cĉsar and -Cleopatra"--exquisitely acted too, by F. Robertson and Maxine Elliot's -sister Gert. Your Mar will have told you that, after these weeks of -persistent labor, culminating in New York, I am going to take sanctuary -on Saturday the 2nd of Feb. in your arms at Bryn Mawr. I do not want, -wish, or desire to "talk" to the crowd, but your mother pushing so, if -you and the philosophy club also pull, I mean pull _hard_, Jimmy[68] -will try to articulate something not too technical. But it will have to -be, if ever, on that Saturday night. It will also have to be very short; -and the less of a "reception," the better, after it. - -Your two last letters were tiptop. I never seen such _growth_! - -I go to N. Y., to be at the Harvard Club, on Monday the 28th. Kühnemann -left yesterday. A most dear man. Your loving - -DAD. - - - - -_To Henry James and William James, Jr._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb. 14, 1907_. - -DEAR BROTHER AND SON,--I dare say that you will be together in Paris -when you get this, but I address it to Lamb House all the same. You -twain are more "blessed" than I, in the way of correspondence this -winter, for you give more than you receive, Bill's letters being as -remarkable for wit and humor as Henry's are for copiousness, considering -that the market value of what he either writes or types is so many -shillings a word. When _I_ write other things, I find it almost -impossible to write letters. I've been at it _stiddy_, however, for -three days, since my return from New York, finding, as I did, a great -stack of correspondence to attend to. The first impression of New York, -if you stay there not more than 36 hours, which has been my limit for -twenty years past, is one of repulsion at the clangor, disorder, and -permanent earthquake conditions. But this time, installed as I was at -the Harvard Club (44th St.) in the centre of the cyclone, I caught the -pulse of the machine, took up the rhythm, and vibrated _mit_, and found -it simply magnificent. I'm surprised at you, Henry, not having been more -enthusiastic, but perhaps that superbly powerful and beautiful subway -was not opened when you were there. It is an _entirely_ new New York, in -soul as well as in body, from the old one, which looks like a village in -retrospect. The courage, the heaven-scaling audacity of it all, and the -_lightness_ withal, as if there was nothing that was not easy, and the -great pulses and bounds of progress, so many in directions all -simultaneous that the coördination is indefinitely future, give a kind -of _drumming background_ of life that I never felt before. I'm sure that -once _in_ that movement, and at home, all other places would seem -insipid. I observe that your book,--"The American Scene,"--dear H., is -just out. I must get it and devour again the chapters relative to New -York. On my last night, I dined with Norman Hapgood, along with men who -were successfully and happily in the vibration. H. and his most -winning-faced young partner, Collier, Jerome, Peter Dunne, F. M. Colby, -and Mark Twain. (The latter, poor man, is only good for monologue, in -his old age, or for dialogue at best, but he's a dear little genius all -the same.) I got such an impression of easy efficiency in the midst of -their bewildering conditions of speed and complexity of adjustment. -Jerome, particularly, with the world's eyes on his court-room, in the -very crux of the Thaw trial, as if he had nothing serious to do. Balzac -ought to come to life again. His Rastignac imagination sketched the -possibility of it long ago. I lunched, dined, and sometimes breakfasted, -out, every day of my stay, vibrated between 44th St., seldom going -lower, and 149th, with Columbia University at 116th as my chief relay -station, the magnificent space-devouring Subway roaring me back and -forth, lecturing to a thousand daily,[69] and having four separate -dinners at the Columbia Faculty Club, where colleagues severally -compassed me about, many of them being old students of mine, wagged -their tongues at me and made me explain.[70] It was certainly the high -tide of my existence, so far as _energizing_ and being "recognized" were -concerned, but I took it all very "easy" and am hardly a bit tired. -Total abstinence from every stimulant whatever is the one condition of -living at a rapid pace. I am now going whack at the writing of the rest -of the lectures, which will be more original and (I believe) important -than my previous works.... - - - - -_To Moorfield Storey._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb._ 21, 1907. - -DEAR MOORFIELD,--Your letter of three weeks ago has inadvertently lain -unnoticed--not because it didn't do me good, but because I went to New -York for a fortnight, and since coming home have been too druv to pay -any tributes to friendship. I haven't got many letters either of -condolence or congratulation on my retirement,--which, by the way, -doesn't take place till the end of the year,--the papers have railroaded -me out too soon.[71] But I confess that the thought is sweet to me of -being able to hear the College bell ring without any tendency to "move" -in consequence, and of seeing the last Thursday in September go by, and -remaining in the country careless of what becomes of its youth. It's the -_harness_ and the _hours_ that are so galling! I expect to shed truths -in dazzling profusion on the world for many years. - -As for you, retire too! Let you, Eliot, Roosevelt and me, first relax; -then take to landscape painting, which has a very soothing effect; then -write out all the truths which a long life of intimacy with mankind has -recommended to each of us as most useful. I think we can use the ebb -tide of our energies best in that way. I'm sure that _your_ -contributions would be the most useful of all. Affectionately yours, - -WM. JAMES. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -Cambridge, _Mar._ 26, 1907. - -DEAR FLOURNOY,--Your dilectissime letter of the 16th arrived this -morning and I must scribble a word of reply. That's the way to write to -a man! Caress him! flatter him! tell him that all Switzerland is hanging -on his lips! You have made me really _happy_ for at least twenty-four -hours! My dry and businesslike compatriots never write letters like -that. They write about themselves--you write about _me_. You know the -definition of an egotist: "a person who insists on talking about -_himself_, when you want to talk about _yourself_." Reverdin has told me -of the success of your lectures on pragmatism, and if you have been -communing in spirit with me this winter, so have I with you. I have -grown more and more deeply into pragmatism, and I rejoice immensely to -hear you say, "je m'y sens tout gagné." It is absolutely the only -philosophy with _no_ humbug in it, and I am certain that it is _your_ -philosophy. Have you read Papini's article in the February "Leonardo"? -That seems to me really splendid. You say that my ideas have formed the -real _centre de ralliment_ of the pragmatist tendencies. To me it is the -youthful and _empanaché_ Papini who has best put himself at the centre -of equilibrium whence all the motor tendencies start. He (and Schiller) -has given me great confidence and courage. I shall dedicate my book, -however, to the memory of J. S. Mill. - -I hope that you are careful to distinguish in my own work between the -pragmatism and the "radical empiricism" (Conception de Conscience,[72] -etc.) which to my own mind have no necessary connexion with each other. -My first proofs came in this morning, along with your letter, and the -little book ought to be out by the first of June. You shall have a very -early copy. It is exceedingly untechnical, and I can't help suspecting -that it will make a real impression. Münsterberg, who hitherto has been -rather pooh-poohing my thought, now, after reading the lecture on truth -which I sent you a while ago, says I seem to be ignorant that Kant ever -wrote, Kant having already said all that I say. I regard this as a very -good symptom. The third stage of opinion about a new idea, already -arrived: _1st_: absurd! _2nd_: trivial! _3rd_: _we_ discovered it! I -don't suppose you mean to print these lectures of yours, but I wish you -would. If you would translate my lectures, what could make me happier? -But, as I said apropos of the "Varieties," I hate to think of you doing -that drudgery when you might be formulating your own ideas. But, in one -way or the other, I hope you will join in the great strategic -combination against the forces of rationalism and bad abstractionism! A -good _coup de collier_ all round, and I verily believe that a new -philosophic movement will begin.... - -I thank you for your congratulations on my retirement. It makes me very -happy. A professor has two functions: (1) to be learned and distribute -bibliographical information; (2) to communicate truth. The _1st_ -function is the essential one, officially considered. The _2nd_ is the -only one I care for. Hitherto I have always felt like a humbug as a -professor, for I am weak in the first requirement. Now I can live for -the second with a free conscience. I envy you now at the Italian Lakes! -But good-bye! I have already written you a long letter, though I only -_meant_ to write a line! Love to you all from - -W. J. - - - - -_To Charles A. Strong._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr._ 9, 1907. - -DEAR STRONG,--Your tightly woven little letter reached me this A.M., -just as I was about writing to you to find out how you are. Your long -silence had made me apprehensive about your condition, and this news -cheers me up very much. Rome is great; and I like to think of you there; -if I spend another winter in Europe, it shall be mainly in Rome. You -don't say where you're staying, however, so my imagination is at fault, -I hope it may be at the _Russie_, that most delightful of hotels. I am -overwhelmed with duties, so I must be very brief _in re religionis_. -Your warnings against my superstitious tendencies, for such I suppose -they are,--this is the second heavy one I remember,--touch me, but not -in the prophetic way, for they don't weaken my trust in the healthiness -of my own attitude, which in part (I fancy) is less remote from your own -than you suppose. For instance, my "God of things as they are," being -part of a pluralistic system, is responsible for only such of them as he -knows enough and has enough power to have accomplished. For the rest he -is identical with your "ideal" God. The "omniscient" and "omnipotent" -God of theology I regard as a disease of the philosophy-shop. But, -having thrown away so much of the philosophy-shop, you may ask me why I -don't throw away the whole? That would mean too strong a negative -will-to-believe for me. It would mean a dogmatic disbelief in any extant -consciousness higher than that of the "normal" human mind; and this in -the teeth of the extraordinary vivacity of man's psychological commerce -with something ideal that _feels as if it_ were also actual (I have no -such commerce--I wish I had, but I can't close my eyes to its vitality -in others); and in the teeth of such analogies as Fechner uses to show -that there may be other-consciousness than man's. If other, then why not -higher and bigger? Why _may_ we not be in the universe as our dogs and -cats are in our drawing-rooms and libraries? It's a will-to-believe on -both sides: I am perfectly willing that others should disbelieve: why -should you not be tolerantly interested in the spectacle of my belief? -What harm does the little residuum or germ of actuality that I leave in -God do? If ideal, why (except on epiphenomenist principles) may he not -have got himself at least partly real by this time? I do not believe it -to be healthy-minded to nurse the notion that ideals are self-sufficient -and require no actualization to make us content. It is a quite -unnecessarily heroic form of resignation and sour grapes. Ideals ought -to aim at the _transformation of reality_--no less! When you defer to -what you suppose a certain authority in scientists as confirming these -negations, I am surprised. Of all insufficient authorities as to the -total nature of reality, give me the "scientists," from Münsterberg up, -or down. Their interests are most incomplete and their professional -conceit and bigotry immense. I know no narrower sect or club, in spite -of their excellent authority in the lines of fact they have explored, -and their splendid achievement there. Their only authority _at large_ is -for _method_--and the pragmatic method completes and enlarges them -there. When you shall have read my whole set of lectures (now with the -printer, to be out by June 1st) I doubt whether you will find any great -harm in the God I patronize--the poor thing is so largely an ideal -possibility. Meanwhile I take delight, or _shall_ take delight, in any -efforts you may make to negate all superhuman consciousness, for only by -these counter-attempts can a finally satisfactory modus vivendi be -reached. I don't feel sure that I know just what you mean by -"freedom,"--but no matter. Have you read in Schiller's new Studies in -Humanism what seem to me two excellent chapters, one on "Freedom," and -the other on the "making of reality"?... - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr._ 19, 1907. - -DEAR SCHILLER,--Two letters and a card from you within ten days is -pretty good. I have been in New York for a week, so haven't written as -promptly as I should have done. - -All right for the Gilbert Murrays! We shall be glad to see them. - -Too late for "humanism" in my book--all in type! I dislike "pragmatism," -but it seems to have the _international_ right of way at present. Let's -both go ahead--God will know his own! - -When your book first came I lent it to my student Kallen (who was -writing a thesis on the subject), thereby losing it for three weeks. -Then the grippe, and my own proofs followed, along with much other -business, so that I've only read about a quarter of it even now. The -essays on Freedom and the Making of Reality seem to be written with my -own heart's blood--it's startling that two people should be found to -think so exactly alike. A great argument for the truth of what they say, -too! I find that my own chapter on Truth printed in the J. of P. -already,[73] convinces no one as yet, not even my most _gleichgesinnten_ -cronies. It will have to be worked in by much future labor, for I _know_ -that I see all round the subject and they don't, and I think that the -theory of truth is the key to all the rest of our positions. - -You ask what I am going to "reply" to Bradley. But why need one reply to -everything and everybody? B.'s article is constructive rather than -polemic, is evidently sincere, softens much of his old outline, is -difficult to read, and ought, I should think, to be left to its own -destiny. How sweetly, by the way, he feels towards me as compared with -you! All because you have been too bumptious. I confess I think that -your _gaudium certaminis_ injures your influence. _We_'ve got a thing -big enough to set forth now affirmatively, and I think that readers -generally hate _minute_ polemics and recriminations. All polemic of ours -should, I believe, be either very broad statements of contrast, or fine -points treated singly, and as far as possible impersonally. Inborn -rationalists and inborn pragmatists will never convert each other. We -shall always look on them as spectral and they on us as -trashy--irredeemably both! As far as the rising generation goes, why not -simply express ourselves positively, and trust that the truer view -quietly will displace the other. Here again "God will know his own." -False views don't need much direct refutation--they get superseded, and -I feel absolutely certain of the supersessive power of pragmato-humanism, -if persuasively enough set forth.... The world is wide enough to harbor -various ways of thinking, and the present Bradley's units of mental -operation are so diverse from ours that the labor of reckoning over from -one set of terms to the other doesn't bring reward enough to pay for it. -Of course his way of treating "truth" as an entity trying all the while -to identify herself with reality, while reality is equally trying to -identify herself with the more ideal entity truth, isn't _false_. It's -one way, very remote and allegorical, of stating the facts, and it -"agrees" with a good deal of reality, but it has so little pragmatic -value that its tottering form can be left for time to deal with. The -good it does him is small, for it leaves him in this queer, surly, -grumbling state about the best that can be done by it for philosophy. -His great vice seems to me his perversity in logical activities, his bad -reasonings. I vote to go on, from now on, not trying to keep account of -the relations of his with our system. He can't be influencing disciples, -being himself nowadays so difficult. And once for all, there _will_ be -minds who _cannot_ _help_ regarding our growing universe as _sheer -trash_, metaphysically considered. Yours ever, - -W. J. - -The next letter is addressed to an active promoter of reform in the -treatment of the insane, the author of "A Mind that Found Itself." The -Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene and the National Committee for -Mental Hygiene have already performed so great a public service, that -anyone may now see that in 1907 the time had come to employ such -instrumentalities in improving the care of the insane. But when Mr. -Beers, just out of an asylum himself, appeared with the manuscript of -his own story in his hands, it was not so clear that these agencies were -needed, nor yet evident to anyone that he was a person who could bring -about their organization. - -James's own opinion as to the treatment of the insane is not in the -least overstated in the following letter. He recognized the genuineness -of Mr. Beers's personal experience and its value for propaganda, and he -immediately helped to get it published. From his first acquaintance with -Mr. Beers, he gave time, counsel, and money to further the organization -of the Mental Hygiene Committee; and he even departed, in its interest, -from his fixed policy of "keeping out of Committees and Societies." He -lived long enough to know that the movement had begun to gather -momentum; and he drew great satisfaction from the knowledge. - - - - -_To Clifford W. Beers._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 21, 1907_. - -DEAR MR. BEERS,--You ask for my opinion as to the advisability and -feasibility of a National Society, such as you propose, for the -improvement of conditions among the insane. - -I have never ceased to believe that such improvement is one of the most -"crying" needs of civilization; and the functions of such a Society seem -to me to be well drawn up by you. Your plea for its being founded -before your book appears is well grounded, you being an author who -naturally would like to cast seed upon a ground already prepared for it -to germinate practically without delay. - -I have to confess to being myself a very impractical man, with no -experience whatever in the details, difficulties, etc., of philanthropic -or charity organization, so my opinion as to the _feasibility_ of your -plan is worth nothing, and is undecided. Of course the first -consideration is to get your money, the second, your Secretary and -Trustees. All that _I_ wish to bear witness to is the great need of a -National Society such as you describe, or failing that, of a State -Society somewhere that might serve as a model in other States. - -Nowhere is there massed together as much suffering as in the asylums. -Nowhere is there so much sodden routine, and fatalistic insensibility in -those who have to treat it. Nowhere is an ideal treatment more costly. -The officials in charge grow resigned to the conditions under which they -have to labor. They cannot plead their cause as an auxiliary -organization can plead it for them. Public opinion is too glad to remain -ignorant. As mediator between officials, patients, and the public -conscience, a society such as you sketch is absolutely required, and the -sooner it gets under way the better.[74] Sincerely yours, - -WILLIAM JAMES. - -At the date of the next letter William James, Jr., was studying painting -in Paris. - - - - -_To his Son William._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 24, 1907_. - -DEAREST BILL,--I haven't written to you for ages, yet you keep showering -the most masterly and charming epistles upon all of us in turn, -including the fair Rosamund.[75] Be sure they are appreciated! Your Ma -and I dined last night at Ellen and Loulie Hooper's to meet Rosalind -Huidekoper and her swain. Loulie had heard from Bancel [La Farge] of -your getting a "mention"--if for the model, I'm not surprised; if for -the composition, I'm immensely pleased. Of course you'll tell us of it! -We've had a very raw cold April, and today it's blowing great guns from -all quarters of the sky, preparatory to clearing from the N.W., I think. -We are rooting up the entire lawn to a depth of 18 inches to try to -regenerate it. Four diggers and two carts have been at it for a week, -with your mother, bareheaded and cloaked, and ruddy-cheeked, sticking to -them like a burr. She doesn't handle pick or shovel, but she stands -there all day long in a way it would do your heart good to see; and so -democratic and hearty withal that I'm sure they like it, though working -under such a great taskmaster's eye deprives them of those intervals of -stolen leisure so dear to "workers" of every description. She makes it -up to them by inviting them to an afternoon tea daily, with piles of -cake and doughnuts. I fancy they like her well. - -We've let Chocorua to the Goldmarks. Aleck took his April recess along -with his schoolmate Henderson and Gerald Thayer, partly on the summit, -partly around the base, of Monadnock. The weather was fiercely wintry, -and your mother and I said "poor blind little Aleck--he's got to learn -thru experience." [She said "through"!] He came back happier and more -exultant than I've ever seen him, and six months older morally and -intellectually for the week with Gerald and Abbott Thayer. A great step -forward. They burglarized the Thayer house, and were tracked and -arrested by the posse, and had a paragraph in the Boston "Globe" about -the robbery. As the thing involved an ascent of Monadnock after dark, -with their packs, in deep snow, a day and a night there in snowstorm, a -16-mile walk and out of bed till 2 A.M.. the night of the burglary, a -"lying low" indoors all the next day at the Hendersons' empty house, -three in a bed and the police waking them at dawn, I ventured to suggest -a doubt as to whether the Thayer household were the greatest victims of -the illustrious practical joke. "What," cries Aleck, starting to his -feet, "nine men with revolvers and guns around your bed, and a revolver -pointed close to your ear as you wake--don't you call that a success, I -should like to know?" The Tom Sawyer phase of evolution is immortal! -Gerald, who is staying with us now, is really a splendid fellow. I'm so -glad he's taken to Aleck, who now is aflame with plans for being an -artist. I wish he might--it would certainly suit his temperament better -than "business." - -There 's the lunch bell. - -I have got my "Pragmatism" proofs all corrected. The most important -thing I've written yet, and bound, I am sure, to stir up a lot of -attention. But I'm dog-tired; and, in order to escape the social -engagements that at this time of year grow more frequent than ever, I'm -going off on Friday (this is Wednesday) to the country somewhere for ten -days. If only there might be warm weather! We've just backed out from a -dinner to William Leonard Darwin and his wife, and the Geo. Hodgeses, -etc. W. T. Stead spent three hours here on Sunday and lectured in the -Union on Monday--a splendid fellow whom I could get along with after a -fashion. Let no one run him down to you. I've been to New York to the -Peace Congress. Interesting but tiresome. - -Mary Salter is with us. Margaret and Rosamund just arrived at 107. No -news else! Yours, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -SALISBURY, CONN., _May 4, 1907_. - -DEAREST H.-- ...I've been so overwhelmed with work, and the mountain of -the _Unread_ has piled up so, that only in these days here have I really -been able to settle down to your "American Scene," which in its peculiar -way seems to me _supremely great_. You know how opposed your whole -"third manner" of execution is to the literary ideals which animate my -crude and Orson-like breast, mine being to say a thing in one sentence -as straight and explicit as it can be made, and then to drop it forever; -yours being to avoid naming it straight, but by dint of breathing and -sighing all round and round it, to arouse in the reader who may have had -a similar perception already (Heaven help him if he hasn't!) the -illusion of a solid object, made (like the "ghost" at the Polytechnic) -wholly out of impalpable materials, air, and the prismatic interferences -of light, ingeniously focused by mirrors upon empty space. But you _do_ -it, that's the queerness! And the complication of innuendo and -associative reference on the enormous scale to which you give way to it -does so _build out_ the matter for the reader that the result is to -solidify, by the mere bulk of the process, the like perception from -which _he_ has to start. As air, by dint of its volume, will weigh like -a corporeal body; so his own poor little initial perception, swathed in -this gigantic envelopment of suggestive atmosphere, grows like a germ -into something vastly bigger and more substantial. But it's the rummest -method for one to employ systematically as you do nowadays; and you -employ it at your peril. In this crowded and hurried reading age, pages -that require such close attention remain unread and neglected. You can't -skip a word if you are to get the effect, and 19 out of 20 worthy -readers grow intolerant. The method seems perverse: "Say it _out_, for -God's sake," they cry, "and have done with it." And so I say now, give -us _one_ thing in your older directer manner, just to show that, in -spite of your paradoxical success in this unheard-of method, you _can_ -still write according to accepted canons. Give us that interlude; and -then continue like the "curiosity of literature" which you have become. -For gleams and innuendoes and felicitous verbal insinuations you are -unapproachable, but the _core_ of literature is solid. Give it to us -_once_ again! The bare perfume of things will not support existence, and -the effect of solidity you reach is but perfume and simulacrum. - -For God's sake don't _answer_ these remarks, which (as Uncle Howard used -to say of Father's writings) are but the peristaltic belchings of my own -crabbed organism. For one thing, your account of America is largely one -of its omissions, silences, vacancies. You work them up like solids, for -those readers who already germinally perceive them (to others you are -_totally_ incomprehensible). I said to myself over and over in reading: -"How much greater the triumph, if instead of dwelling thus only upon -America's vacuities, he could make positive suggestion of what in -'Europe' or Asia may exist to fill them." That would be nutritious to so -many American readers whose souls are only too ready to leap to -suggestion, but who are now too inexperienced to know what is meant by -the contrast-effect from which alone your book is written. If you could -supply the background which is the foil, in terms more full and -positive! At present it is supplied only by the abstract geographic term -"Europe." But of course anything of that kind is excessively difficult; -and you will probably say that you _are_ supplying it all along by your -novels. Well, the verve and animal spirits with which you can keep your -method going, first on one place then on another, through all those -tightly printed pages is something marvelous; and there are pages surely -doomed to be immortal, those on the "drummers," _e.g._, at the beginning -of "Florida." They are in the best sense Rabelaisian. - -But a truce, a truce! I had no idea, when I sat down, of pouring such a -bath of my own subjectivity over you. Forgive! forgive! and don't reply, -don't at any rate in the sense of defending yourself, but only in that -of attacking _me_, if you feel so minded. I have just finished the -proofs of a little book called "Pragmatism" which even you _may_ enjoy -reading. It is a very "sincere" and, from the point of view of ordinary -philosophy-professorial manners, a very unconventional utterance, not -particularly original at any one point, yet, in the midst of the -literature of the way of thinking which it represents, with just that -amount of squeak or shrillness in the voice that enables one book to -_tell_, when others don't, to supersede its brethren, and be treated -later as "representative." I shouldn't be surprised if ten years hence -it should be rated as "epoch-making," for of the definitive triumph of -that general way of thinking I can entertain no doubt whatever--I -believe it to be something quite like the protestant reformation. - -You can't tell how happy I am at having thrown off the nightmare of my -"professorship." As a "professor" I always felt myself a sham, with its -chief duties of being a walking encyclopedia of erudition. I am now at -liberty to be a _reality_, and the comfort is unspeakable--literally -unspeakable, to be my own man, after 35 years of being owned by others. -I can now live for truth pure and simple, instead of for truth -accommodated to the most unheard-of requirements set by others.... Your -affectionate - -W. J. - -This letter appears never to have been answered, although Henry James -wrote on May 31, 1907: "You shall have, after a little more patience, a -reply to your so rich and luminous reflections on my book--a reply -almost as interesting as, and far more illuminating than, your letter -itself." - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -Cambridge, _May 18, 1907_. - -...One word about the said proof [of your article]. It convinces me that -you ought to be an academic personage, a "professor." For thirty-five -years I have been suffering from the exigencies of being one, the -pretension and the duty, namely, of meeting the mental needs and -difficulties of other persons, needs that I couldn't possibly imagine -and difficulties that I couldn't possibly understand; and now that I -have shuffled off the professorial coil, the sense of freedom that comes -to me is as surprising as it is exquisite. I wake up every morning with -it. What! not to have to accommodate myself to this mass of alien and -recalcitrant humanity, not to think under resistance, not to have to -square myself with others at every step I make--hurrah! it is too good -to be true. To be alone with truth and God! _Es ist nicht zu glauben!