Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1877-08-02
MARK rwAlN's NOVEL.
Opisiea OF = Chicago Man Regard.
Ing che Western Ilunertss-
MARK Has drown "~Isfesnaiiy
Lazy


Everybody in this community IL 70.
quaintsd with Mark Twain. and nearly all
the people have heard his monotonous
sing-song voice. Concerning him the
Chicago Spse,-ss OF q recent date contains
the following: II Is said that Mark Twain
Is writing . new novel. We feel . two
fold interest in the literary productions Of
this sccentric writer. FiSsay. Because be
always writes something good. and See.
O@diy. Because be Is IN old typo. In con.
sidsration Of thu latter. we propose 10 take
the liberty OF expressing Q gratuitous
opinion Of him as . writer Of fiction, and
. wish concerning his forthcoming work.
As extensively a. he 10 read, No are sst-
lated that there IL no author who Il less
appreciated for what there 10 In him. He
Is . long way from being % superficial and
fighty a. he seems inclined 10 make his
readers believe. That he has originality
no one can doubt who has sver read any Of
his books. His humor IL Of the broad.
home-made pattern. He ridiculss unmsr-
cifully Whatever phases Of life happen 10
excite his Contempt The pathos. In which
he occasionally indulges. 10 not unmingled
with droll conceits. Unlike many humor-
Gus writers. he never seems 10 strain q
point TO write something funny. In one
respect he seems 10 have q mors correct
idea Of the novel writer's proper sphere Of
action than most Of his contemporaries. II
his story contains . moral. IL seems to be
90 simply because thing. are 80 ordered In
this world. that ne chapter Of real life 10
without its suggestive lessons. He doesn't
hunt up the moral. and then write 10 d
Il. As carelessly and recklessly - he
seems 10 daub his canvas,-eoloring with
. liberal hand here. ~ though he merely
had TOO much paint and wished 10 get rid
Of II; dAshing In q dark line there. q II
by mistake; ; trying lighter colou a. CO.
price suggests.-he Is. after all. . consum-
mate artist. No one ever before got 20
much side-splitting fun. 30 mixed up with
downright good hard sense. into such Q
readable shape. a. he did In his " limo
cents Abroad" and Roughing It." We
never met with q book containing 90 much
droll humor. that did not nauseats the
reader. a. the first Of these.-until the Sec
ond came out.
We hope We have said enough 10 show
that We not only like Marx Twain's books.
but that we feel sood-nAtnred towards their
author. We have not the pleasure Of his
personal acquaintance. but we should
Judge from some Of his late exploits. that
prosperity has spoiled him In one p~articu-
lar. lie has not Lost his wit. His humor
has not tagged out. He has not Lost the
trick Of happy expression. In dealing
with the eoarrest subject no never finds Il
necessary W be coarse. And he uniformly
' calls . spads . .pads." But he seems 70
have grown most internally lazy. When
no gets fairly down 10 the work Of writing
agooi story. he seems 10 yAwn. and say,
Well. 1 guess I've written enough 10 all
my contract, and I'll stop and 10 fishing 7"
Or. u may DO. that he dawdles along with
his work until he gets tired Of contemplate
ing his unfinished creations. and then
PUSHES 10 the conclusion. In sheer disgust.
We wouldn't care . straw IL this man
hadn't shown himself capable Of better
things. II he could write Tom sawyer"
he could write . good io.y story. and we
sincerely hope he will. Let him spin IL
out As long as he likes, but let him give Us
something that we can read with ever In.
creasing satisfaction. Is we do Dickens and
Thackeray.