The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-02-25
Heroes Not In Novels.

All kinds and colOrs OF ink can be made
from them.
Heroes Not Ia Novels
SO much fault has been found with men
who play the leading parts in modern
novels that glance At the men who figure
In the escapades, adventures, love episodes
and romanoes Of real liio may not prove un.
interesting to those iroined to treat i'm.
pulses and motives after methods peculiar
TO the dissectng.room. What is commonly
termed realism In novel writing has been
interpreted as m avoidance of high colors
aud warm tinls In love.maalug and in adj.
ventures incident thereto. Authors, whose
work has been classod ~ realistic have
been accredited with desire TO ebchcw the
improbable, and to paint only what was
possible IN day life, aud II has been
assumed that their work was Of the highest
order when IL least aboundod la incidents
outside the experience Of the average man
and woman OF the day
a mistake has been made, not in as
sumlng so much, hut IN taking IL, for
granted that an author oycr-anxious TO be
realistic was necessarily well'Iniormcd Hs to
tho actual experience OF people acting
under strong feeling II to bo realistic is to
cut the romance ani spice OF adventure out
OF real life, and to hold u narrative down to
| the levol Of uull prOslness, and To do these
things under the impression that to follow
such "A rule is TO photograph society, then
the so called realism in novels Is ns far
rom the standard of real life nv are thu
pictures OF the sensational school OF writer's
So far as giving truthful pictures OF 80.
| clety Is concerned the man who is too
nah afr ~ AL
| bic To miss his mark as the man who gives
free rein to imagination. The popular
| American novelists, IL may he said are
| popular because they have avoided the OK.
tremes, and by careful study OF character
| and experience, have introduced people In
| ilctl0n who are, in u measure, representa-
| tive or typical. Their success Is illustrated
| III the tone and spirit of the comments
called out by their work--their creations
are discussed and qnarreed over Just as
though they were real personages. So far
A. the episodes aud incidents
OF love experience are concerned,
they are ON safe ground, because If
they have had extended opportunities for
observation they probably know they can.
not 20 amlsa. Tho absolute truth in re-.
gard to what men and women do when they
are IN love IL, MS u rule, stranger even than
what Is recorded in fiction. Aud 1t may he
that the success Of may Of the new school
novellsls is largely due TO the fact that their
analy teal methods lead them nearer TO the
limo of absolute truth than writers with
more ideallty or with more OF II purpose
| care TO 20.
Their heroes are queer fellows, some Of
them, and are undpniably given to some
ecCentricitic5 and weaknesses not little
trying TO the patience, But the main
| question iSs IRE ilngp hnrnpq liln tina ran.
rcscntative mon Of the day ON this account
Several Of those who have Inquired promi.
nently in recent novels have acted some.
what strangely under iniatuations which,
a. men Judge them, should have been rls
sisted but can any one, in the face OF the
records of the day, clam that sensible men
OF affairs act more reasonably in real lilep
In one of the latter novels the heroine
leaves u good home and Clings to her lover
through good and evil report, not losing
faith IN hum when others openly condemn,
But In West Virginia tho other day, US n
young couple were about to be married tho
man was arrested for counterieiling, was
tried, found guilty and sentenced to ton
years imprisonment IN the penitentiary
The young lady follower him to Jail, and,
when he was convicted, she, firm In her
faith that he was innocent insisted that
they he married, and they were. The hus.
band went to prison, and the wife returned
home TO wait Tor his liberation.
There is another novel story OF AN 40.
luaintsnce made in Europe by u younc
lady, by the urging OF her mother but
which, alter many violsstudes. Is broken
in America, II makes a touching story
but is il overdrawn? A lew weeks 20 \
young lady's marriage TO a foreigner wa,
arranged for by her mother. travelling with
her In Europe She returned TO America
sought her lover, they were married in
secret, and on their wedding tour were nj
most the only persons in n crowded sIccn
; ing.car to escape, in one o. ne most tprrihl,
railroad accidents of the wear. No dra
matte tabloau was ever more stnrtlinr
than that scene in which the Young hus
band twice rescued his wife from horribl,
death.
/. In another case young English lady Of
wealth was brought to America hy he,
mother TO break up her acquaintance with
lover not accountable To Ina nnrnnIs IN,
the English lover traced til party until hr
. found his sweetheart at Niagara They
were married and started on the wedding
journey, followed by the Indignant
mamma, She found the runaway coupI,
. located on an orange farm in Florida, aud
instead of a quarrel there was rcooncilia
ton and all settled down together.
The wild acts of desperate lovers In IN,
books are MS nothing to the doings of ro
Iec,ed lovers in real life, There werc last
year dozen cases in when ynunr men
made desperate by the rejection OF ihen
proilwed love, shot or attempted 10
shoot the women for whom they pro
Tossed SO high regard. So far ms tl,
successful wooers are concerned their OK
periences are quite as interesting and won