THE LATE MR. STEPHEN REYNOLDS. [To ran Barron or znx
" Seeentroa.") Sut—The Spectator was, I think, among the 'first to recognize. On the appearance of A Poor Man's House, that Its author, Mr. Stephen Reynolds, had struck a new note in -literature. Not only had he something new to say, in describing from the
inside the life and the point or view of a fisherman's family., but he had handled his characters with, true insight and sympathy, and in fresh and attractive literary form. The. book was thus a contribution not only to literature, but, to sociology. When. therefore Reynolds, still in the prime of life, was struck down by pneumonia a few weeks ago one natur- ally looked in this columns of the Spectator for some reference, to his early death, and some appreciation of the unique work he had done both as a writer end as a pioneer in improving the condition of the longshore fisherman. As no such reference has appeared, I ask to be allowed to say a few words about him. My own' acquaintance with him dates from the time when, in 1910, he approached our firm in- regard to the publication of his second study' of fieher-folk—Atongshere—and as I had already delighted in A Poor Man's House (transferred to no in the same year) we soon became intimate friends. His person- ality was singularly attractive, and his talk vigorous and racy. One might not always agree with his views on social questions, but one felt that-they were genuinely held, and inspired by an earnest-desire to promote better relations between the classes. His decision, after a period of probation, to throw in his lot with a working-class family eras due to the feeling that only in this way meld he come to understand their point of view, and then, by his skill as a writer, interpret it to others. The Iwo books- I have named, and the later eollection of stories, published under the title How 'Twee, were written with this aim, and decidedly, hit, the mark; but in them he used the results of his observation- as it were,objeetively. In his later book, Seems So, a 117pH:trig Class Vieto of Politics, he went a step further, and actually assoeiated his colleagues. Bob and Tom Woolley, in the work. The book, as explained in the, Preface, waa,hammered out between them in many a-long talk; and though the pen was hie, the thoughts were mainly those of the fishermen. Both in manuscript and proof it underwent their revision, and, rightly regarding it as largely their own handiwork, they took a natural pride in seeing their names on the title-page. The frontispiece, which shows the three authors grouped around a beaten Sidmoxith beach, addle a human touch to a literary document of *unique value.
It was my privilege on several visits to Sidmouth, lessee Reynolds in his self-chosen- surroundings, and to make friends with these admirable specimens of the stock from which the British Navy has for generations past drawn its finest recruits. I saw something too of the practical work he was doing for the fishermen both in ensuring them, by co-operative methods, a better return for their arduous toil, and, in enlarging their harvest by the introduction of motors, which enabled them to go further afield and made them less dependent on tide and weather. A day spent in his company after he had become a Fisheries Inspector gate me an opportunity of seeing how much, his keen interest in their welfare was appreciated by the men at_ other Devon fiehing-ports which we visited in his ear. Of his wider sphere of activity during the war, and the invaluable work he had already done for the fishing industry in Devon. and Cornwall, a full amount was given in the Literary Supple- ment of'the Times the week after hie death by his chief,Mr. Cecil Harmsworth, who- also paid a warm tribute to his personal oleara.eter. One may hope that the work he did so much in initiate will' still be carried on, but it will be hard indeed to replace the' eager devotion, the insight' and sympathy, which inspired- his labours. The death of such a man just at this moment, when men with these very qualities are so sorely needed to deal in the right spirit with urgent industrial problems, is a grave loss to the nation at large—I am, Sir, de,
Geones A. Macznizaw. [Seems So, as we are glad to remind our readers,first appeared as . series of articles in the Spectator in 1909.—ED. Spectator.]
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