The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1866-10-13
CONCERNING STORIES.

CONCERNING STORIES.
THE hewilderingnumber of new MAJ
azincs and the amount of material, sIch
as it is, which goes to fill them, is nor
the least wonder of our time. Besides
the leading tale, the piece of poetry, the
column of Jokes, or the solid article,
which nearly all contain, there is usually
short sketch or story, and it is with
this branch of periodical catering that
we have to deal. If examined closely,
| these stories indicate a great deal more
than would appear on their own show
| ing. First on the score of antiquity,
they can claim priority over the big
novel itself, which preccdc5 them in
order of place, and is being slowly con-
Quoted upon an illustrated career under
the direction of popular author. Be-
fore the novel came cthenovelettc,- c,-hOm-
uncuiuS before homo. Stories are prOba-
bly, as old a. speech but your novel 1--WE
use the word in its ordinary acceptationl
always from its length, required to be
booked. The Greeks told stories, and
very good ones. AntOnius Diogcncs
went in for n regular romance--the loves
of Dinias and Dyrcyilis but it possesses
nothing in common with our works of
fiction, except, of course, the element of
tender passions, without which nothing
of the kind could move. But the Greek
tales were excellent. Even in the Greek
Christian times, when Pan was dead,
capital adventures were struck out,
which, if they dealt rather freely with
sacred subjects, one is inclined to con-
done for their offences on the ground of
no harm done.
In the middle ages these tales were
re-cchoed along with others, and enrich
cd, too, with marvels brought from the
East, monsters from the North, and
plenty of devils from the mOnaStic leg
; ends. Then there were the jOnglcurs,
minncsingcrs, and trOubadours, who
Travelled on the strength of Il popular
, taste for Vcrse-stories; but if report
speaks true concerning the jongleurs,
: they added to their rCpert0ires an attrac-
ton similar to that which brings nightly
crowds to the ballet music halls of Lon
. don. Italy is regarded as the direct
;. source of our novels and noveliStS
, Buccaccio's tales were known under the
latter title, and to some Italian stories
=, we are said to be indebted for "Thc
. Merchant of Venice" The middle age
narratives were all pretty nearly of one
, color, and of rather Il high flavor for our
% generation, but MANY of them wcreboth
clever and caustic. LongtelloW gives
y an excellent imitation or adoption Of
o one in his Martin Franc; or, the Monk
of St. Anthony" Our English tales of
- the Elizabethan age are sngularly dull
= and pointcss. After the Restoration
, they were livclier, when, to paraphasc a
>, hackneycd quotation,
O THE taste became mora Gallo and less nlcc;"
|, but in the days Of Queen Anne, under
: the direction of Mr.. Addison, the sto-
! ries were mere galvanized distractions,
| thinly disguised allcgories, in which
y Greeks and full-bOttumed wig of the
e " Spectators" Romans impaired elc-
Il CANT precepts in the period. Nor was
II the great photographer good story
i teller. In the " Rambler" men and
e women are made to speak language as
d fine and as improbable rs the speeches
which the worthy doctor prescribed ioT
: his tory iavoritcs in the House Of Com
II mons. Goldsmith, however, was n de-
e lightful narrator; the "IIistory Of the
a. PhilosOphic Nagabond' is gem in thi'
T. way. Fielding had a heavy manner OF
r. going about story; but Smollct was
'd master in the craft. When the Della
10 Cruscan gushing spoiled our poetry
+ stories in that strange tongue appcare'
TO in " Amulets" and souvenirs" Tn
le plates in those books used to be DELI
N Cruscan too--finicGl, nerveless, and EN-
IS aSculatc. A great Improvement tool
s. placein hcpalmy days of BlackWood,
Ks " Fraser" and Bentley" \ sort o
lis lIogurthiap humor pcrVaded the shorto
tales-a humor OF which the cOntcmpC
n rnncOus artists caught n fair share of tn
e, spirit. Maginn, Thackeray, Rarhan
so and l4ockhart We're seldom better tina
ol when confined to chapters instead G
nd volumes. ltis remarkable, indeed, In,
nd as stories fast gave rise to novels, W
nd may notice that every romantic write
n, Of original power sends upa few pile
he balloons, fashioned in his own Peculh
at style, before Venturing the grand aScen
Mr.. Dickens fit his ground with 1907
lat aud the author Of Vanity Fair" il
trusted Michael Angelo Titmarah wit