The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-16
WOMEN AS WRITERS.
iLoaisvllle cearler. loarsal.l

FuuKra10 O9 ts o0t oeSntSW 9S FoF o0& Oe tue snlucky. if 1t Is possible for us to keep out and sssy out Of trouble with the liter any ladies Ooly little while aeo tAere was a RiTl away doRn about PAdacah who gave us dose we thought woald last us a t~elvemonth at the very least. And here, before the end of the year, comes . missive, ten pages or more, from one of the scTiohling sisteihood iA Mimnesota telling us what We were already aware ot that we are mo critic," but adding (~hAt we did not suSpec,) tAat we are mo gentleman" And for whaf Be- cause we declined novel as long as the moral law and as trite as the ten con- mandments. Truly, for one who adores all that is beautiful and good in woman, we are tn hard lack, hard lu>kl
 Seriously, what do women who insist upon writing expectI To be sure. those who fail oi access to the standard period- icSls and 1y for redress to the newspapers do not constitute a class entitled to much. h any, recognition being fr the moot part the merss, drivelers. But even those who have a certain success with their novels or poems are squAlly unreasonable and impractical. The crrrent literary world is full of authoyc. sos, and, as the m, ,nty ot these object upoa high neral grounds. to anything but the most kiadly criticism, the task ot the critics of tAe da, becomes very difficult After pronouu. cipg against some third.rate novel wAich IS made up of murders and of moonshine, the critic teels as Diomede must have feit af CT wounding Venus in the arm. The il lred goddess g Ses moaning about and complaining to every one she meets of the brutal conduct of some editor who has ventured to hint that her idea of the law of divorce is littie peculiar, or that a preacher in weak health Is 10, neces. sArily the type of manly beauty or grand eur Alter suffering aad resenting this outrage she falls pack on the sympAthy of less irrevereat pubt,c aud consoles hes- self with learning from the religious pa. pers that her book Is the book to 20 to tor all those who want fresh, dewy truth to lay upon the humau hear and th at m my a weary mourner has to thank her for the gentle grace with which she walks through the chambers of the soul
 It is almost impossible to persu ,de the authoress that In the republic of letters there IS no distinction of sexes, and that a bad novel is not the less a bad one ba. cause it has been written by a lady who believes th at she has vocation for wrlt- lag t. Yet the high place occupied in modern literature oy names like those of Mad ame Sand. or Ca lrlotte Beonie," or George Eliot" proves that when women really write well the world Is per fectiy ready to acknoeledSs i,. "S.!.s Warner" aud&"Consuelo have been treated witA as much respect as if they had been the production of princes of the blood and even minor feminine artists, such as Mrs. owe and Mrs Browning. e " an envisole and honorable position among the novelists and poets of the gen . erauon.
 This ought to comfort auth horesses, only that they are always refusing to be com foued. Taey cannot understand that, though the vast m j 1rity of women who rush into print wn,e badly, a woman s success will always please the most blood thirsty m ale critic And, as a Tule, the mass of women writers do write badly. There IS no doubt about 1t; and 1t is worth considering whether women have, as women, any special capacity or, on the other haod. any special weAkuess which assists them or dis ibles them for literary enterprise. At the hrst blush they seem to have many things in their favor. ln the first place they arc Tesned and tender hearted, and instinctivciy dis posed to sympathiz. with the good aad the poor and the oppressed. No woman would think Of letting a character in her novel ee genuine hero who vas cruel to Hies or who did not like babies. Their books have generally a moral purpose, either to brIng out the value of true love, or to show that we ought not to m,nd ug- poets unotj .ctiop able, or perhaps to teach us that clergyman who does his du,y by the psor Is one of the noblest works of God Then, again women are obseTv- ant of small things. This IS a consider able step in the direction of insigh, into character tor character Is made 50 oi small qu Ansities com bined with great, and il IS better to have aa eye tor the minute of character than to have no eye fos char acter at all. Women, lastly, apprecia'e to the fall. true and genuine senumental- lty, and there are few great works of It, erAry genius into which the best kind of sentimentAhty does not eater.
 The reverse side of the ned is, On the other hand, as easy to describe. Few people who are in the habit of reading the literature of osr era can fzl to have observed the deficiency of plot and ges- eral effect that chsracteris"s most works of feminine art Ceorg: Sand is aboui the only writer whose plots are excellent, aAd George Sand" was only half a woman In this rasnect svan Cnorge Eho, is not unim peachAble. there cas scarcely be greater contrast than the contrast ees~een the genus exhibited in detail sy story like the Mill ca the Floss " and the want of compIe,esess in the story as a whole.
 When we descend 10 less accomplished performers ve are met with con. picious want of broad and s,riking humor Humor is subtle aud finished form sew eral great authorities certainly display,