The Washington critic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1889-1889, 1889-04-30
ANTEROS: LIFE WITH PASSION.

rent Literature, New York, for May o
story by Donald Mcleod, appearing in
the Rnickerbockcr forty years ago aud
prcfaces IL with an explanatory editorial
comment by the Current Literature"
"Still againl The symptoms are not
new. There has been no flying leap
from Swinburne to Amclie Rives-from
Bazac TO Saltus. What does this ten
dency to realism signify2 What deduc
tions must be drawn from the novel of
passion? What are we coming tor" In
point. of fact we are just about where we
were fifty years ago-only there are
more of us Among the American
writers OF yesterday-as of to.day--are
those of the realistic school--ayel and
of the cratic school. There are those
who wrote of life and its passions--good
and evil. The period of the old
"Knickerbocker Magazine" was an era
of intense respectability in the literature
of our country, and its contributors were
among the literary pioneers Of America.
Yet within II pages and from the pen of
one of its most valued and gifted con
tributors" we take an authoritative ex
ample Of ultra, realistic fiction which,
were 1t written to-day, would have sent
the critics into apoplectic fits. II Is the
story of Anteros-"A Life With One
Passion II falls from the lips of
woman. II is the story Of her life and
her love. 1t is told with uncompromis.
ing drectness--with brutal truth.
There is, literally, neither side effects
nor setting of any description to this
picture Of purely animal passion.
1t opens with q pen portrait of
the heroine--a languorous, volupt-
uous study, whose sensuousness is pur-
posed and complete, and unequaled by
anything which a younger generation
has given to the world. Not posi-
bility for sensual effect has escaped the
author The atmosphere of the story
is heavy with the perfumes Of jessa-
mines, heliotrope and violets-steeped
in strong wines. In the simple direct.
ness of its old fashioned English, the
story marks the various stages of an in
tensely animal love, beside which that
of Barbara Pomfret for her cousin takes
on the tender, delicate colors of pas
toral idyl. The voluptuous heroine is
presented to us in every phase of her
sensual nature, from first burning
glance-the first crushing consciousness
of passion, which brings unconscious
ness with it--through days of delirium
and nights Of languor, to the last
furious embrace, in which this creature
of the senses, vampire-like, draws the
very breath of life from the lips of the
man she loves-and whom with this
very love, she kills. This story is
called psychological study. IL APP
pears in gallery of selections from the
best numbers of the "Knickerbocker
Magazine" side by side with the work
of such writers as Washington Irving,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Rev. Samuel
Osgood, Rev. George Bethune, ID. d.,
Donald G. Mitchell, William Cullen
Bryant, Bayard Taylor, John G. SAKE,
james Russell Lowell, Henry w. Long
fellow and George William Curtis. For
the benefit of those critics, whose pure
white souls are narrowed with the fear
of the possible result Of the new cratic
novel on ''The Daughters of America,
and for those of our readers who woul d
like to nudge of what the mothers of
America passed through unscathed
about forty years ago, we print the
story of Anteros in this member of
Current Literature
There is q young, beautiful woman
sitting among pillows and cushions in
an armchair by an open window. The
still atmosphere is heavy with the scent
of tuberoses, jessamines and heliotropes.
Filled as the air is with these rich fra.
| grances, she adds to them that of
pastilles, burning on the chimney piece,
and her handkerchief is wet with ex-
tract Of violets. Her skin is white, hut
| not transparent; IL reminds you most of
cream-laid note paper. The eyes are
lazy, full, and the color Of the double
English violets. The hair is blonde,
| an ashy blonde, and has scarcely wave
in it; il could not be made TO curl, but
lies in rich, heavy, almost damp bands,
about the face. Her form, though del
icate, is thoroughly developed, the flesh
firm, the outlines as If chiseled, grow.
ing thin now, except the throat and
bust, and the hands and feet, which are
very small, but rounded and plump,
with dimples at the joints. She wears
pale blue silk robe de chambre open
ing in front TO show an undertakes oil
of white watered silk. On the table
beside her is bottle and half-filled
glass of heavy, rich Portugal wine,
pure juice, which leaves spoonful OF
thick sediment in every glass.
Except TO taste this, or TO inhale the
odors, as the light air throws them oc.
casionally through the window, or to
respire the violet from the hantlker
chief, she seldom raises her head from
cushions, in which position she looks
passionately and dreamily at her hus
bands portrait, which hangs upon the
wall before her.
The portrait exhibits q man of 20 ol
27, somewhat sallow, thin, with heavy
wavy chestnut hair, and large, brown
eyes, not without some fierceness In
them. There is nothing remarkable
about the face except the intense red
ness of the lips--the lady has that alsC
so red that you fancy the painter ,
bad chooser of colors; yet they say the
likeness is perfect .I
These are all the accessories whicl
need be mentioned. Let the lady tel
her own story;
My father died before my BIRTH IN,
mother perished in bringing me, he
only child, into the world They lef
me large fortune, and my guardian
were well-bred, very ordinary, every
day. wellto-do people.
The first thing / ever loved, excep
strong perfumes and flowers, was
bird = an English .bullfinch = whicl
, seemed to be very fond of me, unit
one day, when / was about 10 or 10,
flew 20 young girl who was visitin
me, and refused TO come back when
, called 1t. When II did come, kille,
II In my hand.
don't think that / loved anything
, much, except this bird that crishe
iiercely in my hand; at least, until
was fully 18 years of age.
wns taken into society quite yOun