Harper's Magazine

“ Since the publication of the foregoing facts in Harper's Magazine for May, 1890, I have been solicited by many correspondents to give the name of the gentleman who offered to perform such a signal service to our country. It must be obvious that nothing could give greater pleasure than to publish his name, and to secure for him the enduring gratitude of the American people. I have, however, a special reason for my present determination not to disclose it, nor to permit myself to speculate upon the consequences of the disclosure. ”

“ Harper’s Magazine is one of the classics in the vast library of monthly publications. Magazines, like people, have their periods of elevation and depression. But Harper’s has maintained a steady level of high-class individuality, this being due in no small degree to the work of Henry Mills Alden, who, since 1869, has been its editor-in-chief. Mr. Alden was born at Mount Tabor, near Danby, Vermont, November 11, 1836. He attended public school at Hoosick Falls, New York, graduated from Williams college in 1857, and from the Andover theological seminary in 1860, but he never took orders. ”

“ Hiram M. Greene, to judge from the host of letters I have received from readers who have not read the best magazines in the past because, as many of them state, they feared that they were too “high-brow,” but who have been convinced, by the introduction to the best contemporary fiction afforded them weekly in the supplement to their Sunday newspaper, that such periodicals as Harper’s Magazine and Scribner’s Magazine have many qualities to commend them to the untrained reader. ”

“ They are, at any rate, relics of undoubted age and value, apart from any other considerations; not like those with which Mr. Black invests “Judith Shakespeare,” in the novel with that title, now appearing in Harper’s Magazine. Here the young lady at one time wears, correctly and properly, a fine pair of gloves, scented and embroidered, that her father had brought her from London, but when (on p. 541) one of her lovers has departed from her in dudgeon, she very prettily—for she is a charming young lady—looks “after him for a moment or two, as she fastened a glove button that had got loose.” ”

“ For what vantage-ground is so high as youth? Perhaps I may become jealous of you. It is well that she should learn to like one who is to be henceforth her guardian and protector. Yet, how can she like me as she ought, if her heart is to be full of you?"
The boy bowed his head; and Harley hastened to change the subject, and speak of letters and of glory. His words were eloquent, and his voice kindling; for he had been an enthusiast for fame in his boyhood; and in Leonard's, his own seemed to him to revive. But the poet's heart gave back no echo—suddenly it seemed void and desolate. ”

“ Of course, there are exceptional cases, and I have some of these in mind, but for the most part I can perceive no essential difference between the best stories in the Saturday Evening Post and the best stories in Harper's Magazine for example. The difference that every one feels, and that exists, is one of emphasis rather than of type. ”

“ In 1859 he made a trip to Red river and beyond, corresponding with the “Evening Post,” and contributing three papers descriptive of the journey to “Harper's Magazine.” He has been connected with “The World” newspaper from its establishment, June 16, 1860, and became its proprietor and editor in April, 1862, making it a free-trade and democratic journal. ”

“ We fell into an earnest conversation, in the midst of which Herbert suddenly said:
"Ah! there, I must run and join Lulu!" and left me.
Who has not had just this experience, or a similar one, at any Watering-Place? One day you suddenly discover that some certain person has arrived; and when you go to your room to dress for dinner, your boots look splayed—your waistcoats are not the thing—your coat isn't half as handsome as other coats—and you spoil all your cravats in your nervous efforts to tie them exquisitely. ”

“ I think if all Young America had as much pluck as Frank, there would be no such thing as "fail."
I caught a little rabbit a week ago, but it got away before I had made a cage for it. I have a turtle that weighs about ten pounds. But my best pet is a large dog named Andy. He is a good jumper. He can jump a very high fence.
My father has been a subscriber to Harper's Magazine ever since 1859. I think I shall take Young People as long—and longer too. My brothers take Harper's Weekly. ”

“ It has been suggested that a good publication, like the Atlantic Monthly, conducted entirely by women, would do great good, but we fear it would not be supported. I was told, however, by the gentleman who has charge of Harper's Magazine, that two thirds of the articles are contributed by women, and they receive better prices than men would. ”

