New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-09-26
I'LL LIrtRAKY NOMAN.


From. Bdfpsrg BrzIF.
When we turn from science lite nature. the advance
il not quite 20 marked. II las been cOuslderaUie
indeed vet m veiw Of the COMPLETENESS win which
Ii erdr work is thrown Cpesn 10 "omc AM ther
eou.llty as TO pay, tAC Is room Tor surprise
thai II j, nOt ggeaci. Women have - largely INTO
iournaiislu and witt mucn success; but II must be
remembered that journalism is not literature though 1t
belongs to the same genus ana may ne q"'e as
important. Journalism IA % literature 10 use "A
culinary parson are tie breakfast grdGie cakes
to .Ac Loaf OF bread lie lOineI are 10 DC ea'eh not
or not at all while the bread only Improves by DAY or
twos keeping. be same COOK may happen To excel Ia
both but II Is a combination OF two different git-,
and cannot safely be cOnnted The department IN
winch one may next hope for an advance among the
graduates of our womel's colleges IS IN what may he
called the art OF intellectual Oread- -ths pro-
duction vi permanent literature.
Ii must be readily admitted that tho contributions
OF American women 10 tina poetry and fiction OF the
day are abundant and crediIable. But II must DO
remembered that journalism Itself is hardly more
euhemeral ihan all poetry or tction short OF the
highest and our rapid American life has Already
created aud forgotten several generations oil slcn
shor, lived celebrities. In Giewolds laDonous
Female Poets of America published some forty
wears ago there Is hardly name that Is now remem-
bered AID Poe and Willis IN those days II ed TO pace
a crown of The most perishaJe materials Oh the head
OF every woman who BATTERED them OF whom tiey
wished to hatter. Apart from their tributes, place
on Parnassus supposed TO Oe securely held by the
Davidson sisters. for instance. two hal l-deveoPed
girls earned 10y their pathetic early deaths what
really passed for fame. II II doubtful whether place
permanent can he assigned 10 the Sood-naturco
Cary sisters greater loss to memory Is the fame OF
Miss Scdgwck whose graphic and sensible nctlo.
-rea Istlc i'll the best sense -secms absolutely an
known 10 the generation now growing up. lie 1t so
certain that the now popular "a poets aud
novelists securer IN their position Than their
predecessors
There are really but two grounds Of permnnence in
HteIaturethlt by positive gcnin-. and that won
by aboi. Where both are united, book may stand
by Itself like Gibbons Roman Umpire. sold aud
inaes ructible as the p ram ds-nay, earthquake
proof which they not. But, short OF this. It
il possiule for author VINO takes good subject and
unll IN IN N
place. even without great genius. When Will ouI
womens colleges turn out race OF graduates who will
de vote themselves to literature even as faithfully
AS many men do making an object Tor lie TO do
Thoughtful aud serious work AIN told by editors
that YOU may almost count the hugers of hand
the women IN America TO whom yoa assign
suh iect for magazine paper requiring scholarly eiort
and labor ana have tue work well done. This Is the
gap that needs be filled by literary at
present The supply of eecond-grade fiction by
this is meant ali notion inferior in grade 10 George
Eliots-is now toierably well secured. But the
demand for general literary work solid and
thoughtful nature, demanding both scholarship aud
trained power OF expression is never very well
supplied among men, and Is, with few exceptions
unsuy picd among American women. 1t is 10 meet
this demand that We have q right TO look " our
La