BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1925 





Josepliine Preston Peabody Intime 



1 

 : 



1 Diary and Letters of 



I Josephine Preston Peabody 



I Edited hy Christina H. Baker 



l The life story of a poet told in her own words by 

 I extracts from her letters and from her vivid and 



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\ alUCIlL jOUllldlS 111 /VllIL-ll oilC SCL UUWll HCl lliUUJglllo, 



j her ambitions, the arts she loved and the joys she 

 I created for herself. A book of interest not only to 

 '} her contemporaries and admirers of "The Piper" 

 \ and her other plays and poems, but to the young 

 5 artist who is seeking a spiritual companion. 





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1 i^:^ HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY JoLtL 







The Diary and Letters of an Artist 

 in Poetry Who Was One of 

 the Distinctive Figures in 

 Modem American 

 Letters 



By Abbie Farwell Brown 



NOT since the Journal of Marie 

 Bashklrtseff, with which for 

 several reasons this book, is 

 bound to be comj^red, has there 

 appeared so significant a rev- 

 elation of the inner life of a woman of 

 genius. Romantically absorbing as is the 

 story of this "Cinderella" to whom her 

 Fairy Godmother seemed to have given 

 nearly all the gifts that women And most 

 precious ; illuminating as a study in the 

 development of a poet's consciousness ; it is 

 perhaps the beauty of the subject matter 

 Itself that will give the book its high place 

 in the world of letters. For it contains 

 some of the best work of a consummate 

 artist, sheer poetry in prose. It sheds 

 some of the mysterious magic of an illumi- 

 nated soul. In these pages Josephine Pres- 

 ton Peabody seema to breathe again, lovely 

 as she lived, one of the most picturesque 

 and inspiring figures in our literature. 



"Oh, if I could only have a hand In the 

 tug at the Drama in America. It I could 

 only pull and haul and boost and kick and 

 push — and hear '-one responsive onward 

 squeak!" (Diary, I^cember, 1001.). 



It was high time that attention should 

 once again be turned to the leading ex- 

 ponent of American poetic drama. And 

 it was equally important that in these days 

 of careless workmanship and still more 

 slipshod ideals we should have a bright 

 glimpse back to the way of thought and 

 habit of life of a sincere craftsman and 

 idealist. To the world that needs them 

 belong ultimately all uplifting and inspir- 

 ing human documents. But it was a gen- 

 erous act on the part of those nearest an., 

 dearest to her so soon to share with others 

 these treasures of her inner thought and 

 fancy. (She died on Dec. 4, 1922). 



Not least among the remarkable quail' 

 ties of Josephine Peabody was her ability 

 to continue a diary, artistic in form, 

 throughout her full and busy life, from 

 early youth almost to the day of her tran" 

 latlon. ■■Expression is my habitual ii 

 stlnct— the wish to write or relate almost 

 all of my small experiences and tho.ughts 

 is strong upon me always." Her letters 

 too, tor she was a generous correspondent 

 are a treasure-store. She was so instinctiv< 

 an artist that even the briefest and mos 

 inconsequential note dashed off in her vig 

 orous and decorative hand was an event 

 Each carried some glint at least of hei 

 radiant self, while her longer epistles 

 laden with some novel reaction, some wis( 

 criticism or subtle fancy, are rare ei 

 pies of the lost art of letter-writing, when 

 thoughtful persons thus exchanged ideas. 

 It was this living quality of every sen 

 fence she penned which made many of her 

 correspondents preserve her lette.-s. There- 

 fore Mrs. Baker had an enormous mass 

 of available manuscript from which to as- 

 semble material for the three-hundred-odd 

 -<.<»es of her symipathetic task. 



Mrs. Baker has made no attempt to 

 arrange a biography. There is a brief 

 •■Chronology of Events and Publications' 

 as an appendix to the text, a Preface, and 

 a brief Introduction to each of the three 

 sections which are entitled "The Incoming 

 Tide," "Full Tide" and ■'Ebb Tide." The 

 story unfolds in thfe poet's own words, e»- 

 cerpts from Diary and I.etters, with the 

 least possible intrusion of other personal- 

 ities and the least editorial interruption 

 for comment and elucidation. Indeed, one 

 sometimes feels this austere detachment 

 carried a little too far, and wonders if the 

 text might not be more richly suggestive 

 to those who knew not the poet In the 

 flesh if there were given a few more ex- 

 planationd of references vague and appar- 

 ently irrelevant. 



It were well-nigh impossible so to choose 

 from her very words the salient sentences 

 which should faithfully recreate the whole 

 many-sided personality behind them ; Elf, 

 Puritan, Beauty-Dover, Idealist, Keformer, 

 Poet, Home-Maker. One must perforce 

 through elimination stress certain develop- 

 ments, or characteristics, or events. Tlwse 

 who know the subject best will Inevitably 

 question the wisdom of some accents and 

 omissions which to them seem especially 

 significant. On finishing this absorbing 

 volume one's first reaction, after gratitude 

 that we have it at all, is grief for the 

 doubtless equally pi-ecious material which 

 has had to be omitted. VVnat a pity to 

 telescope those fragrant years ! 



In Mrs. Baker's Preface she states her 

 ethod and purpose ;"eraphasis has been 

 put upon the growth of a creative artist, in 

 the hope that young artists may here find 

 impanion." 



