New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-05-14
BOSTON.
LITERARY NOTES.

POEM BY c. p. CRANCH
fFRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF The IEiDuNn
Boston, May H." Has not Mr.. uo"ehS
proved nimself the American novelist in this Chanee
Aonon,nce n, b 90 asked an enthusiastic critic, the
other day And yet 1t Is not precisely for the ques
that usually the stock in trade OF tue '"
one most Inclined 10 praise this tale whieh wi" %
euded in the June Atlantic and. the next DAY eer tno
issue OF the magazine, be delivered over, oound manu-
and foot TO the tender rces Of the reviewers ana he
world. Ruskin speaks somewhere OF PORTRAITS WHO"
paint the outside only-which are like, as Madame
Toussauds wax figures are like with satirical verify,
hooking fe-likeness. that could never have Deeh me-
Such Is not the pOrtraItpainting OF Mr. HoWcs' iou
are sure that his people must been alive You are
sre also that you could have painted them a no
has done that ms eyes have mysterious amounting
which has helped him TO catch the eetng hues OF their
subtlest expressions know them, as they are hardly
self-conscious enough to know themselves He 49,
everywhere and above all, poet; and poetry
implies analysis well as construction per
ceptIon OF the most delicate detals as
web az a wide range OF vision. The old worlu ltseI
could scarcely supplied exquisite background
as Mr. HoweIs chose for his story when ne iald INC
scene in Quebec in connection with the various exeur-
sons he made from there. The old walled town. with
its auanty-named streets, its cathedras and converts
and black-robed nuns, is as effective as European
cathedral town always story and one mas, IN au-
dition, the fresh, unhackneyed beauty OF American
scenery-the dreamy lOveliness amid which Chateau-
Bgot is falling into decay the great sad st. Lawrence,
the somber saguenay 1t in excursion to this lat
ter river that first introduced TO the drdmdhs
persona Col. Ellison and his pleasant, good-tempered
wife are specimen Westerners from Milwaukee, Wiscon-
SIM with all the Western virtues-generosty hospital
ity, good.nature and frankness. On their way East
they have stopped at Erecreek, and brought on with
them their pretty young cousin, Kitty Ellison, 10 sec
Niagara. "seeing Niagara" has already grown TO in
| oIuI Nor nd
party are on an excursion steamer waiting for 1t TO
start for the saguenay. Kitty is a wd-rose OF girl
She has lived at Erecreek, with her Uncle Jack and
his family since fathers death in Kansas She has
hitherto nothing OF the world. Dut she
has read and dreamed much She Is exquistely refined
though hers not Onventonal goodbreeding or so
eety but rather the innate perception OF beauty and
fitness OF a beautiful soul. Wltha she has deal OF
shrewd common sense, and keen discrimination. Her
longashed gray eyes, her sensitive mouth her delicate
chaugefu color her soft hair all belong OF right to her
exquisitey womanly temperament. She thought her
self the happes Of girls she sat there, on the prom
enade OF the saguenay boat her soul going round the
world before the ship. Presently board young
man. very well dressed and we'll looking; and. to Kitty
watching him with tender gray eyes, he was that d.
vine possibility which every young man IS 10 every
young maiden" These four all the characters es-
sential the The young man IL Mr. Miles Arou-
ton of Boston, and / have seldom met so thoroughly
tent with the traditions of his own order-he is the kind
Of man who MAKES his life ovation TO his ancestors
Yobesse obliges him continually that you wonder
what he would have been born under other stars. he
has kind OF instructive terror OF compromising HIM
scf-a sort OF social cowardce far removed from the
frank soclabity OF the Eisons that they were always
falling 10 comprehend It, Kitty indeed, with her keen
perceptions came than the others to understand
Ing him. and in Of her letters 70 Eriecreek hit oil
| some Of his pecuarities very happily.
He has been good deal abroad, and he is European
| lied enough not to think much OF America, though |
can't md that he quite approves Europe and his
perieuce not TO have left him any particular con
| try i'm Their hemisphere. am afraid that he
Relieves I'm "vulgar and meretricous distinctions" OF
all sorts and that he has MT atom OF magnanlmous
ishment that ideas which thought were held only
in England and which had never seriously o sc o
ton. He talks about the lower classes and radesnen
and the best people aud good families, as supposed
hobody in this country ever ddn earnest To be sure
have always been reading OF characters VINO mad such
exc ont somebody's unhappinessto keep the highbOrn
daughter marrying beneath her for love- and so
sily old woman odous snoh; and could hardly
believe first that our Bosonian was serious In
real life and laughed at them TIL found that he
did MT know what 10 make OF my laughing ana then
took leave differ with him in some of his notions; but
be disputes ANYTHING say. ana so makes seem
rude difer with him. l always feel, though ne pc
p1ns it, If had thrust my opinions upon HIM But Ia
spite OF his weaknesses and disagreeahtes there Is
something really hlgn anont MN ne Is so seFuPuousy
true exactly just that Uncle Jack himself could MT
though you can see that ne respects MS VIZ
tues as the peculiar result Of extraordinary sys
tenn Here Quebec though he round putronizing
the landscape and the antiquities aud eoldy smiling at
my niue entnslasus, ln'Lg u IttS e.l uIi
ought TO be at least improving in MIN get 10 paying
his very clothes with, TIL everything he mas appears
10 look like him and respect itself accordingly nave
often wondered what his hat his hOnOred hat, for in
stance would do, II should throw At out oI the front
| window. 1t would make All earthquake believe.
And Gin spite Of his weaknesses and dsagreeabili-
ties" she found his company and pleasant,
| her he
until the glashed gray eyes had done their work.
Nothing could finer subtle than the manner
in which we allowed TO perceive the growth Of love
! in this proud self-conained maE-its slow but sure
triumph over preudices and previous intentions,
until at last the in which he had so long dwet
concerning her "seemed obsolete frivolity OF an
alien past All his cold doubts and hnderng scruples
wore gone: gone all his care for his world His wordl
| s In that supreme moment there was world but
the tender eyes at which he looked down with glance
TINT she knew not how 10 interpret" He told his love,
with the proud certainty that he would be at once
cepted which belongs man and Bo,tonan. Kitty's
| plainve entreaty for time in which TO make up her
| mind WAS a surprise; but one probably which only
served to stimulate his ardor She had honest
of her uuhtness-nOt all her unwOrhiness-to be his
wife, and she told HIM very plainly. With conscicn-
tous fidelity pictured for HIM Eriecreek and her life
| there But mis- only answer was-"I love YOU" With
! gesture she repealed him, as she said:
"sometnes you might be ashamed OF me before those
Won knew TO be my Enthusiastically common and coarse
minded people, bat regularly educated aud used to
money aud fashion. should cover before theu ana
| never could forgive you
| 1--WE one answer to all this love your
Kitty flushed in generous admiration OF his magma
nnity aud said with more OF tenderness than she had
! vet felt towards hun, "Im sorry that cant answer
| you now, as you wish, Mr. Arbuton.'
! But You Will, Tomorrow T.
She shook her head " 4 don't know; o, don't know
| I've been thinking of something. That Mrs. March
to visit ntr Ia Boston, hut we had gwen UP
doing So because Of the long delay here. IL asked
cousins, they'd stu go home that way It's bad 10
nut YOU of again; but you in Boston, II
| ,Ivsf A nr go Tel