Mr. Scudder and the Atlantic

THE Atlantic records with sorrow the death, on January 11, 1902, of its former editor, Horace Elisha Scudder. He was in his sixty-fourth year, and had borne with characteristic cheerfulness and courage an illness of many months’ duration. Mr. Scudder assumed the conduct of the Atlantic in 1890, upon the resignation of Mr. Aldrich, and he remained in charge of it until 1898. He then relinquished the task, in order to devote himself more completely to the general editorial supervision of the publications of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., as well as to his own Life of Lowell, upon which he was already engaged. For many years before he succeeded to the editorship of the magazine he was one of its most frequent contributors. He preferred to write anonymously, for the most part, and very few of the many admirers of his skillful literary workmanship are aware that he has contributed more pages to the Atlantic than any other writer. Thoroughly loyal, from the time of his earliest ventures in authorship, to the best traditions of the magazine, it was natural that his own period of editorship, falling in his maturer years, should reflect a fastidious taste and cautious temper. It happened that his term of editorial service came within a decade when the popularizing tendency in American magazines became accentuated, both by the launching of new and low-priced periodicals, and by the efforts of the older magazines, through the increased use of illustrations and otherwise, to attract the attention of a larger and larger element of the public. Mr. Scudder’s prudent and high-minded conservatism was strongly impressed upon the readers of the magazine. But this was not all. A survey of its contents during those years will reveal his versatility of resource, and the wide range of important themes upon which he solicited contributions. The moral earnestness which was a part of his New England heritage caused him to lay especial stress upon educational and social topics, and many of the more vital discussions which have appeared in the Atlantic since its direction passed into other hands have been the result of suggestions originally made by Mr. Scudder.

Indeed, one may not inappropriately say of Mr. Horace Scudder, as Goldsmith did of his publisher, Newbery, that he had “a projecting head.” He was full of literary projects, both for himself and those who sought his counsel. Endowed with an extraordinary capacity for rapid, dexterous work, his various and unintermitted activity as a man of letters was controlled by a sure intelligence. His genius for planning and executing literary tasks can best be appreciated by his daily associates, yet a wide circle of his contemporaries will join them in bearing testimony to the patience and unwearied courtesy with which Mr. Scudder placed himself at the disposal of all who wished to ask his advice. Scores of American bookmen have reason to be grateful for his kindness. Writers who prepared books under his editorial supervision will retain a vivid impression of his mastery of detail, finished scholarship, and insight into the conditions demanded by the particular task. The fine reticence which made him, in his own words, shrink from the “ glare of publicity, ” and allow much of his best work to appear either without his signature or marked at most by his initials, did not prevent a general recognition of the consummate skill which he manifested as editor-in-chief of such series as the Cambridge Poets and the Riverside Literature Series. As was true in scarcely less a measure of his friend and associate for twenty-five years, Mr. Azariah Smith, whose death followed swiftly upon Mr. Scudder’s, the gift of ripe judgment and the grace of discriminating speech were recognized by fellow workmen throughout the country. There could be no truer or more coveted reward.

In this brief record of the respect and affection of Mr. Scudder’s successors in the conduct of the Atlantic, and of his associates in the publishing house where so large a portion of his life was passed, it is needless to comment upon the characteristics of his original contributions to our literature. His most important book, the life of Lowell, was reviewed in the preceding number of this magazine. He had the happiness not only of completing this noteworthy biography, but of enjoying, in the last days of his life, the spontaneous words of praise which it elicited. He was the author of many delightful books for children, of which the Bodley Books are the best known, and his volume on Childhood in Literature and Art was one of the first in a field which has yielded rich harvests. The volume of essays entitled Men and Letters is a proof of his rare accomplishments as a critic. It contains many passages of delicate beauty, but nothing more intimate in its charm than the dedication to Henry Mills Alden, where one becomes softly aware of the revelation of a nature affectionate, sensitive, and proud. The scope of Mr. Scudder’s intellectual and moral sympathies drew him into many practical activities in the service of history, education, and religion. He was a valued trustee of various institutions, and notably of Williams, his own college. In all these relations of life his perfect integrity of mind and the charm of his singularly pure and unselfish nature won for him steadfast friends. But he was first of all a man of letters, devoted to his calling and cherishing lofty views of its responsibilities, and it is through his connection with literature that his useful and loving life will be remembered.