_ -What a future! What a vision of ease! But here you are loving it and -courting it unnecessarily. You're fit to continue a professor in all -your successive reincarnations, with never a release. It was so easy to -let Bradley with his approximations and grumblings alone. So few people -would find these last statements of his seductive enough to build them -into their own thought. But you, for the pure pleasure of the operation, -chase him up and down his windings, flog him into and out of his -corners, stop him and cross-reference him and counter on him, as if -required to do so by your office. It makes very difficult reading, it -obliges one to re-read Bradley, and I don't believe there are three -persons living who will take it in with the pains required to estimate -its value. B. himself will very likely not read it with any care. It is -subtle and clear, like everything you write, but it is too minute. And -where a few broad comments would have sufficed, it is too complex, and -too much like a criminal conviction in tone and temper. Leave him in his -_dunklem Drange_--he is drifting in the right direction evidently, and -when a certain amount of positive construction on our side has been -added, he will say that that was what he had meant all along--and the -world will be the better for containing so much difficult polemic -reading the less. - -I admit that your remarks are penetrating, and let air into the joints -of the subject; but I respectfully submit that they are not _called for_ -in the interests of the final triumph of truth. That will come by the -way of displacement of error, quite effortlessly. I can't help -suspecting that you unduly magnify the influence of Bradleyan Absolutism -on the undergraduate mind. Taylor is the only fruit so far--at least -within my purview. One practical point: I don't quite like your first -paragraph, and wonder if it be too late to have the references to me at -least expunged. I can't recognize the truth of the ten-years' change of -opinion about my "Will to Believe." I don't find anyone--not even my -dearest friends, as Miller and Strong--one whit persuaded. Taylor's and -Hobhouse's attacks are of recent date, etc. Moreover, the reference to -Bradley's relation to me in this article is too ironical not to seem a -little "nasty" to some readers; therefore out with it, if it be not too -late. - -See how different our methods are! All that Humanism needs now is to -make applications of itself to special problems. Get a school of -youngsters at work. Refutations of error should be left to the -rationalists alone. They are a stock function of that school.... - -I'm fearfully _tired_, but expect the summer to get me right again. -Affectionately thine, - -W. J. - - - - -XVI - -1907-1909 - -_The Last Period (III)--Hibbert Lectures in Oxford--The Hodgson Report_ - - -The story of the remaining years is written so fully in the letters -themselves as to require little explanation. - -Angina pectoris and such minor ailments as are only too likely to -afflict a man of sixty-five years and impaired constitution interrupted -the progress of reading and writing more and more. Physical exertion, -particularly that involved in talking long to many people, now brought -on pain and difficulty in breathing. But James still carried himself -erect, still walked with a light step, and until a few weeks before his -death wore the appearance of a much younger and stronger man than he -really was. None but those near to him realized how often he was in -discomfort or pain, or how constantly he was using himself to the limit -of his endurance. He bore his ills without complaint and ordinarily -without mention; although he finally made up his mind to try to -discourage the appeals and requests of all sorts that still harassed -him, by proclaiming the fact that he was an invalid. As his power of -work became more and more reduced, frustrations became harder to bear, -and the sense that they were unavoidable oppressed him. When an -invitation to deliver a course of lectures on the Hibbert Foundation at -Manchester College, Oxford, arrived, he was torn between an impulse to -clutch at this engagement as a means of hastening the writing-out of -certain material that was in his mind, and the fear, only too -reasonable, that the obligation to have the lectures ready by a certain -date would strain him to the snapping point. After some hesitation he -agreed, however, and the lectures were, ultimately, prepared and -delivered successfully. - -In proportion as the number of hours a day that he could spend on -literary work and professional reading decreased, James's general -reading increased again. He began for the first time to browse in -military biographies, and commenced to collect material for a study -which he sometimes spoke of as a "Psychology of Jingoism," sometimes as -a "Varieties of Military Experience." What such a work would have been, -had he ever completed it, it is impossible to tell. It was never more -than a rather vague project, turned to occasionally as a diversion. But -it is safe to reckon that two remarkable papers--the "Energies of Men" -(written in 1906) and the "Moral Equivalent of War" (written in -1909)--would have appeared to be related to this study. That it would -not have been a utopian flight in the direction of pacifism need hardly -be said. However he might have described it, James was not disposed to -underestimate the "fighting instinct." He saw it as a persistent and -highly irritable force, underlying the society of all the dominant -races; and he advocated international courts, reduction of armaments, -and any other measures that might prevent appeals to the war-waging -passion as commendable devices for getting along without arousing it. - -"The fatalistic view of the war-function is to me nonsense, for I know -that war-making is due to definite motives and subject to prudential -checks and reasonable criticisms, just like any other form of -enterprise.... All these beliefs of mine put me squarely into the -anti-militarist party. But I do not believe that peace either ought to -be or will be permanent on this globe, unless the states pacifically -organized preserve some of the old elements of army-discipline.... In -the more or less socialistic future towards which mankind seems -drifting, we must still subject ourselves collectively to those -severities which answer to our real position upon this only partly -hospitable globe. We must make new energies and hardihoods continue the -manliness to which the military mind so faithfully clings. Martial -virtues must be the enduring cement; intrepidity, contempt of softness, -surrender of private interest, obedience to command, must still remain -the rock upon which states are built--unless, indeed, we wish for -dangerous reactions against commonwealths fit only for contempt, and -liable to invite attack whenever a centre of crystallization for -military-minded enterprise gets formed anywhere in their -neighborhood."[76] - -Any utterances about war, arbitration, and disarmament, are now likely -to have their original meaning distorted by reason of what may justly be -called the present fevered state of public opinion on such questions. It -should be clear that the foregoing sentences were not directed to any -particular question of domestic or foreign policy. They were part of a -broad picture of the fighting instinct, and led up to a suggestion for -diverting it into non-destructive channels. As to particular instances, -circumstances were always to be reckoned with. James believed in -organizing and strengthening the machinery of arbitration, but did not -think that the day for universal arbitration had yet come. He saw a -danger in military establishments, went so far--in the presence of the -"jingoism" aroused by Cleveland's Venezuela message--as to urge -opposition to any increase of the American army and navy, encouraged -peace-societies, and was willing to challenge attention by calling -himself a pacifist.[77] "The first thing to learn in intercourse with -others is non-interference with their own peculiar ways of being happy, -provided those ways do not presume to interfere by violence with -ours."[78] Tolerance--social, religious, and political--was fundamental -in his scheme of belief; but he took pains to make a proviso, and drew -the line at tolerating interference or oppression. Where he recognized a -military danger, there he would have had matters so governed as to meet -it, not evade it. Writing of the British garrison in Halifax in 1897, he -said: "By Jove, if England should ever be licked by a Continental army, -it would only be Divine justice upon her for keeping up the Tommy Atkins -recruiting system when the others have compulsory service." - - * * * * * - -In the case of one undertaking, which was much too troublesome to be -reckoned as a diversion, he let himself be drawn away from his -metaphysical work. He had taken no active part in the work of the -Society for Psychical Research since 1896. In December, 1905, Richard -Hodgson, the secretary of the American Branch, had died suddenly, and -almost immediately thereafter Mrs. Piper, the medium whose trances -Hodgson had spent years in studying, had purported to give -communications from Hodgson's departed spirit. In 1909 James made a -report to the S. P. R. on "Mrs. Piper's Hodgson control." The full -report will be found in its Proceedings for 19O9,[79] and the concluding -pages, in which James stated, more analytically than elsewhere, the -hypotheses which the phenomena suggested to him, have been reprinted in -the volume of "Collected Essays and Reviews." At the same time he wrote -out a more popular statement, in a paper which will be found in -"Memories and Studies." As to his final opinion of the spirit-theory, -the following letter, given somewhat out of its chronological place, -states what was still James's opinion in 1910. - - - - -_To Charles Lewis Slattery._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 21, 1907_. - -DEAR MR. SLATTERY,--My state of mind is this: Mrs. Piper has supernormal -knowledge in her trances; but whether it comes from "tapping the minds" -of living people, or from some common cosmic reservoir of memories, or -from surviving "spirits" of the departed, is a question impossible for -_me_ to answer just now to my own satisfaction. The spirit-theory is -undoubtedly not only the most natural, but the simplest, and I have -great respect for Hodgson's and Hyslop's arguments when they adopt it. -At the same time the electric current called _belief_ has not yet closed -in my mind. - -Whatever the explanation be, trance-mediumship is an excessively complex -phenomenon, in which many concurrent factors are engaged. That is why -interpretation is so hard. - -Make any use, public or private, that you like of this. - -In great haste, yours, - -Wm. James. - -The next letter should be understood as referring to the abandonment of -an excursion to Lake Champlain with Henry L. Higginson. The celebration -alluded to in the last part of the letter had been arranged by the -Cambridge Historical Society in honor of the hundredth anniversary of -the birth of Louis Agassiz. - - - - -_To Henry L. Higginson._ - - -CHOCORUA, N. H., _circa, June 1, 1907_. - -DEAR HENRY,--On getting your resignation by telephone, I came straight -up here instead, without having time to write you my acceptance as I -meant to; and now comes your note of the fourth, before I have done so. - -I am exceedingly sorry, my dear old boy, that it is the doctor's advice -that has made you fear to go. I hope the liability to relapse will soon -fade out and leave you free again; for say what they will of _Alters -Schwäche_ and resignation to decay, and _entbehren sollst du, sollst -entbehren_, it means only sour grapes, and the insides of one always -want to be doing the free and active things. However, a river can still -be lively in a shrunken bed, and we must not pay too much attention to -the difference of level. If you should summon me again this summer, I -can probably respond. I shall be here for a fortnight, then back to -Cambridge again for a short time. - -I thought the Agassiz celebration went off very nicely indeed, didn't -you?--John Gray's part in it being of course the best. X---- was heavy, -but respectable, and the heavy respectable _ought_ to be one ingredient -in anything of the kind. But how well Shaler would have done that part -of the job had he been there! Love to both of you! - -W. J. - - - - -_To W. Cameron Forbes._ - - -CHOCORUA, _June 11, 1907_. - -DEAR CAMERON FORBES,--Your letter from Baguio of the 18th of April -touches me by its genuine friendliness, and is a tremendous temptation. -Why am I not ten years younger? Even now I hesitate to say no, and the -only reason why I don't say yes, with a roar, is that certain rather -serious drawbacks in the way of health of late seem to make me unfit for -the various activities which such a visit ought to carry in its train. I -am afraid my program from now onwards ought to be sedentary. I ought to -be getting out a book next winter. Last winter I could hardly do any -walking, owing to a trouble with my heart. - -Does your invitation mean to include my wife? And have you a good -crematory so that she might bring home my ashes in case of need? - -I think if you had me on the spot you would find me a less impractical -kind of an anti-imperialist than you have supposed me to be. I think -that the manner in which the McKinley administration railroaded the -country into its policy of conquest was abominable, and the way the -country pucked up its ancient soul at the first touch of temptation, and -followed, was sickening. But with the establishment of the civil -commission McKinley did what he could to redeem things and now what the -Islands want is CONTINUITY OF ADMINISTRATION to form new habits that may -to some degree be hoped to last when we, as controllers, are gone. WHEN? -that is the question. And much difference of opinion may be fair as to -the answer. That we can't stay forever seems to follow from the fact -that the educated Philippinos differ from all previous colonials in -having been inoculated before our occupation with the ideas of the -French Revolution; and that is a virus to which history shows as yet no -anti-toxine. As I am at present influenced, I think that the U. S. ought -to solemnly proclaim a date for our going (or at least for a plebiscitum -as to whether we should go) and stand by all the risks. _Some_ date, -rather than indefinitely drift. And shape the whole interval towards -securing things in view of the change. As to this, I may be wrong, and -am always willing to be convinced. I wish I could go, and see you all -at work. Heaven knows I admire the spirit with which you are animated--a -new thing in colonial work. - -It must have been a great pleasure to you to see so many of the family -at once. I have seen none of them since their return, but hope to do so -ere the summer speeds. The only dark spot was poor F----'s death. - -Believe me, with affectionate regards, yours truly, - -Wm. James. - -I am ordering a little book of mine, just out, to be sent to you. Some -one of your circle may find entertainment in it. - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -[Post-card] - -CHOCORUA, _June_ 13, 1907. - -Yours of the 27th ult. received and highly appreciated. I'm glad you -relish my book so well. You go on playing the Boreas and I shedding the -sunbeams, and between us we'll get the cloak off the philosophic -traveler! But _have_ you read Bergson's new book?[80]It seems to me that -nothing is important in comparison with that divine apparition. All -_our_ positions, real time, a growing world, asserted magisterially, and -the beast intellectualism killed absolutely _dead_! The whole flowed -round by a style incomparable as it seems to me. Read it, and digest it -if you can. Much of it I can't yet assimilate. - -[_No signature._] - - - - -_To Henri Bergson._ - - -CHOCORUA, _June 13, 1907_. - -O my Bergson, you are a magician, and your book is a marvel, a real -wonder in the history of philosophy, making, if I mistake not, an -entirely new era in respect of matter, but unlike the works of genius of -the "transcendentalist" movement (which are so obscurely and abominably -and inaccessibly written), a pure classic in point of form. You may be -amused at the comparison, but in finishing it I found the same -after-taste remaining as after finishing "Madame Bovary," such a flavor -of persistent _euphony_, as of a rich river that never foamed or ran -thin, but steadily and firmly proceeded with its banks full to the brim. -Then the aptness of your illustrations, that never scratch or stand out -at right angles, but invariably simplify the thought and help to pour it -along! Oh, indeed you are a magician! And if your next book proves to be -as great an advance on this one as this is on its two predecessors, your -name will surely go down as one of the great creative names in -philosophy. - -There! have I praised you enough? What every genuine philosopher (every -genuine man, in fact) craves most is _praise_--although the philosophers -generally call it "recognition"! If you want still more praise, let me -know, and I will send it, for my features have been on a broad smile -from the first page to the last, at the chain of felicities that never -stopped. I feel rejuvenated. - -As to the content of it, I am not in a mood at present to make any -definite reaction. There is so much that is absolutely new that it will -take a long time for your contemporaries to assimilate it, and I imagine -that much of the development of detail will have to be performed by -younger men whom your ideas will stimulate to coruscate in manners -unexpected by yourself. To me at present the vital achievement of the -book is that it inflicts an irrecoverable death-wound upon -Intellectualism. It can never resuscitate! But it will die hard, for all -the inertia of the past is in it, and the spirit of professionalism and -pedantry as well as the ĉsthetic-intellectual delight of dealing with -categories logically distinct yet logically connected, will rally for a -desperate defense. The _élan vital_, all contentless and vague as you -are obliged to leave it, will be an easy substitute to make fun of. But -the beast _has_ its death-wound now, and the manner in which you have -inflicted it (interval _versus_ temps d'arrêt, etc.) is masterly in the -extreme. I don't know why this later _rédaction_ of your critique of the -mathematics of movement has seemed to me so much more telling than the -early statement--I suppose it is because of the wider _use_ made of the -principle in the book. You will be receiving my own little "pragmatism" -book simultaneously with this letter. How jejune and inconsiderable it -seems in comparison with your great system! But it is so congruent with -parts of your system, fits so well into interstices thereof, that you -will easily understand why I am so enthusiastic. I feel that at bottom -we are fighting the same fight, you a commander, I in the ranks. The -position we are rescuing is "Tychism" and a really growing world. But -whereas I have hitherto found no better way of defending Tychism than by -affirming the spontaneous addition of _discrete_ elements of being (or -their subtraction), thereby playing the game with intellectualist -weapons, you set things straight at a single stroke by your fundamental -conception of the continuously creative nature of reality. I think that -one of your happiest strokes is your reduction of "finality," as usually -taken, to its status alongside of efficient causality, as the -twin-daughters of intellectualism. But this vaguer and truer finality -restored to its rights will be a difficult thing to give content to. -Altogether your reality lurks so in the background, in this book, that I -am wondering whether you _couldn't_ give it any more development _in -concreto_ here, or whether you perhaps were holding back developments, -already in your possession, for a future volume. They are sure to come -to you later anyhow, and to make a new volume; and altogether, the clash -of these ideas of yours with the traditional ones will be sure to make -sparks fly that will illuminate all sorts of dark places and bring -innumerable new considerations into view. But the process may be slow, -for the ideas are so revolutionary. Were it not for your style, your -book might last 100 years unnoticed; but your way of writing is so -absolutely commanding that your theories have to be attended to -immediately. I feel very much in the dark still about the relations of -the progressive to the regressive movement, and this great precipitate -of nature subject to static categories. With a frank pluralism of -_beings_ endowed with vital impulses you can get oppositions and -compromises easily enough, and a stagnant deposit; but after my one -reading I don't exactly "catch on" to the way in which the continuum of -reality resists itself so as to have to act, etc., etc. - -The only part of the work which I felt like positively criticising was -the discussion of the idea of nonentity, which seemed to me somewhat -overelaborated, and yet didn't leave me with a sense that the last word -had been said on the subject. But all these things must be very slowly -digested by me. I can see that, when the tide turns in your favor, many -previous tendencies in philosophy will start up, crying "This is nothing -but what _we_ have contended for all along." Schopenhauer's blind will, -Hartmann's unconscious, Fichte's aboriginal freedom (reëdited at Harvard -in the most "unreal" possible way by Münsterberg) will all be claimants -for priority. But no matter--all the better if you are in some ancient -lines of tendency. Mysticism also must make claims and doubtless just -ones. I say nothing more now--this is just my first reaction; but I am -so enthusiastic as to have said only two days ago, "I thank heaven that -I have lived to this date--that I have witnessed the Russo-Japanese war, -and seen Bergson's new book appear--the two great modern turning-points -of history and of thought!" Best congratulations and cordialest regards! - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To T. S. Perry._ - - -SILVER LAKE, N.H., _June 24, 1907_. - - -DEAR THOS.,--Yours of the 11th is at hand, true philosopher that you -are. No one but one bawn & bred in the philosophic briar-patch could -appreciate Bergson as you do, without in the least understanding him. I -am in an identical predicament. This last of his is the _divinest_ book -that has appeared in _my_ life-time, and (unless I am the falsest -prophet) it is destined to rank with the greatest works of all time. The -style of it is as wonderful as the matter. By all means send it to Chas. -Peirce, but address him Prescott Hall, Cambridge. I am sending you my -"Pragmatism," which Bergson's work makes seem like small potatoes -enough. - -Are you going to Russia to take Stolypin's place? or to head the -Revolution? I would I were at Giverny to talk metaphysics with you, and -enjoy a country where I am not responsible for the droughts and the -garden. Have been here two weeks at Chocorua, getting our place ready -for a tenant. - -Affectionate regards to you all. - -W. J. - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -LINCOLN, MASS., _Aug. 5, 1907_. - -DEAR MILLER,--I got your letter about "Pragmatism," etc., some time ago. -I hear that you are booked to review it for the "Hibbert Journal." Lay -on, Macduff! as hard as you can--I want to have the weak places pointed -out. I sent you a week ago a "Journal of Philosophy"[81] with a word -more about Truth in it, written _at_ you mainly; but I hardly dare hope -that I have cleared up my position. A letter from Strong, two days ago, -written after receiving a proof of that paper, still thinks that I deny -the existence of realities outside of the thinker; and [R. B.] Perry, -who seems to me to have written far and away the most important critical -remarks on Pragmatism (possibly the _only_ important ones), accused -Pragmatists (though he doesn't name _me_) of ignoring or denying that -the real object plays any part in deciding what ideas are true. I -confess that such misunderstandings seem to me hardly credible, and cast -a "lurid light" on the mutual understandings of philosophers generally. -Apparently it all comes from the _word_ Pragmatism--and a most unlucky -word it may prove to have been. I am a natural realist. The world _per -se_ may be likened to a cast of beans on a table. By themselves they -spell nothing. An onlooker may group them as he likes. He may simply -count them all and map them. He may select groups and name these -capriciously, or name them to suit certain extrinsic purposes of his. -Whatever he does, so long as he _takes account_ of them, his account is -neither false nor irrelevant. If neither, why not call it true? It -_fits_ the beans-_minus_-him, and _expresses_ the _total_ fact, of -beans-_plus_-him. Truth in this total sense is partially ambiguous, -then. If he simply counts or maps, he obeys a subjective interest as -much as if he traces figures. Let that stand for pure "intellectual" -treatment of the beans, while grouping them variously stands for -non-intellectual interests. All that Schiller and I contend for is that -there is _no_ "truth" without _some_ interest, and that non-intellectual -interests play a part as well as intellectual ones. Whereupon we are -accused of denying the beans, or denying being in anyway constrained by -them! It's too silly!... - - - - -_To Miss Pauline Goldmark._ - - -PUTNAM SHANTY, -KEENE VALLEY, _Sept. 14, 1907_. - - -DEAR PAULINE,-- ...No "camping" for me this side the grave! A party of -fourteen left here yesterday for Panther Gorge, meaning to return by the -Range, as they call your "summit trail." Apparently it is easier than -when on that to me memorable day we took it, for Charley Putnam swears -he has done it in five and a half hours. I don't well understand the -difference, except that they don't reach Haystack over Marcy as we did, -and there is now a good trail. Past and future play such a part in the -way one feels the present. To these youngsters, as to me long ago, and -to you today, the rapture of the connexion with these hills is partly -made of the sense of future power over them and their like. That being -removed from me, I can only mix memories of past power over them with -the present. But I have always observed a curious _fading_ in what -Tennyson calls the "passion" of the past. Memories awaken little or no -sentiment when they are too old; and I have taken everything here so -prosily this summer that I find myself wondering whether the time-limit -has been exceeded, and whether for emotional purpose I am a new self. -We know not what we shall become; and that is what makes life so -interesting. Always a turn of the kaleidoscope; and when one is utterly -maimed for action, then the glorious time for _reading_ other men's -lives! I fairly revel in that prospect, which in its full richness has -to be postponed, for I'm not sufficiently maimed-for-action yet. By -going slowly and alone, I find I can compass such things as the Giant's -Washbowl, Beaver Meadow Falls, etc., and they make me feel very good. I -have even been dallying with the temptation to visit Cameron Forbes at -Manila; but I have put it behind me for this year at least. I think I -shall probably give some more lectures (of a much less "popular" sort) -at Columbia next winter--so you see there's life in the old dog yet. -Nevertheless, how different from the life that courses through _your_ -arteries and capillaries! Today is the first honestly fine day there has -been since I arrived here on the 2nd. (They must have been heavily -rained on at Panther Gorge yesterday evening.) After writing a couple -more letters I will take a book and repair to "Mosso's Ledge" for the -enjoyment of the prospect.... - - - - -_To W. Jerusalem_ (Vienna). - - -ST. HUBERT'S, N.Y. _Sept._ 15, 1907. - -DEAR PROFESSOR JERUSALEM,--Your letter of the 1st of September, -forwarded from Cambridge, reaches me here in the Adirondack Mountains -today. I am glad the publisher is found, and that you are enjoying the -drudgery of translating ["Pragmatism"]. Also that you find the book more -and more in agreement with your own philosophy. I fear that its -untechnicality of style--or rather its deliberate -_anti_-technicality--will make the German _Gelehrtes Publikum_,[82] as -well as the professors, consider it _oberflächliches Zeug_[83]--which -it assuredly is not, although, being only a sketch, it ought to be -followed by something _tighter_ and abounding in discriminations. -Pragmatism is an unlucky word in some respects, and the two meanings I -give for it are somewhat heterogeneous. But it was already in vogue in -France and Italy as well as in England and America, and it was -_tactically_ advantageous to use it.... - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -STONEHURST, INTERVALE, N.H., _Oct._ 6, 1907. - -DEAREST BROTHER,--I write this at the [James] Bryces', who have taken -the Merrimans' house for the summer, and whither I came the day before -yesterday, after closing our Chocorua house, and seeing Alice leave for -home. We had been there a fortnight, trying to get some work done, and -having to do most of it with our own hands, or rather with Alice's -heroic hands, for mine are worth almost nothing in these degenerate -days. It is enough to make your heart break to see the scarcity of -"labor," and the whole country tells the same story. Our future at -Chocorua is a somewhat problematic one, though I think we shall manage -to pass next summer there and get it into better shape for good renting, -thereafter, at any cost (not the renting but the shaping). After that -what _I_ want is a free foot, and the children are now not dependent on -a family summer any longer.... - -I spent the first three weeks of September--warm ones--in my beloved and -exquisite Keene Valley, where I was able to do a good deal of uphill -walking, with good rather than bad effects, much to my joy. Yesterday I -took a three hours walk here, three quarters of an hour of it uphill. I -have to go alone, and slowly; but it's none the worse for that and makes -one feel like old times. I leave this P.M. for two more days at -Chocorua--at the hotel. The fall is late, but the woods are beginning -to redden beautifully. With the sun behind them, some maples look like -stained-glass windows. But the penury of the human part of this region -is depressing, and I begin to have an appetite for Europe again. Alice -too! To be at Cambridge with no lecturing and no students to nurse along -with their thesis-work is an almost incredibly delightful prospect. I am -going to settle down to the composition of another small book, more -original and ground-breaking than anything I have yet put forth(!), -which I expect to print by the spring; after which I can lie back and -write at leisure more routine things for the rest of my days. - -The Bryces are wholly unchanged, excellent friends and hosts, and I like -her as much as him. The trouble with him is that his insatiable love of -information makes him try to pump _you_ all the time instead of letting -you pump _him_, and I have let my own tongue wag so, that, when gone, I -shall feel like a fool, and remember all kinds of things that I have -forgotten to ask him. I have just been reading to Mrs. B., with great -gusto on her part and renewed gusto on mine, the first few pages of your -chapter on Florida in "The American Scene." _Köstlich_ stuff! I had just -been reading to myself almost 50 pages of the New England part of the -book, and fairly melting with delight over the Chocorua portion. -Evidently that book will last, and bear reading over and over again--a -few pages at a time, which is the right way for "literature" fitly so -called. It all makes me wish that we had you here again, and you will -doubtless soon come. I mustn't forget to thank you for the gold -pencil-case souvenir. I have had a plated silver one for a year past, -now worn through, and experienced what a "comfort" they are. Good-bye, -and Heaven bless you. Your loving - -W. J. