The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-08
LITTRATURE.
WHY win They Not Diel

ago, by saying that sin the former the heroine
endured three volumes of disasters to secure
a husband, while in the latter she starts
with two lords. and devotes three volumes to
getting rid of one of them" While, how
ever, few years ago, bigamy, or rather,
polygamy, was fashionable in the world of
fiction, the plot had, anyhow, the merit of
generally terminating with the death of the
villain and the happy life of the virtuous.
But OF late marked change Pas come over
the spirit of the writer's dream. The villains,
with a tenacity utterly in opposition to
propriety, have unanimously refused to die.
A greater respect for animal lite has never
been exhibited by the strictest vegeta-
ran than characterizes the treatment by the
writers OF the personages they call into life.
With the tender solictude of a mother,
they nurse the villains through sickness, lead
them to the footstool of repentance, guarantee
them forgiveness, and let. them start in life
afresh, and disappear from our gaze high
minded men. Now, while this modern treat
ment may be very conducive to the increase
of population, yet it robs us of those deli
cious death.bed scenes which can be de
scribed with such melo. dramatic effect
What has become of the moral lesson incul
Gated by the ruined and baffled scoundre
who used to raise himself up in his bed,
utter few well-chosen words of warning to
The young, and then fall back a corpse?
Will any advocate of the new system of ethics
in fiction dare to tell us that the repentance
and future happiness of the human fend are
half-no, not O tithe-as satisfactory as
this highly respectable termination OF a career
of crime?
We view this amended theory of plots as
an instance OF the degeneracy of the age, and
are not loss to account for this unwarranted
respect for human life. Not decade since,
delicate lady would gloat and revel over
the killing off of half dozen tellow-crea-
lures. This wholesale homicide was not only
done because it came in her way, but she
positively went out Of her path to stand like
"Pescara," and detail their last hours. But the
heart of the female novelist has melted since
the war. The sight OF so much human blood
has convinced her that it is the duty of all
writers to cultivate an increase of the
nation; SO, instead of having the wicked
and the erring die, she reforms them all, and
the Mercy Vints become mothers of ten
children each, while to the Griffith Gaunts
is given carte blanche.
However favorable such a reform may be
to the growth OF the census, yet it is certainly
injurious to the cause of literature and
morality. We have said thst the decease of
the villain serves to point a moral and adorn
tale, but the death of the virtuous is also
fine effect 1t was nearly universal once, when
this false sentimentality caused the author to
picture to us a perfection of beauty, a
fair nymph, whose spotless form was too good
for earth, and who lived an ethereal life, enlist
ing our sympathy by supporting life on cup
of mocha day. Then this exquisite creature
is about to marry, and we feel convinced that
a blissfu future is in store for her. How it
touched the feelings and drew forth the tears
to see her hurried to a premature
grave! Or young man struggling to gain
q noble end, having just got it within his
grasp, falls lifeless on the very threshold OF
success. All! when such was the ruling
motive of the writer, we could indeed know
what Byron calls the "luxury OF tears" Now,
however, their ethereal creations follow the
example of the villains, and exhibit longe-
vity truly astonishing. In fact, judging from
their remarkable strength, we would recon-
mend mocha as an article of nourishment.
They shock all our more delicate sensibilities
by their persistent adherence to the dross of
this life, and again we ask these creatures,
"Why will they not die?"
We do not question thus without meaning
what we say. 1t is not all badinage. The
hero and heroines of the latest novels never
die, nor do any OF the characters. Let us
take an instance from Griffith Gaunt." Had
the hero only died, how comfortable every
thing would have come out! How every
knotty point would have been unravelled,
and the whole thing simplifed! Kate Gaunt
would have married Sir George Neville, and
Mercy have lived life of solitude, dispensing
charity and exemplifying goodness. This
would have been natural and proper, But
no; Griffith would not die. The conclusion
was ruined, and the whole novel made fail.
ure. And so it with the whole batch of novels
lately received. Let the writers turn their
pens into swords, Sand slay and slay and
slay." 1t gives zest to the work. By letting
loose the floodgates of wrath, the termination
is simplifed, and melo-dramatic effect
secured. We say, then, decapitate without
mercy, and whenever hero seems ripe for
plucking, have no hesitation in ending his
life. "Of with his head. So much for
Buckingham"