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’
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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.