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan._ 2, 1908. - -...I am just back from the American Philosophical Association, which had -a really delightful meeting at Cornell University in the State of New -York. Mostly epistemological. We are getting to know each other and -understand each other better, and shall do so year by year, Everyone -cursed my doctrine and Schiller's about "truth." I think it largely is -misunderstanding, but it is also due to our having expressed our meaning -very ill. The general blanket-word pragmatism covers so many different -opinions, that it naturally arouses irritation to see it flourished as a -revolutionary flag. I am also partly to blame here; but it was -_tactically_ wise to use it as a title. Far more persons have had their -attention attracted, and the result has been that everybody has been -forced to think. Substantially I have nothing to alter in what I have -said.... - -I have just read the first half of Fechner's "Zend-Avesta," a wonderful -book, by a wonderful genius. He had his vision and he knows how to -discuss it, as no one's vision ever was discussed. - -I may tell you in confidence (I don't talk of it here because my damned -arteries may in the end make me give it up--for a year past I have a -sort of angina when I make efforts) that I have accepted an invitation -to give eight public lectures at Oxford next May. I was ashamed to -refuse; but the work of preparing them will be hard (the title is "The -Present Situation in Philosophy"[84]) and they doom me to relapse into -the "popular lecture" form just as I thought I had done with it forever. -(What I wished to write this winter was something ultra dry in form, -impersonal and exact.) I find that my free and easy and personal way of -writing, especially in "Pragmatism," has made me an object of loathing -to many respectable academic minds, and I am rather tired of awakening -that feeling, which more popular lecturing on my part will probably -destine me to increase. - -...I have been with Strong, who goes to Rome this month. Good, -truth-loving man! and a very penetrating mind. I think he will write a -great book. We greatly enjoyed seeing your friend Schwarz, the teacher. -A fine fellow who will, I hope, succeed. - -A happy New Year to you now, dear Flournoy, and loving regards from us -all to you all. Yours as ever - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Norman Kemp Smith._ - - -[Post-card] - -Cambridge, _Jan._ 31, 1908. - -I have only just "got round" to your singularly solid and compact study -of Avenarius in "Mind." I find it clear and very clarifying, after the -innumerable hours I have spent in trying to dishevel him. I have read -the "Weltbegriff" three times, and have half expected to have to read -both books over again to assimilate his immortal message to man, of -which I have hitherto been able to make nothing. You set me free! I -shall not re-read him! but leave him to his spiritual dryness and -preposterous pedantry. His only really original idea seems to be that of -the _Vitalreihe_, and that, so far as I can see, is quite false, -certainly no improvement on the notion of adaptive reflex actions. - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To his Daughter._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr._ 2, 1908, - -DARLING PEG,--You must have wondered at my silence since your dear -mother returned. I hoped to write to you each day, but the strict -routine of my hours now crowded it out. I write on my Oxford job till -one, then lunch, then nap, then to my ... doctor at four daily, and from -then till dinner-time making calls, and keeping "out" as much as -possible. To bed as soon after 8 as possible--all my odd reading done -between 3 and 5 A.M., an hour not favorable for letter-writing--so that -my necessary business notes have to get in just before dinner (as now) -or after dinner, which I hate and try to avoid. I think I see my way -clear to go [to Oxford] now, if I don't get more fatigued than at -present. Four and a quarter lectures are fully written, and the rest are -down-hill work, much raw material being ready now.... - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -Cambridge, _April_ 15, 1908. - -DEAREST HENRY,--Your good letter to Harry has brought news of your play, -of which I had only seen an enigmatic paragraph in the papers. I'm right -glad it is a success, and that such good artists as the Robertsons are -in it. I hope it will have a first-rate run in London. Your apologies -for not writing are the most uncalled-for things--your assiduity and the -length of your letters to this family are a standing marvel--especially -considering the market-value of your "copy"! So waste no more in that -direction. 'Tis I who should be prostrating myself--silent as I've been -for months in spite of the fact that I'm so soon to descend upon you. -The fact is I've been trying to compose the accursed lectures in a state -of abominable brain-fatigue--a race between myself and time. I've got -six now done out of the eight, so I'm safe, but sorry that the infernal -nervous condition that with me always accompanies literary production -must continue at Oxford and add itself to the other fatigues--a fixed -habit of wakefulness, etc. I ought not to have accepted, but they've -panned out good, so far, and if I get through them successfully, I shall -be very glad that the opportunity came. They will be a good thing to -_have done_. Previously, in such states of fatigue, I have had a break -and got away, but this time no day without its half dozen pages--but the -thing hangs on so long!... - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -R. M. S. IVERNIA, -[Arriving at Liverpool], _Apr. 29, 1908_. - -DEAR H.,--Your letter of the 26th, unstamped or post-marked, has just -been wafted into our lap--I suppose mailed under another cover to the -agent's care. - -I'm glad you're not hurrying from Paris--I feared you might be awaiting -us in London, and wrote you a letter yesterday to the Reform Club, which -you will doubtless get ere you get this, telling you of our prosperous -though tedious voyage in good condition. - -We cut out London and go straight to Oxford, _via_ Chester. I have been -sleeping like a top, and feel in good fighting trim again, eager for the -scalp of the Absolute. My lectures will put his wretched clerical -defenders fairly on the defensive. They begin on Monday. Since you'll -have the whole months of May and June, if you urge it, to see us, I pray -you not to hasten back from "gay Paree" for the purpose.... Up since two -A.M. - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Pauline Goldmark._ - - -PATTERDALE, ENGLAND, _July 2, 1908_. - -Your letter, beloved Pauline, greeted me on my arrival here three hours -ago.... How I _do wish_ that I could be in Italy alongside of you now, -now or any time! You could do me so much good, and your ardor of -enjoyment of the country, the towns and the folk would warm up my cold -soul. I might even learn to speak Italian by conversing in that tongue -with you. But I fear that you'd find me betraying the coldness of my -soul by complaining of the heat of my body--a most unworthy attitude to -strike. Dear Paolina, never, never think of whether your body is hot or -cold; live in the _objective_ world, above such miserable -considerations. I have been up here eight days, Alice having gone down -last Saturday, the 27th, to meet Peggy and Harry at London, after only -two days of it. After all the social and other fever of the past six and -a half weeks (save for the blessed nine days at Bibury), it looked like -the beginning of a real vacation, and it would be such but for the -extreme heat, and the accident of one of my recent malignant "colds" -beginning. I have been riding about on stage-coaches for five days past, -but the hills are so treeless that one gets little shade, and the sun's -glare is tremendous. It is a lovely country, however, for -pedestrianizing in cooler weather. Mountains and valleys compressed -together as in the Adirondacks, great reaches of pink and green hillside -and lovely lakes, the higher parts quite fully alpine in character but -for the fact that no snow mountains form the distant background. A -strong and noble region, well worthy of one's life-long devotion, if one -were a Briton. And on the whole, what a magnificent land and race is -this Britain! Every thing about them is of better quality than the -corresponding thing in the U.S.--with but few exceptions, I imagine. And -the equilibrium is so well achieved, and the human tone so cheery, -blithe and manly! and the manners so delightfully good. Not one -_unwholesome_-looking man or woman does one meet here for 250 that one -meets in America. Yet I believe (or suspect) that ours is eventually -the bigger destiny, if we can only succeed in living up to it, and thou -in 22nd St. and I in Irving St. must do our respective strokes, which -after 1000 years will help to have made the glorious collective -resultant. Meanwhile, as my brother Henry once wrote, thank God for a -world that holds so rich an England, so rare an Italy! Alice is entirely -_aufgegangen_ in her idealization of it. And truly enough, the gardens, -the manners, the manliness are an excuse. - -But profound as is my own moral respect and admiration, for a _vacation_ -give me the Continent! The civilization here is too heavy, too _stodgy_, -if one could use so unamiable a word. The very stability and good-nature -of all things (of course we are leaving out the slum-life!) rest on the -basis of the national stupidity, or rather unintellectuality, on which -as on a safe foundation of non-explosible material, the magnificent -minds of the élite of the race can coruscate as they will, safely. Not -until those weeks at Oxford, and these days at Durham, have I had any -sense of what a part the Church plays in the national life. So massive -and all-pervasive, so authoritative, and on the whole so decent, in -spite of the iniquity and farcicality of the whole thing. Never were -incompatibles so happily yoked together. Talk about the genius of -Romanism! It's nothing to the genius of Anglicanism, for Catholicism -still contains some haggard elements, that ally it with the Palestinian -desert, whereas Anglicanism remains obese and round and comfortable and -decent with this world's decencies, without an _acute_ note in its whole -life or history, in spite of the shrill Jewish words on which its ears -are fed, and the nitro-glycerine of the Gospels and Epistles which has -been injected into its veins. Strange feat to have achieved! Yet the -success is great--the whole Church-machine makes for all sorts of graces -and decencies, and is not incompatible with a high type of Churchman, -high, that is, on the side of moral and worldly virtue.... - -How I wish you were beside me at this moment! A breeze has arisen on the -Lake which is spread out before the "smoking-room" window at which I -write, and is very grateful. The lake much resembles Lake George. Your -ever grateful and loving - -W. J. - - - - -_To Charles Eliot Norton._ - - -PATTERDALE, ENGLAND, _July 6, 1908_. - -DEAR CHARLES,--Going to Coniston Lake the other day and seeing the -moving little Ruskin Museum at Coniston (admission a penny) made me -think rather vividly of you, and make a resolution to write to you on -the earliest opportunity. It was truly moving to see such a collection -of R.'s busy handiwork, exquisite and loving, in the way of drawing, -sketching, engraving and note-taking, and also such a varied lot of -photographs of him, especially in his old age. Glorious old Don Quixote -that he was! At Durham, where Alice and I spent three and a half -delightful days at the house of F. B. Jevons, Principal of one of the -two colleges of which the University is composed, I had a good deal of -talk with the very remarkable octogenarian Dean of the Cathedral and -Lord of the University, a thorough liberal, or rather radical, in his -mind, with a voice like a bell, and an alertness to match, who had been -a college friend of Ruskin's and known him intimately all his life, and -loved him. He knew not of his correspondence with you, of which I have -been happy to be able to order Kent of Harvard Square to send him a -copy. His name is Kitchin. - -The whole scene at Durham was tremendously impressive (though York -Cathedral made the stronger impression on me). It was so unlike Oxford, -so much more American in its personnel, in a way, yet nestling in the -very bosom of those mediĉval stage-properties and ecclesiastical-principality -suggestions. Oxford is all spread out in length and breadth, Durham -concentrated in depth and thickness. There is a great deal of flummery -about Oxford, but I think if I were an Oxonian, in spite of my -radicalism generally, I might vote against all change there. It is an -absolutely unique fruit of human endeavor, and like the cathedrals, can -never to the end of time be reproduced, when the conditions that once -made it are changed. Let other places of learning go in for all the -improvements! The world can afford to keep her one Oxford unreformed. I -know that this is a superficial judgment in both ways, for Oxford does -manage to keep pace with the utilitarian spirit, and at the same time -preserve lots of her flummery unchanged. On the whole it is a thoroughly -_democratic_ place, so far as aristocracy in the strict sense goes. But -I'm out of it, and doubt whether I want ever to put foot into it -again.... - -England has changed in many respects. The West End of London, which used -at this season to be so impressive from its splendor, is now a mixed and -mongrel horde of straw hats and cads of every description. Motor-buses -of the most brutal sort have replaced the old carriages, Bond and Regent -Streets are cheap-jack shows, everything is tumultuous and confused and -has run down in quality. I have been "motoring" a good deal through this -"Lake District," owing to the kindness of some excellent people in the -hotel, dissenters who rejoice in the name of Squance and inhabit the -neighborhood of Durham. It is wondrous fine, but especially adapted to -trampers, which I no longer am. Altogether England seems to have got -itself into a magnificently fine state of civilization, especially in -regard to the cheery and wholesome tone of manners of the people, -improved as it is getting to be by the greater infusion of the -democratic temper. Everything here seems about twice as good as the -corresponding thing with us. But I suspect we have the bigger eventual -destiny after all; and give us a thousand years and we may catch up in -many details. I think of you as still at Cambridge, and I do hope that -physical ills are bearing on more gently. Lily, too, I hope is her well -self again. You mustn't think of answering this, which is only an -ejaculation of friendship--I shall be home almost before you can get an -answer over. Love to all your circle, including Theodora, whom I miss -greatly. Affectionately yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Henri Bergson._ - - -LAMB HOUSE, _July 28, 1908_. - -DEAR BERGSON,--(can't we cease "Professor"-ing each other?--that title -establishes a "disjunctive relation" between man and man, and our -relation should be "endosmotic" socially as well as intellectually, I -think),-- - -_Jacta est alea_, I am not to go to Switzerland! I find, after a week or -more here, that the monotony and simplification is doing my nervous -centres so much good, that my wife has decided to go off with our -daughter to Geneva, and to leave me alone with my brother here, for -repairs. It is a great disappointment in other ways than in not seeing -you, but I know that it is best. Perhaps later in the season the -_Zusammenkunft_ may take place, for nothing is decided beyond the next -three weeks. - -Meanwhile let me say how rarely delighted your letter made me. There are -many points in your philosophy which I don't yet grasp, but I have -seemed to myself to understand your anti-intellectualistic campaign very -clearly, and that I have really done it so well in your opinion makes me -proud. I am sending your letter to Strong, partly out of vanity, partly -because of your reference to him. It does seem to me that philosophy is -turning towards a new orientation. Are you a reader of Fechner? I wish -that you would read his "Zend-Avesta," which in the second edition -(1904, I think) is better printed and much easier to read than it looks -at the first glance. He seems to me of the real race of prophets, and I -cannot help thinking that _you_, in particular, if not already -acquainted with this book, would find it very stimulating and -suggestive. His day, I fancy, is yet to come. I will write no more now, -but merely express my regret (and hope) and sign myself, yours most -warmly and sincerely, - -Wm. James. - -The subject of the next letter was a volume of "Essays Philosophical and -Psychological, in Honor of William James,"[85] by nineteen contributors, -which had been issued by Columbia University in the spring of 1908. A -note at the beginning of the book said: "This volume is intended to mark -in some degree its authors' sense of Professor James's memorable -services in philosophy and psychology, the vitality he has added to -those studies, and the encouragement that has flowed from him to -colleagues without number. Early in 1907, at the invitation of Columbia -University, he delivered a course of lectures there, and met the members -of the Philosophical and Psychological Departments on several occasions -for social discussion. They have an added motive for the present work in -the recollections of this visit." - - - - -_To John Dewey._ - - -RYE, SUSSEX, _Aug. 4, 1908_. - -DEAR DEWEY,--I don't know whether this will find you in the Adirondacks -or elsewhere, but I hope 'twill be on East Hill. My own copy of the -Essays in my "honor," which took me by complete surprise on the eve of -my departure, was too handsome to take along, so I have but just got -round to reading the book, which I find at my brother Henry's, where I -have recently come. It is a masterly set of essays of which we may all -be proud, distinguished by good style, direct dealing with the facts, -and hot running on the trail of truth, regardless of previous -conventions and categories. I am sure it hitches the subject of -epistemology a good day's journey ahead, and proud indeed am I that it -should be dedicated to my memory. - -Your own contribution is to my mind the most _weighty_--unless perhaps -Strong's should prove to be so. I rejoice exceedingly that you should -have got it out. No one yet has succeeded, it seems to me, in jumping -into the centre of your vision. Once there, all the perspectives are -clear and open; and when you or some one else of us shall have spoken -the exact word that opens the centre to everyone, mediating between it -and the old categories and prejudices, people will wonder that there -ever could have been any other philosophy. That it is the philosophy of -the future, I'll bet my life. Admiringly and affectionately yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -LAMB HOUSE, RYE, _Aug. 9, 1908_. - -DEAR FLOURNOY,--I can't make out from my wife's letters whether she has -seen you face to face, or only heard accounts of you from Madame -Flournoy. She reports you very tired from the "Congress"--but I don't -know what Congress has been meeting at Geneva just now. I don't suppose -that you will go to the philosophical congress at Heidelberg--I -certainly shall not. I doubt whether philosophers will gain so much by -talking with each other as other classes of _Gelehrten_ do. One needs to -_frequenter_ a colleague daily for a month before one can begin to -understand him. It seems to me that the collective life of philosophers -is little more than an organization of misunderstandings. I gave eight -lectures at Oxford, but besides Schiller and one other tutor, only two -persons ever _mentioned_ them to me, and those were the two heads of -Manchester College by whom I had been invited. Philosophical work it -seems to me must go on in silence and in print exclusively. - -You will have heard (either directly or indirectly) from my wife of my -reasons for not accompanying them to Geneva. I have been for more than -three weeks now at my brother's, and am much better for the -simplification. I am very sorry not to have met with you, but I think I -took the prudent course in staying away. - -I have just read Miss Johnson's report in the last S. P. R. -"Proceedings," and a good bit of the proofs of Piddington's on -cross-correspondences between Mrs. Piper, Mrs. Verrall, and Mrs. -Holland, which is to appear in the next number. You will be much -interested, if you can gather the philosophical energy, to go through -such an amount of tiresome detail. It seems to me that these reports -open a new chapter in the history of automatism; and Piddington's and -Johnson's ability is of the highest order. Evidently "automatism" is a -word that covers an extraordinary variety of fact. I suppose that you -have on the whole been gratified by the "vindication" of Eusapia -[Paladino] at the hands of Morselli _et al._ in Italy. Physical -phenomena also seem to be entering upon a new phase in their history. - -Well, I will stop, this is only a word of greeting and regret at not -seeing you. I got your letter of many weeks ago when we were at Oxford. -Don't take the trouble to _write_ now--my wife will bring me all the -news of you and your family, and will have given you all mine. Love to -Madame F. and all the young ones, too, please. Your ever affectionate - -W. J. - - - - -_To Shadworth H. Hodgson._ - - -PAIGNTON, S. DEVON, _Oct. 3, 1908_. - -DEAR HODGSON,--I have been five months in England (you have doubtless -heard of my lecturing at Oxford) yet never given you a sign of life. The -reason is that I have sedulously kept away from London, which I admire, -but at my present time of life abhor, and only touched it two or three -times for thirty-six hours to help my wife do her "shopping" (strange -use for an elderly philosopher to be put to). The last time I was in -London, about a month ago, I called at your affectionately remembered -No. 45, only to find you gone to Yorkshire, as I feared I should. I go -back in an hour, en route for Liverpool, whence, with wife and daughter, -I sail for Boston in the Saxonia. I am literally enchanted with rural -England, yet I doubt whether I ever return. I never had a fair chance of -getting acquainted with the country here, and if I were a stout -pedestrian, which I no longer am, I think I should frequent this land -every summer. But in my decrepitude I must make the best of the more -effortless relations which I enjoy with nature in my own country. I have -seen many philosophers, at Oxford, especially, and James Ward at -Cambridge; but, apart from _very_ few conversations, didn't get at -close quarters with any of them, and they probably gained as little -from me as I from them. "We are columns left alone, of a temple once -complete." The power of mutual misunderstanding in philosophy seems -infinite, and grows discouraging. Schiller of course, and his pragmatic -friend Captain Knox, James Ward, and McDougall, stand out as the most -satisfactory talkers. But there is too much fencing and scoring of -"points" at Oxford to make construction active. - -Good-bye! dear Hodgson, and pray think of me with a little of the -affection and intellectual interest with which I always think of you. My -Oxford lectures won't appear till next April. Don't read the extracts -which the "Hibbert Journal" is publishing. They are torn out of their -natural setting. I have, as you probably know, ceased teaching and am -enjoying a Carnegie pension. Yours ever fondly, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -LONDON, _Oct. 4, 1908_. - -DEAR FLOURNOY,--I got your delightful letter duly two weeks ago, or -more. I always have a bad conscience on receiving a letter from you, -because I feel as if I _forced_ you to write it, and I know too well by -your own confessions (as well as by my own far less extreme experience -of reluctance to write) what a nuisance and an effort letters are apt to -be. But no matter! this letter of yours was a good one indeed.... - -We sail from Liverpool the day after tomorrow, and tomorrow will be a -busy day winding up our affairs and making some last purchases of small -things. Alice has an insatiable desire (as Mrs. Flournoy may have -noticed at Geneva) to increase her possessions, whilst I, like an -American Tolstoy, wish to diminish them. The most convenient -arrangement for a Tolstoy is to have an anti-Tolstoyan wife to "run the -house" for him. We have been for three days in Devonshire, and for four -days at Oxford previous to that. Extraordinary warm summer weather, with -exquisite atmospheric effects. I am extremely glad to leave England with -my last optical images so beautiful. In any case the harmony and -softness of the landscape of rural England probably excels everything in -the world in that line. - -At Oxford I saw McDougall and Schiller quite intimately, also Schiller's -friend, Capt. Knox, who, retired from the army, lives at Gründelwald, -and is an extremely acute mind, and fine character, I should think. He -is a militant "Pragmatist." Before that I spent three days at Cambridge, -where again I saw James Ward intimately. I prophesy that if he gets his -health again ... he will become also a militant pluralist of some sort. -I think he has worked out his original monistic-theistic vein and is -steering straight towards a "critical point" where the umbrella will -turn inside out, and not go back. I hope so! I made the acquaintance of -Boutroux here last week. He came to the "Moral Education Congress" where -he made a very fine address. I find him very _simpatico_. - -[Illustration: William James and Henry Clement, at the "Putnam Shanty," -in the Adirondacks (1907?).] - -But the best of all these meetings has been one of three hours this very -morning with Bergson, who is here visiting his relatives. So modest and -unpretending a man, but such a genius intellectually! We talked very -easily together, or rather _he_ talked easily, for he talked much more -than I did, and although I can't say that I follow the folds of his -system much more clearly than I did before, he has made some points much -plainer. I have the strongest suspicions that the tendency which he has -brought to a focus will end by prevailing, and that the present epoch -will be a sort of turning-point in the history of philosophy. So many -things converge towards an anti-rationalistic crystallization. - -_Qui vivra verra!_ - -I am very glad indeed to go on board ship. For two months I have been -more than ready to get back to my own habits, my own library and -writing-table and bed.... I wish you, and all of you, a prosperous and -healthy and resultful winter, and am, with old-time affection, your ever -faithful friend, - -Wm. James. - -If the duty of writing weighs so heavily on you, why obey it? Why, for -example, write any more reviews? I absolutely refuse to, and find that -one great alleviation. - - - - -_To Henri Bergson._ - - -LONDON, _Oct. 4, 1908_. - -DEAR BERGSON,--My brother was sorry that you couldn't come. He wishes me -to say that he is returning to Rye the day after tomorrow and is so -engaged tomorrow that he will postpone the pleasure of meeting you to -some future opportunity. - -I need hardly repeat how much I enjoyed our talk today. You must take -care of yourself and economize all your energies for your own creative -work. I want very much to see what you will have to say on the -_Substanzbegriff_! Why should life be so short? I wish that you and I -and Strong and Flournoy and McDougall and Ward could live on some -mountain-top for a month, together, and whenever we got tired of -philosophizing, calm our minds by taking refuge in the scenery. - -Always truly yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To H. G. Wells._ - - -Cambridge, _Nov. 28, 1908_. - -DEAR WELLS,--"First and Last Things" is a great achievement. The first -two "books" should be entitled "philosophy without humbug" and used as a -textbook in all the colleges of the world. You have put your finger -accurately on the true emphases, and--in the main--on what seem to me -the true solutions (you are more monistic in your faith than I should -be, but as long as you only call it "faith," that's your right and -privilege), and the simplicity of your statements ought to make us -"professionals" blush. I have been 35 years on the way to similar -conclusions--simply because I started as a professional and had to -_débrouiller_ them from all the traditional school rubbish. - -The other two books exhibit you in the character of the Tolstoy of the -English world. A sunny and healthy-minded Tolstoy, as he is a -pessimistic and morbid-minded Wells. Where the "higher synthesis" will -be born, who shall combine the pair of you, Heaven only knows. But you -are carrying on the same function, not only in that neither of your -minds is boxed and boarded up like the mind of an ordinary human being, -but all the contents down to the very bottom come out freely and -unreservedly and simply, but in that you both have the power of -contagious speech, and set the similar mood vibrating in the reader. Be -happy in that such power has been put into your hands! This book is -worth any 100 volumes on Metaphysics and any 200 of Ethics, of the -ordinary sort. - -Yours, with friendliest regards to Mrs. Wells, most sincerely, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Henry James._ - - -Cambridge, _Dec. 19, 1908_. - -DEAREST H.,-- ...I write this at 6.30 [A.M.], in the library, which the -blessed hard-coal fire has kept warm all night. The night has been -still, thermometer 20°, and the dawn is breaking in a pure red line -behind Grace Norton's house, into a sky empty save for a big morning -star and the crescent of the waning moon. Not a cloud--a true American -winter effect. But somehow "le grand puits de l'aurore" doesn't appeal -to my sense of life, or challenge my spirits as formerly. It suggests no -more enterprises to the decrepitude of age, which vegetates along, -drawing interest merely on the investment of its earlier enterprises. -The accursed "thoracic symptom" is a killer of enterprise with me, and I -dare say that it is little better with you. But the less said of it the -better--it doesn't diminish! - -My time has been consumed by interruptions almost totally, until a week -ago, when I finally got down seriously to work upon my Hodgson report. -It means much more labor than one would suppose, and very little result. -I wish that I had never undertaken it. I am sending off a preliminary -installment of it to be read at the S. P. R. meeting in January. That -done, the rest will run off easily, and in a month I expect to actually -begin the "Introduction to Philosophy," which has been postponed so -long, and which I hope will add to income for a number of years to come. -Your Volumes XIII and XIV arrived the other day--many thanks. We're -subscribing to two copies of the work, sending them as wedding presents. -I hope it will sell. Very enticing-looking, but I can't settle down to -the prefaces as yet, the only thing I have been able to read lately -being Lowes Dickinson's last book, "Justice and Liberty," which seems to -me a decidedly big achievement from every point of view, and probably -destined to have a considerable influence in moulding the opinion of the -educated. Stroke upon stroke, from pens of genius, the competitive -régime, so idolized 75 years ago, seems to be getting wounded to death. -What will follow will be something better, but I never saw so clearly -the slow effect of [the] accumulation of the influence of successive -individuals in changing prevalent ideals. Wells and Dickinson will -undoubtedly make the biggest steps of change.... - -Well dear brother! a merry Christmas to you--to you both, I trust, for I -fancy Aleck will be with you when this arrives--and a happy New Year at -its tail! Your loving - -W. J. - - - - -_To T. S. Perry._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan. 29, 1909_. - -BELOVED THOMAS, cher maître et confrère,--Your delightful letter about -my Fechner article and about your having become a professional -philosopher yourself came to hand duly, four days ago, and filled the -heart of