Peter Whiffle His Life and Works _BOOKS BY CARL VAN VECHTEN_ INTERPRETERS IN THE GARRET THE MERRY-GO-ROUND THE MUSIC OF SPAIN THE TIGER IN THE HOUSE MUSIC AND BAD MANNERS LORDS OF THE HOUSETOPS MUSIC AFTER THE GREAT WAR PETER WHIFFLE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS Peter Whiffle His Life and Works _Carl Van Vechten_ New York Alfred · A · Knopf MCMXXIII COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, Inc. _Published, April, 1922_ _Second Printing, April, 1922_ _Third Printing, May, 1922_ _Fourth Printing, June, 1922_ _Fifth Printing, July, 1922_ _Sixth Printing, August, 1922_ _Seventh Printing, October, 1922_ _Eighth Printing, March, 1923_ _Ninth Printing, July, 1923_ _Set up, electrotyped, printed and bound by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton, N.Y. Paper furnished by W.F. Etherington & Co., New York._ MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER, ADA AMANDA FITCH VAN VECHTEN "_'Tingling is the test,' said Babbalanja, 'Yoomy, did you tingle, when that song was composing?'_ "_'All over, Babbalanja.'_" Herman Melville: Mardi. "_We work in the dark--we do what we can--we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art._" Dencombe: The Middle Years. "_Les existences les plus belles sont peut-être celles qui ont subi tous les extrêmes, qui ont traversé toutes les températures, rencontré toutes les sensations excessives et tous les sentiments contradictoires._" Remy de Gourmont: Le Chat de Misère. "_The man who satisfies a ceaseless intellectual curiosity probably squeezes more out of life in the long run than any one else._" Edmund Gosse: Books on the Table. "_O mother of the hills, forgive our towers; O mother of the clouds, forgive our dreams._" Edwin Ellis. _Preface_