Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1883-12-20

yel) the New York 1Idti ana EapreN baJb'
We have read these books many times,
little lately and great deal In past
wears, and have found more In them,
perhaps, than will be found by the
nresspt generation Of American readers,
who read Tx Marvel as they read Bret
Uarte or Mark Twain, or any popular
writer of the day. We have not 30 read
him nor can we 30 read him, for In the
letter of his text there is spirit which
wa cannot escape II we would, and asso
oiations which eau never be forgotten,
One must be elderly to remember what
the Reveries OF Bachelor were to him
when they were first published and every
body was talking about them-ior they
epioyed the distinction OF being talked
about In a greater degree than any book
published In this country for the last gu
wears. Their popularity did not origi-
nate among the young and thoughtiess
who asked each other two or three years
ago, Have you read Mr. lsascs IL
originated with the literary GLASS, which
was the frat to perceive the grace, the
charm. the pathos Of Mr.. Mitohel's writ
ings, and simultaneously, or nearly
so. with hard headed, worldly
class which isncied it had long
outerown the sentimental non
sepss of its youth. There was that
in the Rsveries Of Bachelor which men
of business could no more resist than
men of leisure, and which was as delight
full TO mater. iamilias al to her brood OF
blushiug and blooming daughters.
Whether the Reveries Of Bachelor
would make as great sensation If they |
we're pu blshed now for the first time a.
they did 80 years ago may admit OF
doubt. They were certainly published
under more favorable conditions than
now prevail 10 American letters, and
they found simpler and more sympathetic
readers than those OF to-day. The spell
Of Irving had not lost It's power over us;
Cooper was still our greatest novelist and
Bryant our greatest poet; and, strange a.
1t may Seem, the light persifisge OF Willis
was very much admired. We have
changed all that, for where we once read
Irving and Cooper We read James, and
Howells, and Warner. and where We once
read Bryant we pretend to read Whitman
and Miller. The kings are dead, long
live the kings But the kings are not
| all dead, for here Ia Mr.. Mitchell, whose
popularity remains, and should remain,
| as we elderly readers think, for while We
| have our Jsmeees and our uowellses, and
they have their followers, who are nearly
as clever as their masters, we have but
one Tx Marvel There is good deal that
| Mr.. Mitchell Is not. as there is a great deal
that Bryant and Cooper are not; tut then
there is good deal that he ID, and that
no other American author is, and 1t ia for
this quality that he lives in our letters,
| rutt Haty IA W IA hA
| first OF our second crop OF prose writers
TO whom style was au important matter,
and by whom il was thoughtfully CON
sideTed ard carefully elaborated. AT frat
sight his sentences appear to be carelesaly
constructed, they are 30 flexible and free,
but when one examines them a little he
sees that they are artfully wrought, and
that they have peculiar music OF their
own. An imitatOr OF the style Of any
other writer Mr.. Mitchell never is; II he
occasionally reminds us of Irving It ia in
a certain gentle, Ieusive, tender quality
which is common to both, which ia rather
more humorous in Irving than in Mr..
Mitchell, and rather more poetic i'll Mr..
Mitchell than In Irving. The sentiment
OF the elder writer is the more robust,
aud that Of the younger the more dreaTy.
Neither is Il sentiinentalist in the sense
that Richter is, and Sterne is, for neither
is sick y minded, affected or pedsntic. II
there is any trick in their writing 1t has
escaped all their critics, and all their
imitatOrs 1t is ditficnlt to classify Mr..
Mitchell but at a venture he is a pathetic
humorlst. We smile aud sigh as We read
his Reveries OF Bachelor and Dream
Life smile, becsuse the moods they in
duce are 30 unlike those to which our
struggles in this work-day world have
habituated us, and sigh, because they
are 30 beautiful and so evanesceut. The
life Of these books is dream life only
But how sweet 1t il, how gracious, and
how spiritual and pure 1t ia the Para,
dice OF the human heart, the Golden Age
of Youth and Affection Mr.. Mitchell Ii
the poet Of lovers, aud though he writes
in prose We would rather read his prost
than all the verse that Mr.. Coventry
Patmore has perpetrated in The Angel IN
the House. He has his feet more firmly
on the earth in his Seven Stori4s and
Wet Days at Edgewocd than In Dream
Llfa and The Rsveries oi 4 Bachelor, AID
appeals consequently IN these to more
prOsaiG olAss OF readers and critics thar
IN ths latter. Lowers OF such stories a,
are in vogue in our periodicals may, OF
may not, like MIR. Mitchell's Sever
Stories il they do not, the loss ia theirs
FIR while they are incidentally old fash
Toned III conception, there ia u simplicity
in the way they are told that sugeestt
the best manner of Macksr zie, or Gold
smith, and that ia very charming Ls
the reader hu doubts this fact read Tn,
I Petit Soulier, when is a good example o
Mr.. Mitohsll's talent in stOry-tellipg
Wet Days At Elgewood is the mos
SCHOLARLY OF the four books Ct Mr.. Mitchell
Of which we are speaking, and has prob
ably been less read than the others OF
that account. /. is very pleasant read
ing, and 50 far al We can judge from on
knowledge OF the English writers VIII
hepnile the wet days of this poetic farme
of EigrwOOd, 1t ia e beautiful pisce o
scholarship Given Mr., Mitchell's book
and Mr.. Mitchell for a companion, W
should not mind month OF wet day
anywhere,