self and wife with joy. I always knew you was one, for to be a -real philosopher all that is necessary is to _hate_ some one else's type -of thinking, and if that some one else be a representative of the -"classic" type of thought, then one is a pragmatist and owns the fulness -of the truth. Fechner is indeed a dear, and I am glad to have -introduced, so to speak, his speculations to the English world, although -the Revd. Elwood Worcester has done so in a somewhat more limited manner -in a recent book of his called "The Living Word"-(Worcester of Emmanuel -Church, I mean, whom everyone has now begun to fall foul of for trying -to reanimate the Church's healing virtue). Another case of newspaper -crime! The reporters all got hold of it with their megaphones, and made -the nation sick of the sound of its name. Whereas in former ages men -strove hard for fame, obscurity is now the one thing to be _striven_ -for. For _fame_, all one need do is to exist; and the reporter will do -the rest--especially if you give them the address of your fotographer. I -hope you're a spelling reformer--I send you the last publication from -that quarter. I'm sure that simple spelling will make a page look -better, just as a crowd looks better if everyone's clothes fit. - -Apropos of pragmatism, a learned Theban named---- has written a -circus-performance of which he is the clown, called "Anti-pragmatisme." -It has so much verve and good spirit that I feel like patting him on the -back, and "sicking him on," but Lord! what a fool! I think I shall leave -it unnoticed. I'm tired of reëxplaining what is already explained to -satiety. Let _them_ say, now, for it is their turn, what the relation -called truth consists in, what it is known as! - -I have had you on my mind ever since Jan. 1st, when we had our Friday -evening Club-dinner, and I was deputed to cable you a happy New Year. -The next day I couldn't get to the telegraph office; the day after I -said to myself, "I'll save the money, and save him the money, for if he -gets a cable, he'll be sure to cable back; so I'll write"; the following -day, I forgot to; the next day I postponed the act; so from postponement -to postponement, here I am. Forgive, forgive! Most affectionate remarks -were made about you at the dinner, which generally doesn't err by -wasting words on absentees, even on those gone to eternity.... - -I have just got off my report on the Hodgson control, which has stuck to -my fingers all this time. It is a hedging sort of an affair, and I don't -know what the Perry family will think of it. The truth is that the -"case" is a particularly poor one for testing Mrs. Piper's claim to -bring back spirits. It is _leakier_ than any other case, and -intrinsically, I think, no stronger than many of her other good cases, -certainly weaker than the G. P. case. I am also now engaged in writing a -popular article, "the avowals of a psychical researcher," for the -"American Magazine," in which I simply state without argument my own -convictions, and put myself on record. I think that public opinion is -just now taking a step forward in these matters--_vide_ the Eusapian -boom! and possibly both these _Schriften_ of mine will add their -influence. Thank you for the Charmes reception and for the earthquake -correspondence! I envy you in clean and intelligent Paris, though our -winter is treating us very mildly. A lovely sunny day today! Love to all -of you! Yours fondly, - -W. J. - -The "Charmes reception" was a report of the speeches at the French -Academy's reception of Francis Charmes. The "Eusapian boom" will have -been understood to refer to current discussions of the medium Eusapia -Paladino. - - * * * * * - -The next letter refers to a paper in which both James and Münsterberg -had been "attacked" in such a manner that Münsterberg proposed to send a -protest to the American Psychological Association. - - - - -_To Hugo Münsterberg._ - - -Cambridge, _Mar. 16, 1909_. - -DEAR MÜNSTERBERG,--Witmer has sent me the _corpus delicti_, and I find -myself curiously unmoved. In fact he takes so much trouble over me, and -goes at the job with such zest that I feel like "sicking him on," as -they say to dogs. Perhaps the honor of so many pages devoted to one -makes up for the dishonor of their content. It is really a great -compliment to have anyone take so much trouble about one. Think of -copying all Wundt's notes! - -But, dear Münsterberg, I hope you'll withdraw a second time your -protest. I think it undignified to take such an attack seriously. Its -excessive dimensions (in my case at any rate), and the smallness and -remoteness of the provocation, stamp it as simply eccentric, and to show -sensitiveness only gives it importance in the eyes of readers who -otherwise would only smile at its extravagance. Besides, since these -temperamental antipathies exist--why isn't it healthy that they should -express themselves? For my part, I feel rather glad than otherwise that -psychology is so live a subject that psychologists should "go for" each -other in this way, and I think it all ought to happen _inside_ of our -Association. We ought to cultivate tough hides there, so I hope that you -will withdraw the protest. I have mentioned it only to Royce, and will -mention it to no one else. I don't like the notion of Harvard people -seeming "touchy"! Your fellow victim, - -W. J. - - - - -_To John Jay Chapman._ - - -Cambridge, _Apr. 30, 1909_. - -DEAR JACK C.,--I'm not expecting you to _read_ my book, but only to -"give me a thought" when you look at the cover. A certain witness at a -poisoning case was asked how the corpse looked. "Pleasant-like and -foaming at the mouth," was the reply. A good description of you, -describing philosophy, in your letter. All that you say is true, and yet -the conspiracy has to be carried on by us professors. Reality has to be -_returned to_, after this long circumbendibus, though _Gavroche_ has it -already. There _are_ concepts, anyhow. I am glad you lost the volume. -It makes one less in existence and ought to send up the price of the -remainder. - -Blessed spring! blessed spring! Love to you both from yours, - -Wm. James. - -The next post-card was written in acknowledgment of Professor Palmer's -comments on "A Pluralistic Universe." - - - - -_To G. H. Palmer._ - -[Post-card] - - -Cambridge, _May 13, 1909_. - -"The finest critical mind of our time!" No one can mix the honey and the -gall as you do! My conceit appropriates the honey--for the gall it makes -indulgent allowance, as the inevitable watering of a pair of aged -rationalist eyes at the effulgent sunrise of a new philosophic day! -Thanks! thanks! for the honey. - -W. J. - - - - -TO THEODORE FLOURNOY. - - -CHOCORUA, JUNE 18, 1909. - -MY DEAR FLOURNOY,--You must have been wondering during all these weeks -what has been the explanation of my silence. It has had two simple -causes; 1st, laziness; and 2nd, uncertainty, until within a couple of -days, about whether or not I was myself going to Geneva for the -University Jubilee. I have been strongly tempted, not only by the -"doctorate of theology," which you confidentially told me of (and which -would have been a fertile subject of triumph over my dear friend Royce -on my part, and of sarcasm on his part about academic distinctions, as -well as a diverting episode generally among my friends,--I being so -essentially profane a character), but by the hope of seeing you, and by -the prospect of a few weeks in dear old Switzerland again. But the -economical, hygienic and domestic reasons were all against the journey; -so a few days ago I ceased coquetting with the idea of it, and have -finally given it up. This postpones any possible meeting with you till -next summer, when I think it pretty certain that Alice and I and Peggy -will go to Europe again, and probably stay there for two years.... - -What with the Jubilee and the Congress, dear Flournoy, I fear that your -own summer will not yield much healing repose. "Go through it like an -automaton" is the best advice I can give you. I find that it is -possible, on occasions of great strain, to get relief by ceasing all -voluntary control. _Do_ nothing, and I find that something will do -itself! and not so stupidly in the eyes of outsiders as in one's own. -Claparède will, I suppose, be the chief executive officer at the -Congress. It is a pleasure to see how he is rising to the top among -psychologists, how large a field he covers, and with both originality -and "humanity" (in the sense of the omission of the superfluous and -technical, and preference for the probable). When will the Germans learn -that part? I have just been reading Driesch's Gifford lectures, Volume -II. Very exact and careful, and the work of a most powerful intellect. -But why lug in, as he does, all that Kantian apparatus, when the -questions he treats of are real enough and important enough to be -handled directly and not smothered in that opaque and artificial veil? I -find the book extremely suggestive, and should like to believe in its -thesis, but I can't help suspecting that Driesch is unjust to the -possibilities of purely mechanical action. Candle-flames, waterfalls, -eddies in streams, to say nothing of "vortex atoms," seem to perpetuate -themselves and repair their injuries. You ought to receive very soon my -report on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson control. Some theoretic remarks I make at -the end may interest you. I rejoice in the triumph of Eusapia all along -the line--also in Ochorowicz's young Polish medium, whom you have seen. -It looks at last as if something definitive and positive were in sight. - -I am correcting the proofs of a collection of what I have written on the -subject of "truth"--it will appear in September under the title of "The -Meaning of Truth, a Sequel to Pragmatism." It is already evident from -the letters I am getting about the "Pluralistic Universe" that that book -will 1st, be _read_; 2nd, be _rejected_ almost unanimously at first, and -for very diverse reasons; but, 3rd, will continue to be bought and -referred to, and will end by strongly influencing English philosophy. -And now, dear Flournoy, good-bye! and believe me with sincerest -affection for Mrs. Flournoy and the young people as well as for -yourself, yours faithfully, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Miss Theodora Sedgwick._ - - -CHOCORUA, _July 12, 1909_. - -DEAR THEODORA,--We got your letter a week ago, and were very glad to -hear of your prosperous installation, and good impressions of the place. -I am sorry that Harry couldn't go to see you the first Sunday, but hope, -if he didn't go for yesterday, that he will do so yet. When your social -circle gets established, and routine life set up, I am sure that you -will like Newport very much. As for ourselves, the place is only just -beginning to smooth out. The instruments of labor had well-nigh all -disappeared, and had to come piecemeal, each forty-eight hours after -being ordered, so we have been using the cow as a lawn-mower, silver -knives to carve with, and finger-nails for technical purposes -generally. There is no labor known to man in which Alice has not -indulged, and I have sought safety among the mosquitoes in the woods -rather than remain to shirk my responsibilities in full view of them. We -have hired a little mare, fearless of automobiles, we get our mail -dally, we had company to dinner yesterday, relatives of Alice, the -children will be here by the middle of the week, the woods are -deliciously fragrant, and the weather, so far, cool--in fact we are -_launched_ and the regular summer equilibrium will soon set in. The -place is both pathetic and irresistible; I want to sell it, Alice wants -to enlarge it--we shall end by doing neither, but discuss it to the end -of our days. - -I have just read Shaler's autobiography, and it has fairly haunted me -with the overflowing impression of his myriad-minded character. Full of -excesses as he was, due to his intense vivacity, impulsiveness, and -imaginativeness, his centre of gravity was absolutely steady, and I knew -no man whose sense of the larger relation of things was always so true -and right. Of all the minds I have known, his leaves the largest -impression, and I miss him more than I have missed anyone before. You -ought to read the book, especially the autobiographic half. Good-bye, -dear Theodora. Alice joins her love to mine, and I am, as ever, yours -affectionately, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To F. C. S. Schiller._ - - -_Chocorua_, _Aug. 14, 1909_. - -DEAR SCHILLER,-- ...I got the other day a very candid letter from A. S. -Pringle-Pattison, about my "Pluralistic Universe," in which he said: "It -is supremely difficult to accept the conclusion of an actually growing -universe, an actual addition to the sum of being or (if that expression -be objectionable) to the intensity and scope of existence, to a growing -God, in fact."--This seems to me very significant. On such minute little -snags and hooks, do all the "difficulties" of philosophy hang. Call them -categories, and sacred laws, principles of reason, etc., and you have -the actual state of metaphysics, calling all the analogies of phenomenal -life impossibilities. - -No more lecturing from W. J., thank you! either at Oxford or elsewhere. -Affectionately thine, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -CHOCORUA, S_ept. 28, 1909_. - -DEAR FLOURNOY,--We had fondly hoped that before now you might both, -accepting my half-invitation, half-suggestion, be with us in this -uncared-for-nature, so different from Switzerland, and you getting -strengthened and refreshed by the change. _Dieu dispose_, indeed! The -fact that _is_ never entered into our imagination! I give up all hope of -you this year, unless it be for Cambridge, where, however, the -conditions of repose will be less favorable for you.... I am myself -going down to Cambridge on the fifth of October for two days of -"inauguration" ceremonies of our new president, Lawrence Lowell.... -There are so many rival universities in our country that advantage has -to be taken of such changes to make the newspaper talk, and keep the -name of Harvard in the public ear, so the occasion is to be almost as -elaborate as a "Jubilee"; but I shall keep as much out of it as is -officially possible, and come back to Chocorua on the 8th, to stay as -late into October as we can, though probably not later than the 20th, -after which the Cambridge winter will begin. It hasn't gone well with my -health this summer, and beyond a little reading, I have done no work at -all. I have, however, succeeded during the past year in preparing a -volume on the "Meaning of Truth"--already printed papers for the most -part--which you will receive in a few days after getting this letter, -and which I think may help you to set the "pragmatic" account of -Knowledge in a clearer light. I will also send you a magazine article on -the mediums, which has just appeared, and which may divert you.[86] -Eusapia Paladino, I understand, has just signed a contract to come to -New York to be at the disposition of Hereward Carrington, an expert in -medium's tricks, and author of a book on the same, who, together with -Fielding and Bagally, also experts, formed the Committee of the London -S. P. R., who saw her at Naples.... After Courtier's report on Eusapia, -I don't think any "investigation" here will be worth much -"scientifically"--the only advantage of her coming may possibly be to -get some scientific men to believe that there is really a problem. Two -other cases have been reported to me lately, which are worth looking up, -and I shall hope to do so. - -How much your interests and mine keep step with each other, dear -Flournoy. "Functional psychology," and the twilight region that -surrounds the clearly lighted centre of experience! Speaking of -"functional" psychology, Clark University, of which Stanley Hall is -president, had a little international congress the other day in honor of -the twentieth year of its existence. I went there for one day in order -to see what Freud was like, and met also Yung of Zürich, who professed -great esteem for you, and made a very pleasant impression. I hope that -Freud and his pupils will push their ideas to their utmost limits, so -that we may learn what they are. They can't fail to throw light on -human nature; but I confess that he made on me personally the impression -of a man obsessed with fixed ideas. I can make nothing in my own case -with his dream theories, and obviously "symbolism" is a most dangerous -method. A newspaper report of the congress said that Freud had condemned -the American religious therapy (which has such extensive results) as -very "dangerous" because so "unscientific." Bah! - -Well, it is pouring rain and so dark that I must close. Alice joins me, -dear Flournoy, in sending you our united love, in which all your -children have a share. Ever yours, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Shadworth H. Hodgson._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan._ 1, 1910. - -A happy New Year to you, dear Hodgson, and may it bring a state of mind -more recognizant of truth when you see it! Your jocose salutation of my -account of truth is an epigrammatic commentary on the cross-purposes of -philosophers, considering that on the very day (yesterday) of its -reaching me, I had replied to a Belgian student writing a thesis on -pragmatism, who had asked me to name my sources of inspiration, that I -could only recognize two, Peirce, as quoted, and "S. H. H." with his -method of attacking problems, by asking what their terms are "Known-as." -Unhappy world, where grandfathers can't recognize their own -grandchildren! Let us love each other all the same, dear Hodgson, though -the grandchild be in your eyes a "prodigal." Affectionately yours, - -WM. JAMES. - - * * * * * - -The news of James's election as _Associé étranger_ of the Académie des -Sciences Morales et Politiques, which had appeared in the Boston -"Journal" a day or two before the next letter, had, of course, reached -the American newspapers directly from Paris. The unread book by Bergson -of which Mr. Chapman was to forward his manuscript-review was obviously -"Le Rire," and Mr. Chapman's review may be found, not where the next -letter but one might lead one to seek it, but in the files of the -"Hibbert Journal." - - - - -_To John Jay Chapman._ - - -Cambridge, _Jan._ 30, 1910. - -DEAR JACK,--Invincible epistolary laziness and a conscience humbled to -the dust have conspired to retard this letter. God sent me straight to -you with my story about Bergson's cablegram--the only other person to -whom I have told it was Henry Higginson. _One_ of you must have put it -into the Boston "Journal" of the next day,--_you_ of course, to -humiliate me still the more,--so now I lie in the dust, spurning all the -decorations and honors under which the powers and principalities are -trying to bury me, and seeking to manifest the naked truth in my -uncomely form. Never again, never again! Naked came I into life, and -this world's vanities are not for me! You, dear Jack, are the only -reincarnation of Isaiah and Job, and I praise God that he has let me -live in your day. _Real_ values are known only to _you_! - -As for Bergson, I think your change of the word "comic" into the word -"tragic" throughout his book is _impayable_, and I have no doubt it is -true. I have only read half of him, so don't know how he is coming out. -Meanwhile send me your own foolishness on the same subject, commend me -to your liege lady, and believe me, shamefully yours, - -W. J. - - - - -_To John Jay Chapman._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb._ 8, 1910. - -DEAR JACK,--Wonderful! wonderful! Shallow, incoherent, obnoxious to its -own criticism of Chesterton and Shaw, off its balance, accidental, -whimsical, false; but with central fires of truth "blazing fuliginous -mid murkiest confusion," telling the reader nothing of the Comic except -that it's smaller than the Tragic, but _readable_ and splendid, showing -that the _man who wrote it_ is more than anything he can write! - -Pray patch some kind of a finale to it and send it to the "Atlantic"! -Yours ever fondly, - -W. J. -(Membre de I'Institut!) - - * * * * * - -The "specimen" which was enclosed with the following note has been lost. -It was perhaps a bit of adulatory verse. What is said about "Harris and -Shakespeare," as also in a later letter to Mr. T. S. Perry on the same -subject, was written apropos of a book entitled "The Man Shakespeare, -His Tragic Life-Story."[87] - - - - -_To John Jay Chapman._ - - -Cambridge, _Feb._ 15, 1910. - -DEAR JACK,--Just a word to say that it pleases me to hear you write this -about Harris and Shakespeare. H. is surely false in much that he claims; -yet 'tis the only way in which Shakespeare ought to be handled, so his -_is_ the best book. The trouble with S. was his intolerable fluency. He -improvised so easily that it kept down his level. It is hard to see how -the man that wrote his best things could possibly have let himself do -ranting bombast and complication on such a large scale elsewhere. 'T is -mighty fun to read him through in order. - -I send you a specimen of the kind of thing that tends to hang upon me as -the ivy on the oak. When will the day come? Never till, like me, you -give yourself out as a poetry-hater. Thine ever, - -[Illustration: signature - -my new signature] - - - - -_To Dickinson S. Miller._ - - -Cambridge, _Mar. 26, 1910_. - -DEAR MILLER,--Your study of me arrives! and I have pantingly turned the -pages to find the eulogistic adjectives, and find them in such abundance -that my head swims. Glory to God that I have lived to see this day! to -have so much said about me, and to be embalmed in literature like the -great ones of the past! I didn't know I was so much, was all these -things, and yet, as I read, I see that I was (or am?), and shall boldly -assert myself when I go abroad. - -To speak in all dull soberness, dear Miller, it touches me to the quick -that you should have hatched out this elaborate description of me with -such patient and loving incubation. I have only spent five minutes over -it so far, meaning to take it on the steamer, but I get the impression -that it is almost unexampled in our literature as a piece of profound -analysis of an individual mind. I'm sorry you stick so much to my -psychological phase, which I care little for, now, and never cared much. -This epistemological and metaphysical phase seems to me more original -and important, and I haven't lost hopes of converting you entirely yet. -Meanwhile, thanks! thanks! [Émile] Boutroux, who is a regular angel, has -just left our house. I've written an account of his lectures which the -"Nation" will print on the 31st. I should like you to look it over, -hasty as it is. - -...I hope that all these lectures on contemporaries (What a live place -Columbia is!) will appear together in a volume. I can't easily believe -that any will compare with yours as a thorough piece of interpretative -work. - -We sail on Tuesday next. My thorax has been going the wrong way badly -this winter, and I hope that Nauheim may patch it up. - -Strength to your elbow! Affectionately and gratefully yours, - -Wm. James. - - - - -XVII - -1910 - -_Final Months--The End_ - - -SEVERAL reasons combined to take James to Europe in the early spring of -1910. His heart had been giving him more discomfort. He wished to -consult a specialist in Paris from whom an acquaintance of his, -similarly afflicted, had received great benefit. He believed that -another course of Nauheim baths would be helpful. Last, and not least, -he wished to be within reach of his brother Henry, who was ill and -concerning whose condition he was much distressed. In reality it was he, -not his brother, who already stood in the shadow of Death's door. - -Accordingly he sailed for England with Mrs. James, and went first to -Lamb House. Thence he crossed alone to Paris, and thence went on to -Nauheim, leaving Mrs. James to bring his brother to Nauheim to join him. -The Parisian specialist could do nothing but confirm previous diagnoses. - -Too much "sitting up and talking" with friends in Paris exhausted him -seriously, and, after leaving Paris, he failed for the first time to -shake off his fatigue. The immediate effect of the Nauheim baths proved -to be very debilitating, and, again, he failed to rally and improve when -he had finished them. By July, after trying the air of Lucerne and -Geneva, only to find that the altitude caused him unbearable distress, -he despaired of any relief beyond what now looked like the incomparable -consolations of being at rest in his own home. So he turned his face -westward. - -The next letters bid good-bye for the summer to two tried friends. Five -months later it seemed as if James had been at more pains to make his -adieus than he usually put himself to on account of a summer's absence. -When Mrs. James returned to the Cambridge house in the autumn, after he -had died, and had occasion to open his desk copy of the Harvard -Catalogue, she found these words jotted at the head of the Faculty List: -"A thousand regrets cover every beloved name." It grieved him that life -was too short and too full for him to see many of them as often as he -wanted to. One day before he sailed, his eye had been caught by the -familiar names and, as a throng of comradely intentions filled his -heart, he had had a moment of foreboding, and he had let his hand trace -the words that cried this needless "Forgive me!" and recorded an -incommunicable Farewell. - - - - -_To Henry L. Higginson._ - - -Cambridge, _Mar. 28, 1910_. - -BELOVED HENRY,--I had most positive hopes of driving in to see you ere -the deep engulfs us, but the press is too great here, and it remains -impossible. This is just a word to say that you are not forgotten, or -ever to be forgotten, and that (after what Mrs. Higginson said) I am -hoping you may sail yourself pretty soon, and have a refreshing time, -and cross our path. We go straight to Rye, expecting to be in Paris for -the beginning of April for a week, and then to Nauheim, whence Alice, -after seeing me safely settled, will probably return to Rye for the heft -of the summer. It would pay you to turn up both there and at Nauheim and -see the mode of life. - -Hoping you'll have a good [Club] dinner Friday night, and never need any -surgery again, I am ever thine, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Miss Frances R. Morse._ - - -Cambridge, _March 29, 1910_. - -DEAREST FANNY,--Your beautiful roses and your card arrived duly--the -roses were not deserved, not at least by W. J. I have about given up all -visits to Boston this winter, and the racket has been so incessant in -the house, owing to foreigners of late, that we haven't had the strength -to send for you. I sail on the 29th in the Megantic, first to see Henry, -who has been ill, not dangerously, but very miserably. Our Harry is with -him now. I shall then go to Paris for a certain medical experiment, and -after that report at Nauheim, where they probably will keep me for some -weeks. I hope that I may get home again next fall with my organism in -better shape, and be able to see more of my friends. - -After Thursday, when the good Boutrouxs go, I shall try to arrange a -meeting with you, dear Fanny. At present we are "contemporaries," that -is all, and the one of us who becomes survivor will have regrets that we -were no more! - -What a lugubrious ending! With love to your mother, and love from Alice, -believe me, dearest Fanny, most affectionately yours, - -W. J. - - - - -_To T, S. Perry._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _May 22, 1910_. - -BELOVED THOS.,--I have two letters from you--one about ... Harris on -Shakespeare. _Re_ Harris, I did think you were a bit supercilious _a -priori_, but I thought of your youth and excused you. Harris himself is -horrid, young and crude. Much of his talk seems to me absurd, but -nevertheless _that's the way to write about Shakespeare_, and I am sure -that, if Shakespeare were a Piper-control, he would say that he -relished Harris far more than the pack of reverent commentators who -treat him as a classic moralist. He seems to me to have been a -professional _amuser_, in the first instance, with a productivity like -that of a Dumas, or a Scribe; but possessing what no other amuser has -possessed, a lyric splendor added to his rhetorical fluency, which has -made people take him for a more essentially serious human being than he -was. Neurotically and erotically, he was hyperĉsthetic, with a playful -graciousness of character never surpassed. He could be profoundly -melancholy; but even then was controlled by the audience's needs. A cork -in the rapids, with no ballast of his own, without religious or ethical -ideals, accepting uncritically every theatrical and social convention, -he was simply an ĉolian harp passively resounding to the stage's call. -Was there ever an author of such emotional importance whose reaction -against false conventions of life was such an absolute zero as his? I -know nothing of the other Elizabethans, but could they have been as -soulless in this respect?