HENRY GEORGE - CITIZEN OF THE WORLD by ANNA GEORGE de MILLE
INTRODUCTION ANNA GEORGE de MILLE A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR by AGNES
de MILLE THE MOST astonishing aspect of the Henry George legend was
his effect on all people with whom he came into per sonal contact.
Without exception everyone, man or woman, was overwhelmed. He
seemed to command a power, particularly in his later years, that
was almost mystic. Men did not merely admire, they worshipped. I
have met people who differed from his theories I have yet to meet
anyone who heard him speak or who knew him and was not dazzled.
They became disciples, followers, and heralds, or in the case of
his avowed political enemies, reluctant admirers. Today, fifty
years after his death, old mens eyes fill with tears at the mention
of his name, and I, the granddaughter, have been asked to take off
my hat so that the shape of my head could be studied, if strangers
could be moved to such immoderation, how should a daughter born and
reared in the aura of this blazing personality set herself to tell
the story with historical coolness? She was aware of the hazard.
With humbleness, with indus try, with watchfulness lest she betray
her purpose by any weak ening exuberance, she tried to tell the
facts. She was afraid that her relationship would discredit the
argument. She did not realize that her relationship was her
contribution, and that the overtone of faith that rings through
every sentence gives the work its fervor and true meaning. She
thought to safeguard her impersonal approach with little
subterfuges and masquerades like the enchantingly naive paragraph
on page 198 in which she says it was an accident that all of
Georges children adopted his ideas indeed, a son of Gandhi would
have had as fair a chance of turning militarist as a young George
of embracing high tariff protectionism. In her effort at discipline
she all but obliterated herself from die tale. She neglected, for
instance, to note the fact of her birth, and the date had to be
inserted by her editors. More remarkably, she very nearly
eliminated her own mother in a kind of biographical suttee. Mrs.
George was by all indications a woman of unusual strength and
nobility, but, although she was my mothers constant companion, a
real paucity of incident il lustrates her memory. One gathers what
she was by reflection in her husbands life and through his letters.
It is in the family traditions, however, and in my mothers
character that one must look for the fantasy and liveliness of
spirit that I believe were hers. Henry George had heartiness, but
his wife had drollery, caprice, and the delicate conceits to make
all family occurrences festivals of charming invention. It was she
who danced like a sprite and loved music for its own sake he
believed all art should serve a moral purpose. It was she who
thought the graces of life worth time and energy, as it was only
she, tff course, who had the time to foster them.
General
Imprint: |
Read Books
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
November 2006 |
First published: |
November 2006 |
Authors: |
Anna George
|
Dimensions: |
216 x 140 x 17mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
316 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4067-2883-5 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
1-4067-2883-7 |
Barcode: |
9781406728835 |
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