Recent Biography [pp. 98-102]

Recent Biography.
andBar in California,' a compendium of
local biography, written in newspaper
style, and giving in bright, anecdotal
form the peculiarities and characteristics
of local lawyers. As many of the men noticed are still alive, the notices follow the
general rule in such cases, and are more
eulogistic than critical. It will be a book
to be kept on file in newspaper offices
for handy reference in writing obituary
notices of these men as they pass away.
It is pleasant reading, however, and probably was not intended to be of permanent historical value.
It is a relief to turn from such as these
to a group of five memoirs, which are at
once valuable and interesting. Four of
them deal with people whose brilliancy
of intellect or successful achievement
entitle them to universal consideration.
The fifth,2 though its subject was more
obscure in the extent of his reputation,
is fully justified in its existence by the
attractive personality of the man himself. The life of Fleeming Jenkin reads
more like a novel than a biography;
that is, in reading it one feels the same
quickening influence, the same stirring
of the better feelings, the same impression of being put in touch with one's fellows in their sympathies and aspirations,
that it is the special mission of the novel
to impart. Few men in these later days
have had his courage in living up to
their ideals. A confirmed optimist, he
had the strictest rules of conduct for
himself, and never seems to have found
out that he might have cut loose from
them as he allowed others to do. His
attitude towards life was pathetically
brave, and while a poor man, young and
with his battle to fight, he settled down
to the contest with the dogged perseverance we denominate heroic, confident
from the start that if he persevered there
was no question as to the end. At first
XBench and Bar in California. Bv Oscar T. Shuck.
San Francisco. The Occident Printing House. x887-8.
2 Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin. B\ Robert Louis
Stevenson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1887.
For sale in San Francisco by Samuel Carson & Co.
an engineer, he turned his attention to
electrical applications, -especially telegraphic cables then attracting attention in the scientific world, and by sheer
pluck and application lifted himself to
reputation and a competency.
It was not this success, however, but
the man himself that was remarkable.
Even Mr. Ruskin would approve as an
example a man who, when in his darkest
days, separated from his family, sick, and
in pecuniary trouble, could write to his
wife on the'occasion of her removing
their sick child from town: " The country will give us, please God, health and
strength. I will love and cherish you
more than ever, you shall go where you
wish, you shall receive whom you wish,
-and as for money, you shall have that
too. I cannot be mistaken. I have now
measured myself with many men. I do
not feel weak. I do not feel that I shall
fail. In many things I have succeeded,
and I will in this. And meanwhile the
time of waiting, which, please God, shall
not be so long, shall also not be so bitter. Well, well, I promise much, and do
not know at this moment how you and
the dear child are. If he is but better,
courage, my girl, for I see light."
The same spirit speaks in the following reference to his work: "I do like
this bloodless, painless combat with wood
and iron, forcing the stubborn rascals to
do my will, licking the clumsy cubs into
an active shape, seeing the child of
today's thought working tomorrow in
full vigor at his appointed task."
No one ever got more real pleasure
out of life than Fleeming Jenkin. He
was almost childish in his openness to
impression. "If I don't cry at a play,"
he says, "I want to have my money
back." He was concerned about everything that was a part of life. His children found him more interested than
themselves in all their childish plans
and sports. To his wife, from their
courtship till his death, he remained
the same constant and devoted lover.
100
[Jan.