--But _halte-la_! or I shall become a Harris -myself!... With love to you all, believe me ever thine, - -W. J. - -Read Daniel Halévy's exquisitely discreet "Vie de Nietzsche," if you -haven't already done so. Do you know G. Courtelines' "Les Marionettes de -la Vie" (Flammarion)? It beats Labiche. - - - - -_To François Pillon._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _May 25, 1910_. - -MY DEAR PILLON,--I have been here a week, taking the baths for my -unfortunate cardiac complications, and shall probably stay six weeks -longer. I passed through Paris, where I spent a week, partly with my -friend the philosopher Strong, partly at the Fondation Thiers with the -Boutrouxs, who had been our guests in America when he lectured a few -months ago at Harvard. Every day I said: "I will get to the Pillons this -afternoon"; but every day I found it impossible to attempt your four -flights of stairs, and finally had to run away from the Boutrouxs' to -save my life from the fatigue and pectoral pain which resulted from my -seeing so many people. I have a dilatation of the aorta, which causes -anginoid pain of a bad kind whenever I make any exertion, muscular, -intellectual, or social, and I should not have thought at all of going -through Paris were it not that I wished to consult a certain Dr. Moutier -there, who is strong on arteries, but who told me that he could do -nothing for my case. I hope that these baths may arrest the disagreeable -tendency to _pejoration_ from which I have suffered in the past year. -This is why I didn't come to see the dear Pillons; a loss for which I -felt, and shall always feel, deep regret. - -The sight of the new "Année Philosophique" at Boutroux's showed me how -valiant and solid you still are for literary work. I read a number of -the book reviews, but none of the articles, which seemed uncommonly -varied and interesting. Your short notice of Schinz's really _bouffon_ -book showed me to my regret that even you have not yet caught the true -inwardness of my notion of Truth. You speak as if I allowed no _valeur -de connaissance proprement dite_, which is a quite false accusation. -When an idea "works" successfully among _all the other ideas_ which -relate to the object of which it is our mental substitute, associating -and comparing itself with them harmoniously, the workings are wholly -inside of the intellectual world, and the idea's value purely -intellectual, for the time, at least. This is my doctrine and -Schiller's, but it seems very hard to express it so as to get it -understood! - -I hope that, in spite of the devouring years, dear Madame Pillon's state -of health may be less deplorable than it has been so long. In particular -I wish that the neuritis may have ceased. I wish! I wish! but what's the -use of wishing, against the universal law that "youth's a stuff will not -endure," and that we must simply make the best of it? Boutroux gave some -beautiful lectures at Harvard, and is the gentlest and most lovable of -characters. Believe me, dear Pillon, and dear Madame Pillon, your ever -affectionate old friend, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _May 29, 1910_. - -...Paris was splendid, but fatiguing. Among other things I was -introduced to the Académie des Sciences Morales, of which you may likely -have heard that I am now an _associé étranger_(!!). Boutroux says that -Renan, when he took his seat after being received at the Académie -Française, said: "Qu'on est bien dans ce fauteuil" (it is nothing but a -cushioned bench with no back!). "Peut-être n'y a-t-il que cela de vrai!" -Delicious Renanesque remark!... - -W. J. - - * * * * * - -The arrangement by which Mrs. James and Henry James were to have arrived -at Nauheim had been upset. The two, who were to come from England -together, were delayed by Henry's condition; and for a while James was -at Nauheim alone. - - - - -_To his Daughter._ - - -_Bad-Nauheim_, _May 29, 1910_. - -BELOVED PÉGUY,--The very _fust_ thing I want you to do is to look in the -drawer marked "Blood" in my tall filing case in the library closet, and -find the _date_ of a number of the "Journal of Speculative Philosophy" -there that contains an article called "Philosophic Reveries." Send this -_date_ (not the article) to the Revd. Prof. L. P. Jacks, 28 Holywell, -Oxford, if you find it, _immediately_. He will understand what to do -with it. If you don't find the article, do nothing! Jacks is notified. I -have just corrected the proofs of an article on Blood for the "Hibbert -Journal," which, I think, will make people sit up and rub their eyes at -the apparition of a new great writer of English. I want Blood himself to -get it as a surprise. - -_I_ got as a surprise your finely typed copy of the rest of my MS., the -other day. I thank you for it; also for your delightful letters. The -type-writing seems to set free both your and Aleck's genius more than -the pen. (If you need a new ribbon it must be got from the agency in -Milk St. just above Devonshire--but you'll find it hard work to get it -into its place.) You seem to be leading a very handsome and domestic -life, avoiding social excitements, and hearing of them only from the -brethren. It is good sometimes to face the naked ribs of reality as it -reveals itself in homes. I face them _here_ with no one but the -blackbirds and the trees for my companions, save some rather odd -Americans at the _Mittagstisch_ and _Abendessen_, and the good smiling -_Dienstmädchen_ who brings me my breakfast in the morning.... I went to -my bath at 6 o'clock this morning, and had the Park all to the -blackbirds and myself. This was because I am expecting a certain Prof. -Goldstein from Darmstadt to come to see me this morning, and I had to -get the bath out of the way. He is a powerful young writer, and is -translating my "Pluralistic Universe." But the weather has grown so -threatening that I hope now that he won't come till next Sunday. It is a -shame to converse here and not be in the open air. I would to Heaven -_thou_ wert _mit_--I think thou wouldst enjoy it very much for a week -or more. The German civilization is _good_! Only this place would give a -very false impression of our wicked earth to a Mars-_Bewohner_ who -should descend and leave and see nothing else. Not a dark spot (save -what the patients' hearts individually conceal), no poverty, no vice, -nothing but prettiness and simplicity of life. I snip out a -concert-program (the afternoon one unusually good) which I find lying on -my table. The like is given free in the open air every day. The baths -weaken one so that I have little brain for reading, and must write -letters to all kinds of people every day. A big quarrel is on in Paris -between my would-be translators and publishers. I wish translators would -let my books alone--they are written for my own people exclusively! You -will have received Hewlett's delightful "Halfway House," sent to our -steamer by Pauline Goldmark, I think. I have been reading a charmingly -discreet life of Nietzsche by D. Halévy, and have invested in a couple -more of his (N.'s) books, but haven't yet begun to read them. I am half -through "Waffen-nieder!" a _first-rate_ anti-war novel by Baroness von -Suttner. It has been translated, and I recommend it as in many ways -instructive. How are Rebecca and Maggie [the cook and house-maid]? You -don't say how you enjoy ordering the bill of fare every day. You can't -vary it properly unless you make a _list_ and keep it. A good sweet dish -is _rothe Grütze_, a form of fine sago consolidated by currant-jelly -juice, and sauced with custard, or, I suppose, cream. - -Well! no more today! Give no end of love to the good boys, and to your -Grandam, and believe me, ever thy affectionate, - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry P. Bowditch._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _June 4, 1910_. - -DEAREST HEINRICH,--The envelope in which this letter goes was addrest in -Cambridge, Mass., and expected to go towards you with a letter in it, -long before now. But better late than never, so here goes! I came over, -as you may remember, for the double purpose of seeing my brother Henry, -who had been having a sort of nervous breakdown, and of getting my -heart, if possible, tuned up by foreign experts. I stayed upwards of a -month with Henry, and then came hither _über_ Paris, where I stayed ten -days. I have been here two and a half weeks, taking the baths, and -enjoying the feeling of the strong, calm, successful, new German -civilization all about me. Germany is _great_, and no mistake! But what -a contrast, in the well-set-up, well-groomed, smart-looking German man -of today, and his rather clumsily drest, dingy, and unworldly-looking -father of forty years ago! But something of the old _Gemüthlichkeit_ -remains, the friendly manners, and the disposition to talk with you and -take you seriously and to respect the serious side of whatever comes -along. But I can write you more interestingly of physiology than I can -of sociology.... The baths may or may not arrest for a while the -downward tendency which has been so marked in the past year--but at any -rate it is a comfort to know that my sufferings have a respectable -organic basis, and are not, as so many of my friends tell me, due to -pure "nervousness." Dear Henry, you see that you are not the only pebble -on the beach, or toad in the puddle, of senile degeneration! I admit -that the form of your tragedy beats that of that of most of us; but -youth's a stuff that won't endure, in any one, and to have had it, as -you and I have had it, is a good deal gained anyhow, while to see the -daylight still under _any_ conditions is perhaps also better than -nothing, and meanwhile the good months are sure to bring the final -relief after which, "when you and I behind the veil are passed, Oh, but -the long, long time the world shall last!" etc., etc. Rather gloomy -moralizing, this, to end an affectionate family letter with; but the -circumstances seem to justify it, and I know that you won't take it -amiss. - -Alice is staying with Henry, but they will both be here in a fortnight -or less. I find it pretty lonely all by myself, and the German language -doesn't run as trippingly off the tongue as it did forty years ago. -Passage back is taken for August 12th.... - -Well, I must stop! Pray give my love to Selma, the faithful one. Also to -Fanny, Harold, and Friedel. With Harold's engagement you are more and -more of a patriarch. Heaven keep you, dear Henry. - -Believe me, ever your affectionately sympathetic old friend, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To François Pillon._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _June 8, 1910_. - -MY DEAR PILLON,--I have your good letter of the 4th--which I finally had -to take a magnifying-glass to read (!)--and remained full of admiration -for the nervous centres which, after 80 years of work, could still guide -the fingers to execute, without slipping or trembling, that masterpiece -of microscopic calligraphy! Truly your nervous centres are "well -preserved"--the optical ones also, in spite of the cataracts and loss of -accommodation! How proud I should be if now, at the comparatively -youthful age of 68, I could flatter _myself_ with the hope of doing what -you have done, and living down victoriously twelve more devouring -enemies of years! With a fresh volume produced, to mark each year by! I -give you leave, as a garland and reward, to misinterpret my doctrine of -truth _ad libitum_ and to your heart's content, in all your future -writings. I will never think the worse of you for it. - -What you say of dear Madame Pillon awakens in me very different -feelings. She has led, indeed, a life of suffering for many years, and -it seems to me a real tragedy that she should now be confined to the -house so absolutely. If only you might inhabit the country, where, on -fine days, with no stairs to mount or descend, she could sit with -flowers and trees around her! The city is not good when one is confined -to one's apartment. Pray give Madame Pillon my sincerest love--I never -think of her without affection--I am almost ashamed to accept year after -year your "Année Philosophique," and to give you so little in return for -it. I am expecting my wife and brother to arrive here from England this -afternoon, and we shall _probably_ all return together through Paris, by -the middle of July. I will then come and see you, with the wife, so -please keep the "Année" till then, and put it into my hands. I can read -nothing serious here--the baths destroy one's strength so. Whether they -will do any good to my circulatory organs remains to be seen--there is -no good effect perceptible so far. Believe me, dear old friend, with -every message of affection to you both, yours ever faithfully, - -Wm. James. - - * * * * * - -The letters which follow concern Henry Adams's "Letter to American -Teachers," originally printed for private circulation, but recently -published, with a preface by Mr. Brooks Adams, under the title: "The -Degradation of Democratic Dogma." - - - - -_To Henry Adams._ - - -BAD-NAUHEIM, _June 17, 1910_. - -DEAR HENRY ADAMS,--I have been so "slim" since seeing you, and the baths -here have so weakened my brain, that I have been unable to do any -reading except trash, and have only just got round to finishing your -"letter," which I had but half-read when I was with you at Paris. To -tell the truth, it doesn't impress me at all, save by its wit and -erudition; and I ask you whether an old man soon about to meet his Maker -can hope to save himself from the consequences of his life by pointing -to the wit and learning he has shown in treating a tragic subject. No, -sir, you can't do it, can't impress God in that way. So far as our -scientific conceptions go, it may be admitted that your Creator (and -mine) started the universe with a certain amount of "energy" latent in -it, and decreed that everything that should happen thereafter should be -a result of parts of that energy falling to lower levels; raising other -parts higher, to be sure, in so doing, but never in equivalent amount, -owing to the constant radiation of unrecoverable warmth incidental to -the process. It is customary for gentlemen to pretend to believe one -another, and until some one hits upon a newer revolutionary concept -(which may be tomorrow) all physicists must play the game by holding -religiously to the above doctrine. It involves of course the ultimate -cessation of all perceptible happening, and the end of human history. -With this general conception as _surrounding_ everything you say in your -"letter," no one can find any fault--in the present stage of scientific -conventions and fashions. But I protest against your interpretation of -some of the specifications of the great statistical drift downwards of -the original high-level energy. If, instead of criticizing what you seem -to me to say, I express my own interpretation dogmatically, and leave -you to make the comparison, it will doubtless conduce to brevity and -economize recrimination. - -To begin with, the _amount_ of cosmic energy it costs to buy a certain -distribution of fact which humanly we regard as precious, seems to me to -be an altogether secondary matter as regards the question of history and -progress. Certain arrangements of matter _on the same energy-level_ are, -from the point of view of man's appreciation, superior, while others are -inferior. Physically a dinosaur's brain may show as much intensity of -energy-exchange as a man's, but it can do infinitely fewer things, -because as a force of detent it can only unlock the dinosaur's muscles, -while the man's brain, by unlocking far feebler muscles, indirectly can -by their means issue proclamations, write books, describe Chartres -Cathedral, etc., and guide the energies of the shrinking sun into -channels which never would have been entered otherwise--in short, _make_ -history. Therefore the man's brain and muscles are, from the point of -view of the historian, the more important place of energy-exchange, -small as this may be when measured in absolute physical units. - -The "second law" is wholly irrelevant to "history"--save that it sets a -terminus--for history is the course of things before that terminus, and -all that the second law says is that, whatever the history, it must -invest itself between that initial maximum and that terminal minimum of -difference in energy-level. As the great irrigation-reservoir empties -itself, the whole question for us is that of the distribution of its -effects, of _which_ rills to guide it into; and the size of the rills -has nothing to do with their significance. Human cerebration is the most -important rill we know of, and both the "capacity" and the "intensity" -factor thereof may be treated as infinitesimal. Yet the filling of such -rills would be cheaply bought by the waste of whole sums spent in -getting a little of the down-flowing torrent to enter them. Just so of -human institutions--their value has in strict theory nothing whatever to -do with their energy-budget--being wholly a question of the form the -energy flows through. Though the _ultimate_ state of the universe may be -its vital and psychical extinction, there is nothing in physics to -interfere with the hypothesis that the penultimate state might be the -millennium--in other words a state in which a minimum of difference of -energy-level might have its exchanges so skillfully _canalisés_ that a -maximum of happy and virtuous consciousness would be the only result. In -short, the last expiring pulsation of the universe's life might be, "I -am so happy and perfect that I can stand it no longer." You don't -believe this and I don't say I do. But I can find nothing in "Energetik" -to conflict with its possibility. You seem to me not to discriminate, -but to treat quantity and distribution of energy as if they formed one -question. - -There! that's pretty good for a brain after 18 Nauheim baths--so I won't -write another line, nor ask you to reply to me. In case you can't help -doing so, however, I will gratify you now by saying that I probably -won't jaw back.--It was pleasant at Paris to hear your identically -unchanged and "undegraded" voice after so many years of loss of solar -energy. Yours ever truly, - -Wm. James. - - - -[Illustration: Facsimile of Post-card addressed to Henry Adams.] - -[Post-card] - -NAUHEIM, _June 19, 1910_. - -P. S. Another illustration of my meaning: The clock of the universe is -running down, and by so doing makes the hands move. The energy absorbed -by the hands and the _mechanical_ work they do is the same day after -day, no matter how far the weights have descended from the position they -were originally wound up to. The _history_ which the hands perpetrate -has nothing to do with the _quantity_ of this work, but follows the -_significance_ of the figures which they cover on the dial. If they move -from O to XII, there is "progress," if from XII to O, there is "decay," -etc. etc. - -W. J. - - - - -_To Henry Adams._ - - -[Post-card] - -CONSTANCE, _June 26, [1910]_. - -Yours of the 20th, just arriving, pleases me by its docility of spirit -and passive subjection to philosophic opinion. Never, never pretend to -an opinion of your own! that way lies every annoyance and madness! You -tempt me to offer you another illustration--that of the _hydraulic ram_ -(thrown back to me in an exam, as a "hydraulic goat" by an -insufficiently intelligent student). Let this arrangement of metal, -placed in the course of a brook, symbolize the machine of human life. It -works, clap, clap, clap, day and night, so long as the brook runs _at -all_, and no matter how full the brook (which symbolizes the descending -cosmic energy) may be, it works always to the same effect, of raising so -many kilogrammeters of water. What the _value_ of this work as history -may be, depends on the uses to which the water is put in the house which -the ram serves. - -W. J. - - - - -_To Benjamin Paul Blood._ - - -CONSTANCE, _June 25, 1910_. - -MY DEAR BLOOD,--About the time you will receive this, you will also be -surprised by receiving the "Hibbert Journal" for July, with an article -signed by me, but written mainly by yourself.[88] Tired of waiting for -your final synthetic pronunciamento, and fearing I might be cut off ere -it came, I took time by the forelock, and at the risk of making ducks -and drakes of your thoughts, I resolved to save at any rate some of your -rhetoric, and the result is what you see. Forgive! forgive! forgive! It -will at any rate have made you famous, for the circulation of the H. J. -is choice, as well as large (12,000 or more, I'm told), and the print -and paper the best ever yet, I seem to have lost the editor's letter, or -I would send it to you. He wrote, in accepting the article in May, "I -have already 40 articles accepted, and some of the writers threaten -lawsuits for non-publication, yet such was the exquisite refreshment -Blood's writing gave me, under the cataract of sawdust in which -editorially I live, that I have this day sent the article to the -printer. Actions speak louder than words! Blood is simply _great_, and -you are to be thanked for having dug him out. L. P. JACKS." Of course -I've used you for my own purposes, and probably misused you; but I'm -sure you will feel more pleasure than pain, and perhaps write again in -the "Hibbert" to set yourself right. You're sure of being printed, -whatever you may send. How I wish that I too could write poetry, for -pluralism is in its _Sturm und Drang_ period, and verse is the only way -to express certain things, I've just been taking the "cure" at Nauheim -for my unlucky heart--no results so far! - -Sail for home again on August 12th. Address always Cambridge, Mass.; -things are forwarded. Warm regards, fellow pluralist. Yours ever, - -Wm. James. - - - - -_To Theodore Flournoy._ - - -GENEVA, _July 9, 1910_. - -DEAREST FLOURNOY,--Your two letters, of yesterday, and of July 4th sent -to Nauheim, came this morning. I am sorry that the Nauheim one was not -written earlier, since you had the trouble of writing it at all. I thank -you for all the considerateness you show--you understand entirely my -situation. My dyspnoea gets worse at an accelerated rate, and all I -care for now is to get home--doing _nothing_ on the way. It is partly a -spasmodic phenomenon I am sure, for the aeration of my tissues, judging -by the color of my lips, seems to be sufficient. I will leave Geneva now -without seeing you again--better not come, unless just to shake hands -with my wife! Through all these years I have wished I might live nearer -to you and see more of you and exchange more ideas, for we seem two men -particularly well _faits pour nous comprendre_. Particularly, now, as my -own intellectual house-keeping has seemed on the point of working out -some good results, would it have been good to work out the less unworthy -parts of it in your company. But that is impossible!--I doubt if I ever -do any more writing of a serious sort; and as I am able to look upon my -life rather lightly, I can truly say that "I don't care"--don't care in -the least pathetically or tragically, at any rate.--I hope that Ragacz -will be a success, or at any rate a wholesome way of passing the month, -and that little by little you will reach your new equilibrium. Those -dear daughters, at any rate, are something to live for--to show them -Italy should be rejuvenating. I can write no more, my very dear old -friend, but only ask you to think of me as ever lovingly yours, - -W. J. - -After leaving Geneva James rested at Lamb House for a few days before -going to Liverpool to embark. Walking, talking and writing had all -become impossible or painful. The short northern route to Quebec was -chosen for the home voyage. When he and Mrs. James and his brother Henry -landed there, they went straight to Chocorua. The afternoon light was -fading from the familiar hills on August 19th, when the motor brought -them to the little house, and James sank into a chair beside the fire, -and sobbed, "It's so good to get home!" - -A change for the worse occurred within forty-eight hours and the true -situation became apparent. The effort by which he had kept up a certain -interest in what was going on about him during the last weeks of his -journey, and a certain semblance of strength, had spent itself. He had -been clinging to life only in order to get home. - -Death occurred without pain in the early afternoon of August 26th. - -His body was taken to Cambridge, where there was a funeral service in -the College Chapel. After cremation, his ashes were placed beside the -graves of his parents in the Cambridge Cemetery. - - THE END - - - - -APPENDIXES - - - - -APPENDIX I - -THREE CRITICISMS FOR STUDENTS - - -In his smaller classes, made up of advanced students, James found it -possible to comment in detail on the work of individuals. Three letters -have come into the hands of the editor, from which extracts may be taken -to illustrate such comments. They were written for persons with whom he -could communicate only by letter, and are extended enough to suggest the -_viva voce_ comments which many a student recalls, but of which there is -no record. The first is from a letter to a former pupil and refers to -work of Bertrand Russell and others which the pupil was studying at the -time. The second and third comment on manuscripts that had been prepared -as "theses" and had been submitted to James for unofficial criticism. -They exhibit him, characteristically, as encouraging the student to -formulate something more positive. - - -_Jan. 26, 1908._ - -Those propositions or supposals which [Russell, Moore and Meinong] make -the exclusive vehicles of truth are mongrel curs that have no real place -between realities on the one hand and beliefs on the other. The -negative, disjunctive and hypothetic truths which they so conveniently -express can all, perfectly well (so far as I see), be translated into -relations between beliefs and positive realities. "Propositions" are -expressly devised for quibbling between realities and beliefs. They seem -to have the objectivity of the one and the subjectivity of the other, -and he who uses them can straddle as he likes, owing to the ambiguity of -the word _that_, which is essential to them. "_That_ Cĉsar existed" is -"true," sometimes means the _fact that_ be existed is real, sometimes -the _belief that_ he existed is true. You can get no honest discussion -out of such terms.... - - -_Aug. 15, 1908._ - -Dear K----, ...[I have] read your thesis once through. I only finished -it yesterday. It is a big effort, hard to grasp at a single reading, -and I'm too lazy to go over it a second time in its present physically -inconvenient shape. It is obvious that parts of it have been written -rapidly and not boiled down; and my impression is that you have left -over in it too much of the complication of form in which our ideas, our -critical ideas especially, first come to us, and which has, with much -rewriting, to be straightened out. You were dealing with dialecticians -and logic-choppers, and you have met them on their own ground with a -logic-chopping even more diseased than theirs. So far as I can see, you -_have_ met them, though your own expressions are often far from lucid -(--result of haste?); but in some cases I doubt whether they themselves -would think that they were met at all. I fear a little that both Bradley -and Royce will think that your _reductiones ad absurdum_ are too fine -spun and ingenious to have real force. Too complicated, too complicated! -is the verdict of my horse-like mind on much of this thesis. Your -defense will be, of course, that it is a thesis, and as such, expected -to be barbaric. But then I point to the careless, hasty writing of much -of it. You _must_ simplify yourself, if you hope to have any influence -in print. - -The writing becomes more careful and the style clearer, the moment you -tackle Russell in the 6th part. And when you come to your own dogmatic -statement of your vision of things in the last 30 pages or so, I think -the thesis splendid, prophetic in tone and _very_ felicitous, often, in -expression. This is indeed the _philosophie de l'avenir_, and a dogmatic -expression of it will be far more effective than critical demolition of -its alternatives. It will render that unnecessary if able enough. One -will simply _feel_ them to be diseased. My total impression is that the -critter K---- has a _really magnificent vision_ of the lay of the land -in philosophy,--of the land of bondage, as well as of that of -promise,--but that he has a tremendous lot of work to do yet in the way -of getting himself into straight and effective literary shape. He has -_elements_ of extraordinary literary power, but they are buried in much -sand and shingle.... - - -_May. 26, 1900._ - -Dear Miss S----, I am a caitiff! I have left your essay on my poor self -unanswered.... It is a great compliment to me to be taken so -philologically and importantly; and I must say that from the technical -point of view you may be proud of your production. I like greatly the -objective and dispassionate key in which you keep everything, and the -number of subdivisions and articulations which you make gives me -vertiginous admiration. Nevertheless, the tragic fact remains that I -don't feel wounded at all by all that output of ability, and for reasons -which I think I can set down briefly enough. It all comes, in my eyes, -from too much philological method--as a Ph.D. thesis your essay is -supreme, but why don't you go farther? You take utterances of mine -written at different dates, for different audiences belonging to -different universes of discourse, and string them together as the -abstract elements of a total philosophy which you then show to be -inwardly incoherent. This is splendid philology, but is it live -criticism of anyone's _Weltanschauung_? Your use of the method only -strengthens the impression I have got from reading criticisms of my -"pragmatic" account of "truth," that the whole Ph.D. industry of -building up an author's meaning out of separate texts leads nowhere, -unless you have first grasped his centre of vision, by an act of -imagination. That, it seems to me, you lack in my case. - -For instance: [Seven examples are next dealt with in two and a half -pages of type-writing. These pages are omitted.] - -...I have been unpardonably long; and if you were a man, I should -assuredly not expect to influence you a jot by what I write. Being a -woman, there may be yet a gleam of hope!--which may serve as the excuse -for my prolixity. (It is not for the likes of _you_, however, to hurl -accusations of prolixity!) Now if I may presume to give a word of advice -to one so much more accomplished than myself in dialectic technique, may -I urge, since you have shown what a superb mistress you are in that -difficult art of discriminating abstractions and opposing them to each -other one by one, since in short there is no university extant that -wouldn't give you its _summa cum laude_,--I should certainly so reward -your thesis at Harvard,--may I urge, I say, that you should now turn -your back upon that academic sort of artificiality altogether, and -devote your great talents to the study of reality in its concreteness? -In other words, do some _positive_ work at the problem of what truth -signifies, substitute a definitive alternative for the humanism which I -present, as the latter's substitute. Not by proving their inward -incoherence does one refute philosophies--every human being is -incoherent--but only by superseding them by other philosophies more -satisfactory. Your wonderful technical skill ought to serve you in good -stead if you would exchange the philological kind of criticism for -constructive work. I fear however that you won't--the iron may have -bitten too deeply into your soul!! - -Have you seen Knox's paper on pragmatism in the "Quarterly Review" for -April--perhaps the deepest-cutting thing yet written on the pragmatist -side? On the other side read Bertrand Russell's paper in the "Edinburgh -Review" just out. A thing after your own heart, but ruined in my eyes by -the same kind of vicious abstractionism which your thesis shows. It is -amusing to see the critics of the will to believe furnish such exquisite -instances of it in their own persons. _E.g._, Russell's own splendid -atheistic-titanic confession of faith in that volume of essays on -"Ideals of Science and of Faith" edited by one Hand. X----, whom you -quote, has recently worked himself up to the pass of being ordained in -the Episcopal church.... I justify them both; for only by such -experiments on the part of individuals will social man gain the evidence -required. They meanwhile seem to think that the only "true" position to -hold is that everything not imposed upon a will-less and non-coöperant -intellect must count as false--a preposterous principle which no human -being follows in real life. - -Well! There! that is all! But, dear Madam, I should like to know where -you come from, who you are, what your present "situation" is, etc., -etc.--It is natural to have some personal curiosity about a lady who has -taken such an extraordinary amount of pains for me! - -Believe me, dear Miss S----, with renewed apologies for the extreme -tardiness of this acknowledgment, yours with mingled admiration and -abhorrence, - -WM. JAMES. - - - - -APPENDIX II - -BOOKS BY WILLIAM JAMES - - -The following chronological list includes books only, but it gives the -essays and chapters contained in each. - -Professor R. B. Perry's "Bibliography" (see below) lists a great number -of contributions to periodicals, which have never been reprinted, and -includes notes indicative of the matter of each. - -(No attempt has been made to compile a list of references to literature -about William James, but the following may be mentioned as easily -obtainable: _William James_, by ÉMILE BOUTROUX. Paris, 1911. -Translation: Longmans, Green & Co., New York and London, 1912. _La -Philosophie de William James_, by THEODORE FLOURNOY. St. Blaise, 1911. -Translation: _The Philosophy of William James._ Henry Holt & Co., New -York, 1917.) - - - _Literary Remains of Henry James, Sr._, with an Introduction by - WILLIAM JAMES. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1884. - - _The Principles of Psychology._ New York: Henry Holt & Co.; London: - Macmillan & Co., 1890. - - _Volume I._ Scope of Psychology--Functions of the Brain--Conditions - of Brain Activity--Habit--The Automaton Theory--The Mind-Stuff - Theory--Methods and Snares of Psychology--Relations of Minds to - Other Things--The Stream of Thought--The Consciousness of - Self--Attention--Conception--Discrimination and - Comparison--Association--The Perception of Time--Memory. - - _Volume II._ Sensation--Imagination--Perception of Things--The - Perception of Space--The Perception of Reality--Reasoning--The - Production of Movement--Instinct--The - Emotions--Will--Hypnotism--Necessary Truth and the Effects of - Experience. - - _A Text-Book of Psychology._ Briefer Course. New York: Henry Holt & - Co.; London: Macmillan & Co., 1892. - - Introductory--Sensation--Sight--Hearing--Touch--Sensations of - Motion--Structure of the Brain--Functions of the Brain--Some - General Conditions of Neural Activity--Habit--Stream of - Consciousness--The - Self--Attention--Conception--Discrimination--Association--Sense of - Time--Memory--Imagination--Perception--The Perception of - Space--Reasoning--Consciousness and - Movement--Emotion--Instinct--Will--Psychology and Philosophy. - - _The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy._ New - York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1897. - - The Will to Believe--Is Life Worth Living?--The Sentiment of - Rationality--Reflex Action and Theism--The Dilemma of - Determinism--The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life--Great Men - and their Environment--The Importance of Individuals--On Some - Hegelisms--What Psychical Research has Accomplished. - - _Human Immortality, Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine._ - London: Constable & Co., also Dent & Sons; Boston: Houghton, - Mifflin & Co., 1898. - - _The Same._ A New Edition with Preface in Reply to His Critics. - Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1899. - - _Talks to Teachers on Psychology, and to Students on Some of Life's - Ideals._ New York: Henry Holt & Co.; London: Longmans, Green & Co., - 1899. - - Psychology and the Teaching Art--The Stream of Consciousness--The - Child as a Behaving Organism--Education and Behavior--The Necessity - of Reactions--Native and Acquired Reactions--What the Native - Reactions Are--The Laws of Habit--Association of - Ideas--Interest--Attention--Memory--Acquisition of - Ideas--Apperception--The Will. - - Talks to Students: The Gospel of Relaxation--On a Certain Blindness - in Human Beings--What Makes Life Significant? - - _The Varieties of Religious Experience._ A Study in Human Nature. - The Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion, Edinburgh, 1901-1902. New - York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1902. - - Religion and Neurology--Circumscription of the Topic--The Reality - of the Unseen--The Religion of Healthy-Mindedness--The Sick - Soul--The Divided Self, and the Process of its - Unification--Conversion--Saintliness--The Value of - Saintliness--Mysticism--Philosophy--Other - Characteristics--Conclusions--Postscript. - - _Pragmatism._ A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. New York - and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1907. - - The Present Dilemma in Philosophy--What Pragmatism Means--Some - Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered--The One and the - Many--Pragmatism and Common Sense--Pragmatism's Conception of - Truth--Pragmatism and Humanism--Pragmatism and Religion. - - _A Pluralistic Universe._ Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College. - New York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1909. - - The Types of Philosophic Thinking--Monistic Idealism--Hegel and his - Method--Concerning Fechner--Compounding of Consciousness--Bergson - and his Critique of Intellectualism--The Continuity of - Experience--Conclusions---- Appendixes: _A._ The Thing and its - Relations. _B._ The Experience of Activity. _C._ On the Notion of - Reality as Changing. - - _The Meaning of Truth._ A Sequel to _Pragmatism_. New York and - London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1909. - - The Function of Cognition--The Tigers in India--Humanism and - Truth--The Relation between Knower and Known--The Essence of - Humanism--A Word More about Truth--Professor Pratt on Truth--The - Pragmatist Account of Truth and its Misunderstanders--The Meaning - of the Word Truth--The Existence of Julius Cĉsar--The Absolute and - the Strenuous Life--Hébert on Pragmatism--Abstractionism and - "Relativismus"--Two English Critics--A Dialogue. - - _Some Problems of Philosophy._ A Beginning of an Introduction to - Philosophy. New York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1911. - - Philosophy and its Critics--The Problems of Metaphysics--The - Problem of Being--Percept and Concept--The One and the Many--The - Problem of Novelty--Novelty and the Infinite--Novelty and - Causation---- Appendix: Faith and the Right to Believe. - - _Memories and Studies._ New York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., - 1911. - - Louis Agassiz--Address at the Emerson Centenary in Concord--Robert - Gould Shaw--Francis Boott--Thomas Davidson--Herbert Spencer's - Autobiography--Frederick Myers's Services to Psychology--Final - Impressions of a Psychical Researcher--On Some Mental Effects of - the Earthquake--The Energies of Men--The Moral Equivalent of - War--Remarks at the Peace Banquet--The Social Value of the - College-bred--The Ph.D. Octopus--The True Harvard--Stanford's Ideal - Destiny--A Pluralistic Mystic (B. P. Blood). - - _Essays in Radical Empiricism._ Edited by RALPH BARTON PERRY. New - York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1912. - - Introduction--Does Consciousness Exist?--A World of Pure - Experience--The Thing and its Relations--How Two Minds can Know One - Thing--The Place of Affectional Facts in a World of Pure - Experience--The Experience of Activity--The Essence of - Humanism--_La Notion de Conscience_--Is Radical Empiricism - Solipsistic?--Mr. Pitkin's Refutation of Radical - Empiricism--Humanism and Truth Once More--Absolutism and - Empiricism. - - _Collected Essays and Reviews._ Edited by _Ralph Barton Perry_. New - York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1920. - - Review of E. Sargent's _Planchette_ (1869)--Review of G. H. Lewes's - _Problems of Life and Mind_ (1875)--Review entitled "German - Pessimism" (1875)--Chauncey Wright (1875)--Review of "Bain and - Renouvier" (1876)--Review of Renan's _Dialogues_ (1876)--Review of - G. H. Lewes's _Physical Basis of Mind_ (1877)--Remarks on Spencer's - Definition of Mind as Correspondence (1878)--Quelques - Considérations sur la Méthode Subjective (1878)--The Sentiment of - Rationality (1879)--Review (unsigned) of W. K. Clifford's _Lectures - and Essays_ (1879)--Review of Herbert Spencer's _Data of Ethics_ - (1879)--The Feeling of Effort (1880)--The Sense of Dizziness in - Deaf Mutes (1882)--What is an Emotion? (1884)--Review of Royce's - _The Religious Aspect of Philosophy_ (1885)--The Consciousness of - Lost Limbs (1887)--Réponse de W. James aux Remarques de M. - Renouvier sur sa théorie de la volonté (1888)--The Psychological - Theory of Extension (1889)--A Plea for Psychology as a Natural - Science (1892)--The Original Datum of Space Consciousness - (1893)--Mr. Bradley on Immediate Resemblance (1893)--Immediate - Resemblance--Review of G. T. Ladd's _Psychology_ (1894)--The - Physical Basis of Emotion (1894)--The Knowing of Things Together - (1895)--Review of W. Hirsch's _Genie und Entartung_ - (1895)--Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results - (1898)--Review of R. Hodgson's _A Further Record of Observations of - Certain Phenomena of Trance_ (1898)--Review of Sturt's _Personal - Idealism_ (1903)--The Chicago School (1904)--Review of F. C. S. - Schiller's _Humanism_ (1904)--Laura Bridgman (1904)--G. Papini and - the Pragmatist Movement in Italy (1906)--The Mad Absolute - (1906)--Controversy about Truth with John E. Russell (1907)--Report - on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson Control; Conclusion (1909)--Bradley or - Bergson? (1910)--A Suggestion about Mysticism (1910). - - - _A List of the Published Writings of William James_, with notes, - and an index; by RALPH BARTON PERRY. New York and London: Longmans, - Green & Co., 1920. - - - - -INDEX - -THROUGHOUT the index the initial =J.= stands for William James. In the -list of references to his own writings, arranged alphabetically at the -end of the entries under his name, the titles of separate papers are set -in roman and quoted, those of volumes in italics. - -The words "See Contents" under a name indicate that letters addressed to -the person in question are to be sought in the Table of Contents, where -all letters are listed. - - -Abauzit, F., =1=, 145, =2=, 185. - -Abbot, F. E., _Scientific Theism_, =1=, 247. - -Absolute, Philosophy of the, =1=, 238. - -Absolute Unity, =1=, 231. - -Académie Française, =2=, 338. - -Académie des Sciences Morales, et Politiques, =J.= a corresponding - member of, =2=, 75; - =J.= an _associé étranger_ of, 328, 319, 338. - -Adams, Brooks, =2=, 343. - -Adams, Henry, _Letter to American Teachers_, =2=, 343 _ff._; - mentioned, 10. _See Contents._ - -Adirondack range, =1=, 194, 195. - -Adirondacks. _See_ Keene Valley. - -Adler, Waldo, =2=, 75, 76, 163. - -Ĉsthetics, Study of, and Art, =2=, 87. - -Agassiz, Alexander, =1=, 31. - -Agassiz, Louis, =J.= joins his Brazilian expedition, =1=, 54 _ff._, - =J.= quoted on, 55; - quoted, on =J.=, 56; - on the Brazilian expedition, 56, 57, 59, 61, 67, 68, 69; - described by =J.=, 65, 66; - centenary of, =2=, 287, 288; - mentioned, =1=, 34, 35, 37, 4=2=, 47, 48, 72, =2=, 2. - -Agassiz, Mrs. Louis, her 80th birthday, =2=, 180 and _n._, 181; - mentioned, =1=, 60, 65, 67. _See Contents_. - -Aguinaldo, Emilio, =2=, 148. - -Alcott, A. Bronson, =1=, 18 _n._ - -Allen, John A., =1=, 74. - -Amalfi, Sorrento to, =2=, 22=1=, 222. - -Amazon, the, Agassiz's expedition to. _See_ Brazil. - -America, general aspect of the country, =1=, 346, 347 and _n._ - And _see_ United States. - -American Philosophical Association, =2=, 163, 164, 300. - -Americans, in Germany, =1=, 87. - -Angell, James R., =1=, 345, =2=, 14. - -Anglican Church, =2=, 305. - -Anglicanism and Romanism, =2=, 305. - -Anglophobia in U. S. revealed by Venezuela incident, =2=, 27, 31, 32. - -Annunzio, Gabriele d', =2=, 63. - -"Anti-pragmatisme," =2=, 319. - -Aristotle, =1=, 283. - -_Aristotelian Society Proceedings_, =2=, 207. - -Arnim, Gisela von. _See_ Grimm, Mrs. Herman. - -Ashburner, Anne, =1=, 179, 181, 315. - -Ashburner, Grace, =1=, 181, 315. _See Contents_. - -Ashfield, annual dinner at, =2=, 199. - -Athens, =2=, 224, 225. And _see_ Parthenon, the. - -Atkinson, Charles, =1=, 35. - -Ausable Lakes, =1=, 194. - -Austria, political conditions in (1867), =1=, 95. - -Avenarius, =2=, 301. - - -Baginsky, Dr., =1=, 214. - -Bain, Alexander, =1=, 143, 164. - -Bakewell, Charles M., =2=, 14, 81, 85, 120, 248. - -Baldwin, James M., =2=, 20. - -Baldwin, William, =1=, 337. - -Balfour, A. J., _Foundations of Belief_, =2=, 20. - -Balzac, Honoré de, =1=, 106, =2=, 265. - -Bancroft, George, =1=, 107, 109. - -Bancroft, Mrs. George, =1=, 135. - -Bancroft, John C., =1=, 70. - -Baring Bros., =1=, 73. - -Barber, Catherine, marries William James I, =1=, 4; - her ancestry, 4 and _n._ - And _see_ James, Mrs. Catherine (Barber). - -Barber, Francis, =1=, 5. - -Barber, Jannet, =1=, 4 _n._ - -Barber, John, =J.='s great-grandfather, in the Revolutionary army, - =1=, 4 and _n._; - H. James, Senior, on, 5. - -Barber, Mrs. John, =1=, 5. - -Barber, Patrick, =1=, 4 _n._ - -Barber family, the, =1=, 4, 5. - -Bashkirtseff, Marie, Diary of, =1=, 307, =2=, 148. - -Bastien-Lepage, Jules, =1=, 210 and _n._ - -"Bay." _See_ Emmet, Ellen. - -Bayard, Thomas F., =2=, 27 _n._ - -Beers, Clifford W., _A Mind that Found Itself_, =2=, 273, 274 and _n._ - _See Contents_. - -Beethoven, Ludwig von, _Fidelio_, =1=, 112. - -Belgium, philosophers in, =1=, 216. - -Benn, A. W., =1=, 333, 334. - -Berenson, Bernhard, =2=, 138. - -Bergson, Henri, _Matière et Mémoire_, =2=, 178, 179; - his system, 179; - =J.='s enthusiasm for, 179, 180 _n._; - _L'Evolution Créatrice_, 290 _ff._; - _Le Rire_, 329; - mentioned, 17=2=, 226, 257, 314, 315. - _See Contents._ - -Berkeley, Sir W., _Principles_, =2=, 179. - -Berlin, =1=, 100, 105, 106, 11=2=, 122. - -Berlin, University of, =1=, 118, 120, 121. - -Bernard, Claude, =1=, 72, 156. - -Bhagavat-Gita, the, =2=, 238. - -Bible, the, and orthodox theology, =2=, 196. - -Bielshowski, A., _Life of Goethe_, =2=, 262. - -Bigelow, Henry J., =1=, 72. - -Bigelow, W., Sturgis, =2=, 10. - -Birukoff, _Life of Tolstoy_, =2=, 262. - -Black, W., _Strange Adventures of a Phaeton_, =1=, 173. - -Blood, Benjamin Paul, _The Flaw in Supremacy_, =2=, 39; - J.'s article on, in _Hibbert Journal_, 39 _n._, 347, 348; - his _Anĉsthetic Revolution_ reviewed by =J.=, 40 and _n._; - his strictures on =J.='s English, 59; - mentioned, 22, 338, 339. - _See Contents._ - -Bôcher, Ferdinand, =1=, 337. - -Boer War, the, =2=, 118, 140. - -Bonn-am-Rhein, =1=, 20. - -Boott, Elizabeth (Mrs. Frank Duveneck), =1=, 153, 155. - -Boott, Francis, J.'s commemorative address on, =1=, 153; - mentioned, 155, 341 _n._, =2=, 191. - _See Contents._ - -Bornemann, Fraülein, =1=, 116, 135. - -Bosanquet, B., quoted, =2=, 126. - -Boston _Journal_, =2=, 329. - -Boston _Transcript_, J.'s letter to, on Medical License bill, =2=, 68-70; - 72 and _n._, 124, 125. - -Boulogne, Collège de, =1=, 20. - -Bourget, Paul, _Idylle Tragique_, =2=, 37; - and Tolstoy, 37, 38; - mentioned, =1=, 348. - -Bourget, Mme. Paul, =1=, 348. - -Bourkhardt, James, =1=, 64, 70. - -Bourne, Ansel, =1=, 294. - -Boutroux, Émile, =2=, 314, 33=2=, 335, 337, 338. - -Bowditch, Henry I., =1=, 124. - -Bowditch, Henry P., =1=, 7=1=, 10=2=, 138, 139, 149, 167, 169, 195. - _See Contents._ - -Bowen, Francis, =1=, 53. - -Boyd, Harriet A. (Mrs. C. H. Hawes), =2=, 223, 224. - -Bradley, Francis H., _Logic_, =1=, 258; - mentioned, =2=, 142, 208, 216, 271, 272, 281, 282. - -Brazil, Agassiz's expedition to, =1=, 54 _ff._; - letters written by =J.=, 56-70; - recalled, on Mrs. Agassiz's 80th birthday, =2=, 181. - -Brazilians, the, =1=, 59, 66. - -Brighton (England) Aquarium, =1=, 287. - -British Guiana, =2=, 26. - -British intellectuality, =1=, 270. - -Brown-Séquard, Charles E., =1=, 71. - -Browning, Robert, "A Grammarian's Funeral," =1=, 129, 130; - mentioned, =2=, 123. - -Bruno, Giordano, inscription on statue of, =2=, 139, - -Bryce, James, =1=, 303, 345, =2=, 65, 298, 299. - -Bryce, Mrs. James, =2=, 298, 299. - -Bryn Mawr College, =2=, 120, 121. - -Bull, Mrs. Ole, =2=, 144. - -Bunch, a dog, =1=, 183. - -Burkhardt, Jacob, _Renaissance in Italy_, =1=, 176. - -Busse, _Leib und Seele, Geist and Körper_, =2=, 237 and _n._ - -Butler, Joseph, _Analogy_, =1=, 189. - -Butler, Samuel, =1=, 283. - - -Cabot, J. Elliot, =1=, 204. - -Caird, Edward, =1=, 205, 305. - -California, impressions of, =2=, 82. - -California, Northern, =2=, 80. - -California, University of, =2=, 5. - -California Champagne, Gift of, =1=, 291. - -Canadian Pacific Ry., =2=, 80. - -Carlyle, "Jenny," =2=, 192. - -Carlyle, Thomas, and H. James, Senior, compared, =1=, 241; - mentioned, 220. - -Carnegie, Andrew, =2=, 18. - -Carpenter, William B., =1=, 143. - -Carqueiranne, Château de, =2=, 114. - -Carrington, Hereward, =2=, 327. - -Cams, Karl G., =1=, 96. - -Casey, Silas, =1=, 155. - -Castle Malwood, =2=, 160. - -Catholic Church, =J.='s attitude toward, =1=, 296, 297. - -Catholics, "concrete," differentiated from their church, =1=, 297. - -Cattell, J. M., quoted, =1=, 300; - mentioned, =2=, 32. - -Census of Hallucinations in America, conducted by =J.=, =1=, 228, - 229, =2=, 50. - -Chamberlain, Joseph, =1=, 303. - -Chambers, Dr., _Clinical Lectures_, =1=, 150. - -Chanzy, Antoine E. A., =1=, 160. - -Chapman, John J., _Practical Agitation_, =2=, 124; - _Political Nursery_, 128; - mentioned, 125, 329. - _See Contents._ - -Chapman, Mrs. John J., =2=, 256. - -Charmes, Francis, =2=, 320. - -Chatrian, L. G. C. A. _See_ Erckmann-Chatrian. - -Chautauqua, =J.='s lectures at, and impressions of, =2=, 40 _ff._ - -Chesterton, Gilbert K., _Heretics_, =2=, 241, 260; - mentioned, 257 and =n.=, 330. - -Chicago, anarchist riot in, and English newspapers, =1=, 252. - -Chicago University, School of Thought, =2=, 201, 202. - -Child, Francis J., death of, =2=, 52; - mentioned, =1=, 51, 169, 195, 291, 315 and _n._, 317. - _See Contents._ - -Child, Mrs. F. J., =1=, 51, 197, =2=, 52. - -Chocorua, =J.='s summer home at, =1=, 267, 268; - life at, 271, 272; - =J.='s life ends at, =2=, 350; - =1=, 261, 323. - -Christian Scientists, and the Medical License bill, =2=, 68, 69. - -Christian Theology, position with reference to, =2=, 213, 214. - -Clairvoyance. _See_ Psychic phenomena. - -Claparède, Edward, =2=, 226, 227, 323. - -Clark University, =2=, 327. - -Clarke, Joseph Thatcher, =2=, 130. - -Clemens, Samuel L. _See_ Twain, Mark. - -Cleveland, Grover, his Venezuela Message, and its reaction on - =J.=, =2=, 26 _ff._, 31, 32, 33, =2=, 285. - -Clifford, W. K., =2=, 218. - -Club, the, =2=, 9, 10. - -Colby, F. M., =2=, 264. - -Collier, Robert J. F., =2=, 264. - -Colorado Springs, summer school at, =2=, 24. - -Columbia Faculty Club, =J.='s talks at, =2=, 265 and _n._ - -Columbia University, =2=, 332. - -Columbus, Christopher, and Dr. Bowditch, =1=, 124. - -Common sense, =2=, 198. - -Concord, Mass., Emerson centenary at, =2=, 194. - -Concord Summer School of Philosophy, =1=, 230, 255. - -Congress of the U. S., and the Spanish War, =2=, 73, 74. - -Coniston, Ruskin Museum at, =2=, 306. - -Continent, the, and England, contrasts between, =2=, 152, 305. - -Conversion, =2=, 57. - -Correggio, Antonio de, his Shepherds' Adoration, =1=, 90; - and Rafael, 90. - -Corruption, in Europe and America, =2=, 101. - -Courtelines, G., _Les Marionettes de la Vie_, =2=, 336. - -Courtier, M., =2=, 327. - -Cousin, Victor, =1=, 117. - -Crafts, James W., =2=, 10. - -Cranch, Christopher P., =1=, 131. - -_Critique Philosophique_, =1=, 188, 207. - -Crothers, Samuel M., =2=, 262. - -Cuba, and the Spanish War, =2=, 73, 74. - - -Danriac, Lionel, =2=, 45, 203. - -Dante Alighieri, =1=, 331. - -Darwin, Charles R., =1=, 225. - -Darwin, Mrs. W. E. (Sara Sedgwick), =1=, 76, 179, =2=, 152. - -Darwin, William E., =2=, 152. - -Darwin, William Leonard, =2=, 276. - -Daudet, Alphonse, =2=, 168. - -Davidson. Thomas, =J.='s essay on, =2=, 107 _n._; - =J.= lectures at his summer school, 197, 199; - mentioned, =1=, 192, 202, 204, 249, 255, =2=, 156. - _See Contents._ - -Davis, Jefferson, =1=, 66, 67. - -Death, reflections concerning, =2=, 154. - -Delboeuf, J., =1=, 216, 217. - -Demoniacal possession, =2=, 56, 57. - -Derby, Richard, =1=, 122. - -Descartes, René C., =1=, 188, =2=, 13. - -Determinism, =1=, 245, 246. - -Dewey, John, _Beliefs and Realities_, =2=, 245, 246; - mentioned, 202, 257. - _See Contents._ - -Dexter, Newton, =1=, 68, 73. - -Dibblee, Anita, =2=, 82, 84. - -Dibblee, B. H., =2=, 82. - -Dibblee, Mrs., =2=, 82, 84. - -Dickinson, G. Lowes, _Justice and Liberty_, =2=, 317, 318. - -Diderot, Denis, _OEuvres Choisis_, =1=, 106, 107; - mentioned, 142. - -Dilthey, W., =1=, 109, 110, 111. - -Divonne, =1=, 137, 138. - -Dixwell, Epes S., =1=, 124. - -Dixwell, Fanny, =1=, 76 and _n._ - And _see_ Holmes, Mrs. Fanny Dixwell. - -Dooley, Mr. _See_ Dunne, Finley P. - -Dorr, George B., =2=, 255. - -Dorrs, the, =2=, 63. - -Dresden, =1=, 86, 9=2=, 93, 104. - -Dresden Gallery, =1=, 90. - -Dreyfus Case, the, =2=, 89, 97 _ff._, 102. - -Driesch, Hans, _Gifford Lectures_, =2=, 323. - -Driver, Dr., =2=, 118. - -Du Bois, W. E. B., _The Souls of Black Folk_, =2=, 196 and _n._ - -Du Bois-Raymond, Emil, =1=, 121. - -Dudevant, Mme. Aurore. _See_ Sand, George. - -Du Maurier, George, _Peter Ibbetson_, =1=, 318. - -Dunne, Finley P., =2=, 94, 264. - -Durham, =2=, 306, 307. - -Duveneck, Frank, =1=, 153, 337 and _n._, 341. - -Duveneck, Mrs. Frank. _See_ Boott, Elizabeth. - -Dwight, Thomas, =1=, 97, 98, 122, 124, 165, 166, 170. - - -Edinburgh, praise of, =2=, 146, 147, 150; - social amenities in, 147, 148. - -Education, importance of, =1=, 119. - -Eliot, Charles W., quoted, on =J.= in Scientific School, =1=, 31, 32 and _n._; - on J. Wyman, 47, 48; - on courses given by =J.=, =2=, 4 _n._; - mentioned, =1=, 35, 165, 166, 202, 262, =2=, 3, 15, 86, 137, 266. - -Eliot, George, _Daniel Deronda_, =1=, 185. - -Elliot, Gertrude, =2=, 263. - -Elliot, John W., =2=, 129. - -Elliot, Mrs. John W. (Mary Morse), =1=, 197, 199, =2=, 129. - -Ellis, Rufus, =1=, 192. - -Emerson, Edward W., on H. James, Senior, =1=, 17, 18 and _n._; - mentioned, 33. - -Emerson, Mary Moody, and H. James, Senior, =1=, 18 _n._ - -Emerson, Ralph Waldo, letters of H. James, Senior, to, quoted, =1=, 11; - centenary of, =2=, 187, 190, 193, 194 (=J.='s address at); - "the divine," 190, 191; - his devotion to truth, 190; - _Representative Men_, 192, 193; - and Santayana, 234, 235; - mentioned, =1=, 9, 18 _n._, 125, =2=, 23, 196, 197. - -Emmet, Ellen, =1=, 316, =2=, 61, 82, 83, 84. - _See Contents._ - -Emmet, Mrs. Temple (Ellen Temple), =2=, 64. - -Emmet, Rosina H., =2=, 38, 61, 62, 64. - _See Contents._ - -Emmet, Temple, =2=, 61. - -Empiricism, =1=, 152. And _see_ Radical Empiricism. - -England, in 1871, =1=, 161; - gardens in, 288; - impressions of, in 1901, =2=, 152; - contrasted with Continental countries, 152, 305; - and the U. S., 304, 305; - changes in, 307; - high state of civilization in, 307, 308. - -English, in Germany, =1=, 87. - -English language, the teaching of the, =1=, 341. - -English newspapers, and the anarchist riot in Chicago, =1=, 252; - attitude of, on Venezuela Message, =2=, 33; - mentioned, 125, 126. - -English people, one aspect of the greatness of, =1=, 288. - -English social and political system, =1=, 232, 233. - -Erb, Dr., =2=, 128. - -Erckmann (Émile)-Chatrian (L. G. C. A.), _L'Ami Fritz_, =1=, 101; - _Les Confessions d'un Joueur de Clarinette_, 101; - _Histoire d'un Sous-Maître_, 162; - mentioned, 106, 136. - -Erdmann, Johann E., =1=, 345. - -Erie Canal, the, =1=, 3. - -_Essays Philosophical and Philological in Honor of William - James_, =2=, 309, 310. - -Esterhazy M. (Dreyfus case), =2=, 98, 100. - -Evans, Mrs. Glendower. _See Contents._ - -Evans, Mary Anne. _See_ Eliot, George. - -Everett, Charles Carroll, =1=, 202, =2=, 156. - -Everett, William, =1=, 51. - -Experience, The philosophy of, =2=, 184, 185, 187. - - -Faidherbe, Louis L. C., =1=, 160. - -Fairchild, Sally, =2=, 205. - -Faith-curers, and the Medical License bill, =2=, 68, 69, 70, 71. - -Farlow, William G., =1=, 71. - -Fechner, Gustav T., _Zend-Avesta_, =2=, 300, 309; - mentioned, =1=, 160, =2=, 269, 318. - -Fichte, Johann G., =1=, 141, =2=, 293. - -Field, Kate, _Washington_, =1=, 308. - -_Figaro_, =2=, 97, 99. - -Fischer, Kuno, Essay on Lessing's _Nathan der Weise_, =1=, 94; - _Hegel's Leben, Werke und Lehre_, =2=, 134, 135, 138. - -Fiske, John, death of, =2=, 156, 157; - _Cosmic Philosophy_, =2=, 233; - mentioned, =1=, 347, =2=, 10. - -Fitz, Reginald H., =1=, 162. - -Flaubert, Gustave, _Madame Bovary_, =2=, 291; - mentioned, =1=, 182. - -Fletcher, Horace, =2=, 254. - -Flint, Austin, =1=, 167. - -Florence, Boboli Garden, =1=, 177; 180, 181, 328 _ff._, 340, 342. - -Flournoy, Theodore, _William James_, =1=, 145 and _n._; - beginnings of =J.='s friendship with, 320; - _Métaphysique et Psychologie_, =2=, 25; - on religious psychology, 185; - reviews Myers's _Human Personality_, 185; - lectures on pragmatism, 267; - mentioned, 129, 172, 180 _n._, 227, 228, 315. - His children referred to: - Alice, =2=, 129, 241, 242; - Ariane-Dorothée, 129; - Henri, 186, 187; - Marguerite, 129. - _See Contents._ - -Flournoy, Mme. Theodore, =1=, 325, 326, =2=, 23, 25, 46, - 48, 53, 55, 129, 187, 310, 313. - -Foote, Henry W., =1=, 111, 112, 113, 153. - -Forbes, W. Cameron, =2=, 297. _See Contents._ - -Forbes-Robertson, J., =2=, 263. - -Fouillée, Alfred, Renouvier's articles on, =1=, 231; - mentioned, 324. - -France, and Prussia (1867), =1=, 95; - religious and revolutionary parties in, 161, 162; - influence of Catholic education in, 162; - and the Dreyfus case, =2=, 89; - decadence of, 105, 106. - -France, Anatole, =2=, 63. - -Francis of Assisi, St., =2=, 142. - -Francis Joseph, Emperor, =1=, 88. - -Franco-Prussian War, =J.='s views on, =1=, 159, 160, 161. - -Frazer, J. G., =2=, 139. - -Free will, influence on =J.= of Renouvier's writings on, =1=, 147, 164, - 165, 169; - and determinism, 186; - S. H, Hodgson's paper on, 244, 245. - -French language, =1=, 341. - -Freud, Sigmund, =2=, 327, 328. - - -Galileo, =2=, 1 =n.= - -Galileo anniversary at Padua, =1=, 333. - -Gardiner, H. N., =2=, 163. _See Contents._ - -Gardner, Mrs. John L., =2=, 205. - -Garibaldi, statue of, =2=, 139. - -Gautier, Théophile, =1=, 106. - -Geneva, "Academy" of, =1=, 20, =2=, 187; - Museum at, 21. - -German art, =1=, 105. - -German character, =1=, 126. - -German education, =1=, 121. - -German essayists, discussed, =1=, 94, 95. - -German genius, its massiveness, =2=, 176. - -German language, =J.='s progress in learning, =1=, 87, 101, 108, 116, 121; - mentioned, 87, 88, 89, 92, 341. - -German motto, the, =1=, 213. - -German universities, and Harvard, =1=, 217, 218 and _n._ - -Germans, =J.='s opinion of, =1=, 100, 101, 121, 122, =2=, 104. - -Germany, =J.='s impressions of, =1=, 86, 105; - peasant-women in, 211; - philosophers in, 216, 217; - in 1910, =2=, 341. - -Gibbens, Alice H., early life, =1=, 192; - marries =J.=, 192. And _see_ James, Mrs. William. - -Gibbens, Mrs. E. P., =1=, 192, 222, 247, 248, 260, 339, - =2=, 118. _See Contents._ - -Gibbens, Margaret, =1=, 248, 260, 279, 28=1=, 318. And - _see_ Gregor, Mrs. Leigh R. - _See Contents._ - -Gibbens, Mary, marries W. M. Salter, =1=, 248. - -Gifford Lectures. _See_ this title under James, William, Works of. - -Gilman, Daniel Coit, =1=, 202, 203. - -Gizycki, Herr von, =1=, 214, 248. - -Gladstone, William E., =2=, 31. - -Glenmore, Davidson's summer school of philosophy at, =2=, 197 _n._, 199. - -God, conceptions of, =2=, 211, 213, 269, 270. - -Goddard, George A., =1=, 274. - -Godkin, E. L., Life of, quoted, =1=, 17, 115 _n._; - =J.='s opinion of, 284, 285; - _Comments and Reflections_, =2=, 30; - illness of, 160, 161; - his death, 181; - proposed memorial to, 18=1=, 182; - his home life and his "life against the world," 182; - mentioned, =1=, 118, 239, =2=, 167. - _See Contents._ - -Godkin, Mrs. E. L., =1=, 240, 241, =2=, 30, 167. - -Godkin, Lawrence, =2=, 30. - -Goethe, Johann W. von, quoted, =1=, 54; - _Italienische Reise_, 91; - Vischer on Faust, 94; - _Gedichte_, =2=, 176; - mentioned, =1=, 104, 107. - -Goldmark, Charles, =2=, 75, 77. - -Goldmark, Josephine, =2=, 215. - -Goldmark, Pauline, =2=, 75, 76, 94. _See Contents._ - -Goldmarks, the, =2=, 275. - -Goldstein, Julius, =2=, 339. - -Goodwin, William W., =1=, 51. - -Gordon, George A., =1=, 277. - -Grand Canyon of Arizona, =2=, 238, 239. - -Grandfather Mountain, =1=, 316, 317. - -Grant, Sir Ludovic, =2=, 144. - -Grant, Percy, =2=, 262. - -Grant, Ulysses S., =1=, 155. - -Gray, John C., Jr., =1=, 102, 127, 154, 155, 168, 169, =2=, 9, 10, 288. - _See Contents._ - -Gray, Roland, =2=, 109. - -Great Britain, and Venezuela, =2=, 26, 27; - and the Boer War, 140, 141. - And _see_ England. - -Greeks, the, =2=, 225. - -Green, St. John, =2=, 233. - -Greene, T. H., =2=, 237. - -Gregor, Mrs. Leigh R. (Margaret Gibbens), =1=, 338, =2=, 106. - And _see_ Gibbens, Margaret. - -Gregor, Rosamund, =2=, 275 and _n._ - -Grimm, Herman, his _Unüberwindliche Mächte_, reviewed by - =J.=, =1=, 103, 104 and _n._; - his arrant moralism, 104; - "suckled by Goethe," 104; - J. dines with, 109 _ff._; - his costume, 110; - on Homer, 111; - mentioned, 107, 108, 125. - -Grimm, Mrs. Herman (Gisela von Arnim), =1=, 111, 116. - -Grimm Brothers, =1=, 107, 110. - -Grinnell, Charles E., =2=, 10. - -Gryon, Switzerland, =1=, 321, 322. - -Gurney, Edmund, _Phantasms of the Living_, =1=, 267; - his death, 279; - =J.='s regard for, 280 and _n._; - mentioned, 222, 229 _n._, 242, 25=1=, 255, =2=, 30. - -Gurney, Mrs. Edmund, =1=, 279, 287. - -Gurney, Ephraim W., =1=, 76 _n._, 151. - -Gurney, Mrs. Ephraim W. (Ellen Hooper), =1=, 76 _n._ - - -Habit, Chapter on, in the _Psychology_, =1=, 297. - -Halévy, Daniel, _Vie de Nietzsche_, =2=, 336, 340. - -Hall, G. Stanley, quoted, =1=, 188, 189, 307; - his new Journal, =2=, 210, 217; - mentioned, =1=, 255, 269, =2=, 327. - -Hallucinations, Census of. _See_ Census. - -Hamilton, Alexander, =1=, 5. - -Hamilton, Sir W., =1=, 189. - -Hampton Court, =1=, 287. - -Hapgood, Norman, =2=, 264. - -Harris, Frank, _The Man Shakespeare_, =2=, 330, 335, 336. - -Harris, William T., =1=, 201, 202, 204. - -Hartmann, Karl R. E. von, =1=, 19=1=, =2=, 293. - -Harvard Medical School, in the sixties, =1=, 71 _ff._; - and the Medical License Bill, =2=, 67. - -Harvard Psychological Laboratory, beginning of, =1=, 179 _n._; - Münsterberg in charge of, 301, 302. - -Harvard Summer School, =2=, 4. - -Harvard University, beginning of =J.='s service in, =1=, 165; - courses in philosophy offered by, 191; - Hegelism at, 208; - contrasted with German universities, 217, 218 and _n._; - Department of Philosophy, =J.= on the future of, 317, 318; - =J.='s new courses at, =2=, 3, 4; - routine business of professors, 45 and _n._; - a possible genuine philosophic universe at, 122; - confers LL.D. on =J.=, 173 and _n._; - =J.= resigns professorship at, 220, 266 and _n._; - Roosevelt as possible President of, 232 and _n._ - -Havens, Kate, =1=, 85 _n._ - -Hawthorne Julian, _Bressant_, =1=, 167. - -Hay, John, =1=, 251. - -Hegel, Georg W. F., _Aesthetik_, =1=, 87; - mentioned, 202, 205, 208, 305. - -Hegelianism (Hegelism), at Harvard, =1=, 208; - in the _Psychology_, 304 and _n._, 305; - mentioned, =2=, 237. - -Hegelians, =1=, 205. - -Heidelberg, =1=, 137. - -Helmholtz, H. L. F. von, _Optics_, =1=, 266; - mentioned, 72, 119, 123, 137, 224, 225, 347. - -Helmholtz, Frau von, =1=, 347. - -Henderson, Gerard C., =2=, 275. - -Henry, Joseph, =1=, 7. - -Henry, Colonel (Dreyfus case), =2=, 98. - -Herder, Johann G. von, =1=, 141. - -Hering, Ewald, =1=, 212. - -Hewlett, Maurice, _Halfway House_, =2=, 340. - -Heymans, G., _Einführung in die Metaphysik_, =2=, 237 and _n._ - -Hibbert Foundation lectures (Manchester College), =2=, 283, 284. - -_Hibbert Journal_, =2=, 313, 348, - -Higginson, Henry L., takes charge of =J.='s patrimony, =1=, 233; - and the Harvard Union, =2=, 108 and _n._; - mentioned, 9, 10, 18=1=, 19=1=, 26=1=, 287, 329. - _See Contents._ - -Higginson, James J., =1=, 102, 127. - -Higginson, Storrow, =1=, 35. - -Higginson, T. W., =2=, 191. - -Hildreth, J. L., =1=, 275, 277. - -Hildreth, Mrs. J. L., =1=, 276. - -Hoar, George F., =2=, 191. - -Hobhouse, L. T., and "The Will to Believe," =2=, 207, 209; - mentioned, 282. _See Contents._ - -Hodder, Alfred, =2=, 14. - -Hodges, George, =2=, 276, - -Hodgson, Richard, death of, =2=, 242, 258; - his work and character, 242; - and Mrs. Piper, 242; - =J.= investigates Mrs. Piper's claim to give communications - from his spirit, 286, 287; - =J.='s report thereon, 317, 319, 324; - mentioned, =1=, 228, 229 _n._, 254, 281. - -Hodgson, Shadworth H., "Time and Space," =1=, 188; - "Theory of Practice," 188; - "Philosophy and Experience," and "Dialogue on the Will," 243-245; - mentioned, 143, 191, 202, 203, 204, 205, 208, 222. - _See Contents._ - -Höffding, Harold, =2=, 216. - -Holland, Mrs. _See_ Mediums. - -Holmes, O. W., =1=, 71. - -Holmes, O. W., Jr., =1=, 60, 73, 76, 80, 154, 155, =2=, 10, 51. - _See Contents._ - -Holmes, Mrs. O. W., Jr. (Fanny Dixwell), her "panel" and its - inscription, =2=, 156 and _n._, 157. - -Holt, Edwin B., =2=, 234. - -Holt, Henry, =2=, 18. _See Contents._ - -Holt, Henry, & Co., J. contracts to write volume on Psychology for, =1=, 194. - -Homer, =1=, 111. - -Hooper, Edward W., =2=, 156. - -Hooper, Ellen, =1=, 76 and _n._ - -Hooper, Ellen (Mrs. John Potter), =2=, 275. - -Hooper, Louisa, =2=, 275. - -Hopkins, Woolsey R., describes accident to H. James, Senior, =1=, 7, 8. - -Horace Mann Auditorium, =2=, 17. - -Horse-swapping, =1=, 271. - -House of Commons, =1=, 345, 346. - -Howells, W. D., _Indian Summer_, =1=, 253; - _Shadow of a Dream_, 298; - _Hazard of New Fortunes_, 298, 299; - _Rise of Silas Lapham_, 307; - _Minister's Charge_, 307, 308; - _Lemuel Barker_, 308; - _Criticism and Fiction_, 308; - mentioned, =1=, 158, =2=, 10. - _See Contents._ - -Howells, Mrs. W. D., =1=, 253, 298, 299. - -Howison, George H., =1=, 239 _n._, 304, =2=, 78. - _See Contents._ - -Hugo, Victor, _Les Misérables_, =1=, 263; - _La Légende des Siècles_, =2=, 63; - mentioned, =1=, 90, =2=, 51. - -Huidekoper, Rosamund, =2=, 275. - -Humanism, =2=, 245, 282. - -Humboldt, H. A. von, _Travels_, =1=, 62. - -Humboldt, W., letters of, =1=, 141. - -Hume, David, =1=, 187, =2=, 18, 123, 165. - -Hunnewell, Walter, =1=, 68. - -Hunt, William M., =1=, 24. - -Hunter, Ellen (Temple), =2=, 258, 262. - -Huxley, Thomas H., =J.