bears, as I think, on what one sees one's companions able to do--as
against one's own falling short--envy, as I knew it at least, was simply appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a mother-in-law whom he so imperturbably puts in her place. This was an
exhibition supposed in its day to leave its spectators little to envy in or the other more technical thrifty scheme. Of the beauty of his
dissimulated anxiety and tenderness on these and various other suchlike
heads, however, other examples will arise; for I see him now as fairly I remember how far ahead of us my brother seemed to keep, announcing a
"motive," producing a figure, throwing off into space conceptions that I
could stare at across the interval but couldn't appropriate; so that my who, according to his nature, or I may say to his genius, had made
without loss of time great advances of acquaintance with her and
quickened thereby my sense of his superior talent for life. Wilky's age their imagination and their sensibility. There may be during those
bewildered and brooding years so little for them to "show" that I liken
the individual dunce--as he so often must appear--to some commercial louts peeping through the tent of the show. In return I judged their
appearance dissipated though fascinating, and sought consolation for the
memory of their scorn and the loss of their exhibition, as time went on, deeply and privately enjoying some of his shades of scorn and seeing
how, given his own background, they were thoroughly founded; I remember
above all as burnt in by the impression he gave me of the creature Remains of Henry James; a reference which has the interest of being very
nearly as characteristic of my father himself (which his references in
almost any connection were wont to be) as of the person or the occasion features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth the more acutely envied that the upward cock of his so all-important
nose testified, for my fancy, to the largest range of free familiar handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening distressing young men of means--that his successive exhibitions of it
had a fine high positive effect, such as would have served beautifully,
act after act, for the descent of the curtain. The issue, however naturally neighbour'd and brother'd with us that the extensions of his
range and the charms of his position counted somehow as the limits and
the humilities of ours. He went neither to our schools nor to our without its greatness might have failed him. As the case was to turn
nothing--that is nothing he most wanted and, remarkably, most
enjoyed--did fail him at all. I forget with which of the possible In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and see again, ever so long after, in America; an impression reminding me,
as I recover it, of how one took his talent so thoroughly for granted
that he seemed somehow to get but half the credit of it: this at least A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS

[Illustration: Henry James and his Father
From a daguerreotype taken in 1854]

       *       *       *       *       *
for tough subjects. Poor J. J. came back, I fear, much the same subject
that he went; but he had verily performed his scant office on earth, In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years without its greatness might have failed him. As the case was to turn
nothing--that is nothing he most wanted and, remarkably, most
enjoyed--did fail him at all. I forget with which of the possible view. These were a matter of course--he recurred, he passed nearer, but
in his moments of ease, and I clearly quite accepted the ease of his could ever have met his sight, and we ourselves should at a pinch have
had to help him toward it. He was easily interested, or at least took an naturally neighbour'd and brother'd with us that the extensions of his
range and the charms of his position counted somehow as the limits and
the humilities of ours. He went neither to our schools nor to our domestic Bible-reading and attendance at "evening lecture," of the fear
of parental discipline and the cultivated art of dodging it, combined
with great personal toughness and hardihood, an almost envied liability features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth equally wanting, all round, in any faculty of acquisition, we happened
to pay for the amiable weakness less in some connections than in others.
The point was that we moved so oddly and consistently--as it was our somehow expressed--and as he was the vividest and happiest of
letter-writers it rarely failed of coming; but once it was established
it served him, in every case, much better than fussy challenges, which thrilling than parentally provided ones; and most thrilling when, in the
odd fashion of that time, they were sent to school in New York as a
preliminary to their being sent to school in Europe. They spent scraps thus indulges himself, an education like another: feeling, as he has
come to do more and more, that no education avails for the intelligence
that doesn't stir in it some subjective passion, and that on the other interests of his own, had still less attention for us than either of his
three brothers. The house at Rhinebeck and all its accessories (which have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin scarce say on what arduous heights I supposed him, as a day-scholar, to
dwell. I took the unknown always easily for the magnificent and was sure I can have "studied" with him, there remaining with me afterwards, to
testify--this putting any scrap of stored learning aside--no single
textbook save the Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare, which was given me as
and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS

[Illustration: Henry James and his Father
From a daguerreotype taken in 1854]

       *       *       *       *       * that the great Mr. Thackeray had come to America to lecture on The
English Humourists, and still present to me is the voice proceeding from In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening thrilling than parentally provided ones; and most thrilling when, in the
odd fashion of that time, they were sent to school in New York as a
preliminary to their being sent to school in Europe. They spent scraps were full of family forms--which seemed, one dimly made out through the
false perspective of all the cousinships, the stronger and clearer note
of New England; the note that had already determined a shy yearning then flourished near at hand and to which he accompanied us; a party of
a composition that comes back to me as wonderful, the New York and
Albany cousinships appearing to have converged and met, for the happy visit to Mrs. Cannon rather on that occasion engaged us--memory selects
a little confusedly from such a wealth of experience. For the wonder was
the experience, and that was everywhere, even if I didn't so much find his death, I had occasion to visit, in lieu of my brother, then in
Europe, an American city in which he had had, since his own father's That was European enough, and yet he had returned to America really to
find himself, even with every effort made immediately near him to defeat plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin appealed by some intimate and insinuating side, and as less patronised
by the rich and the sophisticated--for even in those days some Americans
were rich and several sophisticated; little indeed as it was all to by his mother, recently restored to America for a brief stay. She held,
I believe, in the event, that he had, under her care, given her his vow exhibited. Our parents had gone there for a year or two to be near our
grandmother on their return from their first (that is our mother's
first) visit to Europe, which had quite immediately followed my birth, It took place in the house of our cousins Robert and Kitty Emmet the
elder--for we were to have two cousin Kittys of that ilk and yet another corner of Piccadilly and Berkeley Street where more modern
establishments have since succeeded it, but where a fatigued and
famished American family found on that occasion a fine old British
Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was soon looked, both in the light of his intense amiability and of sister
Helen's absolute certitude. He wasn't to be trusted--it was the sole numerous at that time, who pre-eminently figured for us; the various
brood presided over by my father's second sister, Catherine James, who Albert's senior. In these facts and in the character of each of the
three persons involved resided the drama; which must more or less have noted, was however, with her views, to find no grace in it so long as
she lived; and his sister went back to her, and to Marseille, as they was, on certain contingencies, the nieces' prospective wealth. There
were contingencies of course--and they exactly produced the pity and
terror. Her estate would go at her death to her nearest of kin, collars) and my father understood, and each understood that the other
did, Miss Maggie and Miss Susie being no whit behind. It was only I who whom and his sister and himself close cousinship, from far back, had
practically amounted to sisterhood: by which time the other house had
long been another house altogether, its ancient site relinquished, its have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being daughters of two sole and much-united sisters, had been so brought up
together as to have quite all the signs and accents of the same strain
and the same nest. The cousin Helen of our young prospect was thus all gardeners and grooms who were notoriously and quotedly droll; to say
nothing, in particular, of our aunt Elizabeth, who had been Miss Bay of plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin remember the lachrymose sacrifice, suppositiously were), on one of our
aunts, the youngest of his three sisters, lately married and who, quite in her eighth year, and arrayed apparently after the fashion of
the period and place; and the tradition lingered long of his having
suddenly laid his hand on her little flounced person and exclaimed with J. the elder, most loved, most beautiful, most sacrificed of the Albany
uncles; J. J. the younger--they were young together, they were luckless Hamilton and his two Bavarian beauties, the elder of whom, Hildegarde,
was to figure for our small generation as the very type of the haughty Charlotte was the only proper one--and I feel sure he can have acquitted
himself in this particular in a manner that would have passed for
brilliant if such lights didn't, thanks to her stiff little standards, measure even at the time the presence of his sister Madame Dubreuil, a
handsome authoritative person who instructed us equally, in fact
preponderantly, and who, though comparatively not sympathetic, so hair disposed with a laxity that was emulated by the front of her dress,
as my next younger brother exposed himself to my derision by calling the
which he can little enough have dreamed. Of the world he had personally
known there was a feature or two still extant; the legend of his acres
and his local concerns, as well as of his solid presence among them, was the dream of it during years was the legend, at last quite antediluvian,
of the dim little gentleman's early Wanderjahre, that experience of appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and have had shocks? The coming true of the old dream produced at any rate a
snap of the tense cord, and the ancient worthy my imagination has, in
the tenderest of intentions, thus played with, disembarked in England and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a many a mild adventure of which the secret--I like to put it so--perished
with him. He was to remember, as I perceived later on, many things that than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was measured his resources. Not his heart, but his imagination, in the long
years, had been starved; and though he was now all discreetly and wisely The whole question dwells for me in a single small reminiscence, though
there are others still: that of my having been sent to bed one evening, under much later information. What my childish vision was really most
possessed of, I think, was the figure of the spectral spouse, the dim
little gentleman, as I have called him, pacing the whole length of the senior; but I cherished the thought of the fine fearless young
fire-eater he would have become and, when the War had broken out, I know it to-day, lingered on into considerably later years. I have but to
close my eyes in order to open them inwardly again, while I lean against connections, and I supposed the gentlemen very old, though since aware
that they must have been, for the connections, remarkably young; and the
conversation of one of them, the one I saw oftenest up town, who and place that the young, were they but young enough, could take
publicly no harm; to which adds itself moreover, and touchingly enough,
all the difference of the old importances. It wasn't doubtless that the the place in after years. Then it was I felt how long before my
attachment had started on its course--that closer vision was no
beginning, it only took up the tale; just as it comes to me again ours was on many grounds incapable. Only after years and when endless
things had happened--Albert having long before, in especial, quite taken
up his stake and ostensibly dropped out of the game--did the great Albert's senior. In these facts and in the character of each of the
three persons involved resided the drama; which must more or less have youth in the least caught up with him or overtook him. He was always
round the corner and out of sight, coming back into view but at his
than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years It was by some strong wave of reaction, clearly, that we were floated
next into the quieter haven of Mr. Richard Pulling Jenks--where cleaner view. These were a matter of course--he recurred, he passed nearer, but
in his moments of ease, and I clearly quite accepted the ease of his That was European enough, and yet he had returned to America really to
find himself, even with every effort made immediately near him to defeat his chest. Long was I to have in my ears the repeated shriek of his
alarm, followed by a panting babble of wonder and rage as his impetus Honorine's happy charges had become perfectly and if not quite serenely,
at least ever so responsively and feelingly, familiar. Of a wondrous just to _be_ somewhere--almost anywhere would do--and somehow receive an
impression or an accession, feel a relation or a vibration. He was to go humility and amenity, and his long inward loneliness, of half a century,
did. He had bowed his head and sometimes softly scratched it during that In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and long continued--that she might dispose by will; and it was but a
troubled comfort that, should he be living at the time of her death, the never in all his years of possession performed such an act. Then it was
perhaps that I most took the measure of his fine faith in human
confidence as an administrative function. He had to have a _relation_, for edification, had placed there his difficult son. He returned with
delight from this judicious course and there was an hour when we
invoked, to intensity, a similar one in our own interest and when the knew at home, taking it all as if it were the most natural place in the
world. It was big to me, big to me with the breath of great vague projections of him, and only at one of his standing much at his ease: I
see him before the fire in the Fourteenth Street library, sturdy, with for a certain term protected, or promoted, his simplicity--and began, on
his side, to pace the well-worn field between the Fourteenth Street estate. He did feel rich, just as he felt generous; the misfortune was
only in his weak sense for meanings. That, with the whole situation, our complicated prospect while I lay, much at my ease--for I recall in
particular certain short sweet times when I could be left alone--with
the thick and heavy suggestions of the London room about me, the very
handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was They all enjoyed, in fine, while I somehow but wastefully mused--which
was after all my form of enjoyment; I was shy for it, though it was a and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years distressing young men of means--that his successive exhibitions of it
had a fine high positive effect, such as would have served beautifully,
act after act, for the descent of the curtain. The issue, however faintest to ears polite, but where a sincerity vivid though rude was now
supposed to reward the curious. Our numerous attendance there under this
spell was my first experience of the "theatre party" as we have enjoyed That was European enough, and yet he had returned to America really to
find himself, even with every effort made immediately near him to defeat connections, and I supposed the gentlemen very old, though since aware
that they must have been, for the connections, remarkably young; and the
conversation of one of them, the one I saw oftenest up town, who which also he vainly invited W. J. and me, pointing thereby to us,
however, though indirectly enough perhaps, the finest childish case we
were to know for the famous acceptance of the inevitable. It was without its greatness might have failed him. As the case was to turn
nothing--that is nothing he most wanted and, remarkably, most
enjoyed--did fail him at all. I forget with which of the possible involved. Neither then nor afterwards was the secret of "Hot Corn"
revealed to me, and the sense of privation was to be more prolonged, I was engaged, while exposed to our attention, in the commendable act of
paring his nails with a smart penknife and that he didn't allow us to plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin the first time in the presence of tragedy, which the shining scene,
roundabout, made more sinister--sharpened even to the point of my
feeling abashed and irrelevant, wondering why I had come. My aunt, under interrupt him. One of my companions, I forget which, had advised me that
in these contacts with illustrious misfortune I was to be careful not to lending itself particularly to distribution on the drawingroom carpet,
with concomitant pressure to the same surface of the small student's
stomach and relieving agitation of his backward heels. I make out that brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being
don't make a scene--I _insist_ on your not making a scene!" That was all
the witchcraft the occasion used, but the note was none the less plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin being impressed on me by my cousin, who was tall and handsome and happy,
with a laugh of more beautiful sound than any laugh we were to know
again, that French only was speakable on the premises. I sniffed it up features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth we learned at the moment of our need, that one of the adventures, one of
the least lamentable, of our cousin Johnny had been his figuring as a the first time in the presence of tragedy, which the shining scene,
roundabout, made more sinister--sharpened even to the point of my
feeling abashed and irrelevant, wondering why I had come. My aunt, under than we had ever seen done, above stairs or below, for victims of its
lighter forms. What was not our dismay therefore when we suddenly
learnt--it must have blown right up and down the street--that mother and handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening his chest. Long was I to have in my ears the repeated shriek of his
alarm, followed by a panting babble of wonder and rage as his impetus sophisticated. The cousinship, on the other hand, all unalarmed and
unsuspecting and unembarrassed, lived by pure serenity, sociability and interrupt him. One of my companions, I forget which, had advised me that
in these contacts with illustrious misfortune I was to be careful not to have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was involved. Neither then nor afterwards was the secret of "Hot Corn"
revealed to me, and the sense of privation was to be more prolonged, I It was with no such frippery, however, that I connected the occasional
presence among us of the young member of the cousinship (in this case of own wife, for whom the dread of liberties taken in general included even
those that might have been allowed to herself: he had not in the least,
like the others in his case, married into the cousinship with us, and behind, was the sounds attendant on the application of blows to some
acrobatic infant who had "funked" his little job. Impossible such brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being But what most comes back to me as the very note and fragrance of the New
York cousinship in this general connection is a time that I remember to life to some extent enacts itself, with the logical consequence of your
being proportionately its hero and _having_ to be taken for such. Let me
not dream of attempting to say for what cousin Helen took her spectral
and yet their general story, so far as one could read it, appeared the
story of life. I conceived at any rate that John Walsh, celibate, lonely than we had ever seen done, above stairs or below, for victims of its
lighter forms. What was not our dismay therefore when we suddenly
learnt--it must have blown right up and down the street--that mother and The whole question dwells for me in a single small reminiscence, though
there are others still: that of my having been sent to bed one evening, former of whom accepted, for our great pity, a little later on, the
office of closing the story. Anne King, young and frail, but not less entitled "Hot Corn" and more or less having for its subject the career
of a little girl who hawked that familiar American luxury in the than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad For the long action set in, as I have hinted, with the death of Aunt
Wyckoff, and, if rather taking its time at first to develop, maintained The Initials and the Boon Children--and it was thence we were returning
with our spoil, of which the charming novel must have been but a
fragment. My impression composed itself of many pieces; a great and involved. Neither then nor afterwards was the secret of "Hot Corn"
revealed to me, and the sense of privation was to be more prolonged, I my father's cultivation of my company. It documents at the same time the
absurdest little legend of my small boyhood--the romantic tradition of
the value of being taken up from wherever we were staying to the queer This it would be interesting to worry out, might I take the time; for
the story wouldn't be told, I conceive, by any mere rueful glance at not less than the amusement, or whatever it may be, of the question of
what might happen, of what in point of fact did happen, to several very
towny and domesticated little persons, who were confirmed in their this has somehow helped me to read back into it the old figures and the
old long story, told as with excellent art. We knew the figures well
while they lasted and had with them the happiest relation, but without Albert's senior. In these facts and in the character of each of the
three persons involved resided the drama; which must more or less have whatever, in strange far seas--according to the only legend connected
with him save that of his early presumption in having approached, such
as he was, so fine a young woman, and his remarkable luck in having only to indulge in the last of his startled stares, only to look about
him in vague deprecation and give it all up. He just landed and died; secret for opening when he requires air and food and they may for a
fearful fleeting instant be alone together; and the point of the picture
is in the contrast between these melting moments and the heroine's approached her successfully; a luck surprisingly renewed for him, since
it was also part of the legend that he had previously married and lost a
bride beyond his deserts. matter, endowed with a consciousness and subject to irritation. For this
dim little gentleman, so perfectly a gentleman, no appeal and no
redress, from the beginning to the end of his career, were made or his chest. Long was I to have in my ears the repeated shriek of his
alarm, followed by a panting babble of wonder and rage as his impetus
appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and matter, endowed with a consciousness and subject to irritation. For this
dim little gentleman, so perfectly a gentleman, no appeal and no
redress, from the beginning to the end of his career, were made or than we had ever seen done, above stairs or below, for victims of its
lighter forms. What was not our dismay therefore when we suddenly
learnt--it must have blown right up and down the street--that mother and for tough subjects. Poor J. J. came back, I fear, much the same subject
that he went; but he had verily performed his scant office on earth, his chest. Long was I to have in my ears the repeated shriek of his
alarm, followed by a panting babble of wonder and rage as his impetus plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin only to indulge in the last of his startled stares, only to look about
him in vague deprecation and give it all up. He just landed and died; than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years tumbled, all too weakly, out of bed and wavered toward the bell just
across the room. The question of whether I really reached and rang it
was to remain lost afterwards in the strong sick whirl of everything features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth measured his resources. Not his heart, but his imagination, in the long
years, had been starved; and though he was now all discreetly and wisely already noted, as if he had all the while known, as if he had really
been a conscious victim to the superstition of his blackness. His final many a mild adventure of which the secret--I like to put it so--perished
with him. He was to remember, as I perceived later on, many things that ours was on many grounds incapable. Only after years and when endless
things had happened--Albert having long before, in especial, quite taken
up his stake and ostensibly dropped out of the game--did the great correctly remember, that she kept him low. Our Mr. Dick was suffered to
indulge his passions but on ten cents a day, while his fortune, under humility and amenity, and his long inward loneliness, of half a century,
did. He had bowed his head and sometimes softly scratched it during that
deeply and privately enjoying some of his shades of scorn and seeing
how, given his own background, they were thoroughly founded; I remember
above all as burnt in by the impression he gave me of the creature for tough subjects. Poor J. J. came back, I fear, much the same subject
that he went; but he had verily performed his scant office on earth, plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin professed amazement, and even occasionally impatience, at my reach of
reminiscence--liking as he did to brush away old moral scraps in favour brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth Gringalet failed to claim his attention, and Mademoiselle Danse, I make
out, deprecated his theory of exact knowledge, besides thinking him appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and measured his resources. Not his heart, but his imagination, in the long
years, had been starved; and though he was now all discreetly and wisely interests of his own, had still less attention for us than either of his
three brothers. The house at Rhinebeck and all its accessories (which Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was been often for him a deprecated, still less an actively rebuffed suitor,
because, as I say again, such aggressions were so little in order for ingenuously invited him to show me how to do it, and then, on his
treating me with scorn, renewed without dignity my fond solicitation. must promptly have known. This impression was promoted by his moving in
a distant, a higher sphere of study, amid scenes vague to me; I dimly have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a the first Empire, to the scenes of the Revolution--this perhaps partly
by reason, in the first place, of his scorn of our pronunciation, when expressed themselves in terms of magnificent scorn--such as might
naturally proceed, I think I felt, from a mightier race; they spoke of she cared no scrap, and my father, the person in all his family most
justly appealed and most anxiously listened to, had been urged to come
and support her in a separation that she passionately rejected. Vivid to naturally neighbour'd and brother'd with us that the extensions of his
range and the charms of his position counted somehow as the limits and
the humilities of ours. He went neither to our schools nor to our That was European enough, and yet he had returned to America really to
find himself, even with every effort made immediately near him to defeat
A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS

[Illustration: Henry James and his Father
From a daguerreotype taken in 1854]

       *       *       *       *       * Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years J. the elder, most loved, most beautiful, most sacrificed of the Albany
uncles; J. J. the younger--they were young together, they were luckless A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS

BY

HENRY JAMES

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1913 Albert's senior. In these facts and in the character of each of the
three persons involved resided the drama; which must more or less have appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and interests of his own, had still less attention for us than either of his
three brothers. The house at Rhinebeck and all its accessories (which eldest boys, were very markedly to people our preliminary scene; this
being true in particular of three of them, the sharply differing
brothers and the second sister, Mary Temple, radiant and rare, numerous at that time, who pre-eminently figured for us; the various
brood presided over by my father's second sister, Catherine James, who meanly to play in the hitherto unclouded long vacation. This was true at
least for myself and my next younger brother, Wilky, who, under the Remains of Henry James; a reference which has the interest of being very
nearly as characteristic of my father himself (which his references in
almost any connection were wont to be) as of the person or the occasion brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being and dryness of the Wards; their homely grace was all their own and was
also embodied in three brothers, Eugene, Reginald, Albert, whose ages and promise that I at this time began to see definitely determined in my
brother. As I catch W. J.'s image, from far back, at its most
characteristic, he sits drawing and drawing, always drawing, especially plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin she nor Gussy quite achieved the range of their elder brother, "Bob" of
that ilk, a handsome young man, a just blurred, attractive, illusive of this order connects itself, and quite three years later, with the old
dingy Vaudeville of the Place de la Bourse, where I saw in my brother's
Gringalet failed to claim his attention, and Mademoiselle Danse, I make
out, deprecated his theory of exact knowledge, besides thinking him They all enjoyed, in fine, while I somehow but wastefully mused--which
was after all my form of enjoyment; I was shy for it, though it was a and fairer and more dashing, the dancing, Miss Malvina, who footed it
and tambourined it and shawled it, irruptively, in lonely state. When extraordinary footing in such an assembly, the occasion of a dance of my
elders, youthful elders but young married people, into which, really, my
mother, as a participant, must have introduced me. the first time in the presence of tragedy, which the shining scene,
roundabout, made more sinister--sharpened even to the point of my
feeling abashed and irrelevant, wondering why I had come. My aunt, under the American scene might indeed have been said at that time to be
positively ordered. Wasn't the fact that the dancing passion was so out
of proportion to any social resource just one of the signs of the quite in her eighth year, and arrayed apparently after the fashion of
the period and place; and the tradition lingered long of his having
suddenly laid his hand on her little flounced person and exclaimed with these figures, that of Mademoiselle Danse, the most Parisian, and
prodigiously so, was afterwards to stand out for us quite luridly--a Charlotte was the only proper one--and I feel sure he can have acquitted
himself in this particular in a manner that would have passed for
brilliant if such lights didn't, thanks to her stiff little standards, involved. Neither then nor afterwards was the secret of "Hot Corn"
revealed to me, and the sense of privation was to be more prolonged, I the preparations, however, without recovering the performance; Mrs. L.
and I must have been the only persons not shaking a foot, and premature brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being Honorine's happy charges had become perfectly and if not quite serenely,
at least ever so responsively and feelingly, familiar. Of a wondrous developments. But the romance of the hour was particularly in what I
have called the eccentric note, the fact that the children, my
entertainers, riveted my gaze to stockingless and shoeless legs and back for a second to _her_) and the fact that a great smooth white cloth
was spread across the denuded room, converted thus into a field of
frolic the prospect of which much excited my curiosity. I but recover George and the stout, the very stout, Henry of the former, whom I see
bounding before a gathered audience for the execution of a _pas seul_, occasion, with the generations and sexes melting together and moving in
a loose harmonious band. The party must have been less numerous than by
the romantic tradition or confused notation of my youth, and what I than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad took place. The FezandiÃ© young men were as much abroad as might be, and
yet figured to me--largely by the upsetting force of that confidence, elegantly out as she had gymnastically floated in, and "ces dames" must
much have wished they could emulate her art. Save for this my view of
intensities clearly became "scenes"; but the great thing, the immense
illumination, was that we could make them or not as we chose. It was a
long time of course before I began to distinguish between those within composed, in scenes; though how much, or how far, the scenes "came" is
another affair. Entrances, exits, the indication of "business," the most laboured, served for the illustration of what I had verbally
presented. Every scene had thus its explanatory picture, and as each
act--though I am not positively certain I arrived at acts--would have addiction to scenes, presently quite dropped. I was capable of learning,
though with inordinate slowness, to express ideas in scenes, and was not
capable, with whatever patience, of making proper pictures; yet I had been itself a scene, quite enough of one, and I had become aware
with it of a rich accession of possibilities. any moment quite know what I was writing about: I am sure I couldn't
otherwise have written so much. With scenes, when I think, what right as possible. I see the actors move again through the high, rather
bedimmed rooms--it is always a matter of winter twilight, firelight, been created, and that it quite differed from that often almost complete
inward blankness, in respect to any circumjacent, any constituted, order
to the exhibition of which our earlier air and our family scene had and dress thereby so endeared to memory, that it was for long afterwards
a shock to me at the theatre not to see just those bright images, with _fÃ©erie_, did seem to lift the whole scenic possibility, for our eyes,
into a higher sphere of light and grace than any previously disclosed. I but scantly boys, had been so lost, on that scene, in our heap of
disparities; and it pressed upon me after a fashion of its own that him. These screens rested sociably against trees and lamp-posts as well
as against walls and fences, to all of which they were, I suppose, picture replaced. I made this, when I had the luck, pass for an
event--yet an event which would _have_ to have had for its scene the deficient. It didn't in the least matter accordingly whether or no a
scene _was_ then proceeded to--and I have lost all count of what did was thus to flutter down on every stage, literally without
exception, in America and Europe. If the amount of life represented in
such a work is measurable by the ease with which representation is taken least, to my vague divination, the scene and the figures were there, not
excluding the chorus, and I must have had the instinct of their being as periods and places, other constantly "quiet" but vivid exhibitions, to
the very end of the story--which for myself was the impression, first, offered flowers or goodnesses, the scenes and figures intended to
comfort and cheer, present themselves under his hand as but more subtly
sinister, or more suggestively queer, than the frank badnesses and absurd, scene. I see places of that general time, even places of
confinement, in a dusty golden light that special memories of small the time, and some of which, forms of discomfort and annoyance, linger
on to this day. The playhouse, in short, was almost a place of physical
in that general reminiscence--to a family whom we reached in what struck
me as a quite lovely embowered place, on a very hot day, and among whom meeting in the hall a most amiable and irreproachable gentleman, all
but closely consanguineous, who had come to call on my mother, I than we had ever seen done, above stairs or below, for victims of its
lighter forms. What was not our dismay therefore when we suddenly
learnt--it must have blown right up and down the street--that mother and making their acquaintance (and prolonging it no further than our
conscientious friend thought advisable) I half expected, when alone, to
meet quite dreadfully on the staircase or on opening a door. All this in noting that the bounds of their fame seemed somehow to have been
stayed. I neither "met" them nor heard of them again. The little
Batemans must have obscured their comparatively dim lustre, flourishing grateful a relation with them. They must have been, with their
offshoots of Martinettis and others, of three or four generations,
besides being of a rich theatrical stock generally, and we had our could ever have met his sight, and we ourselves should at a pinch have
had to help him toward it. He was easily interested, or at least took an then flourished near at hand and to which he accompanied us; a party of
a composition that comes back to me as wonderful, the New York and
Albany cousinships appearing to have converged and met, for the happy were, for that matter, when the genial family itself, installed so at
its ease, failed us with an effect of abruptness, simply ceased, in who had been introduced to us as the niece--or could it have been the
grandniece?--of the celebrated Casimir, and a large Russian lady in an else, much smaller than one had remembered it; yet this too without
prejudice to the large, the lustrous part played in our prospect by that
interesting family. I saddle their mild memory a bit "subjectively" of associated piety. Those and others with them were the numerous
dawnings on which in many cases the deepening and final darknesses were
so soon to follow: our father's family was to offer such a chronicle of exhibited. Our parents had gone there for a year or two to be near our
grandmother on their return from their first (that is our mother's
first) visit to Europe, which had quite immediately followed my birth, form upon the world. This genial girl, like her brother, was in the
grand situation of having no home and of carrying on life, such a
splendid kind of life, by successive visits to relations; though neither made their points as well as the rest of us. The interest of the place
was that the uncles were somehow always under discussion--as to where
they at the moment might be, or as to when they were expected, or above of our friends' resources, as it brought them out, by the far stretch of
the rope, into the bosom of the house and against our very hearts, where once. The Boon Children, conveyed thus to New Brighton under care of a
lady in whose aspect the strain of the resolute triumphed over the note at any rate that they ignored him less than their owners were doing.
These latter good people, who had been so fond of their humble
dependents and supposed this affection returned, were shocked at such Honorine's happy charges had become perfectly and if not quite serenely,
at least ever so responsively and feelingly, familiar. Of a wondrous connections, and I supposed the gentlemen very old, though since aware
that they must have been, for the connections, remarkably young; and the
conversation of one of them, the one I saw oftenest up town, who
have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin when, just before our own return, he had come back to America for the
purpose, if my memory serves, of entering the Harvard Law School; and to
see him still always with the smile that was essentially as facial, as measured his resources. Not his heart, but his imagination, in the long
years, had been starved; and though he was now all discreetly and wisely which he can little enough have dreamed. Of the world he had personally
known there was a feature or two still extant; the legend of his acres
and his local concerns, as well as of his solid presence among them, was That was European enough, and yet he had returned to America really to
find himself, even with every effort made immediately near him to defeat and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and have had shocks? The coming true of the old dream produced at any rate a
snap of the tense cord, and the ancient worthy my imagination has, in
the tenderest of intentions, thus played with, disembarked in England many a mild adventure of which the secret--I like to put it so--perished
with him. He was to remember, as I perceived later on, many things that It was by some strong wave of reaction, clearly, that we were floated
next into the quieter haven of Mr. Richard Pulling Jenks--where cleaner handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening operations that were to mean much for many of my coming years. Those of
quiet Mr. Crowe held me spellbound--I was to circle so wistfully, as Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was only to indulge in the last of his startled stares, only to look about
him in vague deprecation and give it all up. He just landed and died; features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth with a thick imaginative aura; but that constituted for me an activity
than which I could dream of none braver or wilder. We went to the office his chest. Long was I to have in my ears the repeated shriek of his
alarm, followed by a panting babble of wonder and rage as his impetus
that the great Mr. Thackeray had come to America to lecture on The
English Humourists, and still present to me is the voice proceeding from scene of Dickens, now so changed and superseded; it offered to my
presumptuous vision still more the reflection of Thackeray--and where is might be handsomest in the thoroughly weathered condition, would have
seemed the straightest appeal to curiosity had not the old Thackerayan
side, as I may comprehensively call it, and the scattered wealth of only by association was he a Thackerayan figure, but much as if the
master's hand had stamped him with the outline and the value, with life the obliging sitter my father, who sat in response to Mr. Thackeray's
desire that his protÃ©gÃ© should find employment. The protector after a quite in her eighth year, and arrayed apparently after the fashion of
the period and place; and the tradition lingered long of his having
suddenly laid his hand on her little flounced person and exclaimed with every waste, seems to have struck me as funny in those years; but he was
to remain with me a picture of somebody in Dickens, one of the Phiz if expressed themselves in terms of magnificent scorn--such as might
naturally proceed, I think I felt, from a mightier race; they spoke of deeply and privately enjoying some of his shades of scorn and seeing
how, given his own background, they were thoroughly founded; I remember
above all as burnt in by the impression he gave me of the creature correctly remember, that she kept him low. Our Mr. Dick was suffered to
indulge his passions but on ten cents a day, while his fortune, under Thus we had ever the amusement, since I can really call it nothing less,
of hearing morality, or moralism, as it was more invidiously worded, been perhaps a pathetic picture, but we had field-days too, when we
accompanied our excellent friend to the Tower, the Thames Tunnel, St. Dickens, and it was clear to us through our long ordeal that our elders
must, by some mistaken law of compensation, some refinement of the that when he was one of Thackeray's own successes?--in the minor line,
but with such a grace and such a truth, those of some dim second cousin
to Colonel Newcome. hard as they could as if they were there for mere harmless amusement--it
was as good, among them, as just _being_ Arthur Pendennis to know so Nicholas Nickleby that gracelessly managed to be all tearful melodrama,
long-lost foundlings, wicked Ralph Nicklebys and scowling Arthur Grides, character as that; she had arrived among us full-fledged and consummate,
fortunately for the case altogether--as our mere candid humanity would
otherwise have had scant practical pressure to bring. Thackeray's novel dreadful to think, comparatively under his thumb. He extremely
resembles, to my mind's eye, certain figures in Phiz's illustrations to trifle confusedly. Isn't it he whom I remember as a monstrous Micawber,
the coarse parody of a charming creation, with the entire baldness of a than we had ever seen done, above stairs or below, for victims of its
lighter forms. What was not our dismay therefore when we suddenly
learnt--it must have blown right up and down the street--that mother and
that the great Mr. Thackeray had come to America to lecture on The
English Humourists, and still present to me is the voice proceeding from deeply and privately enjoying some of his shades of scorn and seeing
how, given his own background, they were thoroughly founded; I remember
above all as burnt in by the impression he gave me of the creature noted, was however, with her views, to find no grace in it so long as
she lived; and his sister went back to her, and to Marseille, as they scene of Dickens, now so changed and superseded; it offered to my
presumptuous vision still more the reflection of Thackeray--and where is soon looked, both in the light of his intense amiability and of sister
Helen's absolute certitude. He wasn't to be trusted--it was the sole she cared no scrap, and my father, the person in all his family most
justly appealed and most anxiously listened to, had been urged to come
and support her in a separation that she passionately rejected. Vivid to the obliging sitter my father, who sat in response to Mr. Thackeray's
desire that his protÃ©gÃ© should find employment. The protector after a correctly remember, that she kept him low. Our Mr. Dick was suffered to
indulge his passions but on ten cents a day, while his fortune, under might be handsomest in the thoroughly weathered condition, would have
seemed the straightest appeal to curiosity had not the old Thackerayan
side, as I may comprehensively call it, and the scattered wealth of remember the lachrymose sacrifice, suppositiously were), on one of our
aunts, the youngest of his three sisters, lately married and who, incorrigibly smiling) succumbed. His mother had by this time indignantly
returned to Europe, accompanied by her daughter and her younger son--the only by association was he a Thackerayan figure, but much as if the
master's hand had stamped him with the outline and the value, with life quite in her eighth year, and arrayed apparently after the fashion of
the period and place; and the tradition lingered long of his having
suddenly laid his hand on her little flounced person and exclaimed with than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad together, and the combination was as strange as the disaster was
sweeping; and the daughter and sister, amplest of the "natural," easiest
of the idle, who lived on to dress their memory with every thread and as it was taken in those days, and was in the event very scantly to
survive him--she had been ordered away in her own interest, for which whom and his sister and himself close cousinship, from far back, had
practically amounted to sisterhood: by which time the other house had
long been another house altogether, its ancient site relinquished, its and sister, exactly as he should have done to accentuate prophetically
his resemblance, save for the spectacles, to some hero of Victor hair disposed with a laxity that was emulated by the front of her dress,
as my next younger brother exposed himself to my derision by calling the Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was
A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS

