Two Famous Authors on Tour — and Haweis Fires His First Shot at Ingersoll in Seattle

During the week the only attractions were the famous authors Haweis and Kennan, and of these Haweis received the greater attention. His first lecture on "Foundations," at St. Mark's last Sunday evening, was listened to by an attentive throng that taxed the capacity of the church, and his subsequent appearances at the Seattle Theater called for large audiences. Haweis is completely English, and not a few of his expressions and mannerisms amuse the average American because of their singularity, and these almost led some of his hearers to accuse him of affectation, or even snobbishness. But through all these peculiarities his genius shines forth, and his lectures were enjoyed as intellectual treats. His discussion of "Music, the Art of the Age" deserves all that has been said about it, but his visit to Seattle will be more memorable for the fact that here he first took up the cudgels against Ingersoll. This lecture was prepared in the course of two days, at the suggestion of Rev. D. C. Garrett, and will be repeated throughout Mr. Haweis' American tour. It differs from other replies to the great agnostic in restating the position of Christian believers in the light of recent investigations and scientific discoveries, and abandoning the untenable position of outworn creeds. It is by thus breaking away from the beaten tracks of the Christian controversialists of the past, and taking up a new position against the assailants of his faith, that Mr. Haweis has made himself a recognized leader of thought in the whole English-speaking world.

In contrast with Mr. Haweis, who is distinctly English, was George Kennan, who has risen from a humble telegraph operator to his present position among men of letters; he is a representative American, and his clear-cut descriptions, showing the wonderful possibilities of the language, were listened to with rapt attention. Kennan's "Mountains and Mountaineers of the Caucasus" was perhaps better liked than "Vagabond Life in Eastern Europe," yet each showed the bold strokes of a master hand. Kennan was overshadowed because Haweis was new and widely celebrated as an exponent of greater freedom in the established church, but Kennan, after all, would seem to have as many admirers in Seattle as the Broad-Church man.