The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1886-09-18

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wrong about this taing.o: rrat,se. xs,e
winds up with blaudiy ,eiiinI MIA
that he is not, aud never has been,
reaiist, but a rolnancer, and that no,h
ing but romance has ever saved him
Such is the angry condition OF tn,
J, times. Besides these larger bodies tn,
atmosphere is full OF nearly invis,
ible small critical aeroiltes. Blu
sooner or later, perhaps, these will al
fall into Mr.. Howells and increase his
momentum and his mass.
All things considered, what a blessed
thing it is to be- away down here in
kentucky--unknow land--where nc
one ever quarrels (abuut books y, aud
where the spirit of criticism is sup.
posed to rest as quietly as moonlight
sleeping on bank III moss. But a,
this safe distance and under cover oi
thcgenerai example of the times, what
is even a Keutuckian to do but criti-
else soulebody himself? This at any
rate is his SET aud avowed intention.
! OF course one OF the persoos criticised
will be Mr.. Howeils. The man who
cannot "ctiticise Howells" dowadays
isn't respectable. He is pariah-a
pale shade-a nonentity. 1t is true
that Mr.. Howells has not yet attack led
Kentucky; but, sir, Kentucky sees in
this fact no adequate reason for not at !.
tackiug Mr.. Howells. Sir, be it said to
the pride of this State that she does
not wait to be attacked. Mr.. HoWells
may intend to attack her, which is the
same thing. But before Mr.. Howeiis
must come certain critic of The Ma
tion, who recently had occasion to say
that the South was now a favorits
hunting-ground for the magazines.
Whereupon he pointed the nib of his
pen with the following incisive obser-
walton: "Indeed, there is no country
that will better bear exploration with
respect to the picturesqueness of the
land or the oddity of the Inhabitants"
Thanks! Hereafter, when the eds
tors OF the great Northern magazines
shall send to the South the query:
"Have you anything in the way Of
available literature material ?' and the
answer is returned "We have what
do you want?" aud the reply comes
back: awe are looking for pictur-
sequences and oddity," it will be for
the entire South TO rise up TO man
and say; ''Gantlemen, come down
with your whole force; no country on
the face of the globe can surpsss us in
these respects" 1t there is anything
that should make the people of the
South forget their millions of slaves
and the civil war-forget all losses,
trials, humiljations, and de.eats-it
ought to be the thought Of the future
which opens up before them in couse-
quence of the fact that the editors of |
down to explore Them tor picturesque
ness aud oddity. II there is anything
that should double the circulation Of
those magazines in the North and even
carry them to those unclassiisd shreds
and remnants OF humanity which, in
ou.~of. the way Businesses and islands
If the earth, have hitherto by common
consent Of mankind been looked upon
rs above ali other peoples picturesque
md odd, it should be the announces
nent of the discovery that right here,
n the Southern part OF the United
States, are millions aud millions of
who have never been
,xcelled in the development of those
delightful characteristics.
But l am not angry with this critic.
ie has not thurt my feelin's." He
Deant we'll. He meant to recommend
he South to further editorial consider.
liion, and to suggest tina, pic'uresque-
less and oddity were good things to
,egin with, which was all he knew.
Il probably never occurred to him that
he South has always looked upon the
of the North as being
'odd," without being picturesque
Ie never reflected that the coast
inc from New York TO New Orleans
8 not more crooked than the coast line
rom New Orleans TO New York. l
,ave introduced him only for the pur-'|
,ose of saying that from his poiut Of {
yieW-in a somewhat modified form,
I is true-is the must natural one in ,
he world for Northerner to enter
ain, and this mainly on account o. Y
outhern writers. 1t is fact, curious
md well worth noting, that the chars {
cteristic of Southern life most com- /
monty and expressly emphasized is l
soddity." We have had entire works ]
N the oddities OF Southern life and {
haracter. We have had short stories Is
eemiDgly written to deiineate this
lement, even to the manufacturing Of |
he most impossible proper. names.
1arb, speech, conduct, incident, adven- s
ure, have all been made the materials f
# its exposition, or what is perhaps
ftener true, Of lis outright and sheer
embodiment. The abb
formal NOTES.-The curious little by {