= quoted on, =1=, 226 _n._; - his _Life and Letters_, 226 _n._, =2=, 248; - mentioned, =2=, 218. - -Hyatt, Alpheus, =1=, 31. - -Hyslop, James H., =2=, 242, 287. - - -Ideal, the, =1=, 238. - -Idealism, Absolute, Royce's argument for, =1=, 242. - -Immortality, =1=, 310, =2=, 214, 287. - -Imperialism, =2=, 74. - -Indians, in Brazil, =1=, 66, 67, 70. - -Indifferentism, =1=, 238. - -Insane, proposed national society to improve condition of, =2=, 273, 274. - -Intellectualism, =2=, 291, 292. - -Italian language, =1=, 341, =2=, 222. - -Italy, =1=, 175, 180, 181. - - -Jacks, L. P., =2=, 339, 348. - -Jackson Henry, =1=, 274, 275. - -Jacobi, Friedrich H., =1=, 141. - -James, Alexander R. (=J.='s son), =2=, 37, 43, 92. _See Contents._ - -James, Alice (=J.='s sister), her diary quoted, =1=, 16; - in England with H. James, Jr., from 1885 on, 258; - her illness, 258, 259, 284; - her diary quoted, 259 _n._; - quoted, on =J.='s European trip in 1889, 289, 290; - her death, 319; - mentioned, 18, 47, 60, 69, 91, 103, 142, 172, 183, 217, - 220, 281, 285, 286, =2=, 127. - _See Contents._ - -James, Mrs. Catherine (Barber), third wife of W. James I, (=J.='s paternal - grandmother), "a dear gentle lady," =1=, 6; - her house in Albany, 105; - mentioned, 4, 5 _n._, 7. - -James, Garth Wilkinson (=J.='s brother), wounded at Fort Wagner, - =1=, 43, 44, 49; - mentioned, =1=, 17, 33, 35, 36, 40, 41, 42, 51, 52, 60, - 69, 70, 88, 135 _n._, 136, 192. - -James, Henry, Senior (=J.='s father), quoted, on his father, =1=, 4, - his grandfather, 5, - and his mother, 5 and _n._; - his habit of thought expressed in his description of his mother, 5 _n._; - sketch of his life and character, 7-19; - maimed for life by accident, 7, 8; - his discontent with orthodox dispensation, 8; - marries Mary Walsh, 8; - =J.='s striking resemblance to, 10; - relations with his children, 10, 18, 19; - =J.='s introduction - to his _Literary Remains_, 10, 13; - letters of, to Emerson, 11; - effect of Swedenborg's works on, 12; - the only business of his later life, 1=2=, 13; - =J.='s -estimate of, 13; - Henry James quoted on, 14; - letter of, to editor of _New Jerusalem Messenger_, 14-16; - his directions regarding his funeral service, 16; - Godkin quoted on, 17; - E. W. Emerson quoted on, 17, 18 and _n._; - and Miss Emerson, 18 _n._; - influence of his "full and homely idiom" on the conversation of - his sons, 18; - his philosophy, discussed by =J.=, 96, 97; - his essay on Swedenborg, 117; - letter of, to Henry James, 169; - dangerously ill, 218; - =J.='s last letter to, 218-220; - his _Secret of Swedenborg_, 220; - his death, 221; - =J.='s memories of, 221, 222; - his mentality described, 241, 242; - compared with Carlyle, 241; - mentioned, =2=, 6, 7, 27, 36, 53, 68, 80, 92, 103, 104, 115 and - _n._, 118, 135 _n._, 153, 157, 158 and _n._, 175, - 217, 260, 289, 290, 316, =2=, 39, 278. - _See Contents._ - -_Literary Remains_ of, edited by =J.=, =1=, 4 and _n._, 5 _n._, 10, - 13, 236, 239, 240, 241. - -James, Mrs. Henry, Senior (Mary Walsh), (=J.='s mother), her character, - =1=, 9; - her death, 218; - mentioned, 8, 69, 80, 103, 117, 156, 175, 183, 219, 220. _See Contents._ - -James, Henry, Jr. (=J.='s brother), impressions of an elder generation - reflected in _The Wings of the Dove_, =1=, 7; - and his mother, 9; his birth, 9; - quoted, on his father, 14; - influence of his father's "idiom" on his speech, 18; - at the Collège de Boulogne, 20; - early secret passion for authorship, 21; - his "meteorological blunder," 21; quoted, on =J.=, as - "he sits drawing," 22, 23; - letter of his father to, 169; - his feeling for Europe, 209; - its reaction on him and on =J.=, contrasted, 209, 210; - described by =J.=, 288; - his "third manner" of writing criticized by =J.=, =2=, 240, 277-279; - his paper on Boston, 252; - mentioned, =1=, 17, 25, 33, 36, 40, 41, 45, 51, 53, 68, - 70, 76, 80, 90, 94, 95, 99, 100, 115, 117, 118, 136, 138, - 141, 148 _n._, 174, 175, 177, 178, 180, 218, 219, 240, 258, - 260, 262, 269, 283, 284, 286, 287, 289, 290, 319, =2=, 10, - 35, 61, 62, 84, 105, 106, 110, 161, 167, 168, 169, 170, 192, - 193, 215, 224, 250, 280, 315, 333, 335, 338, 341, 350. - _See Contents._ - - Works of: _The American_, =1=, 185; - _The American Scene_, =2=, 264, 277, 299; - _The Bostonians_, =1=, 250, 25=1=, 25=2=, 253; - _The Golden Bowl_, =2=, 240; - Notes _of a Son and Brother_, =1=, 10, 11 _n._, 24, 32, 36, 135 _n._; - _Partial Portraits_, 280; - _The Portrait of a Lady_, 36; - _Princess Cassamassima_, 251; - _The Reverberator_, 280; - _Roderick Hudson_, 184; - _W. W. Story, Life of_, 27 _n._; - _The Tragic Muse_, 299; - _A Small Boy and Others_, 4 _n._, 8 _n._, 9, 10, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23; - _The Wings of the Dove_, 7, 36, =2=, 240. - -James, Henry, 3d (=J.='s son), =1=, 275, 278, 279, 282, 329, 330, - 336, 343, =2=, - 30, 31, 84, 129, 143, 145, 147, 159, 324. - _See Contents._ - -James, Hermann (J.'s son), birth of, =1=, 234, 235; death of, 247. - -James, Margaret M. (=J.='s daughter), birth of, =1=, 267; - mentioned, 275, 276, 279, 281, 322, 332, 336, =2=, 43, 54, - 98, 102, 110, 130, 191. - _See Contents._ - -James, Robertson (=J.='s brother), in Union army, =1=, 43, 44; - mentioned, 17, 33, 41, 43, 52, 60, 69, 70, 81, 136. - -James, William, =J.='s grandfather, his career, from penury to - great wealth, =1=, 2, 3; - a leading citizen of Albany, 3; - personal appearance, 3; - anecdotes of, 3, 4; - H. James, Senior, quoted on, 4; - his stiff Presbyterianism and its results, 4; - his will disallowed by court, 4, 6; - marries Catherine Barber, 4. - -James, William, (=J.='s uncle), =1=, 6. - -JAMES, WILLIAM. - His ancestors in America, =1=, 1; - recurrence of his father's habit of thought in, 5 _n._; - and his mother, 9; - resemblance of, to his father, 10; - quoted, on his father, 13; - influence of his father's "idiom," 18 and _n._; - frequent changes of schools and tutors, 19; - in Europe, 1855 to 1858, 19; - at the Collège de Boulogne, and the "Academy" of Geneva, 20; - quoted, on his education, 20; - interest in exact knowledge, 20; - begins study of anatomy at Geneva, 21; - his cosmopolitanism of consciousness, 22; - widely read in three languages, 22; - effect of his early training, 22; - takes up painting, 22-24; - portrait of Katharine Temple, 24; - physique, personal appearance and dress, 24, 25; - temperament and conversation, 26; - "smiting" quality of his best talk, 27; - keen about new things, 28; - disadvantage -of being too encouraging to "little geniuses," 28, 29; - freer criticism of those who had arrived, 29; - influence as a teacher at Harvard, 29, 30; - in Lawrence Scientific School, 31 and _n._; - physical condition keeps him out of army in Civil War, 47; - transfers from Chemistry to Comparative Anatomy, 47; - and Jeffries Wyman, 48, 49; - begins course at Medical School, 53; - philosophy begins to beckon, 53; - joins Agassiz's expedition to the Amazon, 54; - his nine months with Agassiz not wasted, 55, 56; - has small-pox at Rio, 60, 61, 63 and _n._; - interne at Mass. General Hospital, 71; - again in Medical School, 71-84. - - Impaired health causes his visit to Germany, 84, 85; - in Dresden, Berlin and Teplitz, 85, 86; - describes his condition in letter to his father, 95, 96; - returns to U. S., 139; - takes degree of M.D. (1869), 140; - eye-weakness, 140, 141; - scope of his reading, 141, 142 and _n._, 143; - his note-books, 143, 144; - relation between earlier and later writings, 144 and _n._; - morbid depression, 145; - chapter on the "sick soul" the story of his own case, 145-147; - return of resolution and self-confidence, 147, 148; - Instructor in Physiology, 165; - his real subject, physiological psychology, 165, 166; - his deepest inclination always toward philosophy, 166; - H. James, Senior's, letter on the change in =J.='s mental tone - and outlook, 169, 170; - decides to devote himself to biology, 171; - Europe again, 171; - end of the period of morbid depression, 171; - gives course in Psychology and organizes Psychological Laboratory, - 179 and _n_,; - contributions to periodicals, 180; - on teaching of philosophy in American colleges, 189 _ff._ - - Marries Alice H. Gibbens, 192; - effect of his new domesticity, 193; - importance of his wife's companionship and understanding, 193; - contracts to write a volume on Psychology, 194; - vacations in Keene Valley, 195; - his mode of life there, 195; - a bit of self-analysis, 199, 200; - first work on _Psychology_, 203, 223; - declines invitation to teach at Johns Hopkins, 203; - in Europe, 1880-83, 208 _ff._; - and Henry James, 209, 210; - "reaction" on Europe, 209, 210; - death of his mother, 218, and of his father, 221; - his memories of them, 221, 222; - corresponding member of English Society for Psychical Research, 227; - an organizer and officer of the American Society, 227; - investigates psychic phenomena, 227 _ff._; - conducts American Census of Hallucinations, 228, 229; - edits his father's _Literary Remains_, 236, 239 _ff._; - his life at Chocorua, 271, 272, 273. - - Abroad in 1889, 286 _ff._; - at International Congress of Physiological Psychology, 288, 289, 290; - his new house in Cambridge, 290, 291; - his inclination toward the under-dog, 292, 293, =2=, 178; - completion of the _Psychology_, =1=, 293 _ff._; - effect of its publication on his reputation, 300; - prepares an abridgment (_Briefer Course_), 300, 301; - turns his attention more fully toward philosophy, 301; - raises money for Harvard Laboratory, 301, and recommends Münsterberg - as its head, 301; - his sabbatical year abroad, 302, 320 _ff._; - beginning of his friendship with Flournoy, 320; - receives honorary degree at Padua, 333. - - How his mind was moving during the nineties, =2=, 2 _ff._; - his opinion of psychology, 2; - new courses at Harvard, 3, 4; - outside lecturing, 4; - would devote his thought and work to metaphysical and religious - questions, 5; - frustrations, 5, 6; - personal appearance, 6, 7; - his daily round, 7-9; - the Club, 9, 10; - nervous break-down, 10; - D. S. Miller quoted on, 11-17; - attitude toward spelling reform, 18, 19; - and Cleveland's Venezuela Message, 26 _ff._; - experiments with mescal, 35, 37; - Chautauqua lectures, 40 _ff._; - work on college committees, 45 _n._, - at Faculty meetings, 45 _n._, - lectures at Lowell Institute, 54 and _n._, 55; - invited to deliver Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh, 55; - Blood's strictures on his English, 59; - on a proposed Medical License bill, 66 _ff._; - on the Spanish War, 73, 74; - corresponding member of Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, 75; - a memorable night in the Adirondacks, 75-77. - - Effect on his health of misadventures in the Adirondack, 78, 79, 90, 91; - two years of exile and illness, 92 _ff._; - an individualist and a liberal, 93; - opposed to Philippine policy of McKinley administration, 93, 94; - his teaching limited to a half-course a year, 171; - lectures and contributions to philosophic journals, 171; - strain on his strength, 171; - the spirit in which he did his work, 172, 173; - receives LL.D. from Harvard, 173 and _n._; - replies to Prof. Pratt's _Questionnaire_, 212-215; - at Philosophical Congress at Rome, 219, 220, 225 _ff._; - lectures at Stanford University, 220, 235, 240, 244 and _n._; - and the San Francisco earthquake, 220, 246 _ff._; - _Pragmatism_, 220; - resigns his professorship, 220, 266 and _n._; - the last meeting of his class, 220, 221, 262. - - Declining health, 283, 333; - lectures on Hibbert Foundation at Oxford, 283, 284; - uncompleted projects, 284; - his attitude toward war, 284, 285, and universal arbitration, 285; - tolerance fundamental in his scheme of belief, 286; - his report on "Mrs. Piper's Hodgson control," 286, 287; - last months in Europe, 333 _ff._; - farewell to Harvard Faculty, 334; - returns to Chocorua, 350; - the end, 350. - - Letters containing moral counsel, or touching upon problems of _Belief_, - =2=, 57, 65, 76, 77, 149, 150, 196, 197, 210, 211, 212-215, 269, 326, - 344-346; - _Conduct_, =1=, 77-79, 100, 128 _ff._, 148, 199, 200, =2=, 131, 132; - _Life and Death_, =1=, 218-220, 309-311, =2=, 130, 154. - - WORKS OF:-- - "Address of the President before the Society for Psychical Research," - =2=, 30 and _n._ - "Bain and Renouvier," 1, 186. - _Briefer Course_ (abridgment of the _Principles of Psychology_), =1=, - 300, 301, 304, 314. - "Brute and Human Intellect," =1=, 180. - "Certain Blindness in Human Beings, A," =2=, 5. - _Collected Essays and Reviews_, =1=, 225 _n._, =2=, 20 _n._, 287, 295 _n_. - "Confidences of a Psychical Researcher," =2=, 327 and _n._ - "Dilemma of Determinism, The," =1=, 237 and _n._, 238. - "Does Consciousness Exist?" _See_ "Notion de Conscience, La." - "Energies of Men, The," =2=, 252, 284. - "Feeling of Effort, The," =1=, 207. - "Frederick Myers's Service to Psychology," =2=, 151 and _n._ - "German-American Novel, A." =1=, 104 _n._ - Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion, =J.= invited to deliver, =2=, 55; - preparing for, 85, 92, 93; - delivered, 144 _ff._; - success of, 147, 149, 150, 151; - outline of, 150; - published as _Varieties of Religious Experience_, 169; - mentioned, 75, 96, 97, 105, 108, 111, 115, 127, 134, =2=, 162, 164, 165. - And _see_ _Varieties of Religious Experience_, _infra_. - "How Two Minds can Know One Thing," =2=, 217 and _n._ - _Human Immortality_, =2=, 180 and _n._ - "Introspective Psychology, On Some Omissions of," =1=, 230. - "Knight-Errant of the Intellectual Life, A," =2=, 107 _n._ - Lowell Institute Lectures, =2=, 54 and _n._, 55. - _Meaning of Truth, The_, =2=, 20 _n._, 327. - _Memories and Studies_, =1=, 153, 226 _n._, 229 _n._, =2=, 39 - _n._, 59 _n._, 107 _n._, 151 _n._, - 193, 247, 285 _n._, 287, 327 _n._ - "Moral Equivalent of War, The," =2=, 284. - "Notion de Conscience, La," =2=, 226 and _n._, 267 and _n._ - "Perception of Space, The," =1=, 266 _n._ - "Perception of Time, The," =1=, 266. - "Philosophic Reveries," =2=, 339. - "Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results," =2=, 5. - _Philosophy, Some Problems of_, =1=, 144 _n._, 186. - _Pluralistic Mystic, A._ (lectures on Hibbert Foundation), =2=, 39 _n._, - 300, 311, 313, 322, 324, 325, 326, 339. - _Pragmatism_, =2=, 17, 276, 279, 292, 294, 295, 300; - translated by W. Jerusalem, 297. - "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth," =2=, 271 and _n._ - "Proposed Shortening of the College Course," =2=, 45 _n._ - _Psychology, Principles of_, =1=, 194, 203, 223, 224, 249, - 268, 269, 283, 293 _ff._, 296, 297, 300, 301, 304 and _n._, 305, - 307, 320, =2=, 12, 13. - "Quelques Considérations sur la Méthode Subjective," =1=, 180. - _Radical Empiricism, Essays in_, =2=, 267 _n._ - "Radical Empiricism, Is it Solipsistic?" =2=, 218. - "Radical Empiricism as a Philosophy," =2=, 197 _n._ - _Selected Essays and Reviews_, =2=, 271. - "Sentiment of Rationality, The," =1=, 203 and _n._ - "Shaw Monument, Oration on Unveiling of," =2=, 59, 60. - "Spatial Quale, The," =1=, 205 and _n._ - "Spencer's Definition of Mind as Correspondence," =1=, 180. - _Talks to Teachers and Students on Some of Life's Problems_, =2=, - 4, 5, 40, 79, 286. - "Tigers in India, The," =2=, 20 _n._ - _Varieties of Religious Experience._ (Gifford Lectures), =1=, 145-147, - 293, =2=, 169, 170, 209, 210, 268. - "What Psychical Research has Accomplished," =1=, 229 and _n._, 306. - "_Will to Believe, The_," =2=, 44, 48, 85, 87, 88, 207, 208, 209, 282. - _Will to Believe, The, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy_, =1=, 229 - _n._, 237 _n._, 280 _n._, =2=, 4, 5, 34, 58 _n._, 64. - "Word More about Truth, A," =2=, 295. - _See_ also list of Dates at the beginning of Volume I, and the partial - bibliography (Appendix II, _infra_). - -James, Mrs. William (Alice Gibbens), =1=, 192, 193, 195, 196, 217, 218, 232, - 237, 247, 269, 276, 277, 278, 279, 281, 286, 288, 294, 297, 298, 316, 319, - 321, 325, 328, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 346, =2=, 5, 7, 8, 9, 20, 24, 34, - 35, 36, 37, 38, 52, 59, 60, 63, 92, 93, 96, 97, 110, 111, 112, 113, 129, - 134, 145, 147, 158, 159, 161, 165, 175, 176, 182, 187, 188, 193, 215, 223, - 233, 247, 250, 256, 258, 259, 275, 312, 313, 333, 334, 338, 350. - _See Contents._ - -James, William (=J.='s son), birth of, =1=, 234; - mentioned, 237, 260, 275, 276, 277, 282, 329, 330, 336, 346, =2=, - 92, 98, 129, 159, 174, 175, 185, 186, 187, 250, 258, 259, 274, 275, 276. - _See Contents._ - -Jameson Raid, =2=, 27. - -Janet, Pierre, =2=, 216, 217, 226, 254. - -Janet, Mme. Pierre, =2=, 216. - -Jap, a dog, =1=, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279. - -Jefferies, Richard, _The Life of the Fields_, =2=, 258, 259. - -Jeffries, B. Joy, =1=, 163. - -Jerome, W. T., =2=, 264. - -Jerusalem, W. _See Contents._ - -Jevons, F. B., =2=, 306. - -"Jimmy," students' name for the _Briefer Course_, =1=, 301. - -Johns Hopkins University, =J.= declines invitation to teach at, =1=, 203. - -Johnson, Alice, =2=, 311. - -_Journal of Speculative Philosophy_, =1=, 266, =2=, 339. - -Jung-Stilling, Johann K., _Autobiography_, =1=, 155. - - -Kallen, Horace M., =2=, 271. - -Kant, Immanuel, _Kritik der reinen Vernunft_, =1=, 138, =2=, 179; - =J.= lectures on, 45, 47, 51, 54; - mentioned, =1=, 117, 141, 191, 202, 205, =2=, 3. - -Kaulbach, W. von, =1=, 90. - -Keane, Bishop, =1=, 294. - -Keene Valley, Adirondacks, =J.='s summer holidays in, =1=, 194, 195, 196; - an eventful 24 hours, and its effect, =2=, 75-79, 95; - his further misadventure, 90, 91; - mentioned, =1=, 232, =2=, 51, 259, 261, 296, 297. - -Kipling, Rudyard, _The Light that Failed_, =1=, 307; - mentioned, =2=, 21, 22, 231. - -Kitchin, George W., =2=, 306. - -Knox, H. V., =2=, 313, 314. - -Kruger, Paul, =2=, 27. - -Kolliker, R. A. von, =1=, 123. - -Kosmos, the startling discoveries concerning, =1=, 101. - -Kühnemann, Eugen, =2=, 263. - - -La Farge, Bancel, =2=, 275. - -La Farge, John, =1=, 24, 91, =2=, 173. - -Lamar, Lucuis Q. C., =1=, 251. - -Lamb, Charles, =2=, 239. - -Lamb House, Rye, Henry James's English home, =2=, 107, 111. - -Lawrence Scientific School, Chemical laboratory in, =1=, 31; - C. W. Eliot quoted on =J.='s course in, 31, 32 and _n._ - -Leibnitz, Baron G. W. von, =2=, 13. - -Lemaître, Jules, =2=, 63. - -_Leonardo_, =2=, 227, 228, 245. - -Leopardi, Giacomo, "To Sylvia," =1=, 246 and _n._ - -Lesley, Susan I., _Recollections of my Mother_, =2=, 135 and _n._ - -Lessing, Gotthold E., _Emilia Galotti_, =1=, 91; - Fischer's Essay on _Nathan der Weise_, 94. - -Leuba, James H., =2=, 210, 211, 218. - _See Contents._ - -Lincoln, Abraham, effect of his death, =1=, 66, 67; - characterized by =J.=, 67. - -Linville, N. C., =1=, 316, 317. - -Lister, Sir Joseph, =1=, 72. - -Lloyd, Henry D., =2=, 166. - -Locke, John, =1=, 191, =2=, 165, 257. - -Lodge, Henry Cabot, =2=, 30. - -Lodge, Sir Oliver, =1=, 229 _n._ - -Loeser, Charles A., =1=, 337, 339. - -Lombroso, Cesar, =2=, 15. - -London, =1=, 175, =2=, 307. - -London, _Times_, =2=, 43, 65, 118. - -Long, George, =1=, 78. - -Loring, Katharine P., =1=, 259, 262, 311, 316. - -Lotze, Rudolf H., =1=, 206, 208. - -Loubet, Émile, President of France, =2=, 89, 98. - -Lowell, A. Lawrence, =2=, 326. - -Lowell, James Russell, death of, =1=, 314, 315 _n._; - =J.='s memory of, 315; - mentioned, 195. - -Lucerne, =2=, 133. - -Ludwig, Karl F. W., =1=, 72, 160, 215. - -Lutoslawski, W., =2=, 103, 171. - _See Contents._ - - -McDougall, William, =2=, 313, 314, 315. - -McKinley, William, and the Spanish War, =2=, 74; - Philippine Policy of his administration disapproved by =J.=, 93, 94, 289; - and Roosevelt, =J.='s description of, 94; - mentioned, 50, 101, 102, 109. - -MacMonnies, F. W., Bacchante, =2=, 62 and _n._, 63. - -Macaulay, Thomas B., Lord, =1=, 225. - -Mach, Ernst, =1=, 211, 212. - -Maine, U. S. S., explosion of, =2=, 73. - -Manchester College. _See_ Hibbert Foundation. - -Marcus Aurelius, =1=, 78, 79. - -Marshall, Henry Rutgers, _Instinct and Reason_, =1=, 87. - _See Contents_. - -Martin, L. J., =2=, 246, 249. - -Martineau, James, =1=, 283. - -Mascagni, Pietro, _I Rantzau_, =1=, 334, 335. - -Massachusetts General Hospital, =1=, 71, 72. - -Materialism, =1=, 82, 83. - -Maudsley, Henry, =1=, 143. - -Maupassant, Guy de, =1=, 282. - -Medical License bill (proposed), in Mass., =2=, 66 _ff._ - -Mediums, =1=, 228, =2=, 287, 311. - And _see_ Paladino, Eusapia, and Piper, Mrs. - -Mental Hygiene, Connecticut Society for, =2=, 273; - National Committee for, 273. - -Merriman, Daniel. _See Contents._ - -Merriman, Mrs. Daniel, =2=, 118. - -Merriman, R. B., =2=, 63, 66, 132, 175. - -Mescal, =J.='s experiment with, =2=, 35, 37. - -Metaphysical problems, =J.='s mind haunted by, =2=, 2. - -Metaphysics, outline of course offered by =J.= in, =2=, 3, 4; - =J.='s proposed system of, 179, 180. - -Meysenbug, Malwida von, _Memoiren einer Idealistin_, =2=, 135 and _n._ - -Mezes, Sidney E., =2=, 14. - -Mill, John Stuart, =1=, 164, =2=, 267. - -Miller, Dickinson S., quoted, on =J.= as a teacher and lecturer, =2=, 11-17; - "Truth and Error," 18; - quoted, on =J.='s talks with Columbia Faculty Club, 265 _n._; - his "study" of =J.=, 331, 332; - mentioned, 87, 88, 137, 163, 232 _n._, 282. - _See Contents._ - -_Mind_, =1=, 254, 255. - -Mind-curers. _See_ Faith-curers. - -Miracles, =2=, 57, 58. - -Mitchell, S. Weir, =2=, 37. - -Monism, =1=, 238, 244, 245. - -Montgomery, Edmund, =1=, 254, 255. - -Morgan, C. Lloyd, =2=, 216. - -Moritz, C. P., =1=, 141. - -Morley, John, _Voltaire_, =1=, 144 _n._ - -Morse, Frances R., =1=, 197, =2=, 106, 113, 232. - _See Contents._ - -Morse, Mary. _See_ Elliot, Mrs. John W. - -Morse, John T., =2=, 10. - -Motterone, Monte, =1=, 324. - -Müller, G. E., =1=, 312, 313. - -Munich Congress, =2=, 46, 50. - -Munk, H., =1=, 213, 114. - -Münsterberg, Hugo, recommended by =J.= as head - of Harvard Psychological Laboratory, =1=, 301, 302; - "the Rudyard Kipling of philosophy," 318; - "an immense success," 332; - criticizes =J.=, =2=, 267, 268; - mentioned, =1=, 312, =2=, 2, 18, 121, 229, 270, 293, 320. - _See Contents._ - -Murray, Gilbert, =2=, 271. - -Musset, Alfred de, =2=, 63. - -Myers, F. W. H., _Human Personality_, =1=, 229 _n._, =2=, 151, 185 and _n._; - death of, 141; - =J.='s tribute to, 141, 151, 157; - mentioned, =1=, 287, 290, =2=, 57, 114, 118, 156, 157, 161. - _See Contents._ - -Myers, Mrs. F. W. H., =1=, 290, 345, =2=, 151, 157. - - -Naples, =2=, 222. - -_Nation, The_, review of _Literary Remains of Henry James_ in, =1=, 240, 241; - =J.='s comments on, 284; - and Cleveland's Venezuela Message, =2=, 28; - mentioned, =1=, 70, 92, 104 and _n._, 117, 118, 161, - 186, 188, 189, =2=, 42, 182, 332. - -Nauheim (Bad), =2=, 92, 93, 95, 104, 107, 134, 135, 157, 158, 160, 333, 338. - -Neilson, Adelaide, =1=, 168. - -Nevins, John C., _Demon Possession and Allied Themes_, =2=, 56 and _n._ - -New Forest, The, =2=, 160, 161. - -_New Jerusalem Messenger_, H. James, Senior's, letter to - editor of, =1=, 14-16. - -_New World, The_, =1=, 334, =2=, 44. - -New York City, =2=, 264, 265. - -Newcomb, Simon, =1=, 250. - -Newport, R. I., =2=, 202, 203. - -Newton, Sir Isaac, =2=, 1 _n._ - -Nichols, Herbert, =1=, 335, =2=, 14. - -Nietzsche, Friedrich W., =2=, 233. - -Nivedita, Sister, =2=, 144. - -Nonentity, Idea of, =2=, 293. - -Nordau, Max S., _Entartung_, =2=, 19; - mentioned, 17. - -Norton, Charles Eliot, Ruskin's letters to, =2=, 206; - mentioned, =1=, 181, 291, 331, 338, 347, =2=, 191, 199. - _See Contents._ - -Norton, Grace, =1=, 284, =2=, 191. - _See Contents._ - -Norton, Mrs. Charles E. (Susan Sedgwick), =1=, 181. - -Norton Woods, the, =2=, 201. - - -Olney, Richard, and the Venezuela Message, =2=, 27, 29. - -Optimism, =1=, 83, 238. - -Oregon, forest fires in, =2=, 80. - -Ostensacken, Baron, =1=, 337, 339. - -Ostwald, W., =2=, 229. - -Oxford, =2=, 307. - - -Padua, Galileo anniversary at, =1=, 333 and _n._; - University of, confers degree on =J.=, 333. - -Pĉdagogy, =2=, 47. - -Paladino, Eusapia, =2=, 186 and _n._, 311, 320, 327. - -Paley, William, =1=, 283. - -Pallanza, Italy, =1=, 329. - -Palmer, George H., a Hegelian, =1=, 205, 208; - investigates psychic phenomena with =J.=, 227; - mentioned, 202, 292, 335, =2=, 2, 18. - _See Contents._ - -Palmer, Mrs. Alice Freeman, =2=, 124. - -Papini, Giovanni, _Crepuscolo dei Filosofi_, =2=, 245, 246; - mentioned, 172, 227, 228, 229, 257, 267. - -Paris, =1=, 174, 175, 217. - -Paris Commune (1871), =1=, 161. - -Parkman, Francis, =2=, 10. - -Parkman, Mrs. Henry, =2=, 205. - -Parthenon, the, =2=, 224, 225. - -Party spirit, the only permanent force of corruption in the U. S., =2=, 100. - -Pasteur, Louis, =1=, 72, 225. - -Paty du Clam, Colonel du, =2=, 98. - -Paulsen, Friederich, _Einleitung_, =1=, 346, =2=, 244. - -Peabody, Elizabeth, =1=, 112. - -Peabody, Frances G., =2=, 229. - -Peace Congress, =2=, 277. - -Peillaube, M., =2=, 228, 229. - -Peirce, Benjamin, =1=, 32. - -Peirce, Charles S., =1=, 33, 34, 80, 149, 169, =2=, 191, 233, 294, 328. - -Peirce, James M., =2=, 258. - -Perry, Ralph Barton, his _List of Published Writings_ - of =J.=, =1=, 144, 223, 224; - mentioned, =2=, 121, 163, 234, 295. - -Perry, Thomas S., with =J.= in Berlin, =1=, 107, 109, 111, 113, 114, 117, 124; - mentioned, 40 _n._, 60, 91, 94, 102, 106, 134, 151, 157, 169, =2=, 10. - _See Contents._ - -Pertz, Mrs. Emma (Wilkinson), =1=, 135 and _n._ - -Pessimism, =1=, 238. - -Peterson, Ellis, =1=, 166. - -Pflüger, Dr., =1=, 156. - -Phelps, Edward J., =2=, 27 _n._ - -Philippine question, the, =2=, 167, 168. - -Philippines, policy of McKinley administration concerning, =2=, 93, 94; - duty of U. S. with regard to, 289. - -Philosophical Club, University of California, =J.='s lectures to, =2=, 79. - -_Philosophical Review_, =2=, 228. - -Philosophical Society, =J.= refuses to join, =2=, 164. - -Philosophy, =J.= begins to feel the pull of, =1=, 53, 54; - difficulties attending teaching of, in American colleges, 188, 189, 190. - -Physiological Psychology, =1=, 165, 166, 179. - -Physiological Psychology, International Congress of, =1=, 288, 289, 290. - -Physiology, =J.= attends lectures on, in Berlin, =1=, 118, 120, 121; - =J.='s first teaching subject, 165. - -Picquart, M. G. (Dreyfus case), =2=, 67, 98. - -Piddington, J. G., =2=, 311. - -Pierce, George W., =2=, 14. - -Pillon, François, =1=, 208, 229, 233, 343, =2=, 45, 79. - _See Contents._ - -Pillon, Mme. François, =2=, 73, 204, 338, 343. - -Pinkham, Lydia E., "the Venus of Medicine," =1=, 261 and _n._ - -Piper, Mrs. William, =J.= quoted on, =1=, 227, 228; - mentioned, =2=, 242, 311, 319, 320. - And _see_ Hodgson, R. - -Plato, =1=, 283. - -Pluralism, =1=, 186, =2=, 155. - -Pluralistic idealism, =2=, 22. - -Pollock, Sir Frederick, =1=, 222, =2=, 199. - -Pomfret, Conn., =1=, 153, 154. - -_Popular Science Monthly_, =1=, 190. - -Porter, Noah, =1=, 231, 232. - -Porter, Samuel, =1=, 214. - -Porto Rico, =2=, 74. - -Potter, Horatio, =1=, 59. - -Powderly, Terence V., =1=, 284. - -Pragmatism, and radical empiricism, distinction between, =2=, 267; - disadvantages of the word as a title, 271, 295, 298. - -Prague, =1=, 211, 212, 213. - -Pratt, James B., =J.='s replies to his questionnaire on - religious belief, =2=, 212-215. - -Pratt, M., =2=, 204. - -Prince, William H., =1=, 37, 39, 42, 44. - -Prince, Mrs. William H. (Katharine James), =1=, 42. - _See Contents._ - -Princeton Theological Seminary, H. James, Senior, at, =1=, 8. - -Pringle-Pattison, A. S., =2=, 325, 326. - And _see_ Seth, Andrew. - -Profession, choice of, =1=, 75, 79, 123. - -Prussia, political conditions in (1867), =1=, 95; - and France, 95. - -Prussians, =1=, 122. - -Psychic phenomena, investigated by =J.= and Palmer, =1=, 225 _ff._; - mentioned, 248, 250, 305, 306, =2=, 56, 287, 320. - -Psychical Research, American Society for, =J.= active in organizing, =1=, 227; - amalgamated with English Society, 227; - =J.= on its function, 249, 250, =2=, 242, 286, 306. - -Psychical Research, English Society for, founded, =1=, 227; - =J.= a corresponding member, vice-president, and president - of, 227, 229 _n._, 248. - -Psychologists, American Association of, =2=, 20. - -Psychology, =J.= begins to read on, =1=, 118, 119; - =J.= gives course in, 179; - =J.= helps to make it a modern science, 224, 225; - "a nasty little subject," =2=, 2. - -Psychology, Experimental, in U. S., History of, =1=, 179 _n._ - -Psychology, Physiological. _See_ Physiological Psychology. - -Putnam, Charles P., =1=, 71, 195, 196, 327, =2=, 296. - -Putnam, Frederick W., =1=, 31. - -Putnam, George, =2=, 224, 225. - -Putnam, James J., letter to =J.= on Medical License bill, =2=, 72 _n._; - mentioned, =1=, 71, 168, 195, 196, =2=, 112, 128, 147, 249. - _See Contents._ - -Putnam, Marian (Mrs. James J.), =2=, 249. - - -Quincy, Henry P., =1=, 77, 122. - - -Radcliffe College, =2=, 4, 24, 180 _n._, 181. - -Radcliffe College, =J.='s class at. _See Contents._ - -Radical Empiricism and pragmatism, distinction between, =2=, 267; - mentioned, 203, 204. - -Rafael Sanzio, the Sistine Madonna, =1=, 90. - -Raffaello, Florentine cook, =1=, 339, 341. - -Rankin, Henry W., =2=, 55. - _See Contents._ - -Reed, Thomas B., =2=, 50. - -Reid, Carveth, =1=, 205, 222. - -Religion, =J.='s views on, =2=, 64, 65, 127, 149, 150, 211 _ff._, 269. - -Renan, Ernest, death of, =1=, 326; - mentioned, 110, =2=, 123, 338. - -Renouvier, Charles, the _Année 1867 Philosophique_, =1=, 138, 186; - influence on =J.= of his writings on free will, 147, 169; - =J.='s first acquaintance with his work, 186; - =J.='s correspondence with, 186; - translates some of =J.='s papers, 186; - his articles on Fouillée, 231; - _Principes de la Nature_, 334; - his _Philosophy of History_, =2=, 44, 47; - his death, 204; - _Monadologie_ and _Personalisme_, 204; - mentioned, =1=, 138, 205. - _See Contents._ - -Republican Party, the, in 1899, =2=, 94. - -Reverdin, M., =2=, 267. - -Rhea, Jannet, =1=, 4 _n._ - -Rhea, Matthew, =1=, 4 _n._ - -Rhodes, James F., _History of the U. S._, =2=, 27 _n._; - mentioned, 10. - -Richet, Charles, =1=, 229 _n._, =2=, 114, 225. - -Richter, Jean Paul, =1=, 141. - -Rindge, Frederick H., =1=, 330, =2=, 39. - -Rio de Janeiro, =1=, 58 _ff._ - -Risks, choice of, =2=, 49, 50. - -Ritter, Charles, =1=, 23, =2=, 25, 55. - -Robertson, Alexander, =1=, 8, 9. - -Robertson, G. Croom, editor of _Mind_, =1=, 222, 254. - _See Contents._ - -Robeson, Andrew R., =1=, 33. - -Romanism and Anglicanism, =2=, 305. - -Romanticism, =1=, 256. - -Rome, Philosophical Congress at, =2=, 225 _ff._, 228; - mentioned, =1=, 178, 180, =2=, 138, 139, 269. - -Roosevelt, Theodore, as possible President of Harvard, =2=, 232 and _n._; - mentioned, 94, 266. - -Ropes, John C., death of, =2=, 108, 109; - mentioned, =1=, 35, =2=, 10, 156. - -Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio, =1=, 295. - -Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, =1=, 142. - -Royce, Josiah, early life, =1=, 200, 201; - quoted, on his first acquaintance with =J.=, 200, 201; - brought to Harvard through =J.='s influence, 201; - his _Religious Aspect of Philosophy_, 239, 242, 265; - "a perfect little Socrates," 249; - made professor, 332; - and =J.