Life, 1907-03-21 · page 30 of 40
Life — March 21, 1907 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** with one substantial editorial feature. The advertisements promote horses (Tichenor-Grand Co.), Buffalo Lithia Water mineral springs, and Old Crow Whiskey—typical early 1900s products. The notable content is a profile of **William Dean Howells**, a major American writer and editor born 1837. The piece celebrates his career trajectory from Ohio to Boston literary circles to international prominence as an editor and advocate for literature. It notes his preferences for Henry James over Dickens, and mentions his work at *The Cosmopolitan* magazine. The profile's tone is admiring but slightly satirical—it gently mocks his earnest literary ambitions and his somewhat pretentious literary tastes. References to him wanting to "write rather than be President" and his championing of lesser-known works suggest a portrait of a serious, if occasionally overwrought, literary figure of his era. The page reflects Life magazine's dual purpose: entertainment/satire alongside commercial advertising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"ETRE TICHENOR-GRAND Co. FINE HORSES — Born March 1, 1837 NEW YORK CHICAGO “T WOULD rather write than be Presi- Broadway & 61st St. Paulina & 59th St. dent,” declared William Dean How- ells at a tender age, ing his inky SHOW HORSES, AND OTHERS FOR THE MODERATE BUYER hands on the office towel. Abandoning his i birthplace in Ohio, he started for the Hub. Private Sale Departmet: | AUCTION But office ever seeks the Ohioan, and the ; oan youthful Howells was consul-shipped to Venice. Romantic Italy inspired his pen, | and the Boston Transcript boosted him up Four-in-Hands the literary ladder by accepting “Venetian Victoria Pairs Life” at $5 per newspaper column, solid Ladies’ Pairs New York Establishment Thereafter he turned rea! Asa traveler from Altruria, Mr. Howells Every Wednesd D wens wetymenneseny foresaw Andrew Carnegie and the pressing ig Horses : need for books enough to fill an endless Saddle Horses Horses, Carriages, chain of libraries; and by working night Runabout Horses Harness, Automobiles and day for nearly fifty years he has done Cob, Polo, and Equipment | his share toward stocking them. Yet || fearful of falling by the way before his New York Headquarters : and other Ponies | pad sg 7 , Accommodation for 600 horses,400 carri ° mission was fulfilled, he has not failed to The finest building in the world devo discover and extol the humbler works of to the sale of Horses, Carriages, et . . | eine sainspection invited FOR ALL PARTICULARS, CATALOGS, ETC., ADDRESS DEPT. H. others. William Dean Howells E | Brougham Horses Carriage Pairs MERSIN. G4 The Acknowledged Best Medium = ———————— Mr. Howells has confessed to Literary ‘ Passions; but that seems to be putting it a trifle strong. His literary indiscretions, however, have been expressed in his pref- erence for Henry James to Dickens and ‘Thackeray, for Hamlin Garland to Du Maurier and for “The Old Homestead” Gi to “Cyrano de Bergerac.” As a magazine editor and purveyor of mere literature, Mr. Howells gained a LITHIA WATER | “All the Argument Necessary.” The International Journal of Surgery, August, 1905, under the basorg APA EE says: ‘'In the treatment of Cystitis water oe great aid to forms o! is the ideal Eedication. Moreover, BUEFALO LITHIA WATER jo,n''n wiich to administer it to the cystitic patient, as it is not only a pure solvent, but has the additional virtue of containing substantial quantities of the alkaline Lithates, Patients should be encouraged to take from two to four quarts per day if they can, and the relief they will obtain will be all the argument mecessary after the first day or so. «IN URIC ACID DIATHESIS, GOUT, RHEUMATISM, LITHe AEMIA, and the like, ITS ACTION IS PROMPT AND LASTING.” Dr. Geo. Ben. Johnston, M.D., LL. D., Richmond, Va., Exe President Southern Surgical and Gynecological Assn., Ex-President Vire ginia Medical Society, and Prof. of Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery, Melicae College of Varssnia If I were asked what mineral water has the widest range of usefulness, I° y In Uric would uakesitatioglyansecr, DUEFALO LITHIA WATER (¢27'5 Diathesis, Gout, Rheumatism, Lithaemia, and the like, its action is prompt and lasting. * * * Almost any case of Pyelitis and Cystitis will be alleviated by it,and many cured. I have had evidence of the undoubted Disintegrating, Solvent and Eliminating power of this water in Renal Calculus, and have known its long continued use to permanently break up the gravel forming habit.”” Voluminous medical testimony on request. For sale by the general drag and mineral water trade. PROPRIETOR, BUFFALO LITHIA SPRINGS, VA. OLD CROW RYE soe WHISKEY sua titions coe BOTTLERS, NEW YORK circumscribed reputation in Boston and New York. It remained for Mr. John Brisben Walker to put him where the light of popularity beat upon a_palpitating periodical—the Cosmopolitan. Life was here the handmaiden to Letters. But Mr. Howells had acquired curious wa) Atlantic and the Nation. .One mem- orable morning he strolled into the Cos- mopolitan office at 9.15—by the Walker watch—and hung up his hat. “You are fifteen minutes late, Mr. Howells,” re- marked the apostle of Husth Mr. Howells then realized for the first time that he had been born too soon. Recovering his hat, he silently slipped away. And he never came back. Mr. Howells has recently joined an association for the suppression of unneces- sary noise—which is taken to mean that certain publishers’ announcements may be somewhat modified. To our own taste, Mr. Howells is less happy in essaying the novel than in nov- elizing the essay. His ripe philosophy, his keen sympathy with the every-day aspects of human life and, above all, the incom- parable case and grace of his literary style make us wish that Emerson and some others had merely blocked out their ideas and left him to fill in the expression. Our foremost writer of fiction, he re- mains uncommercialized; our leading lit- erary critic, he has never penned an up- comicbooks.com