Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1888-08-25
CHARLES EeBERr cRADDocK,
Otherwise Mary n. Murfree, Who Portrays
Tennessee Mountain Lie.
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cause women arc women. and so used to
not being men that the swish of petit
coats is heard Ia their stories even when
they are doing their best to pretend that
xhey wear no such garments. The
swish" is not objectionable-no brand
of inferiority. II is simply distinctive.
The lady whose literary work bears the
mannish signature of Charles Egbert
Craddock was never suspected Of petit
coats until she walked into the office of
the Atlantic Monthly Magazine one day
and introduced herself TO the editor,
Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Now, editors
have managed to work up reputation
for astuteness, which, may the whole
race Of them pardon me for saying, they
do not always sustain. This one, though
admittedly wise and discerning, was
taken quite OF his literary feet, as it
were, when he heard the actual rustic Of
the petticoats which clothed the person Of
''Mr. Craddock, for 50 lre Ind invariably
addressed her in their correspondence.
The masculine strength and vigor of style
in Craddock's case was backed up by a
chiography as bold and masculine as that
Of any statesman II not as illegible.
Her every day, unliterary name is Mary
Eoailles Murfree, and she was born near
Murfreesboro, Tenn, and there passed
her first years. Her family removed to
Nashville and remained until 1878, when
they returned to an old family plantation
near Murfreesboro. where they lived until
1881. They now reside in St. Louis.
Miss Murfrees first story, THE Dan
Gin Party at Harrison's Cove" was writ
ten in 1878 and appeared in The Atlantic.
1t was followed by several other studies
of Tennessee mountain life, which at
tracted so much attention that in 1884
the publishers collected them into vol
ume entitled, In the Tennessee Mount
aims" This Is the very highest proof Of
literary appreciation a publisher can give,
as widespread prejudice exists among
the craft against volumes of short stories.
One and all stand up and swear that
books made up Of short stories will not
sell. The public, they affirm, is a pc
culiar beast and wants its fiction In bulk,
without change of character and subject.
indeed ii has been limited that II some
body would write novel as big as
piano it would go off at rafting pace
solely on its bulk, merit being of no spe.
cial moment.
Upon this book Miss Murfree's reputa.
ton as writer was founded 1t sold.
too, IN spite Of the universal belief OF
publishers that short stories will not sell.
It reached, it Is said, its sixteenth edi-
tion. Not until March, 1885, was it
known that Charles EQbert Craddock was
not mister but miss
Where the Battle Was Fought was
her next book. 1t was novel of south
ern life describing the scene of the bat
tie of Stone River. Then followed 1.-The
Prophet Of the Great Smoky Mountains"
a serial in the Atlantic, and afterward
published in separate volume. She
next wrote some tales for children for
The Youths Companion and Wido
Awake one Of which Down the Ra
vine, was also put into book form Her
last book, in the Clouds. ran as q Sc
rial in The Atlantic before it came out in
a volume.
Miss Murfree draws her characters and
her localities from her native state, mostly
from the mountains, a field heretofore I'M
cultivated IN literature, ard marvelously
interesting one. Like Bret Harte, when
she depicts semi-wild life she IL charming;
but on conventional ground she might be
said 70 scarcely hold her own. Where
the Battle Was Fought" although q
Tennessee novel, lacks the mental ozone
Of the mountain. Its people are conven-
tional and SO IS its construction. That it
did not please as did the mountain stories.
is proven by its only reaching its sixth
edition, while its predecessor went up to
the sixteenth.
Miss Murfree's intimate knowledge of
life in the Tennessee mountains is owing
to the fact that she spent sixteen Of her
summers in out Of the way mountain re-
treats. She has q perfect mastery Of the
dialect of the curious people whom she
describes, and the sorrows o. their dreary
lives. when portrayed by her pen, touch
US with their deep psthos. She has
power; her people are real; their woes
are real, and their lives are so far removed
from the conventional that they are al
most idyllic. Her realism has been de-
scribed as picturesque realism" This
Is doubtless because readers who know
nothing whatever about the people OF the
southern mountains cannot think of them
as existing outside the dreamy. poetic
I precincts Of the Great Smokes. In MEM
ory they seem like abstract conceptions
This writer is strong and dazzling with
out being in the least offensive. There is
not an unhoiy suggestion IN her work. /;
\ never line that the severest critic could
/ write down as impure; never a page that
deserves censure. She has proved what
has before been proven, but which writers
longing to arrest public attention seldom
fully realize-whieh is that the public
are much more anxious for something
good than for something bad. The bad
books, like bad people, frequently have
so much force and fascination i'm them
that they win a hearing even from those
who do not approve Of them A novel can
be good without being goody good or weak
A fortune is always waiting for the mar
or woman who shall write 4 strong, clean
Wholesome novel. Let writer's Of fiction
who are looking about for fresh grount
to break remember that III this field the,
have less competition than in any other
and the prize Is sure.
Considerable, as regards quantity, hal
been written about Charles Egbert Grad
dock, yet not much is known Of her per
sonally. She seems not to be one Of thos
too numerous writer's whose names ar
always confronting one in the newspaper
whose gettings up and sittings dow
are chronicled by their maneuvering ant
} constitute their chief literary capital
3 She is ono of the few whose works reall
sail by reason Of their merit. Her friend
say that she never had a manuscript re
: iected, and each Of her books has wo
! almost immediate appreciation.
/ Her range Is not broad, but her draw
i, ing Is strong and true and her colorin
I delicious. It has been said Of her, an
truthfully, that she repeats herself, Z
/ rather that the sin Of parallelism can /
! laid at her door. Her heroines are soml
times as like to each esher as the stars
person, character, experience and destin,
\ Of pedantry, too, she Is not entirely fro