New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-16
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THE TRUE HEROINE

The IOHdOn GLOBE.
The heroine OF fiction AZ present. Is often anything
but good girl; in fact, regular thOrough-going
naughty one is rather favorte with many OF our
novelists vixen" was not at all q good girl, nor
wa, Madcap Violet" nor Miss THAI kerays low
able " Elizabeth" and the stories might almost be
counted by the dozen in which tie first two or
three chapters get the heroine into some Wild
scrape for which she suffers AL her life aiterward.
We are fortunate when the scrape II an Innocent
one. and nothing worse n be snid Oh tHe hetonie,
than that she does not know now ordinarily wei
bron chit ND women are accustomed TO behave.
Among all these different types, old and new,
with their endless varieties and gradallons, thelo
must he something in COMMON. which makes rs
really Interested in the fate OF one Doman-plafn
or pretty-wlle we are quite indifferent about that
of another 1t is so IN real lie. some women
strike us Mt once as interesting people talk to
them with meaning; things happen 10 them every
where they form centre and their presence Is ielt
These are heroines; and when an author succeeds
IN transplanting one into tbs pages, his story
bIeathes and moves. But what makes them so
Not always either virtue or beauty, certainly, nor
even force of character; but certain EMOTIONAL
moss which thew can communicate t0 others. lney
feel keeny and they are always feeling or ready 20
feel They are never torpid OF absorbed IN every
day matters; for however they may be occupied III
such things they respond so much more readily To
y call of feeling that their minds are never too
much dul,ed to reflect a vivid image II they arc
sympathetic they the most delightful oil CONF
dants, for their sympathy is warm and interested,
and you know that you cannot bore them WIN your
affairs, any more than by reading them story. III
they arc selfish they generally succeed IN imposing
upon Others their own sense 81 the supreme lnpor-
lance of what they are feeling and command un-
limited sympathy and allegiance. Always then
natures are strung to high pitch, and when others
come into harmony with them, it is when they are
wound up beyond their wont. At such eliminating
points when LIFE is fullest and nerves most highly
Charged events are likely to happen hidden feel
ings blossom like the aloe once Tor all and i'm
prisoned words spring out. Thus it Is that herolnes
are mado and romances begin; for they carry not
only the hazel twig which tells where the springs
OF emotion lie hid. but the scrpcnt-rod which calls
them forth.
this peculiar faculty not strongly enough deyel-
oped to attract attention, and make events cluster
round their path, yet are heroes and herolnes IN
themselves by dint of a cultured Imagination.
Looking at the occurrences and inevitable changes
of their own life with interest and with an eye
trained to see events in orderly sequence Or graceful
combination. the incidents group themselves pic
turesquely. the feelings that rose with them cling TO
them keeping for each its peculiar sayor-dstinct
though growing faint; and life, which seems very
commonplace vie wed from outside, is TO Its subject
story constantly read. but always to DO continued