Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-06-26

| pensiyc Why, | know plenty of peopls
who spend much more than tho price of 4
| IN one season for " "sumnher reading ~ and
| short stories and when the season in oycr
| what have they tn show for ~ Nothing but
| about n bushel of ragged aud torn paper.
| covered stuii that has to be given to the rag.
man.
IL you Imagine that you must have short
stories In summer, remember that lIaw-
thorno has two or three volumes OF the very
best kind of them. Indeed, Hawthorne
must he regarded ~ ono OF the original In
ventors of the American short story, aud for
| Charm uf style and delicacy of conception
none of the later writers In tina, line have vet
surpassed him few have even equaled him.
For, with much oi the exquisite work that
has been called forth by this feature of our
literature, there has also been produced not
little that IL but sorry stun. Everybody
that eau write at all seems to fancy that he
can write n short story, and nearly everyone
tries. Whereas the fact IL that but very few
can do 1t successfully. While Cable, How
ellis, Bishop, Iathrop, Miss Murfree, the late
Helen Jackson and several other iirstclass
writers of fiction have also given us excellent
specimens ot this kind of work, many Of our
most successful novelists have utterly failed
III IT. similarly some of the most skilliul
writers OF short stories are little short OF fail
ures when they attempt regular novel, ~
FOR example, Maurice Thompson, Bret
llarte aud Frank Il. Stockton, with his lust
published Late Mrs Null. In general IL
may he said that the best recent short stories
are 10y authors comparatively unknown In
any oi the other departments of fiction.
WHEN | speak OF the best mean to be
taken literally, and that of course limits the
number to a very fcw. TO be absolutely
better than Miss Murtree's In tho Tennessee
Mountains, Joel Chandler Harris exquisite
sketches, Maurice Thompsons charming
stories, and snch gems ~ u few of Mr..
James Mr.. Janvier's Uvory Black'sj,
Frank Stcckton's, J. n. Trow bridges,
not to mention Cables Old Creole
Days, and the delightful tales OF
towels, Aldrich, Warner, Hsrte and others
ni our well-known fsvorites-to be better
than what these skilled and trained artists
nave given US, story must bs very nearly
perfect
OF these few best recent short sto-
ries TWO are 10y one and the same author,
whose only contribution to our literature
they are, at least so tar as know. His name
is Thomas Nelson Page and the two mas.
terpieces To which refer are " Marse Chan"
which appeared in the Century some months
age, and Meh Lady" in the June number
OF the same magazine. The scene of both il
laid in Eastern Virginia during and imme-
diately after the war, and both stories are |
written in the difficult East Virginia negro |
dialect which makes ii hard work To read |
them, and | fear will cause not a few to refuse |
the task altogether More's the pity. For |
Marse Chan and Meh Lady are gems of the |
tirst water ! shall not even attempt to de- |
scribe or characterize them here, nor try to |
account for their wondrous charm and eN. |
quiste beauty. Read them, aud you will |
have read two of the very best American
short stories that have yet been written. | |
only wish had the pleasure still before me- |
For two such gems one can forgive the writ |
ing OF much trash, and from them can gather
strong and brightest hope for the future of |
this kind Of literature. They disclose to us
a vein OF gold rich and precious, and by the
hands of the right kind Of workmeu capable OF |
development into artistic treasures such a.
the literature of our language has as yet few
TO show.
WHILE reading Meh Lady, however, the
question arose in my mind, Is 1t really es-
sential to the excellence, the touching ro-
nance, the pure and deep pathos of the
story, that it should bs written in so forbid
ling dialect? ? / could not decide the dues-
non either way. Perhaps it Is, and perhaps
u is not. But ! certainly wish 1t weren't
The language almost makes it doubtful
whether, strictly speaking, it Is English
literature a. all. UScks