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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1897)
10 YALE ALUMNI WHEKLY THE BOOK SHELF. {Conducted by ALBERT LEE, '91.] Nansen’s ** Farthest North.” The man who has done something that nobody has ever done before, and writes about it, is pretty sure to have his book read, not only by those who may be especially interested in the particular thing that he has done, but by the great reading public which is continually looking for something new. And when this feat has been accom- plished in spite of many obstacles and by the exertion of untiring energy, the story of it becomes so full of human interest that the tale takes on that peculiar fascination which clings to all adventure. When Dr. Nansen reached 86 degrees N., he had succeeded in surpassing the efforts of all his predecessors in that line of endeavor, and his story of how the deed was done reads almost like a novel. (‘“Farthest North, by Fritzhof Nansen, 2 vols. Harper & Bros.) The book is not yet published, but I have had the opportunity of look- ing Over the advance sheets, and judg- ing from them, Dr. Nansen’s work must surely prove a most important addition to the literature of Arctic exploration. The thing that strikes one at the very first is that these thirteen fellows start- ed off on their perilous journey so well equipped that they felt no fear of any of the dreadful. things that happen to North Pole seekers. rok cou d= ik og be she could not be crushed; there, were provisions enough on board for 10 years, and besides this there was such a va- riety that it was almost impossible for the men to be attacked by scurvy. A The windmill was rigged on deck after the Ship became frozen-in, and. the ex- plorers spent the long -Arctic night in reading and playing: games in the cabin that was lighted by electric lights gen- erated by the windmill. In Dr. Nan- sen’s story there are no wails of misery and description of suffering. On the contrary there is page after page de- scribing the luxury of exploration on the Norwegian plan, and plenty of pleasant chaff for the doctor of the ex- pedition, who had nothing to do but physic the dogs! Of course, when Nansen and Johansen started off on their sledge journey, they left all this comfort behind them and they had a hard fight of it for fifteen months, but none of that dreary torture we have read about in the books of other Arctic adventurers. The key to the whole business seems to be that Nansen went off properly equipped to combat the cold, and his victory was a direct re- sult of his foresight. The book is a most interesting one, and gives a better idea of that region than any other I have seen. There are many colored plates and countless reproductions from Het da ble sig photographs tell the ruth. Prof. Hoppin’s “Greek Art on Greek Soil.” [By Miss Stella Skinner, Art Director of New Haven Public Schools. | All who have felt the personal charm of Professor Hoppin’s art lectures to the Yale University students, and es- pecially those who were privileged to listen to his recent series upon “Greek Art on Greek Soil’ will eager- ly welcome his new volume, in which these lectures are embodied in perma- nent form. Whether one reads or listens, Prof. Hoppin possesses the rare faculty of carrying his auditor with him. You turn but few pages in the opening chapters upon “The Land of Greece’’ before you, too, are on charmed soil under “the deep, blue heavens of Hell- as’’ with the glistening waters about you, and the clear atmosphere bath- ing you in its radiance. It is not simply the Greece of to- day, but Homeric Greece, the land and seas of Odysseus to which Professor Hoppin takes us—a land still inhabited by gods and heroes—and it is neither Baedecker nor Murray, but the Odys- Sey, which he recommends as a book to travel with in Greece, “a golden key to interpret its nature, poetry, art and life.” Indeed, he goes so far as to tell us that “Homer was the book of religion, wisdom, law and life to the Greek,” his inspiration and guide. At every turn, one is impressed with the writer’s intimate knowledge of the masters of Greeek literature and phi- losophy, as well as of art. A life-time usually” was so staunchly built that. of study and culture has enriched the pages of this volume. , THE MODERN GREEK. In view of the present political situ- ation in Greece, Professor comments upon the nature and charac-~ ter of the modern Greek, and the re- lations of Greece with other countries, notably England and ‘Turkey, are most interesting and significant. ° “The Greeks have ardent aspirations that no disappointments have beeh able to quench, and, “their very vani- ty is towards intellectual progress.” The spark of _Greek intelligence yet glows. “They expect to be a Nna~ tion and are preparing for it.’’ “Love of country inspires Greeks high and low, and I believe, it 1s a genuine feeling, though it shows it- self in sentiment more than in action; but the great names of Botsares, Ka- nares, Miaoulis, Kolkatrous, Ipsilan- tes and others, live and burn in the people’s hearts, more passionately than the names of Washington and our Revolutionary heroes live in Amer- ican hearts. ) : “The modern Greek, as was said, has been over-praised and over-blam- ed, and this has worked to produce Ih him the opposite sentiments of vanity and despair, so that, at this time, un- der the pressure of national disgrace arising from enormous unpaid loans and a depreciated currency, he has lost a tithe of ‘his natural vivacious- ness and audaciousness; and what, in- deed, has modern Greece realized from promises and pledges such as those of the Treaty of Berlin, and earlier treat- ies, that. gave to her territory and power, and then dashed her down to poverty? ENGLAND AND GREECE. “England has been Greece’s_ best friend, and is so still, but she has beén a selfish, calculating, ungenerous and disappointing friend, failing signally in great crises. Yet we may hope that Greece, from native impulse, will, in spite of these heart-breaking disap-~ pointments, show herself self-reliant and energetic and that she will event- ually wrest from her old foe the Doric isle of Crete, Macedonia, Albania, Thrace, and all her ancient territory, which was larger than her present one, and may become a state and a civilization worthy of her name. Greece is the pivot of European poli- tics. in her borders and which points to per- fection, is a power; her land, . still there in mid-Mediterranean with its mountains and valleys, almost the love- liest land under heaven, is a power; and although our classical enthusiasm is put to a strain by modern Greeks, I, for one, * * a bright future, that her light cannot be put out. in the midst of the nations. This little book is a humble “‘envoi” of such a hope. In the vast changes which must soon occur in the Past, her op- portunity (the old Greeks had a divini- ty named “Opportunity” to which they Sacrificed) may come. “If the Ottoman Empire in Europe, sustained alone by outside pressure, were hard beset by one or all of the great Christian powers, and if the Turk were hurled out of Europe back to his native Tartar deserts, the Greeks *: * #* as the natural inheritors of the Turks who robbed them, may gain possession of Constantinople, which belongs to Greece as a Hellenic foundation. Greek chants may then once more rise under the dome of the Hagia Sophia that was built by a Greek Emperor, out of ma- terials plundered from temples of Athene at Athens, and Artemis at Ephesus: though this is a visionary picture, when, in reality, a colossal power like Russia, coldly antagonistic to Greece at heart, though of the same Orthodox Church, lies like a giant ogre in. wait to seize upon Constantinople. As northern races inevitably gravitate south, a little country like Greece could not. interpose to prevent it. If Greece had the spirit and hope of ancient Greece, she might raise a bar- rier against Russia, but for how long? Yet Greece, Greece in idea, must prevail. The world now, as in St. Paul’s time, is “Greek and barbarian,’ and Greece has her last word in the contest of light and darkness, barbarism and culture, ever going on.’’ Peculiar interest attaches also to the “well-known prophecy that when a Constantine shall wed a Sophia, the Greeks. shall possess Constantinople, and this concurrence of names has al- ready occurred in the case of the pres-: ent crown-prince and his wife.’ DUTY AND BEAUTY. The writer well remembers sitting in the calm stillness of the lecture hall at the Yale Art School, after a morning of earnest endeavor out in the busy, bustling world, and listening—as to a benediction—to the strong convincing argument concerning Duty and Beau- ty, set down in the chapter upon “Del- Hoppin’s * believe that Greece has. phi and Mount Parnassos,” and yet re- calls the sense of restfulness and peace which it invoked. ‘‘What is more beau- tiful than Duty? Every quality that en- ters into and makes beauty—truth, rea- son, order, right, perfection—enters into and makes duty. Duty and Beauty are one, not variant, and a broader gener- alization comprehends them both. Beauty, in Greek thought, was another word for perfection, material and men- tal. The Greek idea of beauty was pre- dominantly intellectual. The line of beauty was a line of strength. The Greeks felt that the beautiful and the true were one, and this lies at the base of the best. Greek philosophy. Socrates said that ‘whatever is beautiful is for the same reason good, when suited to the purpose for which it was intended:’ and Plato goes deeper and seeks the beautiful beyond visible objects, finding it in the soul. cage “Beauty, as Plato saw it, was divine, and it was this divine beauty that his soul thirsted for. Love is the spring of duty. Duty is heroic, and the heroic both in morality and art, is beautiful. It is a question of perspective. A true analysis seeks not the contrast, but the identity, of duty and beauty; so that a deep-thinking Greek could say ‘Beauty is the splendor of truth.’ “As a practical lesson, he who de- sires to obtain true culture must work on Greek lines; and if we catch the spirit in which the best Greek worked, we catch the spirit of true culture.” ARCHAEOLOGY DEFINED. One is constantly tempted to quote from the text, which in many instances rises to as perfect form and style as the art which it interprets. Could any- thing be finer than this discrimination: —‘“Archaeology is a noble growing Ssci- pice. © * * itis: a’ “helpful .and,. in some respects, indispensable, handmaid, of the lovely queen art: but archaeolo- gy cannot, any more than science, take the queen’s place, or walk in her celes- tial robes, shedding about her steps that | sweetness, light and grace that bless the earth, like the spring-time. Arch- aeology treats of the old, but art is ever new and young. Archaeology is confined within its own severe limiis of scholarly research, but art is free as the infinite imagination.”’ But, after all, it is as a text-book on - Greek art that the volumé is of greatest value. ing style, but few combine with it such full and accurate technical knowledge of their “The Acropolis’ Her art, or what she owns With? ?-gorm ‘but the ‘spirit of the master-piece Many writers possess a charm- The chapter upon gives not only the subject. of Greek art, the Parthenon, and fills one with a consuming desire to some day see with one’s own eyes this ‘‘fair- est gem in all earth’s zone.” Interest- ing in this connection is the compari- son of the two greatest Greek sculptors. “The Parthenon is the monument of Pheidias. Pheidias was sculptor of gods, as Praxiteles was sculptor of men beautiful as gods. There is ideal great- ness in one and human loveliness in the other; but Pheidias stands at the head. He was first to draw freely from nature, to grasp the deep principles of beauty in nature, to seek perfection.” In common with other lovers of Greece, Prof. Hoppin deprecates' the action of ‘“‘that raider of temples, Lord Elgin,” in transferring the lovely frieze of the Parthenon to the British Museum, and doubtless shares the hope that some day the ‘‘white ghosts of the past seen in the fogs of London’? may be restored to their native home on Greek soil. To the art student, the chapters upon the museums at Athens are of great value, identifying and describing many choice art treasures, among the most interesting of which are the funerary monuments, an exquisite illustration of a Stele being given. The writer feels a personal gratitude for these descrip- tions which identify some of the finest examples of Greek art. Only one who has spent hours in search for such ma- terial can fully appreciate its value. Mention should be made also of the appreciative study of the Greek vase, “the most lovely products of Greek genius, pure and delicate exhalations of art, blending the highest perfection of form with the subtlest feeling.” Reluctantly leaving Athens, we are taken first to Corinth where is the famous spring of Peirene. “It was so terribly hot that I gladly minded the injunction to drink deep of the Pierian spring, that may have made me ever since a lover of anything Greek.” © After visiting the old temple at Corinth, Mycenae, with its well-known Lion Gate and rock-hewn tombs rich with treasure, is explored. A most interesting and beautiful il- lustration is the “Hera head from Ar- solic Heraeon,” attributed to