=, as teachers, compared by Miller, =2=, 16; - "the Rubens of philosophy," 86; - _The World and the Individual_, 113 and _n._, 114, 116, 121 and _n._; - his system, 114; - a sketcher in philosophy, 114, 116; - mentioned, =1=, 238, 239, 255, 262, 280, 291, 318, 347, - =2=, 18, 122, 143, 216, 234, 321, 322. - _See Contents._ - -Ruskin, John, his letters to C. E. Norton, =2=, 206, 207; - characterized by =J.=, 206; - _Modern Painters_, 206; - mentioned, =1=, 220, =2=, 306. - -Rye (England), =2=, 104. - And _see_ Lamb House. - - -Sabatier, Paul, =2=, 142. - -St. Gaudens, Augustus, his monument to R. G. Shaw unveiled, =2=, 59-61. - -St. Louis, hurricane at, =2=, 35, 36. - -St. Louis Exposition (1904), =2=, 216. - -Sainte-Beuve, C. A., =1=, 142. - -Salisbury, Robert Cecil, Marquis of, =2=, 27. - -Salter, C. C., =1=, 51. - -Salter, W. M., =1=, 248, 346, =2=, 97. - _See Contents._ - -Salter, Mrs. W. M. (Mary Gibbens), =1=, 248. - -San Francisco, earthquake at, =2=, 246 _ff._, 251, 256; - mentioned, 80, 81. - -Sanctis, Professor di, =2=, 225. - -Sand, George, and A. de Musset, =2=, 63; - mentioned, =1=, 106, 182, 183. - -Santayana, George, _Interpretations of Poetry and Religion_, =2=, 122-124; - _Life of Reason_, 234, 235; - mentioned, =1=, 335, =2=, 14, 121, 225. - _See Contents._ - -Sardou, Victorien, _Agnes_, =1=, 168. - -Sargent, Epes, _Planchette_, reviewed by =J.=, =1=, 225 _n._ - -Sargent, John S., =1=, 303. - -_Saturday Club, Early Years of the_. _See_ Emerson, Edward W. - -Saxons, the, =1=, 86. - -Scenery, part played by, in =J.='s spiritual experience, =2=, 174, 175. - -Schelling, Friedrich W. J. von, =1=, 14. - -Schiller, F. C. S., his article on =J.= in _Mind_, =2=, 65, 66; - _Studies in Humanism_, 270; - mentioned, 172, 186 _n._, 208, 230, 257, 267, 296, 300, 311, 313, 314, 337. - _See Contents._ - -Schiller, J. C. Friedrich von, =1=, 91, 141, 202. - -Schinz, Herr, =2=, 337. - -Schlegel, August W. von, =1=, 141. - -Schlegel, Karl W. F. von, =1=, 141. - -Schmidt, Heinrich J., _History of German Literature_, =1=, 141. - -Schopenhauer, Arthur, =1=, 191, =2=, 293. - -Schott, Dr. (Nauheim), =2=, 124, 128, 134, 157. - -Schurman, Jacob G., =1=, 334, =2=, 166. - -Scotland, =J.= strongly attracted by, =1=, 286. - -Scott, Sir Walter, his _Journal_, =1=, 309. - -Scripture, Edward W., =1=, 334. - -Scudder, Samuel H., =1=, 31. - -Sea, =J.='s views of traveling by, =1=, 58. - -Seals, trained, =1=, 278. - -Sécretan, Charles, =1=, 324. - -Sedgwick, Arthur G., =1=, 320 and _n._, =2=, 10. - -Sedgwick, Lucy (Mrs. Arthur G.), =1=, 320 and _n._ - -Sedgwick, Sara, =1=, 76 and _n._ - And _see_ Darwin, Mrs. W. E. - -Sedgwick, Theodora, =1=, 181, 291, 315, 317, 328, 331, - =2=, 151, 152, 191, 200, 207, 308. - _See Contents._ - -Selberg, "a swell young Jew," =1=, 112, 114, 115. - -Semler, Dr., =1=, 87. - -Seth, Andrew, =2=, 96, 116, 144. - And _see_ Pringle-Pattison, A. S. - -Seth, James, =2=, 144. - -Shakespeare: - H. Grimm on _Hamlet_, =1=, 111; - _As You Like It_, 144 _n._, 190; - at Stratford, =2=, 166; - mentioned, 330, 335, 336. - -Shaler, Nathaniel S., quoted, on J. Wyman, =1=, 48; - _The Individual_, =2=, 153 and _n._, 154; - _Autobiography_, 325; - mentioned, =1=, 31, =2=, 258, 288. - _See Contents._ - -Shaw, G. Bernard, _Cĉsar and Cleopatra_, =2=, 263; - mentioned, 330. - -Shaw, Robert G., unveiling of St. Gaudens's monument to, =2=, 59-61; - mentioned, =1=, 43. - -Sherman, William T., =1=, 56, 57. - -Sidgwick, Henry, "Lecture against Lecturing," =2=, 12; - death of, 141; - mentioned, =1=, 229 _n._, 287, 290, 345, =2=, 50, 156. - -Slattery, Charles L. _See Contents._ - -Smith, Adam, =1=, 283. - -Smith, Norman K. _See Contents._ - -Smith, Paulina C., =2=, 106. - -Smith, Pearsall, =1=, 287. - -Snow, William F., quoted, on =J.= and the San Francisco - earthquake, =2=, 247 _n._ - -Snow, Mrs. W. F., =2=, 246. - -Society for Psychical Research. _See_ Psychical Research, Society for. - -Solomons, Leon M., death of, =2=, 119; - his character and work, 119, 120. - -Sorbonne, the, =J.= declines appointment as exchange - professor at, =2=, 236 and _n._ - -Sorrento, to Amalfi, =2=, 221, 222. - -Spain, misrule of, in Cuba, =2=, 73. - -Spanish War, the, =2=, 73, 74. - -Spannenberg, Frau, =1=, 85. - -_Spectator, The_, =2=, 126. - -Spelling reform, =J.='s attitude toward, =2=, 18, 19. - -Spencer, Herbert, _Psychology_, =1=, 188; - _Data of Ethics_, 264; - mentioned, 143, 164, 191, 254. - -Spinoza, Baruch, =1=, 283, =2=, 13. - -Spirit-theory, the. _See_ Psychic phenomena. - -Spiritualism. _See_ Psychic phenomena. - -Spiritualists, and the Medical License bill, =2=, 68. - -Springfield _Republican_, =2=, 125. - -Stanford, Leland, =2=, 242, 244. - -Stanford, Mrs. Leland, =1=, 242, 244. - -Stanford, Leland, Jr.,=1=, 243. - -Stanford University, =J.='s lectures at, =2=, 235, 240, 244 and _n._; - a miracle, 241; - its history, 242, 243; - what it might be made, 243, 244. - -Stanley, Sir Henry M., =1=, 303. - -Stanley, Lady, =1=, 303. - -Starbuck, E. D., _Psychology of Religion_, =2=, 217. - _See Contents._ - -Stead, W. T., =2=, 276, 277. - -Steffens, Heinrich, =1=, 141. - -Stephen. Sir James Fitz-James, "Essay on Spirit-Rapping," =1=, 34 _n._ - -Stephen, Sir Leslie, _Utilitarians_, =2=, 152; - his letters, 176. - -Steuben, Baron von, =1=, 5. - -Storey, Moorfield, =1=, 109, =2=, 10. - _See Contents._ - -Stout, G. F., =2=, 47, 65. - -Strasburg, =1=, 86, 87. - -Stratford-on-Avon, and the Baconian theory, =2=, 166. - -Strong, Charles A., =2=, 198, 225, 229, 230, - 282, 295, 301, 309, 310, 315, 337. - _See Contents._ - -Stumpf, Carl, _Tonpsychologie_, =1=, 266, 267; - mentioned, 211, 212, 213, 216, 289. - _See Contents._ - -Sturgis, James, =1=, 184. - -Style in philosophic writing, =2=, 217, 228, 229, 237, - 244, 245, 257, 272, 281, 300. - -Subjectivism, tendency to, =1=, 249. - -Subliminal, Problem of the, =2=, 141, 149, 150, 212. - -Success, worship of, =2=, 260. - -Sully, James, =2=, 1 _n._, 225, 226, 218. - _See Contents._ - -"Supernatural" matters. _See_ Psychic phenomena. - -Suttner, Baroness von, _Waffennieder_, =2=, 340. - -Swedenborg, Emmanuel, influence of his works on H. James, - Senior, =1=, 12, 13, 14; - _Society of the Redeemed Form of Man_, quoted, 12 and _n._; - H. James, Senior's, essay on, 117; - mentioned, =2=, 40. - -Switzerland, =1=, 322, 323, 327, 328, 336. - -Sylvain, Mlle., =2=, 224. - -Sylvain, M., =2=, 224. - - -Tappan, Mary, =2=, 200. - _See Contents._ - -Tappan, Mrs., =1=, 118. - -Taylor, A. E., =2=, 208, 216, 281, 282. - -Temple, Ellen, =1=, 38, 39, 51, =2=, 61, 81. - And _see_ Emmet, Mrs. Temple. - -Temple, Henrietta, =1=, 39. - -Temple, Katharine, =J.='s portrait of, =1=, 24; - mentioned, 36, 51, 74, 75. - _See Contents._ - -Temple, "Minny," the original of two of Henry James's heroines, =1=, 36; - =J.= quoted on, 36, 37; - her "madness," 38; - mentioned, 43, 51, 74, 75, 98. - -Temple, Mrs. Robert (=J.='s aunt), =1=, 36. - -Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, =2=, 276. - -Teplitz, =1=, 133, 134, 137. - -Thames, the, =1=, 287. - -Thatness. _See_ Whatness. - -Thaw, Henry, trial of, =2=, 264. - -Thayer, Abbott, =2=, 276. - -Thayer, Gerald, =2=, 275, 276. - -Thayer, Joseph Henry, =1=, 323. - -Thayer, Miriam, =1=, 323. - -Thayer Expedition. _See_ Brazil, Agassiz's expedition to. - -Thies, Louis, =1=, 107, 112, 157. - -Thies, Miss, =1=, 116. - -Thompson, Daniel G., =1=, 295. - -Tieck, Ludwig, =1=, 141. - -Tolstoy, Leo, _War and Peace_, =2=, 37, 40, 48; - and P. Bourget, 37, 38; - _Anna Karenina_, 41, 48; - and H. G. Wells, 316; - mentioned, 44, 45, 51, 52, 63. - -Torquay, =2=, 167. - -Townsend, Henry E., =1=, 122. - -Truth, the, obscured by American philosophers, =2=, 237, 272, 337. - -Tuck, Henry, =1=, 122, 124. - -Tuckerman, Emily, =2=, 168. - -Turgenieff, Ivan, =1=, 177, 182, 185. - -Twain, Mark, =1=, 333, 341, 342, =2=, 264. - -Tweedie, Mrs. Edmund, =1=, 36. - -Tweedies, the, =1=, 117, 184. - -Tychism, =2=, 204, 292. - -Tychistic and pluralistic philosophy of pure experience, =2=, 187. - - -Union College, H. James, Senior, graduates at, =1=, 8. - -_Unitarian Review_, Davidson's article in, =1=, 236. - -Unitarianism (Boston), the "bloodless pallor" of, =1=, 236. - -United States, =J.='s remarks on, =1=, 216, 217; - and the Philippines, =2=, 140, 141; - rushing to wallow in the mire of empire, 141; - manner of eating boiled eggs in, 188; - vocalization of people of, 189; - and England, 304, 305. - -Upham, Miss, =1=, 34, 50. - -Uphues, =1=, 345, 346. - - -Van Buren, "Elly," =1=, 70, 74, 75. - -Van Rensselaer, Stephen, =1=, 3. - -Venezuela Message, Cleveland's, =2=, 26 _ff._ - -Venus de Milo, =1=, 113. - -Verne, Jules, _Tour of the World in Eighty Days_, =1=, 173. - -Veronese, Paul, =1=, 90. - -Verrall, Mrs. A. W. _See_ Mediums. - -Vers-chez-les-Blanc, =1=, 320, 345, =2=, 48. - -Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, =2=, 227. - -Victoria, Queen, her Jubilee, =1=, 270. - -Vienna, exhibition of French paintings at, =1=, 210. - -Villari, Pasquale, =1=, 338, 339, 342. - -Villari, Mrs., =1=, 338, 339, 342. - -Vincent, George E., =2=, 41, 42. - -Virchow, Rudolf, =1=, 72. - -Vischer, F. T., Essays, =1=, 94; - _Aesthetik_, 94. - -Viti, Signor da, =2=, 227. - -Vivekananda, =2=, 144. - -Voltaire, =1=, 144 _n._ - -Vulpian, A., =1=, 156. - - -Walcott, Henry P., =1=, 347, =2=, 10. - -Waldstein, Charles, =1=, 274, =2=, 224. - _See Contents._ - -Walsh, Catherine (=J.='s 'Aunt Kate'), =1=, 41, - 51, 60, 61, 70, 80, 81, 114, 118, 183, 218, - 259, 280, 282, 285. - -Walsh, Hugh, =1=, 8. - -Walsh, Rev. Hugh, =1=, 8 _n._ - -Walsh, James (=J.='s maternal grandfather), =1=, 8. - -Walsh, Mary, marries H. James, Senior, =1=, 8; - her ancestry, 8, 9. - And _see_ James, Mrs. William. - -Walsh, Mrs. Mary (Robertson), =1=, 8. - -Walston, Sir Charles. _See_ Waldstein, Charles. - -Wambaugh, Eugene, =2=, 132. - -Ward, James, =2=, 312, 313, 314, 315. - -Ward, Samuel, =1=, 73. - -Ward, Thomas W., on the Brazilian expedition, =1=, 59, 60, 65; - mentioned, 33. - _See Contents._ - -Ward, Dorothy, =2=, 166. - -Ware, William R., =1=, 124, 153. - -Waring, Daisy, =2=, 202. - -Waring, George E., quoted, on Henry James, =1=, 184, 185. - -Warner, Joseph B., =2=, 160, 233. - -Warren, W. R., =2=, 233. - -Washington, Booker T., _Up from Slavery_, =2=, 148; - mentioned, 60, 61. - -Washington, Mrs. Booker T., at Ashfield, =2=, 199. - -Washington, George, =1=, 5, 277. - -Washington, State of, forest fires in, =2=, 80. - -Wells, H. G., _Utopia_, =2=, 230, 231; - _Anticipations_, 231; - _Mankind in the Making_, 231; - =J.='s appreciation of, 231; - _Kipps_, 241; - "Two Studies in Disappointment," 259, 260; - _First and Last Things_, 316; - the Tolstoy of the English World, 316; - mentioned, 246, 257, 318. - _See Contents._ - -Werner, G., =2=, 242. - -Whatness and thatness, =1=, 244, 245. - -"White man's burden," cant about the, =2=, 88. - -Whitman, Henry, death of, =2=, 156; - mentioned, =1=, 298, 302. - -Whitman, Sarah (Mrs. Henry), her character and - accomplishments, =1=, 302, =2=, 205, 206; - last illness and death, 204, 205, 207; - mentioned, =1=, 309 _n._, 348, =2=, 156, 256. - _See Contents._ - -Whitman, Walt, =2=, 123. - -Whole, Idolatry of the, =1=, 246, 247. - -Wilkinson, Emma. _See_ Pertz, Mrs. Emma. - -Wilkinson, J. J. Garth, =1=, 135 _n._ - -William II of Germany, his message to Kruger, =2=, 27, 28. - -Wilmarth, Mrs., =2=, 50. - -Witmer, Lightner, =2=, 320. - -Wolff, Christian, =1=, 264. - -Woodberry, George E., _The Heart of Man._ =2=, 89, 90. - -Woodbridge, F. J. E., _Journal_, =2=, 244. - _See Contents._ - -Worcester, Elwood, _The Living World_, =2=, 318. - -Wordsworth, W., _The Excursion_, =1=, 168, 169. - -Wright, Chauncy, and =J.=, =1=, 152 _n._; - mentioned, =2=, 233. - -Wundt, Wilhelm M., as a type of the German professor, =1=, 263; - his _System_, 333; - mentioned, 119, 215, 216, 224, 264, 295, =2=, 321. - -Wyman, Jeffries, influence as a teacher, =1=, 47; - C. W. Eliot and N. S. Shaler quoted on, 47, 48; - =J.= quoted on, 48, 49; - mentioned, 35, 37, 50, 71, 72, 150, 155, 160, 163, 170. - - -Yale University, =1=, 231. - -Yankees, a German lady's idea of, =1=, 89, 90. - -Yoga practices, =2=, 252 _ff._ - -Yosemite Valley, =2=, 81. - - -Zennig's restaurant (Berlin), =1=, 112, 113. - -_Zion's Herald_, Emerson number of, =2=, 197. - -Zola, Émile, _Germinal_, =1=, 287; - mentioned, =2=, 67, 73. - - -MCGRATH-SHERRILL PRESS -GRAPHIC ARTS BLDG. -BOSTON - - * * * * * - -The following typographical errors have been corrected by the etext -transcriber: - -mutally encouraging=>mutually encouraging - -Malvida von Meysenbug, Stuttgart, 1877=>Malwida von Meysenbug, -Stuttgart, 1877 - -Meysenbug, Malvida von, _Memoiren einer Idealistin_=>Meysenbug, Malwida -von, _Memoiren einer Idealistin_ - -Rome eems to beat=>Rome seems to beat - -Qu'on est bien dans çe fauteuil=>Qu'on est bien dans ce fauteuil - - - * * * * * - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "It seems to me that psychology is like physics before Galileo's -time--not a single elementary law yet caught a glimpse of. A great -chance for some future psychologue to make a greater name than Newton's; -but who then will read the books of this generation? Not many, I trow. -Meanwhile they must be written." To James Sully, July 8, 1890. - -[2] President Eliot, in a memorandum already referred to (vol. 1, p. 32, -note), calls attention to these courses and remarks: "These frequent -changes were highly characteristic of James's whole career as a teacher. -He changed topics, textbooks and methods frequently, thus utilizing his -own wide range of reading and interest and his own progress in -philosophy, and experimenting from year to year on the mutual contacts -and relations with his students." James continued to be titular -Professor of Psychology until 1897, just as he had been nominally -Assistant Professor of Physiology for several years during which the -original and important part of his teaching was psychological. His title -never indicated exactly what he was teaching. - -[3] At this meeting he delivered a presidential address "On the Knowing -of Things Together," a part of which is reprinted in _The Meaning of -Truth_, p. 43, under the title, "The Tigers in India." _Vide_, also, -_Collected Essays and Reviews_. - -[4] In a brief letter to the _Harvard Crimson_ (Jan. 9, 1896), James -urged the right and duty of individuals to stand up for their opinions -publicly during such crises, even though in opposition to the -administration. Mr. Rhodes, in his _History of the United States, -1877-1896_, makes the following observation: "Cleveland, in his chapter -on the 'Venezuelan Boundary Controversy,' rates the un-Americans who -lauded 'the extreme forbearance and kindness of England.' ... The -reference ... need trouble no one who allows himself to be guided by two -of Cleveland's trusted servants and friends. Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary -of State during the first administration, and actual ambassador to Great -Britain, wrote in a private letter on May 25, 1895, 'There is no -question now open between the United States and Great Britain that needs -any but frank, amicable and just treatment.' Edward J. Phelps, his first -minister to England, in a public address on March 30, 1896, condemned -emphatically the President's Venezuela policy." See Rhodes, _History_, -vol. VIII, p. 454; also p. 443 _et seq._ - -[5] "The Evolution of the Summer Resort." - -[6] "Address of the President before the Society for Psychical -Research." Proc. of the (Eng.) Soc. for Psych. Res. 1896, vol. XII, pp. -2-10; also in _Science_, 1896, N. S., vol. IV, pp. 881-888. - -[7] From the last paragraph of Cleveland's Venezuela message. - -[8] In 1910--during his final illness, in fact--James fulfilled this -promise. See "A Pluralistic Mystic," included in Memories and Studies; -also letter of June 25, 1910, p. 348 _infra_. - -[9] Cf. William James's unsigned review of Blood's _Anĉsthetic -Revelation_ in the _Atlantic Monthly_, 1874, vol. XXXIV, p. 627. - -[10] James always did a reasonable share of college committee work, -especially for the committee of his own department. But although he had -exercised a determining influence in the selection of every member of -the Philosophical Department who contributed to its fame in his time -(except Professor Palmer, who was his senior in service), he never -consented to be chairman of the Department. He attended the weekly -meetings of the whole Faculty for any business in which he was -concerned; otherwise irregularly. He spoke seldom in Faculty. -Occasionally he served on special committees. He usually formed an -opinion of his own quite quickly, but his habitual tolerance in matters -of judgment showed itself in good-natured patience with discussion--this -despite the fact that he often chafed at the amount of time consumed. -"Now although I happen accidentally to have been on all the committees -which have had to do with the proposed reform, and have listened to the -interminable Faculty debates last winter, I disclaim all powers or right -to speak in the _name_ of the majority. Members of our dear Faculty have -a way of discovering reasons fitted exclusively for their idiosyncratic -use, and though voting with their neighbors, will often do so on -incommunicable grounds. This is doubtless the effect of much learning -upon originally ingenious minds; and the result is that the abundance of -different points and aspects which a simple question ends by presenting, -after a long Faculty discussion, beggars both calculation beforehand and -enumeration after the fact."--"The Proposed Shortening of the College -Course." _Harvard Monthly_, Jan., 1891. - -[1] "I _loved_ Child more than any man I know." Sept. 12, '96. - -[11] Eight lectures on "Abnormal Mental States" were delivered at the -Lowell Institute in Boston, but were never published. Their several -titles were "Dreams and Hypnotism," "Hysteria," "Automatisms," "Multiple -Personality," "Demoniacal Possession," "Witchcraft," "Degeneration," -"Genius." In a letter to Professor Howison (Apr. 5, 1897) James said, -"In these lectures I did not go into psychical research so-called, and -although the subjects were decidedly morbid, I tried to shape them -towards optimistic and hygienic conclusions, and the audience regarded -them as decidedly anti-morbid in their tone." - -[12] _Demon Possession and Allied Themes_, by John C. Nevius. - -[13] _The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy_ had -just appeared. - -[14] The Address has been reprinted in _Memories and Studies_. - -[15] For a short while MacMonnies's Bacchante stood in the court of the -Boston Public Library. - -[16] These words were not employed in public, but were once applied to a -well-known professor in a private letter. - -[17] A full report of the speech made at the Legislative hearing was -printed in the _Banner of Light_, Mar. 12, 1898. The letter to the -Boston _Transcript_ in 1894 appeared in the issue of Mar. 24. - -[18] _James J. Putnam to William James_ - -BOSTON, _Mar. 9, 1898_. - -DEAR WILLIAM,--We have thought and talked a good deal about the subject -of your speech in the course of the last week. I prepared with infinite -labor a letter intended for the _Transcript_ of last Saturday, but it -was not a weighty contribution and I am rather glad it was too late to -get in. I think it is generally felt among the best doctors that your -position was the liberal one, and that it would be a mistake to try to -exact an examination of the mind-healers and Christian Scientists. On -the other hand, I am afraid most of the doctors, even including myself, -do not have any great feeling of fondness for them, and we are more in -the way of seeing the fanatical spirit in which they proceed and the -harm that they sometimes do than you are. Of course they do also good -things which would remain otherwise not done, and that is the important -point, and sincere fanatics are almost always, and in this case I think -certainly, of real value. - -Always affectionately, -JAMES J. P. - - -[19] That is, there was here no path to follow, only "blazes" on the -trees. - -[20] The housekeeper at the Putnam-Bowditch "shanty." - -[21] Photograph of a boy and girl standing on a rock which hangs dizzily -over a great precipice above the Yosemite Valley. - -[22] G. E. Woodberry: _The Heart of Man_; 1899. - -[23] James's house was number 95, his mother-in-law's number 107. - -[24] Augusta was the house-maid; Dinah, a bull-terrier. - -[25] It will be recalled that Davidson had a summer School of Philosophy -at his place called Glenmore on East Hill, and that East Hill is at one -end of Keene Valley. See also James's essay on Thomas Davidson, "A -Knight Errant of the Intellectual Life," in _Memories and Studies_. - -[26] A gift which provided for building the "Harvard Union." - -[27] "You have never spent a night under our roof, or eaten a meal in -our house!" This fictitious charge had become the recognized theme of -frequent elaborations. - -[28] _The World and the Individual_, vol. I. Mrs. Evans was inclined to -contend for Royce's philosophy. - -[29] The name of an American claret which his correspondent had -"discovered" and in which it also pleased James to find merit. - -[30] The second volume of _The World and the Individual_. (Gifford -Lectures at the University of Aberdeen.) - -[31] _Interpretations of Poetry and Religion._ New York, 1900. - -[32] _Memoiren einer Idealistin_, by Malwida von Meysenbug, Stuttgart, -1877. - -[33] _Recollections of My Mother_ [Anne Jean Lyman], by Susan I. Lesley, -Boston, 1886. - -[34] Sister Nivedita. - -[35] Booker T. Washington's _Up from Slavery_. - -[36] "Frederick Myers's Services to Psychology." Reprinted in _Memories -and Studies_. - -[37] _The Individual, A Study of Life and Death_. New York, 1900. This -letter is reproduced from the _Autobiography_ of N. S. Shaler, where it -has already been published. - -[38] Mrs. O. W. Holmes had used the following translation of an epitaph -in the Greek Anthology:-- - - A shipwrecked sailor buried on this coast - Bids thee take sail. - Full many a gallant ship, when we were lost, - Weathered the gale. - - -[39] "And base things of the world and things which are despised hath -God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to naught things -that are." - -[40] Kitchen. - -[41] Although James had received the usual hint that Harvard intended to -confer an honorary degree upon him, he had absented himself from both -the honors and fatigues of Commencement time. The next year he was -present, and the LL.D. was conferred. - -[42] "I have been re-reading Bergson's books, and nothing that I have -read in years has so excited and stimulated my thought. Four years ago I -couldn't understand him at all, though I felt his power. I am sure that -that philosophy has a great future. It breaks through old _cadres_ and -brings things into a solution from which new crystals can be got." (From -a letter to Flournoy, Jan. 27, 1902.) - -[43] The Ingersoll Lecture on Human Immortality. - -[44] There had been a celebration of Mrs. Agassiz's eightieth birthday -at Radcliffe College, of which she was President. - -[45] On the Amazon in 1865-66. - -[46] An 8-page _Syllabus_ printed for the use of his students in the -course on the "Philosophy of Nature" which James was giving during the -first half of the college year. - -[47] _Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death_, by F. W. H. -Myers. - -[48] "The piles driven into the quicksand are too few for such a -structure. But it is essential as a preliminary attempt at methodizing, -and will doubtless keep a very honorable place in history." To F. C. S. -Schiller, April 8, 1903. - -[49] Eusapia Paladino, the Italian "medium." The physical manifestations -which occurred during her trance had excited much discussion. - -[50] The name of a student-society. - -[51] The horse. - -[52] W. E. B. Du Bois: _The Souls of Black Folk_. - -[53] These five lectures were delivered at the summer school at -"Glenmore," which Thomas Davidson had founded. Their subject was -"Radical Empiricism as a Philosophy"; but they were neither written out -nor reported. - -[54] _Aristotelian Society Proceedings_, vol. IV, pp. 87-110. - -[55] James's answers are printed in italics. - -[56] "How Two Minds Can Know One Thing," _Journal of Philosophy, -Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, 1905, vol. II, p. 176. - -[57] "Is Radical Empiricism Solipsistic?" _Journal of Philosophy, -Psychology, and Scientific Methods_, 1905, vol. II, p. 235. - -[58] This address, "La Notion de Conscience," was printed first in the -_Archives de Psychologie_, 1905, vol. V, p. 1. It will also be found in -the _Essays in Radical Empiricism_. - -[59] "My own desire to see Roosevelt president here for a limited term -of years was quenched by a speech he made at the Harvard Union a couple -of years ago." (To D. S. Miller, Jan. 2, 1908.) - -[60] _The Life of Reason._ New York, 1905. - -[61] He had been "sounded" regarding an appointment as Harvard Exchange -Lecturer at the Sorbonne, and had at first been inclined to accept. - -[62] Busse, _Leib und Seele, Geist und Körper_; Heymans, _Einführung in -die Metaphysik_. - -[63] _Vide Letters of Henry James_, vol. II, p. 43. - -[64] "Also outside 'addresses,' impossible to refuse. Damn them! Four in -this Hotel [in San Francisco] where I was one of four orators who spoke -for two hours on 'Reason and Faith,' before a Unitarian Association of -Pacific Coasters. Consequence: _gout_ on waking this morning! _Unitarian -gout_--was such a thing ever heard of?" (To T. S. Perry, Feb. 6, 1906.) - -[65] Dr. Snow kindly wrote an account of the afternoon that he spent in -James's company in the city and it may here be given in part. - -"When I met Professor James in San Francisco early in the afternoon of -the day of the earthquake, he was full of questions about my personal -feelings and reactions and my observations concerning the conduct and -evidences of self-control and fear or other emotions of individuals with -whom I had been closely thrown, not only in the medical work which I -did, but in the experiences I had on the fire-lines in dragging hose and -clearing buildings in advance of the dynamiting squads. - -"I described to him an incident concerning a great crowd of people who -desired to make a short cut to the open space of a park at a time when -there was danger of all of them not getting across before certain -buildings were dynamited. Several of the city's police had stretched a -rope across this street and were volubly and vigorously combating the -onrush of the crowd, using their clubs rather freely. Some one cut the -rope. At that instant, a lieutenant of the regular army with three -privates appeared to take up guard duty. The lieutenant placed his guard -and passed on. The three soldiers immediately began their beat, dividing -the width of the street among themselves. The crowd waited, breathless, -to see what the leaders of the charge upon the police would now do. One -man started to run across the street and was knocked down cleverly by -the sentry, with the butt of his gun. This sentry coolly continued his -patrol and the man sat up, apparently thinking himself wounded, then -scuttled back into the crowd, drawing from every one a laugh which was -evidently with the soldiers. Immediately, the crowd began to melt away -and proceed up a side street in the direction laid out for them. - -"In connection with this story Professor James casually mentioned that -not long before, where there were no soldiers or police, he had run on -to a crowd stringing a man to a lamp-post because of his endeavor to rob -the body of a woman of some rings. At the time, I did not learn other -details of this particular incident, us Professor James was so full of -the many scenes he had witnessed and was particularly intent on -gathering from me impressions of what I had seen. I suppose he had -similarly been gathering observations from others whom he met, - -"An incident which struck me as humorous at the time was that he should -have gathered up a box of "Zu-zu gingersnaps," and, as I recall it, some -small pieces of cheese. I do not now recall his comment on where he had -obtained these, but there was some humorous incident connected with the -transaction, and he was quite happy and of opinion that he was enjoying -a nourishing meal. - -"Professor James told me vividly and in a few words the circumstances of -the damage done by the earthquake at Stanford University, and I left him -to make arrangements for going down to the University that night to -provide for my family. As it turned out, Professor James returned to the -campus before I did, and true to his promise thoughtfully hunted up Mrs. -Snow and told her that he had seen me and that I was alive and well." - -[66] James had not used a type-writer since the time when his eyes -troubled him in the seventies. The machine now had the fascination of a -strange toy again. - -[67] He did mistake, as Mr. Chesterton's subsequent utterances showed. - -[68] As to "Jimmy," _vide_ vol. I, p. 301 _supra_. - -[69] _Cf._ pp. 16, 17, and 220 _supra_. - -[70] Dr. Miller writes: "These four evenings at the Faculty Club were -singularly interesting occasions. One was a meeting of the Philosophical -Club of New York, whose members, about a dozen in number, were of -different institutions. The others were impromptu meetings arranged -either by members of the Department of Philosophy at Columbia or a wider -group. At one of them Mr. James sat in a literal circle of chairs, with -professors of Biology, Mathematics, etc., as well as Philosophy, and -answered in a particularly friendly and charming way the frank -objections of a group that were by no means all opponents. At the close, -when he was thanked for his patience, he remarked in his humorously -disclaiming manner that he was not accustomed to be taken so seriously. -Privately he remarked how pleasantly such an unaffected, easy meeting -contrasted with a certain formal and august dinner club, the exaggerated -amusement of the diners at each other's jokes, etc." - -[71] His resignation did not take effect until the end of the Academic -year, although his last meeting with the class to which he was giving a -"half-course," occurred at the mid-year. - -[72] "La Notion de Conscience," _Archives de Psychologie_, vol. V, No. -17, June, 1905. Later included in _Essays in Radical Empiricism_. - -[73] "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth." Included in _Selected Essays -and Reviews_. - -[74] The story of the Committee for Mental Hygiene is interestingly told -in Part V of the 4th Edition of C. W. Beers's _A Mind that Found -Itself_. Several letters from James are incorporated in the story. -_Vide_ pp. 339 and 340; also pp. 320, 352. - -[75] Mrs. James's niece, Rosamund Gregor, age 6. - -[76] _Memories and Studies_, pp. 286 _et seq._ - -[77] The reader need hardly be reminded that new meanings and -associations have attached themselves to this word in particular. - -[78] _Talks to Teachers_, p. 265. - -[79] Proceedings of (English) S.P.R., vol. XXIII, pp. 1-121. Also, Proc. -American S.P.R., vol. III, p. 470. - -[80] _L'Évolution Créatrice._ - -[81] "A Word More about Truth," reprinted in _Collected Essays and -Reviews_. - -[82] Learned public. - -[83] Superficial stuff. - -[84] The lectures were published as _A Pluralistic Universe_. - -[85] New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1908. - -[86] "The Confidences of a Psychical Researcher," reprinted in _Memories -and Studies_ under the title "Final Impressions of a Psychical -Researcher." - -[87] By Frank Harris; New York: 1909. - -[88] See the footnote on p. 39 _supra_. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters of William James, Vol. II, by -William James - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES V.2 *** - -***** This file should be named 38091-8.txt or 38091-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/0/9/38091/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |