6–38895.
Descriptive note in Annual, 1906.
“It is only a Stevenson or a Howells who could achieve fascination for [this task]. But Mr. Howells is triumphantly successful. The American humor, which has always been attuned, in Mr. Howells, to a delicate strain, becomes tender whimsicality. We know no one who writes more beautifully in modern English.”
| + + | Ath. 1907. 1: 435. Ap. 13. 1040w. |
“How dare we use anything so rough and rude as the downright word praise of anything so delicate?”
| + + | Lond. Times. 6: 100. Mr. 29, ’07. 1590w. | |
| + | Spec. 98: 450. Mr. 23, ’07. 1560w. |
Howells, William Dean. [Through the eye of the needle.] †$1.50. Harper.
7–15545.
Part 1 of this sociological story contains a view of modern New York as seen by a traveler from Altruria. The tall, bleak apartment houses, the social distinctions, and the greed for gain impress him so strongly that he says at the very outset,—“If I spoke with Altrurian breath of the way New Yorkers live, I should begin by saying that the New Yorkers do not live at all.” Part 2 contains an account of Altruria as seen by the American wife whom he takes home with him, and who has a difficult time adjusting her American ideas to a country which has neither money nor social gradations, and, where lord and farmer work happily for their living, side by side.