New-York tribune., 1885-08-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
up uowrILss LAST STORY.

ar.o p;so of siIas Lapham" is much pleas
enter story than "A Modern Instance" Inc
character of Colonel Lapham is indeed not ais
tirctlv American. The type to which he belongs is
..,.,,,o, IN all progressive countries. Wherever 1t
4; ,ossible for poor men to become rich, class OF
energetic. ignorant wealthy people lnevitaoiy
appears This class remains respectable so long do
n ia occupied only in pushing commerclal enter
prses for then it displays force. capacity and per-
sistcnce, and being thoroughly at home IN tnis
work it is natural unembarrasscd and sincere. Du,
when the noupeaur riches have achieved wealth ana
bepin To try their hand at distribution insteaa oi
accumulation, difficulties throng upon them. Inc"
desire is to enjoy all the pleasures money eau s,o
without learning how money should be spent All
their education training and hapits are agains'
than here. They have not the capacity ior appre-
oiatinq luxury and refinement Ihey can only
follow the expenditures OF those WHO KNOW
better and when they have done SO they are uhaoie
TO ace why the things they have
Naturally they seek satisfaction in the only way
which seems TO offer it, and that is IN the display
asthe;r woncv mower. The world calls this recourse
xn,oar ostentaton So it is, but it really is the
sole Measure of a great many rich people, and not
because they are peculiarly vain. but because they
can perceive no higher use i'll riches Sias Lapha'h
ia not however, o type OF the most offensive class
of vulgar rich men. He has inherited irom MS
Vermont ancestry together with MS energy an"
hard sense n certain simplicity and domesticity
which for long time keep him from making SOCIAL
bnnders And there is that in him TOO which
difereutiates him from the most conspicuous type
of modern paryenus, namely, the possession OF a
conscience There is nothing ridiculous aoout this
sef-made man apart from the CLOSES OF the author
He ia given to boasting but in man who has be-
come n millionaire from nothing, and who has
acnured his million honestly some selfgratulation
ia rally quite reasonable in these davs Oh easy
business morality. Apart from this weakness cias
I.anham,s character is in no way despicable He
has no literary education, he does not talk pure
English. he is at loss for conversation wheh
thrown into polite society, he does not know when
hc should wear gloves, he does not know now W
order a dinner, but he is upright, good husband
and father patriotic citizen. and finally man OF
such force of character that he suffers ruin rather
than do what perhaps five out of every ten business
men wou,d assort to be quite justifable, and what
prcbaby more than that percentage would do in
his place.
This is an heroic figure in fact; and yet. while
Mr. Howells enables us to see all that is in Siias
Japbam while he makes 1T mpOssible for the clear
sighted reader to miss the sterling character OF his
hero it is remarkable that his own attitude toward
this homey figure, capable of so great renuncia-
tion, is distinctly of disparagement The story
ia full of the clear and strong yet delicate analysis
and description for which the author has such q
gift Nothing could be better than the scenes be-
tween Lapham and his wife, for example, and Nr
Bromfied Corey is brilliant creation. So. too, the
epsode of Tom Corey and Lapbans daughters is
most carefully and conscientiously elaborated, and
fbo characters of the sisters are clearly discrim-
mated Tom Corey is perhaps the least pronounced
person in the story But when we have finished
the book when Silas Lapham's rise has been made
clear; when we have taken leave OF him as once
more withdrawn to the old Vermont homestead, and
fallen into somewhat careless personal habits with
the decline of vital energy, he answers Seweifs
oucston about the after-efect OF his conquest over
temptation, why is It that vague feeling of dis
appointment and dissatisfaction arises The feel
ing is not a new in connection with Mr.
Howells books and attempts have been made to
explain it in various ways To us it seems that
il is due to certain deficiency of faith IN even his
own highest conceptions To say that he follows
his characters with a Mephistophelian sarcasm
might be to put the too stronSly but certainly
he does not show that perfect sympathy with them
which seems necessary display OF the best that
10 IN them And the existence ola doubt whether an
author is sincere, whether he is gbng and sneer-
ing at his own characters. must havo decidedly un-
pleasant effects on the reader.
1t may be that Mr. Howells really does entertain
regard Silas Lapham as rather poor sort of hero.
though not altogether to be denied the possession OF
heroic qualities but if this is tho it does not
better the situation for cleverness in descrip
tion and penetration in mental analysis can never
compensate for the absence Of that fulness of SYM
pathy between author and hero which results III
constant insIstanee upon tie latters best traits
while it by means involves inattention to his
faults But Mr. Howells treats most of his
characters with something of this distant air. He
doesn't seem to make up his mind to admit them to
his friendship. He is not quito loyal to them often
Weakening the effect OF his largest concessions by
little hints which lower the person in the readers
estimation. No one can suppose that in drawing
his most odious picture that of BARLEY Hubbard.
he was representing traits which he liked hut
curousy enough there is certain analogy be-
tween the way he treats his creations and the way
Hubbard treated Sas Lapham when he was inter-
viewing him for The Erents Mr. Howells tells us
what he likes about his people, and what he says is
consistent and natural, and for the most part they
act up to the characters he has gwen tbem But all
the time he is describing them we feel that some
how he is not telling all he thinks; that he does not
think so much of them be pretends to; and that
even their best thoughts and actions would seem
less noble if we only surveyed. the scene from his
point Of view.
II Mr. Howells were a less brilliant and capable
writer than he is it would hardly be worth while to
analyze his defects in this way. Bnt because he
has accomplished so much, because he has deserved
30 large of success, it is to be wished that
he could be brought to the defects all his readers
recognize and regret And it must be pointed ont
that in Slas Lapham these defects are the more
conspicuous because the plane of the story Is higher
than usual. In "A Modern Instance" the plano
was low. The PRINCIPAL figure there was man
whose controlling tendencies were so vicious as to
insure his degradation. Here. however, we have a
hero who, in spite of really tremendous temptations