New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-04-10


pitched them at me on the table. Mason gave mo
| his KEYS with courtly smile saying OF course,
Captain' After | had made merely nominal
| search l returned the keys, and ShdeH SIM
| scowed, but Mason took me aside and SAID Cap
tain You have shown such good feeling for my mis-
| fortunes that want TO give you my hand and say
when the war closes. whether III our independence
| or orr return 10 the Union. come to Nlnchestcr'
Virginia and make visit Alas, poor man the
| war did not leave him one brick standing on an
| other of his fine mansion. But always retained
| pathetic feeling for him."
KsTHETIc LITERATURE.
While in New Orleans ! read Mr.. Cables two
books al the first leisure could get 80 rs to have
| the model and the drawing both before me. They
| are both books of New-0r'eans, to which he mas
| been something of a Theodore Winthrop. moral
purpose underlics them both not very couragcousiy
defined and where defined the tale does MOI proceed
| in harmony with il. For example. the German
| American hero of The GrandisSimcs Is crusader
| against caste and slavery, hut he marrlcs IN the
| caste and the conclusion leaves him apparently
| happy beneficiary of the whole evil. An magma
ton of more dccaCy than strength. awaken'd prop
ably by Bret Hartc's success in phenomenal hrld'
| but working more carefully and Enthusiastically,
| succeeds in rather dazzling the mind 10y VIII
variety of hucs flowers. interiors. and gypsyINh
pcoplc vci al last makes doubt the truth OF the
product Such was the effect on me of MIR. Cables
| tales They seemed to be written for the magazine
not for the conscience. Astounding in what Is called
in the recent prattc of art parasites. " technique
| and. like Mr. Hartc prolific of small botany /
seemed to feel all the while as if mock snake was
| gliding Oft into mock flower beds
| This overlooking of q story with passive ana
| gaudy details is an invasion of literature Nv tno
modern trade of dccoraton-thc Eas,lakc style. II
81. a.. nftfl t.l
tiers of IIawthornc's great simple. profound tragedy
of The Scarlet Letter. where Hester Prynnc and
her child proceed into the forest YOU viii FIND that
there is scarcely any mention of particular howciS,
or plants or species of growth color or any oi the
so-caed teckntqae, although YOU feel the forest aud
| the lights and glooms upon the foliage. ana the
stern consistent master holds his living hearts IN
high relief upon that back ground that we aro not
| marched of to botanic while the powerful purpose
| Lays. nor do we see a background 80 brilliant that
the human beings fade into II. MI scenery aud CIR
cumstancc and stuiing and examining oi the author
ARE rejected from his soul-fcit work and thought
when | visited Salem that hc had never attempted
To describe that place in the story at all The uty
of the Scarlet Letter anywhere. "A ciiy NOT
made with hands not built up "u the palette with
matches of pglncnt but place far. far suboriIua"
tu the humanity of the tale.
"The Grlndi~,ncs" leaves not ON" tear with all
it's delicacv for II is story of m.urr~. not OF emo
tons The points Ia praise IA Il are thr '">'' "n~cr
walton of the Creole idiosl ncr,~y and %" neatly
accurate spelling ont of English a@ pronounced ht
Crcolcs and also the ambitious limits If tie story
and its mauv Percentages. all NA'ichrd rather ih'h
finished with clever decorative hand. hut l't
very small interest whether the hero married the
girl or her mother. aud, indeed. did not kho" "h'h
va, his intention, while the old hulldnlcr Aeuc"ic
h,t h,, ~
Strength OF character aud portrliturc we're ovnd"d
for the display of nice tact or pr''N -"rnd "nd
p.yrholoecal discrimination II Wds hh" getting
up hungry from gorgr of -iIa" hrrrirs
The period of tins book relation Nls for1nat"
enough Ia have made standard h>t"uc1l navel -
the enduring novel of Louisiana d WIS l~"i.
fine date and event of Louisiana annexation ." 10"
United States The effect left un ~" mad l. that
New Orleans WAS then a great, luvun"u~. nti-'"-
cratic city, and trc~nmc ancestral trees are ul''
to minister the vauity of those inotc, tOHrG''sc
and to our confusion and rnnul. ] und that 8"
lsO3 after many Americans poured IN. New ii-
had only suj6 souls of whom NOR than hale were
free negroes and slaves. and that ou~ld" of N"''-
Orleans there were IN all Louisiana h'~i"> i"HI
wears before. bn I7iN whites. ~N3 slaves and ~
free negroes From such ccn,u~ truthful inprr~
SION ~ he drawn Is that 0f I CRUZ" s""'iN. rp"~'.
nature and submission. Bat the author has taken
the New Orleans of lsoO aud moved It back T." l~o'
lie has painted opera instead Of a colony
The novel ui decorative art h hut a passing c'nr-
tcsan. The novel of natur and realism aiil pn ~
Gmcry away ~ the rls-hap and make carpet Of H.
With all the FRESHNESS, OF IIartc's si"II'>. thre
first came Ia n,. they leave ait'raWiuic feeling
~ of aicctatlou of patho- built up compo'li"l>
so,u,whcr, between Brr~tndt and Dickens, The
scenery is RicrStadt and the pltho~ drawn from
Dckcns's ovcr~.ntImcntal Christmas tales. hut 30"
humior aud r,plrr liartc's own. He. too. Ma
made On magazines.
UawthorI,', work the best we have got, derives
ITS strength from his hat" Of prcteu>on and h"'c-
rsy lie s1c,d Not decorate thu interior Of Puritan
households. nor Worship statutory morality at ia"
expense of human love and error lie m"ckr1 man
ncrs and forms and dropped no compliment, any
! where aud -montlrd little ont. Same call HIM fin
iscd but at Ia. greatest lac was nearly rugged. and
only when he undertook t" write an art novel and
make fauno ,atyr> aud sculptorS instead OF plaza
door people did hc Z" into the decorative style.
uvnp;c's Srw CANS.
Peter Hcrlic. proprietor OF the new phact"n
onnibus-coarl which appeared on Broadway last
week is what Is called in Pcnn-ylvani' a" New
York Yankee" He rccrcat"d the City of Williams
port. cncountcrug ~ much opposition from tn" old
hnrghcrs there any carpet Dagger of energetic III
tcntions formerly got in the south. He made III"
gaid old place another Bnghau"n or tlinra hut
each victory he achieved for hlms'lf and the com
muntv intensified the old local hostility, and When
he failed three years ago, through the lnrapacy "i
th, situation to sustain such an expansion, lir
nearly lost his liberty well ~ his money. The
largest cities only can give full scope To disappointed
cncrpizcrs Of small places and crdc soon appeared
i'm Washington with three quaint little phactons,
pulled by one horse. drawing up Ia the sidewalk fer
cncb possenccr and ready 10 De chartered for cN-
cursinus ar families at low figures. The smooth