Litchfield enquirer., 1869-07-15
MRS. STOVES NEW NOVEL $

MhS. SlOWES NEW NOVELs c1 "oID Tows FoLks," by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stove Published by Fields, i Osgood O., Boston. sas la sesansz
 We rise from the pernsal of the foregoing work with the unwilling conviction that Mrs. Stowe's last work is a, tiresome book. We See it highly commended on all hands, and much of the commendation is deserv- ed; nevertheless. s'Old Town Folks, seems to us as near complete failure as a SO orig inal, forcible. and SO cqaltolic a writer as Mrs. Stowe could come. In fact we are strikingly reminded at every step of noth- CT wearisome journey we took. not long since, through the slow pages Of Mir. Hen " Ward Beecller's ''Norweod." That yer bose luxuriance of style which may suit the sermon, but which the novel cannot en- dnre, weakens, many sentence in < Old Town Folks, as it dilntes every page of "Norwood ;' while the wonderful coinci- dence of view regarding human nature in general, and New England nature in par ticnlar, shows how largely both have drawn on what We might term family fund of experience The chief defect of the book, however, arises from the utter incongruity of it's plot It is picture of New Eng land life and manners, Sunday School Book, and a protest against CAlvinism com
 bined. A slight sketch will indicate the sluggishness of its action :3i'@ "13 --
 The scene is laid in country town near Boston, commencing about 176S. One of the heroes, and the narrator of the story, is thrown, by the death of his faith
 CT, into the family of his maternal grandfather, Deacon Badger, for support. Simultaneously. two other children, ,alseIh TO and heroine, 80 far as novel without par ticle of sentiment can be said to have hero and heroine, are left alone in the world by the death of their mother, the deserted wife of British officer, who is trying to travel through with them to Boston on foot. They are first laid hold of by two skinfints, brother and sister, by whom they are considerably tortured, especially the heroine. They finally escape. me- ander about in a romantic way, and bring up at last at Deacon Badgers. A lonely ] a,d maid nf sin,itAa naoens, but auiimlted good nature, adopts the little girl. From this point matters move sluggishly on, in- yolving only g thanksgiving dinner, and a visit to Boston, till, just about two-thirds through the work, the party start off for an Academy school at Cloudlapd." where they are joined by the second heroine, and study very hard, with only the variety of 2 minister's wood spell, a revival of religion, and a school exhibition, for two hundred pages. Finally, at the page 5O8 of vol ume just eos pages long, the boys enter col lege. Even then the interest does not ac- celerate in, the slightest. The narrating hero's heroine unexpectedly turns up en- gagged to an Aaron Burrish sort of 9 fellow, who cheats and neglects her, and finally dies just ten years after. the marriage 5; whereupon the true hero steps in and in due time takes his own. The. other pair were certainly married, but exactly when, how, or what for. we cannot now recollect. Throughout the whole work the thread of the story is so, weak that it fails to .estab
 fish any substantial connection between the characters that crowd it's pages; or to give any personal interest to the religious arguments and suggestions that make up more than half it's bulk. Mrs. Stowe has failed, in short, because she has attempted too much. b. Her Yankee Traits hang loose- ly about her Child's Story, and her Anti Calvinism extinguishes what little interest remains. Some of her New England sketch es are excellent, but they are turned over
 to us in an entirely crude state a' It is a
 portfolio full of studies taken from real Yankee life, but not harmonized into sin gle live Yankee. Tiresome Sam Lawson appears dd mauseam, but he always appears in caricature Uncle Fliakim is a moro fragrant caricature still,l resembling, per- haps. some live original, but giving no dis tinct idea of any human thing whatever.
 Worse still. the book iabounds in elaborate- ly described characters, who, after their introduction, totally disappear, often with out doing anything or saying anything of the slightest importance. aggo;.,e s;d s Viewed as la Childs Story, we cannot speakiin the highest terms of ]" Old Town Folks" Itiresembles the common run of Sunday School literature in painting too rose-colored child-life Master Harry Per, cival is far too good for any thought of im- itation on the part of mere mortal youth. Miss. Esther Avery, the good girl of the book. sexcites so little enthusiasm that we see her make the good boy of the book happy. near it's close, without, .twinge; of envy. { For the narrating herou wefeel the slightest possible interest. much as seems to deserve it and the fascinations of Miss Tina Percivaf overpowers every one else. Sd easily that we wonder they do not overpow.