The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1889-06-22
RANDOM SKETCHES.
Fiction Of To-day.
For the SENTINEL

lCOT liz SEN1ANHL"l A
In the editorial columns of the n.
o. Times Democrat Of May ~, was il
review Of the most popular writer's of
fiction, as evidenced by opinions col
lected from various sources. In the
list of those nearest the public heart.
of course, Dickens and Scott and
Thackery stand near the head. The
fiction of to-day, however, is of SO
wide IL range that an ordinary writer
is almost bewildered in the choice of
style to adopt to please the greatest
number of readers and raise the popu-
lar applause. The author is allowed
to air the widest specul tive ideas,
and we have the novel scientific, the
novel pessimistic. optimistic, spiritual
istic and theological, until II longs
for the old fashioned rOmances which
could point Il moral without entering
into discussions to tire the brain or n
settle the faith of the average reader.
The authors most in fashion must
be encyclopedias of knowledge. What
they don't know they must find out,
or pretend. to know. The everyday
writer's who seek by fiction to benefit
their race, to amuse or instruct, to
comfort the weary, and cheer the des-
pendent, must adhere in some respects
to the old beaten paths, ever lat the
risk of being dissected by the critics,
and laughed at for being shallow and
antiquated. ~ q
Says a recent lie cturer on "Noyels and
Novel Reading" "Romance not foanl-.
ed on fact is only tit to be cast into
the tire. As an interpreter and reveal
er of life fiction has a mission scarcely
second to that of any spiritual element
OF history, being a biography of an
inner hidden life. Men will ever turn
upon and trampIe IL of sight the M
who has used great talents to hinder
instead of help" The highest praise
a book or poem can receive are the
simple words from some reader: at
has done me good; it has helped-it
has cOmforted me-" 81 !.
Some time ago a critic sneered at o
New England novel on the ground
that the greater portion of one chapter
was devoted to strawberry short
cake" The name of the book was
not given, but | recognized it from the
description as Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney's
"Gayworthys." Few thoughtful per.
sons, DESTROYS of benefit from what thew
read, can peruse that book and not
feel when they lay it down a desire to
lead a better aud more ~unselfsh life.
II Is a book to haunt q with it's sweet
lessons Of duty, and justice, and affec-
ton. So with Mrs. Mulock Craik's
"John Halifax" and "A Brave Lady.n
We need no poisoned fountains for
u modern literature. Let the we'll
of fancy be pure and inexhaustible :
fed by springs which have their source
in all that is best in human nature. "a
we'll as a stream from the Divine
source of love and universal charity.
The writer who thoroughly identifies
himself with his subject, and makes
his characters, for the time being, liv.
ing realities, dear to his " heart 40
to his readers, is likely to be the most
successful author. It has been said
Dickens never portrayed q character
whose counterpart he had not seen in
real life. But, though some of those
characters were fearful exaggerations,
their individuality is so distinct it ia
. delight to recall them long after the
book is cast aside and the plot almost
forgotten. His daughter tells us that
while Dickens al engaged upon q
book, he would frequently jump up
from his work and practice before q
mirror the facial expressions of the
personages he was portraying.
We remember the story of Thackery
leaving his door with tears streaming
from his eyes, and on being asked by
a friend "what vas the matter - re-
Piled +: 81 have just killed Col. New
come." Hawthorne says: "When |
read the last scene of the Scarlet Let
ter to my wife, just after writing it
tried to read it rather-my voice
swelled and heaved as if / was tossed
up and down On an ocean as it sub
sides after a Storm" These three ear.
nest novelists have passed away, but
we have still many vigorous minds
and men and women of glorious moral
force to guide our fiction of TODAY in
to pure and proper channels. and to
cast out and utterly reject what is
immoral and unworthy of a refined
and elevated literature. EssIr.
M:E!REE,s WINE oE cARpy. for weak Ne,v..