68 LITEKAEY VALUES 



III 



I once overheard a lady say to a popular author, 

 " What I most admire about your hooks is their fine 

 style." " But I never think about my style " was 

 his reply. " I know you don't," said his admirer, 

 " and that is why I like it so much." But we 

 may regard him as thinking about his style, when 

 he fancied himself thinking only about his matter. 

 In his case the style and the matter were one. 

 When he was consciously occupied only with the 

 substance and texture of his thought, he was oc- 

 cupied with his style. Every effort to make the 

 idea flow clear and pure, to give it freshness and 

 fillip, or to seize and embody in words a mental or 

 emotional impression in all its integrity, without 

 blur or confusion, is an effort in style. It is like 

 taking the alloys and impurities out of a metal ; 

 the style or beauty of it is improved. The mak- 

 ing of iron into steel is a process of purification. 

 When Proude was questioned about his style, he 

 confessed that he had never given any thought to 

 the subject ; his aim had been to say what he had 

 to say in the most direct and simple way possible. 

 He was conscious only of trying to see clearly and 

 to speak truly. I suppose this is the case with all 

 first-class minds, in our day at least : the main en- 

 deavor is directed toward the matter, and not toward 

 the manner ; or rather, it is to make the one identi- 

 cal with the other. In no page of Froude's, nor in 

 any writer of equal range and seriousness, are we 



