The Cecil Whig., 1886-01-02
St"aj's 4" i''uoto', and / 'os'ophe.
An Original WING Feature.
A LAMB IN WOLF'S CLOTHING
Being c.v3y :: :ho w:-, :t NJ: M--:::: :A.-!::
EGta.: C-a33:;k)

| do not know what dire punishment
Miss Nnrfree would mete ont t. me were
she To know have called her Lamb
At least she would think my REGARD for
her rather an alirrtiouate one AMI rat her
improper for such a short acquaintance
as have had with her through her Sto-
RES, but nevertheless what have writ
ten must stand. be the punishment light
or severe. Miss Muriree represents the
lamb in wolf's clothing by the simple
circumstance of having succeeded in
making a host OF delighted readers be
ieve for a long time that she was great,
stroug-armcd, swart. limbed mOuntaineer
AMI not Il delicate, fair faced woman,
with an Imagination and force of intel
ect that few women and not many men
have equalled or surpassed. The titles
of her two best worIIs-"D Jwn the Rl-
vine" and Tue Prophet Of the Great
Smoky Mountain are too wei! known
to require an introduction to the general
reader. ami in fact the real and assumed
| familiar that little introduction is neccS-
Sary in her ease eli her. y 1t since the
| gifted Harriet lfCecher Stowe first tiaSheu
| forth as meteor in the literary !irma
ment has there arisen an American au,
thoress possessing 50 many Of the true
| traits of the true novelist as Miss Nur-
| free. Her intellect is impressive: her
mastery diction SURPRISING Ia dt Scrib-
ing both man and nature her power is
astonishing. Physically. Miss Muriree
is extremely weak aud delicate, with
sensitive nerves and innumerable achcS:
| but mentally she is strong and healthy,
always able to write with vigOr, and al
ways capable of that uneXampied toIce
which has gwen her work SUch rapid
prominence. The literary character of
Miss Murfree is extremely pecuiiar. Tn
ike any other author of whom know
| she cannot be compared with any onc
great or small. She is as truly distluc
tive as her art is truly original, and abid-
ing by no rules except these OF keen
literary Judgment and an cnviaho ma
tural instinct. nothing cminates from her
brain but what We may without Le>itd
ton stamp with the stamp of perfection.
That Miss Mrrfree discovered the reign
ing popularity in her style long before
al, iS nN y I,
masculine nom Gt p''itaC with winch she
signed her early articles. Readers of
wv ide Awake met tue name of Charles
E ebert Craddock face to face many
times with never a suppoSiti"n that it
cloaked the Swecrcr and softer name Of
Minnie Murfrce. Her sense and wisdom
was shown at the very starting point by
the choice of male alias. 1t would
have been difficult indeed to make the
class of general readers which her earlier
works reached believe that those fiery
and muscular descriptions Of life i'll the
staunch old mountains of Tennessee came
from the brain of sickly woman; but
when the veil was torn aSundcr and the
author of the wonderful tales WIS re
vealed in all her femenine rellhesS, the
popular heart had been so completely
captured that no danger of ever losing it
was felt. There is a great deal of the
truly deep and wonderfully intellectual
in Miss Murfree. Compared with George
Eliot, George Sands. Stowe, Aicutt, and
their sisters, she lacks qualities winch
they possess aud possesses qualities
which they lack, both in equal guanti-
ties. Her tenderness aud pathus arc
much too frequently sacrificed to power
and force in the rough, elemental natures
when tenderness and pathos are portray
ed the cry that is sent forth is one that
rocks the hills from base to summit and
echoes through the woods like the end
less echo of the winds, ard the tears that
flow are great. burning, bitter tears that
are only wept from the soul and rot from
the heart and eyes. Her p intings of
the fierce mountain landscapes are as
vivid and thrilling as the thunder clapS
and lightning flashes that nature some
| times ,tlerS as a background to some
| solemn woodland when til" sky is muray
and dense, aud her portraits -! the mca
dows lit with sunshine, and the SIUpirg
| hill-sides clad i'll heather bloom, are as
dainty and en- lntlng Is the brauti-
F,,1 Il Il, .1,A
the faces of the children who appear in
her books. Her hum0r is inimtat.e. 1t
does not glitter and CLEAN on every page
in dazzling sparkles, but occasionally a
boundless broad-side "f it presents itself.
and the page is read again ard again
with new delight at each perusal. There
is a tender spot in her heart for every
big-tisted fellDw that climbs the noun
tain side, and lives on from day to day
in the monotony Of his lar away eXjs!
ence. and there is a grelt tear of s. IN
pathy always in her eye for the sun
Drowned girls who weave and spin sweep
| and bake Init and SEX, love and marry
in the little huts that dot the wild old
hills. Her characters are not led forth
into the world: they live their lives at
home, the tragedy and comedy is en-
acted under their own roofs, and the only
| field of action for any of them is the
! great meadow o: wild grass and herbs
| and blossoms that stretches on ard 0u
| through the beautiful Tennessee range.
| Dut the orld is brought to her charac-
| ters by the fascination Of her wgitir z.
by the poetry, the humanity. the terrible
reaness of all she says. and the yea3u-
| ing to gaze into such faces as she pic
lures and hear such voices as she de-
scribes In the natural course Of time
and events some ones lot would have
been treated upon by Miss Murirce. IN
every corner Of the country there are
hosts of Just such stories as Miss Muir
| free has written, but she deserves an
| limited credit for the remarkable mat
lay before her. She found il her own
home. in the hearts of her friends and
neighbors, enough material for a thou
sand lomances. Tde bast o. this she
| has ended and 1t will outlast for many
| generations the work of less abl. Ameii-
cans who claim through the columns of