New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-06-20
MINOR NOVELS.
ROOFS rOP SIMMER IDLERS.


literary methods" however, is apt to mislead, for
il suggests conscious adaptation of means to ends
and that which gives its special attraction to Mr..
Howes style is its apparent sponaneity. There is
in this style popularity which has not been noted
hitherto It is in fact reversion to the old
genuine narrative manner Whoever reads I'll o
ordinary novel of the period never doubts that the
story was written down by an author fully and
constantly conscious of literary responsibility.
Whoever reads one of Mr.. Howes stories feels That
he Is listening to tale told orally in the simple,
detailed leisurely manner which IS natural to
people who live far from literary centres and
currents who read little, but who cultivate the
narrative art far more by constant practice than
the buster jewellers in cities find time to do. There
is certain monotony In this mannersm, but its
quaintness preserves it from tediousness. Its
peculiaritles are derived mainly from two sources,
the religious atmosphere and the aspect oil the
country. Seeing that in some respects bOth these
sources resemble those which impart 50 interesting
a melancholy to the writings and to the national
character of tho Russians, we should not be sur
prised to find in the style which Mr.. Howe has
acquired suggestive likeness to the MuScovlte
literary manner. Broad prarics and stern, I'M
sympathetic creed will affect human nature III
much the same ways everywhere, and 80 there may
writer as Howe and such writer as lourguenieh
In the present story there is little conscious
tragedy but the minor key nevertheless sounds
often and an undercurrent OF melancholy may be
perceived The novel is one of character. not OF
plot. The latter reminds one occasionally OF
Dickens's Great Expectations" the hero and
narrator being boy the mystery of whose birth
forms the dramatic feature OF the book The
interest however centres in the pictures OF char
acter drawn by this boy for the most part III n
natural and boy Like manner. The account OF the
life in the family of Tibby Cole the country music
teacher who sold organs on commission and went
about getting up musical conventions" is fresh
and good.
The most amusing part of the story is the descrip-
tlon of The MINT Watch, a New-York paper of a
deeply religions character. devoted to Prohibition
Its editor IS thus described HMr. Grufi the editor
of The Night W0tch. was an ill-condtioned and
dissipateG man. and although we all hated hun,
including the business manager. he was retained
because he was useful in his way. Personally he
was the meancst man have ever known. although
he was so conceited that he considered himself the
best, but when he was sober he coulc write really
powerful editorials on moral and religious sub
iects. and man to fill his place could have been
found only with the greatest difficulty. Although
1870
when be was more disagreeable than ever he
demanded the prohibition of the liquor traffic in
his professional capacity with marked ability. and
carried declaration at the head of his columns to
that effect"
Barton, the business manager of The Night Hdfch
is a strange character. He has sluttish wife and
a hdeonsly i'll brought up family His home Is so
wretchcd that he stays away from 1t rs much as
possible But he always insists that his wife Isl
pattern housckeeDer and mother ana That the la'Iit
Is in himself. he beng through lnbo prr'crsencss
and depraVity, unable TO appreciate the domestic
Treasure vouchsafed TO INN. We must confess that
we have found it rather diticult to accept Barton
as possibility, though he Is undcniably effective
a I'd picturesque. Mr.. Couldock, the supposed
proprietor of The Night match. who Is always
writing letters and articles for the paper which his
business manager invariably tears mp without
reading is funny i'm fact the whole encourage of The
Aight Uotch appears more like scene out oil
pantomime than description of actual things.
The story OF King Coles adventures ~ fulI oi
interest thrO lghOut. IL s told with the fascinating
simplicity winch makes all Mr. llowe's books 80
readable The fault of the work ia the too constant
presence of kind Of dlcamy element which while
10y no means unpleasant gives 2n air OF nnreaEty
and fantasy to the narrative. But It is genuinely
good novel, of a wholesome type.
Miss Macfarlane's story IA curious one, It's chief
pecuiarity being the apparent uncertainty of the
author about the character of the heroine, VIyIe
There Is no attempt to develop the girls nature reg.
wholly insufficient to prepare the reader for her
actual deeds and conclusions. Whether she was
meant to be incomprehensible is not clear. The
Indifferent children of the earth may be snp-
posed TO possess less complex and dlficult charac-
ters Yet there is a touch of real life in the caprc
ions young creature. IL Is only In fiction that
people are entirely dissectcd and precisely la
belled as to be thoroughly ntellIgible. Men and
women the actual world have to guess at one an
other perpetuaiy and no doubt more than half the
time these guesses bluniers 1t is quite compre-
hensible that Vven understood herself little as
those about her understood her. The novelist
who possesses the creative faculty must also
frequently stand III perplexIty before the
unaccountable sayings and doings of
his creatures Thackeray used to say that he often
was fairly asonisbcd at the things his characters
SAID things which did not seem to have originated
in his mind at all Vivicn Langstreth perhaps
went altogether beyond tine control of her author
in The same way. she is certainly positive aud
strongly indIvidualIzed GIRL and II not altogether
lOVaDle and unqucStlOnably belonging 10 q rather
low order o. mind, her divagatlOnS full ofinter
esi A. to Ned Browniow, the too good aud
faulty fantless young IN n who is the foil TO
NIvIe' the drpravitv OF human nature inevitably
itself III the shape of prejudice against his
k,nd. He Is indeed altogether " woman's man "a
sort Of being men new conceive but for whom the
female Dove-~riter hath ever cherished warm
affection. InsnliSh. dlGulIed. seli-sacricing, con-
slant, patient, these heroes unite In themselves
every virtue and quaiity which the average child
of the earth lacks.
Brooks Eastman. the English soldier. would be "A
frankly brutal character veueercd with the polish
of education, but for letter writ
ten when he thought he was about
to he killed in battle. There is "a
nobility in that which is wholly Inconsistent
with everything else told Of him and yet II Is not
safe to say that such man might not have his
moments of exaltation. Let us remember that
Couthon persistently attached TO "a dog. and
that Robespeue's heart went out to flowers. The
"Chldren of the Earth" are III truin very COM
poslte creatures, and Miss Macfarane has not done
violence to nature III so representing them. The
worst thIng the book is VIviens collapse before
the coarse animal passion of Eastman. That seems
"A fall beyond her character 10 encounter 50 wiling
ly, and though she Is saved from herself by An
accident II is impossible not to feel that she has
lowered herself hopelessly III the estimation of all
good people, But there Is much force and skill in
the story and the picture of Grandan Ldngstreth is
drawn with considerable decacy and feeling