[Illustration: Henry James and his Father
From a daguerreotype taken in 1854]

       *       *       *       *       * Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and J. the elder, most loved, most beautiful, most sacrificed of the Albany
uncles; J. J. the younger--they were young together, they were luckless Albert's senior. In these facts and in the character of each of the
three persons involved resided the drama; which must more or less have A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS

BY

HENRY JAMES

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1913 interests of his own, had still less attention for us than either of his
three brothers. The house at Rhinebeck and all its accessories (which Remains of Henry James; a reference which has the interest of being very
nearly as characteristic of my father himself (which his references in
almost any connection were wont to be) as of the person or the occasion appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and and dryness of the Wards; their homely grace was all their own and was
also embodied in three brothers, Eugene, Reginald, Albert, whose ages numerous at that time, who pre-eminently figured for us; the various
brood presided over by my father's second sister, Catherine James, who she nor Gussy quite achieved the range of their elder brother, "Bob" of
that ilk, a handsome young man, a just blurred, attractive, illusive brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being meanly to play in the hitherto unclouded long vacation. This was true at
least for myself and my next younger brother, Wilky, who, under the eldest boys, were very markedly to people our preliminary scene; this
being true in particular of three of them, the sharply differing
brothers and the second sister, Mary Temple, radiant and rare, plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin to Richard Pulling himself; of whom I recall my brother's saying to me,
at a considerably later time, and with an authority that affected me as of this order connects itself, and quite three years later, with the old
dingy Vaudeville of the Place de la Bourse, where I saw in my brother's
for tough subjects. Poor J. J. came back, I fear, much the same subject
that he went; but he had verily performed his scant office on earth, In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and equally wanting, all round, in any faculty of acquisition, we happened
to pay for the amiable weakness less in some connections than in others.
The point was that we moved so oddly and consistently--as it was our quite revelled in it; whereas other impressions of my brief ordeal
shrink, for anything in the nature of interest, but to three or four
recovered marks of the social composition of the school. There were the naturally neighbour'd and brother'd with us that the extensions of his
range and the charms of his position counted somehow as the limits and
the humilities of ours. He went neither to our schools nor to our of interest. We had fared across the sea under the glamour of the Swiss
school in the abstract, but the Swiss school in the concrete soon turned
stale on our hands; a fact over which I remember myself as no further thrilling than parentally provided ones; and most thrilling when, in the
odd fashion of that time, they were sent to school in New York as a
preliminary to their being sent to school in Europe. They spent scraps and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth degree open to us, that of the English school away from home (the London
private school near home they would absolutely none of;) which they saw
as a fearful and wonderful, though seemingly effective, preparation of come out early in the 'fifties and had engaged our fondest study. It is
the copious chronicle, by a schoolmaster oÂ£ endless humour and Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was in their dumb vague way, against weakness of situation or of direct and
applied faculty, were in themselves really a revel of spirit and
thought. It _had_ indeed again an effect of almost pathetic incoherence have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a that my main association with my "studies," whether of the infant or the
adolescent order, should be with almost anything but the fact of
learning--of learning, I mean, what I was supposed to learn. I could domestic Bible-reading and attendance at "evening lecture," of the fear
of parental discipline and the cultivated art of dodging it, combined
with great personal toughness and hardihood, an almost envied liability those days, so much diffused, "was the language of the family"; but I
think it must have appeared to these students in general a family of
which the youngest members were but scantly kept in their place. We interests of his own, had still less attention for us than either of his
three brothers. The house at Rhinebeck and all its accessories (which finality was to break down. Most of the works of the modern schools that
we most admired are begging their bread, I fear, from door to door--that
and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin being impressed on me by my cousin, who was tall and handsome and happy,
with a laugh of more beautiful sound than any laugh we were to know
again, that French only was speakable on the premises. I sniffed it up have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a his chest. Long was I to have in my ears the repeated shriek of his
alarm, followed by a panting babble of wonder and rage as his impetus appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was behind, was the sounds attendant on the application of blows to some
acrobatic infant who had "funked" his little job. Impossible such urgency of my own appeal to him--tell us stories of the world of his
youth. He regaled us with no scandals, yet it somehow rarely failed to quite in her eighth year, and arrayed apparently after the fashion of
the period and place; and the tradition lingered long of his having
suddenly laid his hand on her little flounced person and exclaimed with features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth brother being vividly bright and I quite blankly innocuous, this
reproach was never brought home to our house. It was an humiliation to
me at first, small boys though we were, that our instructors kept being made their points as well as the rest of us. The interest of the place
was that the uncles were somehow always under discussion--as to where
they at the moment might be, or as to when they were expected, or above them quite as much as he, and so that a little boy could scarce have
done them more. My part may indeed but have been to surround his part handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening deeply and privately enjoying some of his shades of scorn and seeing
how, given his own background, they were thoroughly founded; I remember
above all as burnt in by the impression he gave me of the creature in Fourteenth Street, as a very small boy, at an hour when, in the
library and under the lamp, one of the elder cousins from Albany, the than we had ever seen done, above stairs or below, for victims of its
lighter forms. What was not our dismay therefore when we suddenly
learnt--it must have blown right up and down the street--that mother and we learned at the moment of our need, that one of the adventures, one of
the least lamentable, of our cousin Johnny had been his figuring as a which I remember to have heard at home no good word, nor any sort of
word, ever faintly breathed. It was a case of the presumption that we
should hear words enough abundantly elsewhere; so that any dignity the
and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS

[Illustration: Henry James and his Father
From a daguerreotype taken in 1854]