“ Just below the 'chiffonier' is the 'Gratteur.' This artist scratches the livelong day between the stones of the pavement for old nails from horses' shoes, and other bits of iron; always in hope of a bit of silver, and even perhaps a bit of gold; more happy in his hope than a hundred others in the possession. He has a store, or 'magazin,' in the Faubourgs, where he deposits his ferruginous treasure. His wife keeps this store, and is a 'Marchande de Fer.' He maintains a family, like another man; one or two of his sons he brings up to scratch for a living, and the other he sends to college ”

“ The movement is important, because the Americans, with an energy and naïveté peculiar to them, have set themselves the task of outstripping all nations in the beauty and quality of magazine illustrations. That they have succeeded in obtaining delicate effects, and what painters call colour, through the medium of wood-engraving, is well known, and it is common to meet people in England asking, “Have you seen the last number of Harper’s or the Century Magazine?” ”

“ Paul smiled.
He had met before unsophisticated travelers ready [Pg 11] to impart their family affairs to any one sufficiently interested to listen to them.
"You can do it now," he said, "if you will buy the magazine. Every body likes to read Harper's." ”

“ He has a round basket in which he curls up and goes to sleep. He had his picture taken the other day, and he sat very still. There is a large rocking-chair in the parlor which he seems to think is his, and if it is occupied, he will walk around it, and if the person does not get up, he will jump in his or her lap. Good-by.
Alice C.
Newark, New Jersey.
I am a little girl seven years old. I do not go to school, as my mamma teaches me at home. I can read, spell, and cipher nicely. My brother Waldo takes Harper's Young People, and my papa has taken Harper's Magazine for years. ”

“ Leonard lifted his eyes toward Harley's, and those eyes swam with grateful tears; but his heart was too full to answer.
"I am not one of those," said Harley, when they were on the road, "who think that because a young man writes poetry he is fit for nothing else, and that he must be a poet or a pauper. I have said that in you there seems to me to be two men, the man of the Ideal world, the man of the Actual. To each of these men I can offer a separate career. ”

“ They are not like this old fellow, who is my beau idéal of the jovial anchorite. The first editor of my acquaintance (he was the editor of a pseudo-religious magazine—it is solemn food for reflection that nearly all young fellows of literary-artistical tastes start with magazines of this stamp) , my first editor, I was saying, would not, some years syne, print this, my pet saint, “for,” said he, “he is irreverent, and”—with a fine disregard of grammar—“the proprietors would not like it.” ”

“ Harley was startled, and replied, with a slight sigh, "At your age I should have said as you do. But this England of ours is so crowded with noble minds, that they only jostle each other, and the career is one cloud of dust." ”

“ Fate is the Isis whose vail no mortal can ever raise."
"You should be born for great things," said Harley, abruptly. "I am sure that you write well. I have seen that you study with passion. Better than writing and better than study, you have a noble heart, and the proud desire of independence. Let me see your MSS., or any copies of what you have already printed. Do not hesitate—I ask but to be a reader. I don't pretend to be a patron; it is a word I hate."
Leonard's eyes sparkled through their sudden moisture. ”

“ Norton. (Harper and Brothers.) With scarce an exception, no novel of the present season has received such enthusiastic praise from the English press as this brilliant production. The style is no less chaste and exquisite, than the plot is deep and absorbing. Variety, movement, passion, and intense interest, pervade the whole narrative, which, at the same time, is singularly natural, depending for its effect on its truthful revelations of character and life. ”

“ There was no haughty reserve, no cold unconsciousness, as if the world were not worth her treading. But when Herbert nodded to me—and I, knowing that she was about to look at me, involuntarily put forward the poet-aspect of Vivian—she turned and looked toward me earnestly and unaffectedly for a few moments, while I played with a sweet-bread, and looked abstracted. It is a pity that we men make such fools of ourselves when we are in the callow state! Lulu turned back and said something to Herbert; of course, it was telling him her first impression of me! ”

