Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-02-15

SAVIOR of humanity. Our authors he
roes down to Smike are often outrage
Gus in their virtues. But their virtues
are virtues. Truth, gratitude and man.
ly self-respect are qualities which a
young man will be made not only to ad-
mire but to like, by his many hours
spent over these novels. And SO it will
be with young women as to modesty, re-
ticencs and unselfish devotion.
The popularity of rhackeray has been
very much less extended than that of
Dickens, and the lessons which he has
taught have not therefore been scattered
afield SO widely. 1t seems specially TO
have been the work of Thackeray TO
cover with scorn the vices which in his
hands were displayed in personages who
were only too realistic. Wit. him there
is no touch of melOdrama. From first
TO last you are as much at home with
Barry Lyndon, the most complete rascal
perhaps that ever was drawn, as with
your wife or your private secretary, if
you have one, or the servant who waits
upon you daily. And when he turns
from the strength Of his rascals to the
weaker idiosyncrssies Of those whom
you are TO love for their virtues, he is
equally efficscious. Barry Lyndon was
man of infinite intellectual capacity,
which is more than we can say for Col
onel Newcomb. But was there ever u
gentleman more sweet, more lovable,
more thoroughly a gentleman at all
points than the Colonel? How many =
young lad has been taught to know
how a gentleman should think and
how 8 gentleman should act and speak
by the thoughts and words and doings
OF the Colonel? will not say that Bar
~ Lyndon's career has deferred many
from rascaidom, as such career can
only be exceptional; but it has certainly
enticed no lad to follow it. Vanity
Fair" though not in my opinion the
best, is the best liked Of Thackeray's
works. Readers, though they are de-
lighted, are not satisfied with it because
Amelia Sadley is silly, because Osborne
is selfish, because DObbil is ridiculous
and because Becky Sharp alone is clev-
er and successful, while at the same
time she is rs abOminable as the genius
of a satirist can make her. But let him
or her who has read the book think of
the lessons which have been left behind
by it. Pendennis is an unsteady, ambi-
tious, clever but idle young man, with
excellent aspirations and purposes, but
hardly trustworthy. He is by no means
such one rs an anxious father would
wish 10 put before his son as an exam
pie. But he is hfe-like. Clever Young
men, ambitious but idle and vacillating,
are met every day, whereas the gift of
persistency in . Young man is uncom-
mon. The Pendennis phase Of life is
one into which clever young men are
apt TO run. The character, if alluring,
would be dangerous. IL reckless, idle
oonceit had carried every thing before
it in the stOry-if Pendennis
had been made to be noble in the midst
of his foibles-the lesson taught would
have been bad. But the picture which
becomes gradually visible to the eyes of
the reader is the reverse of this. I" Es-
mond" is undoubtedly Thackcray's
greatest work, not only because in il his
story is told with the directest purpose
with less Of vague wandering than in
the others, but by reason also of the
force of the characters portrayed. The
one to which we will specially call at
tention is that of Beatrix, the Younger
heroine of the story. rmother, Lady
Castlewood, is An elder heroine, term
as applied to the personages of modern
novel-as may be said also of hero
that is not very appropriate; but it is
the word which will best convey the in
tended meaning to the reader. Nothing
sadder than the story of Beatrix can be
imagined-nothing sadder though it
falls so infinitely short of tragedy. But
We speak specially of it here because We
believe its effect on the minds of girls
who read it to be thoroughly salutary.
"A country editor says it has agitated
his curiosity to find out why woman