On August 27, 1914, in London, I made this
note in a memorandum book: "Met Arthur Ran-
some at -----'s; discussed a book on the Russian's
relation to the war in the light of psychological
background -- folklore." The book was not writ-
ten but the idea that instinctively came to him per-
vades his every utterance on things Russian.

The versatile man who commands more than
respect as the biographer of Poe and Wilde; as the
translator of and commentator on Rémy de Gour-
mont; as a folklorist, has shown himself to be
consecrated to the truth. The document that
Mr. Ransome hurried out of Russia in the early
days of the Soviet government (printed in the
New Republic and then widely circulated as a
pamphlet), was the first notable appeal from a
non-Russian to the American people for fair play
in a crisis understood then even less than now.

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