The literary history of Mr. Alden the mystic, as distinguished from the editor, seems to have begun with the appearance of an essay on “The Philosophy of Art” in the Williams Quarterly for December, 1856.  Then, three or four years later, came “The Eleusinia,” two articles printed in the Atlantic Monthly.  These papers led to the delivery in 1864 of a course of lectures before the Lowell Institute on “The Structure of Paganism.”  Some thirty years afterward two books appeared—­God in His World in 1893 and The Study of Death in 1895—­which may be regarded as the culmination of the mental and spiritual characteristics revealed in the Williams Quarterly essay and in the Atlantic papers.  Both of these books abound in rhythmic, melodious pages of prose poetry like the rhapsody on “The Coming of the Bridegroom” or on “The Lesson of the Sea.”  Mr. Alden’s prose is perhaps more poetic than his verse.  Of the latter, scanty in amount, the best is his “Ancient Lady of Sorrows,” before whom pass

  “All shapes that come, or soon or late,
  Of this world’s misery.”

In general, the books may be described as an interpretation of the great problems of life by the mystic intuitions as distinguished from abstract intellectualism, which finds that many of these problems are hopelessly beyond its reach.  If one cares for the philosophy of nature and history, of Christianity and other religions, brilliantly expounded by an idealizing, poetic optimist and seer, we commend him to “God in His World” and “The Study of Death.”

III.  WASHINGTON GLADDEN

STEPHEN T. LIVINGSTON ’87

Washington Gladden, whose very name irradiates the nobility and wholesomeness of the man himself, has for years been a foremost interpreter of the perplexing problems of our time.  His appeal is to honest intelligence in whatever concerns human welfare.  He has done much to humanize theology and stimulate popular interest in modern scholarship.  Moreover, in the region of industrial, social, and civic reform he stands out conspicuously as a bold champion of the Golden Rule in its application to every-day activities; and though sometimes charged with being a dreamer, he shows that the sky (to use his own figure) is less remote than is commonly supposed, and in fact adjoins the surface of the earth where human feet daily walk.

Dr. Gladden, who is now a little more than seventy, was born in Pennsylvania.  He prepared for college in Owego, New York, and was graduated from Williams in 1859.  After preaching in New York state for a few years, he came to Massachusetts, where he was settled first in North Adams, and then in Springfield.  Since 1882 he has been minister of the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio.  As preacher, author, and lecturer he is famous throughout the English-speaking world, and all his recent books (the latest being his Recollections) are published simultaneously in England and the United States.  The honorary degrees conferred on him are D.D. and LL.D.