The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-03-15

had not acquired That ralIOuSn"~> 10
public opinion that comes with wears
and the reading Of Marcus AureiuS |
wrote many letters in reply. and argued
ar.d demonstrated in turn. appealed
TO the highest literature tina, has i'm
pressed the world took shelter he
hind the highest names demanded
10 Know whether iirtion only dclt with
the Rosa-Mailida side ofi:Gr. it would
not he put away from serious cousidcra-
ton altogether. No use. oh, how
could Won do So. Mr. Smith :"
Wei then, accident rather than de-
sign took ne awav from the domain to
tragedy for some wears after that. and
the public and ! seemed To yet on
very well together. There were no
more circumstances. only mild frlicia-
tons. One distinguished phv>inlo-ist
has informed me that he even now takes
up and re-reads after dinner one of the
novels wrote n: this time. because he
: q! opinion that nice. comforting liter
AZURE "i that sort i real ali 10 digcs-
ton and another equally distinguished
professor has coa!idc,; 10 ne that novel
reading he finds to bc quite invaluable
Tor after dinner he lies down on the
hcarth-rug lciorc the fire. his VIII. reads
10 HIM pleasant. SOu;hn" novel until
he goes TO sleep. then he awakeS in an
hour or 50 ready for I long nights
work. ] am proud to have help this
good work in however small Il measure.
But Scripture saith an ending to all
line things must be- and 80. after this
period Of rcpo>c and relaxation. began
10 write the life ami adventures of a
certain set Of characters whose story
plainly pointed TO a tragic end That
i To saw. il - pointed TO me and TO few
people who saw what was coming. and
who wrote and implored that the doom
might Ice removed; but the wider pub
lie were only surprised and indignant
and resentldl. And now there was Il
new note audible in the crv. This ira
glc end was 30 unnecessary '" oh.
why, Mr. Smith. could YOU not have al
lowed So-and.so and Su-aad-su TO spend
the remainder Of their lives together.
Surely /; WAS unnecessary tina; such an
awful fate should bcfall them. These
letters were even more urgent. pathetic
indignant, than before: but they did not
trouble me 80 much now. \ ears and
Marcus Aurclius had taught me To be
Of 4 placab!e disposition: was no ION
"er anxious TO point out that apparently
unmcrited and unnecessary" suffering
* one Of the most familiar and obvious
facts of life, and hat any literature lat
aims at representing lie must give it
its proper prominence The letters
themselves. orc might have said were
proof Of tue c"MmOnnc>S oftraEciv:
why the almost nvariabc reference To-
some domestic calamity the writer had
had 10 endure for himself or herself. One
piece OF criticism, however, | am bouni
TO adm: was sound. Il will tell YOU
why the ending Of YOUR story is uuncc-
esSary," said we'll known physician
Il have gone carefully through the case
as YOU present il. and from NV diagno-
sis feel confident that if had been
called in | could have cured him
/ There was nothing TO he said in answer
to that.
After this stoTy-prav forgive me for
being 50 long in coming 10 the end Of
the third volume: it i a matter of ha-
bit fell away from the tragic pitch.
greatly 10 the improvement, of nv uwu
nervous system, and to the apparent
satisfaction OF nv friends Viii pass
over the considerable interval. and ccrI.
To the third occasion on which | essay
ed tragedy Now tie clamur arose
more loudly than ever, and the re-
proaches became more severe. because
Il 40 doubt appeared as if had refused
la listen 10 al the precious PRAYERS and
picadings. was regarded ~ iurura-
Die; an assassin hv habit and rcpu,c:
this was the climax By this time.
however Marcus Aurc!iu> had complci,
his work ! was a. iuscuSijle To these
pitcous cries as the neither milestone:
the letters were interesting only in 20
far Is they seemed To represent the
genuine ph,lanthropic feelings Of Tia,
writers. Ii was only hv accident that
a new train Of inquiry An amiabir
correspondent wrote 10 me 10 say that
! he had not only read NV novels a. they
cane out. bu; had advised Others 10
read Ihc'n-a most iudiciouS and praise.
worthy proceeding on his part. H.,
Went on 10 saw, "of late have bccu
met with the reply. No: they are too
miserable Why l. this. WHY should
y"u make them all end - >orrowfullv:''
The little word &" all somewhat star
tied me. | began to reckon up Dur
lng my fourteen wears Of novel writing
bad written in all eleven novels three
IL these had ended trag.callv. Was !,
possible. was forced to ask myself
that oat Of the whole eleven novels ONLY
! those three which hal ended ;ragicalv
had remained in The memory | wen
back and bcthpu mt myself of those
three tidal waves Of correspondence
Was | right, after all in NV juvenile,
rct"rt that tragedy was the only Gorm
Of literature that iirrlv impressed Itself
N the mind And the more | recalled
~ '''I l''N'''b-N l'dt 'pt u ara nv llD a
rcmon>trarc"s the more ii hccaalc c;ea;
hat the "harpy-cnding" novels Of The
series had been entirely forgotten. cy.
ccpt when some hard-wUi King man %
science wanted to pur himself To >lccI.
IN the hcarin-rug. And i all this wcr.
-. what was .hc obvious conclusion
that had to b. drawn.
At present. Sir. am somewhat gr-
WI tered by this discovery. 1t seems
hard that my eight "rargc-b!o,eum no.
vci- should hc wholly forgotten. or
should survive only ~ a soppri!ic. |,
seem, strange that the people who pro.
trst against tragedy should remember
on'v the three tragic oHcS And A. r.
CARDS nv future work Just nov. fof
example. | am engaged in the compo-'-
ilol oi story the characters in Which
have really nothing awful o. tragic
about them They AMI re, on yerv
well ; we have had some iiuc excursions
together shout Lis. to parr on good