Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-04-17
DRIFT.

!
There are some persons who never seem to q
I've themselves unless they have ON suit Oi g
a particular cut and color. We should !;
know them In any other garh. Ns
Charles Dudley Warner says " II ~ really |
absurd, at this stage ot Our civilization that ! Il
we should he So affected by such an msIg- |
nihcant accident rs dress" And vet not al a,
together absurd ether. The rose might D
smell rs sweet II 'twers thistle but still 1t 4
would not he n rose. The perfume, form |
and color belong together. And We can get
full enjoyment from them only IL they are ,
together. so good breeding Is recognized
oven though dressed IN rags; aud "Nul-
garty is never so conspicuous aS in fine APP
pare." But we prefer To see them elCh more
becomingly dressed. We can recognize the
clown even under hroadcloth and In a white |
necktie. But we don't enjoy him thus
The circus costume is more becoming. Like
wise beauty Of face and form may not I've
wholly hidden in the uniform prescribed 10y
style, nor modesty be at once destroyed 10y
decoUctc party dress. But we never enjoy |
beauty so much As when beautifully clothed, |
nor modesty fully aS when modesly
dressed. A dummy can wear any style
person must conform to his own style. The
moment he adopts some one elses there he-
comes manifest q disCuriauce y disturbing
| disharmony between the inner and outer |
man, between the man and his clothes, that |
strikes the intelligent observer uupleasantly. !
| While as soon As the harmony IS restored 10y |
| dressing the man in his proper clothes, the |
| observer experiences a certain very positive |
| and decided sense of satisfaction aud pleasure.
| ALL this is Just a. true also Of books
Every style Of writing demands its own
| particular style of printing and binding. |
| was never more impressed with the im-
| portance of this fact than while reading
Warmers delightful "Earklog StulieS" from
which have Just quoted. The type paper,
| proportions, aud binding Of the kiVrrSlde
| Aldinos lit these iuimitable studies ~ ad-
mirshly, that one might almost imagine the
one 10 have been specially created Tor the
other. " Marjorie Daw," the first volume of
this series, " My Summer in Garden, and
| LOWells " Preside Travels are almost a.
striking instances Of this perfect aiaptahilitv
of matter to form though on the whole, this
tenth and latest volume IS the most perfect
example. | cannot conceive OF any other
style that would aS naturally and completely
| fit the Backlog Studies Il adds to their
enjoyment as the form and color OF the rose
add To the enjoyment OF its perfume. Here
after certainly no one will want the book in
any other shape. In 1t spirit and body are
! welded into one.
How these Backlog Studies cracldc and
flash with their wit and humor, how they
| glow with genial kiudliness and warm
y
common sense is, like whiIls OF punEent
smoke from the flaming log
TAKE, for instance, such bits of literary
criticism as these and the studies are full
of them: "Tennyson is a man OF talent
n who happened to strike lucky vein, which
he has worked with cleverness. The adj
| venturer with pick-axe in WashOe may
: happen upon like good fortune. The world
is full of poetry as the earth is OF 'pay-dIrt;
one only needs to know how to strike it,
Dr. Holmes is the writer "whO appears to
r | have an uncomfortable pcnchuU' for saving
}, the things you would like to say yourself
b and ii is impossible t0 tell how much
g originality in others Dr. Holmes has destroy
ed in this country" Mr.. Warner. by the
. way, proves himself in this book more than
,, in any other almost rs guilty in this respect
u "a the author Of the Breakfast Table series.
OF contemporary noveIi>ts, and women
q novelsts is particular, how true and whole
;, some is the following dialogue:
.r "HeT6ert. Perhaps genius has no sex
, but ordinary talent has. | refer to the great
Y body OF novels, which you would know by
IS internal evidence were written 10y women.
!. They of two sorts: The domestic story
J. | entirely unidealized, and havOrleSs rs
II water-gruel; and tho spiced novel, general =
o immoral in tendency, in which the social
problems are handled, unhappy marriages
a affinity and passional attraction, bigamv
y | and the violation OF the seventh cOmmand
q ment These subjects are treated in the
rawest manner; without any settled ethics
: | with little discrimination OF eternal Iight
: | and wrong, and with very little sense al
g responsibility for what is set forth Many O
these novels are merely the blind OutbUrStS
T OF a nature impatient Of restraint and the
conNentionalities of society, and are As chaoti,
o | as the unframed minds that produce them.
q NundcUiiJe. Don't you think these novel,
n fairly represent a social condition Of unres
r and upheaval?
;. Herbert. Very likely and they help Il
> create and spread abroad the discomfort they
3 describe. Stories of bIgamy (sOmetimes
; disguised by divorce), of unhappy mar
3 riages, where the injured wife, through an
g entire volume, is on the brink of falling into
o the arms of a snoakIng lover, until death
kindly removes the obstacle, aud the two
souls, who we're born for each other, but gu
separated in the cradle melt and mingle into
one in the last chapter, are not healthiu
reading for maids or mothers.
u The Mistress. Or men,"
t For my part, however, agree with "Man
d deville" when he says on this subject, '
II don't see that the men novel-writers are
y better than the women" In fact / am
> strongly inclined to think that at present the
. men novelists offend more against a pure
o | moral tone than the women. Butt when
! | Backlog Studies was written how could Mr..
9 | Warner dream that IlOwels would write
. | his "Modern Instance" or Hardy his q" Two
q | on a Tower" or Bishop his " Echo of Pas.
a | SION" or FawCett his " Ambitious Woman 49,
Neither had our literature been enriched and
| purified by the novels OF such women a.
4 | Mrs jackson and Miss Murfree. No. how
q | ever il may have been fourteen wears ago
| today il is not the women, in our country al
1 | least, so much as the men nOvelsts who
: mainly write the stuff :" Herbert" so Justly
critcizes.
Bur the Backlog Studies are not Chieny Y
confined to literary subjects. The study on
o church architecture is one OF the most anus.
l ing and keenly critical in the book. Indeed
! there is scarcely topic in art, society, poll,
tics, and lite in general that has not some ut
. the authors wise humOr flashed upon it.
For combined entertainment and real in
struction, for laughter-prOvoking wit and
| thOught-provoking wisdom, for sound phil.
osophy on all subjects expressed with the
most charming grace of style and literary
| finish, the Backlog Studies have no rival
outside of Oliver Wendell Holmes Break
| fast Table series.
MENTIONING the genial AutOcrat reminds
me that in an English notice OF his cOnten-
plated visit to England this summer, in
company with his friend Mr.. Lowell, it was
asserted that our late minister at the court
OF St James had so deeply fallen. in love
with the "goOd society" that can he found
| only there, that he going to leave
Ann "A talra "a,