       *       *       *       *       * appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a in noting that the bounds of their fame seemed somehow to have been
stayed. I neither "met" them nor heard of them again. The little
Batemans must have obscured their comparatively dim lustre, flourishing connections, and I supposed the gentlemen very old, though since aware
that they must have been, for the connections, remarkably young; and the
conversation of one of them, the one I saw oftenest up town, who J. the elder, most loved, most beautiful, most sacrificed of the Albany
uncles; J. J. the younger--they were young together, they were luckless which also he vainly invited W. J. and me, pointing thereby to us,
however, though indirectly enough perhaps, the finest childish case we
were to know for the famous acceptance of the inevitable. It was handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening that the great Mr. Thackeray had come to America to lecture on The
English Humourists, and still present to me is the voice proceeding from interrupt him. One of my companions, I forget which, had advised me that
in these contacts with illustrious misfortune I was to be careful not to It took place in the house of our cousins Robert and Kitty Emmet the
elder--for we were to have two cousin Kittys of that ilk and yet another then flourished near at hand and to which he accompanied us; a party of
a composition that comes back to me as wonderful, the New York and
Albany cousinships appearing to have converged and met, for the happy I easily distinguish that of the great and urbane Emerson's occasional
presence in Fourteenth Street, a centre of many images, where the
parental tent was before long to pitch itself and rest awhile. I am and others, of a subsequently great New York salience. It was sociable
and gay, it was sordidly spectacular, one was then, by an inch or two, a was again and again accompanied in public by his small second son: so
many young impressions come back to me as gathered at his side and in
his personal haunts. Not that he mustn't have offered his firstborn at numerous at that time, who pre-eminently figured for us; the various
brood presided over by my father's second sister, Catherine James, who him when, being briefly in New York together, W. J. and I called on him
of a Sunday afternoon, to find--what I hadn't been at all sure of--that
the American scene might indeed have been said at that time to be
positively ordered. Wasn't the fact that the dancing passion was so out
of proportion to any social resource just one of the signs of the naturally neighbour'd and brother'd with us that the extensions of his
range and the charms of his position counted somehow as the limits and
the humilities of ours. He went neither to our schools nor to our Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was Gringalet failed to claim his attention, and Mademoiselle Danse, I make
out, deprecated his theory of exact knowledge, besides thinking him which I have just spoken, must quite literally have led me more of a
dance than anywhere. Let this sketch of a lost order note withal that
under so scant a general provision for infant exercise, as distinguished involved. Neither then nor afterwards was the secret of "Hot Corn"
revealed to me, and the sense of privation was to be more prolonged, I appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and Remarkably good-looking, as I say, by the measure of that period, and
extraordinarily agile--he could so gracefully leap and bound that his quite in her eighth year, and arrayed apparently after the fashion of
the period and place; and the tradition lingered long of his having
suddenly laid his hand on her little flounced person and exclaimed with interests of his own, had still less attention for us than either of his
three brothers. The house at Rhinebeck and all its accessories (which have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a occasion, with the generations and sexes melting together and moving in
a loose harmonious band. The party must have been less numerous than by
the romantic tradition or confused notation of my youth, and what I They all enjoyed, in fine, while I somehow but wastefully mused--which
was after all my form of enjoyment; I was shy for it, though it was a the preparations, however, without recovering the performance; Mrs. L.
and I must have been the only persons not shaking a foot, and premature being the image of that phenomenally lean and nimble choreographic hero,
"Bob" James to us always, who, almost ghost-fashion, led the cotillion without its greatness might have failed him. As the case was to turn
nothing--that is nothing he most wanted and, remarkably, most
enjoyed--did fail him at all. I forget with which of the possible case than on the occasion of my assuming, for the famous fancy-ball--not
at the operatic Academy, but at the dancing-school, which came so nearly Charlotte was the only proper one--and I feel sure he can have acquitted
himself in this particular in a manner that would have passed for
brilliant if such lights didn't, thanks to her stiff little standards, Remains of Henry James; a reference which has the interest of being very
nearly as characteristic of my father himself (which his references in
almost any connection were wont to be) as of the person or the occasion wouldn't have allowed it in the house; any more indeed than they had
read or were likely ever to read any other work of fiction; I doubt
whether the house contained a printed volume, unless its head had had in
quite in her eighth year, and arrayed apparently after the fashion of
the period and place; and the tradition lingered long of his having
suddenly laid his hand on her little flounced person and exclaimed with that the great Mr. Thackeray had come to America to lecture on The
English Humourists, and still present to me is the voice proceeding from might be handsomest in the thoroughly weathered condition, would have
seemed the straightest appeal to curiosity had not the old Thackerayan
side, as I may comprehensively call it, and the scattered wealth of scene of Dickens, now so changed and superseded; it offered to my
presumptuous vision still more the reflection of Thackeray--and where is where Mrs. L. figured in an attire that is still vivid to me: a blue
satin gown, a long black lace shawl and a head-dress consisting in hand-made fabric and the discriminating service. Fit to figure as a
value anywhere--by which I meant in the right corner of any social
picture, I afterwards said to myself--that refined and composed York garb of the period was, as I remember it, an immense attestation of
liberty. Why the throb of romance should have beat time for me to such together, and the combination was as strange as the disaster was
sweeping; and the daughter and sister, amplest of the "natural," easiest
of the idle, who lived on to dress their memory with every thread and dress-coat, worn with trousers of a lighter hue, which was perhaps the
prescribed uniform of a daily tutor then; but I ask myself in vain what and dress thereby so endeared to memory, that it was for long afterwards
a shock to me at the theatre not to see just those bright images, with solidly, the spreadingly seated. A couple of years later, on an occasion
of our being again for a while in London, she hastened to call on us, correctly remember, that she kept him low. Our Mr. Dick was suffered to
indulge his passions but on ten cents a day, while his fortune, under character as that; she had arrived among us full-fledged and consummate,
fortunately for the case altogether--as our mere candid humanity would
otherwise have had scant practical pressure to bring. Thackeray's novel only by association was he a Thackerayan figure, but much as if the
master's hand had stamped him with the outline and the value, with life been perhaps a pathetic picture, but we had field-days too, when we
accompanied our excellent friend to the Tower, the Thames Tunnel, St. back for a second to _her_) and the fact that a great smooth white cloth
was spread across the denuded room, converted thus into a field of
frolic the prospect of which much excited my curiosity. I but recover long and big O. Mrs. Cannon was always seated at some delicate white or
other needlework, as if she herself made the collars and the neckties the obliging sitter my father, who sat in response to Mr. Thackeray's
desire that his protÃ©gÃ© should find employment. The protector after a but attached, by graceful cross-bands over her white stockings, to her
solid ankles--an emphatic sign of the time; not less than I recover my the _detail_ of the reflection of Thackeray now?--so that as I trod the
vast length of Baker Street, the Thackerayan vista of other days, I
great thought that I, in my appalled state, was probably still more
appalling than the awful agent, creature or presence, whatever he was,
whom I had guessed, in the suddenest wild start from sleep, the sleep his chest. Long was I to have in my ears the repeated shriek of his
alarm, followed by a panting babble of wonder and rage as his impetus appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and behind, was the sounds attendant on the application of blows to some
acrobatic infant who had "funked" his little job. Impossible such had nevertheless given me his attention, one morning, doubtless
patiently enough, in some corner of the villa that we had for the moment
practically to ourselves--I seem to see a small empty room looking on exactly by that continuity of honour, on my awaking, in a summer dawn
many years later, to the fortunate, the instantaneous recovery and
capture of the most appalling yet most admirable nightmare of my life. making their acquaintance (and prolonging it no further than our
conscientious friend thought advisable) I half expected, when alone, to
meet quite dreadfully on the staircase or on opening a door. All this than we had ever seen done, above stairs or below, for victims of its
lighter forms. What was not our dismay therefore when we suddenly
learnt--it must have blown right up and down the street--that mother and somehow continued to project its massive image, that of a great square
block of granite with vast dark warm interiors, across some of the later
and more sensitive stages of my infancy. Clearly--or I should perhaps our earlier residence when, betraying strange pains and apprehensions, I
was with all decision put to bed. Present to me still is the fact of my which he can little enough have dreamed. Of the world he had personally
known there was a feature or two still extant; the legend of his acres
and his local concerns, as well as of his solid presence among them, was than a monster--for mere unresisting or unresilient mass of personal
presence I mean; so that I fairly think of him as a form of bland that took place, still far down-town, at the Bookstore, home of delights
and haunt of fancy. It was at the Bookstore we had called on the day of features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad within my sleep, to be making for my place of rest. The triumph of my
impulse, perceived in a flash as I acted on it by myself at a bound, tables turned upon him by my so surpassing him for straight aggression
and dire intention, my visitant was already but a diminished spot in the
long perspective, the tremendous, glorious hall, as I say, over the knew at home, taking it all as if it were the most natural place in the
world. It was big to me, big to me with the breath of great vague at the misapplied hands of Colonel Newcome, rage at that hushed victim
supremely and dreadfully just thereabouts--by which I mean in the _haute exception had at last taken a turn as far as possible from edifying. And
what they had most in common, the hovering presences, the fitful
apparitions that, speaking for myself, so engaged my imagination, was
appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and distressing young men of means--that his successive exhibitions of it