Poiyklei- tos. “It is of Parian marble, and the face has a straight onlook, as if it were a shrine-statue, earnest in character.” Full of charm is the description vf Epidauros, “one of the loveliest hill- girt spots in Greece, the seat of the worship of the gentle Asklepios.” One is tempted to quote the “cure of dyspep- sia” recently found at Epidauros, but | we must hasten on to Olympia, where stood the great temple of Zeus (thrown down by earthquakes in the sixth cen- tury A. D.), in which was Pheidias’ TIFFANY & CO. Makers of Corporate and Frater: nity Seals and Dies Silver Testi- monials Athletic Prizes Class Pins Society Emblems Engraved Invi- tations and Stationery for the Leading Universities Colleges and other Educational Institutions. Cuts of Watches and Chains sent upon request. UNION SQUARE NEW YORK. master-piece, the famous ivory and gold statue of Olympian Zeus. ' But it is not in the temple or its or- namentations that our interest centres, but.in the peerless statue of Hermes, by Praxiteles, so recently brought to light from the debris which concealed it. “It is young manhood in its primeal bloom. It is a son of Zeus, strong and swift messenger of the gods. A sweet- ness of expression lights up the face, and there is a contemplative- look as into futurity. There is a living spirit in it, while it stands in breathing re- pose and immortal beauty. GREEK ATHLETICS. Of peculiar interest to University stu- dents is Prof. Hoppin’s thoughtful and appreciative analysis of the Greek games, and no less so to the art stu- dent, as showing the close relation he- tween sculpture and the athietic games. Indeed, one might safely maintain that without the athletic contests, sculpture coulg not have reached the perfection which it attained in Greece. “The Greeks regarded the _ public games in a peculiar light, for they were looked upon as an inheritance from the immortals, since a_ perfect human body was, in some sense, the most sacred of objects, enshrining the soul as in a temple, and associating it with the divine. To contend in the games was a religious aspiration, a lofty endeavor, a striving for the per- fect, and we can probably have no ecn- ception of the earnestness thrown into these games when a nation was looking on, when it was sometimes the whole aim of a life to conquer, when it was a religious consecration.”’ One turns reluctantly from the clos- ing chapters, as from some beautiful picture, back to the commonplaces Odi life, yet, if he has caught the spirit of their message, Greek art is still a living, inspiring realty, whose ‘‘beau- ty goes forth to light the world for- ever.”’ = —__—___4 e > ____— Divinity School Commence: ment, A committee from the Senior class of the Yale Theological Seminary have, within the past week, presented to the Faculty of that Department an ad- dress, suggesting that in the gradu- ating exercises, in the future, the short speeches by members of the graduat- ing class be abolished, and that. the literary feature of the occasion be a for- mal address upon some weighty subject of theology or religion, by a member. of the Faculty or by some other dis- tinguished theologian. The address presented the result of a canvass of the alumni, which was made by means of letters, in which two thirds of those heard from were _ in favor of the change. The arguments brought forward, in favor of the change are: First, the artificial nature of the speeches made by the students; second, the great length to which it is neces- sary to prolong the exercises; third, the general tendency among higher insti- tutions of learning to discard exhibi- tions by the students at their anniver- saries, and, last, the superior attrac- tiveness of such an address proposed. As yet no decision has been reached, but it is expected that the matter will be brought up at the next meeting of the Faculty. Bp OR.th To Meet Pennsyivania in Bas- ‘et ball. The University of Pennsylvania bask- et ball team has accepted the invitation of the Yale team to play at the Gym- nasium next Saturday evening, March 20. This invitation was given after consulting with the captains of the various University teams, all of whom expressed their willingness to have the contest take place. Pennsylvania has had for some time a well organized team, which has played with all the best teams of the country. Although the Yale players have_had little experience, they have been fairly successful this season, and the game should be well contested.
