, 1888-09-14
WHAT IS LITERARY MERl1,
Ina is the Agreed Upon Standard?-In-
trinsio Literary Worth.


What constitutes literary merit?'
Each editor thinks he knows. So does
each literary critic. So do the people who
will tell you that the poems or essays or
books that live are possessed of it. There
is a sort of agreed upon standard, known
in a vague way by literary people and
represented by our best periodicals. BY
all means keep this standard high, and
keep yourselves up to the standard; but
at the same time, once in a while, let
your mind dwell upon the lesson con-
tanned in the parable of the widows mite.
If poems or prose writings had intelli-
gence, and could think for themselves,
there would be one infallible test for in
trinsic value that they might append to
themselves after they had stood the fur
Their test of time: Only remembered for
what / have done" For instance, several
years ago a little poem appeared in one of
our daily papers from a local author. /
cannot think he was paid for it, nor can
think any other paper ever thought it
worth copying for its own columns. l
well remember CHANGING over it with a
little bit of contempt in my mind and q
good deal of indifference, and feeling sure
it was quite without literary merit" 1t
was about the baby boy, a very hack
neyed subject, you will all agree.
Well, the other day my pride of judg-
ment received O ~humiliating blow. A
woman, good and true, in the humble
ranks of life. had seen this poem. Her
own baby boy was only a few weeks old,
and perhaps she had let creep into her
heart the thought that he was something
of a burden, with poverty and lard work
pressing upon her each day. The little
poem struck a higher, better chord than
that, and the tune of her thoughts grew
sweeter. h cut it out of the paper and
tucked it into the sewing machine drawer,
and learned it, a line at a time, as she sat
at work. MOI did it stop there; around
among the neighbors it went, and brought
many a blessing to the little babies in the
poor, crowded houses.
Question: "Did the poem have literary
merritt" Certainly; it's simple phraseology,
its humble truth. its honest purpose,
spoke to the mind as well as the heart of
these people as one of B~rowning's sonnets
could not have done.
Again: There is a housekeeping paper
published in one of our western cities.
Very ordinary. l nave been wont to pro.
nounce it, and after a cursory, Indifferent
perusat ! have sent away my numbers to
a little h~ousekeeper on a Virginia farm.
She is a brave little woman, left, at the
age of IA. by the death of her mother, to
bring up the three younger children and
do the Homework. Very limited was her
schooling, of course. For two years, now,
she has had this housekeeping journal,
and have had her occasional letters. And
how she has grown mentality 1t must
have been the literary merit" in that
paper that l called ordinary, and could not
waste my time upon.
There is apparent literary value and an
intrinsic one, / feel bound to admit.
There may be two ways of considering
whether a poem or a book lives. If it is
printed over and over again at the de-
mand of the people, all the world knows
it lives. But it sometimes happens that
it is printed only once, is caught up by
some heart, passed on and on in word or
influence, n the good it does never dies.
Is it not really literary merit" that makes
it Ive-the mode of its expression as well
as its inherent thought? am asking; for
ut the very end of my remarks, with a
full recognition of the value of high
standards, with a just respect for editors,
critics and cultivated readers, but with
an equally ardent appreciation of compar-
alive value, l humbly confess that l do
not know what literary merit" really is.
@uniata Stafford in Belford's Magazine.