“ It is scarcely possible; it does not seem to me within the realities of man's life—though it might be of woman's."
"I believe," said Harley, half soliloquizing, "that I have a great deal of the woman in me. Perhaps men who live much alone; and care not for men's objects, do grow tenacious of impressions, as your sex does. But oh," he cried aloud, and with a sudden change of countenance, "oh, the hardest and the coldest man would have felt as I do, had he known her—had he loved her. ”

“ Egerton.—"You do not search for her."
Harley.—"Do we ever search for love? Does it not flash upon us when we least expect it? Is it not like the inspiration to the muse? What poet sits down and says, 'I will write a poem?' What man looks out and says, 'I will fall in love?' No! Happiness, as the great German tells us, 'falls suddenly from the bosom of the gods;' so does love." ”

“ Harley slightly shrugged his shoulders, kissed his mother's hand, whistled to Nero, who started up from a doze by the window, and went his way.
"Does he really go abroad next week?" said the Earl.
"So he says."
"I am afraid there is no chance for Lady Mary," resumed Lord Lansmere, with a slight but melancholy smile.
"She has not intellect enough to charm him. She is not worthy of Harley," said the proud mother. ”

“ Pushing briskly along, we soon reached the ford of the channel, so calm and shallow in the morning, but now filling fast with the tide; dark clouds were covering the sky, and the wind brought up a hollow murmuring sound.
"Now get across, young gentleman, as fast as you can, and keep your eye on the wind-mill, and don't spare your spurs, and you will have plenty of time; so, good-evening, God bless you! young gentleman, and the pretty lady, too," cried David, honestest of Welsh guides. ”

“ I have caught him for you, and you shall train him into a man. I have the warmest interest in his future—- for I knew some of his family—and one of that family was very dear to me. As for money, he has not a shilling, and not a shilling would he accept, gratis, from you or me either. But he comes with bold heart to work—and work you must find him." Harley then rapidly told his friend of the two offers he had made to Leonard—and Leonard's choice.
"This promises very well; for letters a man must have a strong vocation as he should have for law—I will do all that you wish." ”

“ Basta! youth will be youth."
"He has no youth left in him!" exclaimed Harley, passionately. "I doubt if he ever had any. He is one of those men who come into the world with the pulse of a centenarian. You and I never shall be as old—as he was in long-clothes. Ah, you may laugh; but I am never wrong in my instincts. I disliked him at the first—his eye, his smile, his voice, his very footstep. It is madness in you to countenance such a marriage: it may destroy all chance of your restoration." ”

“ But Randal had not been the only person whose watch upon Beatrice the keen-eyed Harley had noticed. Harley had seen the angry looks of Frank Hazeldean, and divined the cause. So he smiled forgivingly at the slight he had received.
"You are like me, Mr. Hazeldean," said he. "You think something of the heart should go with all courtesy that bespeaks friendship—
"The hand of Douglas is his own."
Here Harley drew aside Randal. "Mr. Leslie, a word with you. If I wished to know the retreat of Dr. Riccabocca, in order to render him a great service, would you confide to me that secret?" ”

“ He could not conceive that the indolent Harley could be a match for his own restless activity and dogged perseverance. But in a very few moments fear crept on him. No man of his day could produce a more brilliant effect than Lord L'Estrange, when he deigned to desire it. Without much pretense to that personal beauty which strikes at first sight, he still retained all the charm of countenance, and all the grace of manner which had made him in boyhood the spoiled darling of society. Madame di Negra had collected but a small circle round her, still it was of the élite of the great world ”

“ Harley.—"You puzzle me: what can they be?"
Violante.—"Pity and admiration; we pity the weak, and admire the brave."
Harley inclined his head and was silent.
Lady Lansmere had suspended her conversation with Riccabocca to listen to this dialogue. "Charming!" she cried. "You have explained what has often perplexed me. Ah, Harley, I am glad to see that your satire is foiled; you have no reply to that."
"No; I willingly own myself defeated—too glad to claim the Signorina's pity, since my cavalry sword hangs on the wall, and I can have no longer a professional pretense to her admiration." ”