had a fine high positive effect, such as would have served beautifully,
act after act, for the descent of the curtain. The issue, however pulse of his life and quite some of the principal events of ours; and,
as he was nothing if not expressive, whatever happened to him for inward In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening estate. He did feel rich, just as he felt generous; the misfortune was
only in his weak sense for meanings. That, with the whole situation, presence, who hovered a bit beyond our real reach and apparently
displayed the undomesticated character at its highest. _He_ seemed
exposed, for his pleasure--if pleasure it was!--and my wonder, to every have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a deeply and privately enjoying some of his shades of scorn and seeing
how, given his own background, they were thoroughly founded; I remember
above all as burnt in by the impression he gave me of the creature features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth Remains of Henry James; a reference which has the interest of being very
nearly as characteristic of my father himself (which his references in
almost any connection were wont to be) as of the person or the occasion personalities. There was the difference and the opposition, as I really
believe I was already aware--that one way of taking life was to go in
for everything and everyone, which kept you abundantly occupied, and the without its greatness might have failed him. As the case was to turn
nothing--that is nothing he most wanted and, remarkably, most
enjoyed--did fail him at all. I forget with which of the possible interests of his own, had still less attention for us than either of his
three brothers. The house at Rhinebeck and all its accessories (which professed amazement, and even occasionally impatience, at my reach of
reminiscence--liking as he did to brush away old moral scraps in favour measure, show himself for one of those. He didn't, to all appearance,
for I was afterwards disappointed at the lapse of lurid evidence: that
memory remained with me, as well as a considerable subsequent wonder at or the other more technical thrifty scheme. Of the beauty of his
dissimulated anxiety and tenderness on these and various other suchlike
heads, however, other examples will arise; for I see him now as fairly intensities clearly became "scenes"; but the great thing, the immense
illumination, was that we could make them or not as we chose. It was a
long time of course before I began to distinguish between those within did was thus to flutter down on every stage, literally without
exception, in America and Europe. If the amount of life represented in
such a work is measurable by the ease with which representation is taken louts peeping through the tent of the show. In return I judged their
appearance dissipated though fascinating, and sought consolation for the
memory of their scorn and the loss of their exhibition, as time went on,
appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and that took place, still far down-town, at the Bookstore, home of delights
and haunt of fancy. It was at the Bookstore we had called on the day of the place in after years. Then it was I felt how long before my
attachment had started on its course--that closer vision was no
beginning, it only took up the tale; just as it comes to me again had already developed a huge energy and curiosity, and also an appetite
for lectures? I became aware of the ComÃ©die, I became aware of Chicago;
I also became aware that even the most alluring fiction was not always and educated little returns to the place; for the education of New York,
enjoyed up to my twelfth year, failed to blight its romantic appeal. The
images I really distinguish flush through the maturer medium, but with Her younger sister Gertrude, afterwards married to James--or more
inveterately Jim--Pendleton, of Virginia, followed close upon her heels,
literally speaking, and though emulating her in other respects too, was thrilling than parentally provided ones; and most thrilling when, in the
odd fashion of that time, they were sent to school in New York as a
preliminary to their being sent to school in Europe. They spent scraps and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years than any other single corner of the town, and the short but charged
vista of which lives for me again in the tempered light of those old
winter afternoons. Of scarce less moment than these were our frequent That was European enough, and yet he had returned to America really to
find himself, even with every effort made immediately near him to defeat have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a and after their sort flourished we only asked to admire, or at least to
appreciate, for their rewarding extreme queerness. The very centre of my
particular consciousness of the place turned too soon to the fact of my streets of great towns, in New York still for some time, and then for a
while in London, in Paris, in Geneva, wherever it might be, he was to handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening specimen, with a name that fades from me, of that type of French
establishment for boys which then and for years after so incongruously
flourished in New York; and though he professed a complete satisfaction itself, late one evening and very richly, at the Gloucester Hotel (or
Coffee-House, as I think it was then still called,) which occupied that definitely open, began at last to be effective. Nothing seemed to matter
at all but that I should become personally and incredibly acquainted
with Piccadilly and Richmond Park and Ham Common. I regain at the same operations that were to mean much for many of my coming years. Those of
quiet Mr. Crowe held me spellbound--I was to circle so wistfully, as than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad
appearance and type, it was Augustus James who spread widest, in default
of towering highest, to my wistful view of the larger life, and who
covered definite and accessible ground. This ground, the house and have wished to borrow it; even while conscious that Catherine Barber's
own people had drawn breath in American air for at least two generations
before her. Our father's father, William James, an Irishman and a and give his blessing to the lately-born babe who was to become the
second American William James. The blessing was to be renewed, I may
mention, in the sense that among the impressions of the next early years when, just before our own return, he had come back to America for the
purpose, if my memory serves, of entering the Harvard Law School; and to
see him still always with the smile that was essentially as facial, as In the attempt to place together some particulars of the early life of
William James and present him in his setting, his immediate native and plunged. His mother and sister, also on an earlier page referred to,
had, from their distance, committed him to the great city to be
"finished," educationally, to the point that for our strenuous cousin aspire--to any approach to which in truth I seem to myself ever
conscious of having signally forfeited a title. It glimmers back to me
that I quite definitely and resignedly thought of him as in the most handsomely through all fluttered entertainment of the occasional Albany
cousins. I remember how when one of these visitors, wound up, in honour
of New York, to the very fever of perception, broke out one evening operations that were to mean much for many of my coming years. Those of
quiet Mr. Crowe held me spellbound--I was to circle so wistfully, as without its greatness might have failed him. As the case was to turn
nothing--that is nothing he most wanted and, remarkably, most
enjoyed--did fail him at all. I forget with which of the possible which he can little enough have dreamed. Of the world he had personally
known there was a feature or two still extant; the legend of his acres
and his local concerns, as well as of his solid presence among them, was that he was new, shiningly new, and if he hinted that we might perhaps
in some happy future emulate his big bravery there was nothing so features of his tutelage. The basis of it all was that, harmless as he
appeared, he was not to be trusted; I remember how portentous that truth than his former protectress, had yet much more imagination; she had
enough, in a word, for perfect confidence, and under confidence what
remained of poor Henry's life bloomed like a garden freshly watered. Sad senior; but I cherished the thought of the fine fearless young
fire-eater he would have become and, when the War had broken out, I know distressing young men of means--that his successive exhibitions of it
had a fine high positive effect, such as would have served beautifully,
act after act, for the descent of the curtain. The issue, however through the parts where the glamour might have hung thickest. We were to
see him a little--but two or three times--three or four years later, a glance what it was to be in full possession of Paris. There was speed
in his step, assurance in his air, he was visibly, impatiently on the and others, of a subsequently great New York salience. It was sociable
and gay, it was sordidly spectacular, one was then, by an inch or two, a measured his resources. Not his heart, but his imagination, in the long
years, had been starved; and though he was now all discreetly and wisely
Who does James envy for his superior abilities in regards to the "showy" things? What subjects were not easy for James?  Who did James' family meet on their American tour?  Who mocked James' sister, Alice? What dream did James have when he was older? Where did James find comfort? What was James to embarrassed to do at parties? What did James learn when his cousin was told to not make a scene? What is the story about? What does James suffered from? What two courses did James scorned him for? What is James older brother name? Who felt embarrassed about dancing? How were the scenes made? Who did the family met? What did James Harbored dreamed of? Who did Thackeray mock scolded?   Why did Thackeray mock scorned his sister?  What was James's older brother names? Which school topics were James's weakest areas? What common scolding did James hear someone say to his cousin that inspired him make up stories? Which two famous men did James and his family meet? Why didn't James dance at parties? What was Alice's dress made of the day they met Thackeray?  Where did James's dream of the monstrous attacker take place? How did James feel about the '"showy" aspects of his life? Which place did James frequent after discovering a love for it? James harbored dreams of glory about becoming what?
William His brother, William.
Math and science math and science
William Thackery and Charles Dickens. Thackery and Dickens
William Thackery. William Thackeray
Chasing a big attacker through the halls of the Louvre. routing a monstrous attacker
The theater. the theater
Dance. dance
JAmes learned that scenes are made through stories or plays. that scenes could be created by telling a story or writing a play
A boy love sights and sounds. a boy and his fantasies about family and those around him
Sense of inferiority. a sense of inferiority because of his inability to participate in the more "showy" parts of life
Math and Science. math and science
William. William.
William's brother James. James.
By telling stories or inventing plays. By telling a story or inventing a play.
William Thackeray and Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens and William Thackeray
An artist. glory as an artist
His sister Alice. Alice
For her Crinoline. for her crinoline dress
William. William.
Math and Science. math and science
"Don't make a scene." Don't make a scene.
William Thackeray and Charles Dickens.  William Thackeray and Charles Dickens.
He was too embarrassed. too embaressed
Crinoline.   Crinoline.
The Louvre. The Louvre
Inferior.  inferior
The theater. the theater
An artist.  An artist.