Books by Woodrow Wilson CONGRESSIONAL GOVERNMENT. A Study in American Politics. 16mo, $1.25. MERE LITERATURE, and Other Essays. 12mo, $1.50. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK MERE LITERATURE _AND OTHER ESSAYS_ BY WOODROW WILSON [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge Copyright, 1896, BY WOODROW WILSON _All rights reserved._ TO STOCKTON AXSON BY EVERY GIFT OF MIND A CRITIC AND LOVER OF LETTERS BY EVERY GIFT OF HEART A FRIEND THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED CONTENTS. PAGE I. MERE LITERATURE 1 II. THE AUTHOR HIMSELF 28 III. ON AN AUTHOR’S CHOICE OF COMPANY 50 IV. A LITERARY POLITICIAN 69 V. THE INTERPRETER OF ENGLISH LIBERTY 104 VI. THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER 161 VII. A CALENDAR OF GREAT AMERICANS 187 VIII. THE COURSE OF AMERICAN HISTORY 213 ⁂ All but one of the essays brought together in this volume have already been printed, either in the _Atlantic Monthly_, the _Century Magazine_, or the _Forum_. The essay on Burke appears here for the first time in print. MERE LITERATURE. I. “MERE LITERATURE.” A singular phrase this, “mere literature,”--the irreverent invention of a scientific age. Literature we know, but “mere” literature? We are not to read it as if it meant _sheer_ literature, literature in the essence, stripped of all accidental or ephemeral elements, and left with nothing but its immortal charm and power. “Mere literature” is a serious sneer, conceived in all honesty by the scientific mind, which despises things that do not fall within the categories of demonstrable knowledge. It means _nothing but literature_, as who should say, “mere talk,” “mere fabrication,” “mere pastime.” The scientist, with his head comfortably and excusably full of knowable things, takes nothing seriously and with his hat off, except human knowledge. The creations of the human spirit are, from his point of view, incalculable vagaries, irresponsible phenomena, to be regarded only as play, and, for the mind’s good, only as recreation,--to be used to while away the tedium of a railway journey, or to amuse a period of rest or convalescence; mere byplay, mere make-believe.