Hamilton W. Mabie

Hamilton Wright Mabie was a sweet soul. The graciousness of his life is not to be extracted from the titles of his signed writings, nor altogether gathered from their contents, pleasant and appreciative as the contents were. His life was much more a career of editorial ministration, a ministration as sincere and earnest toward the public, as it was kindly and helpful to contributors to The Outlook and to writers whose books often gained through his reviews.

Mabie graduated from Williams College in 1867, and took up the study of law, which he found uncongenial. Happily, he joined the staff of The Outlook (then The Christian Union) in 1879; became one of the editors at the beginning of 1884, and continued in this glad service to the end. Untold numbers of editorials, literary articles, and reviews came from his pen; and occasionally he collected his essays in a book. Parables of Life, Backgrounds of Literature, American Ideals, My Study Fire, are among his best known volumes. He was in wide demand as a lecturer, and not long since delivered a course of lectures in Japan. He had been honored with various university degrees, and was a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters. Kindly activities filled out his life; he was devoted to the New York Kindergarten Association of which he was for years the president. An active and influential member of the Episcopal church, he was also a man whose vital religious faith and assurance of the life to come brought him cheerfulness and peace. His religion was as benignant as his domestic, his social, and editorial life, into all of which it entered.

Henry Osborn Taylor
1917 Century Association Yearbook