The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-06-06
"MEn LADY"--A ROMANCE.
rhomas Nelson Pages Rrioindcr to Col.
Frank q. Ruin.


written for The Times.l
ofCol. +. q. Runln's last letter
In the language Of the law this would be
the rcioindcr, and, with 1t. so far as am
concerned. the pleadings end.
am content TO pass by The personal part
of Colonel Ruiin's last, as well as the
charge that Meh Lady is an attack on Our
,oonle. have had sufficient assurances
| from many parts Of the shuth 10 satisfy me
TINT no Reasonable person can hold TINS
View. / am much surprised 10 learn,
after four years Of unwonted silence. ina
Colonel Ruilin has adopted il. 1t is unique :.
His error is due TO two causes;
10 his never having got deeper IMAM inc
dialect, and TO his radical misappreliensioh
OF my purpose. lie has stated what ne con-
ceiyes that purpose to be. VIII only sa!
that he has mistaken il.
The case at present stands must toiOnti
Ruilin. after having attacked two old family
servants with a want OF proNoca'iVin
eoualled only in the case Of the naughty III
tie Tommy Green, who drowned ms poor
Grandmother cat. that never lid MN any
harm but kill the mice in his fathers barn,
undertook somewhat gratuitously to SHOW
an enthusiastic but misguided public mat
"A story of mine was untrue 10 lie or 10 arr
anywhere and was not a tribute OF praise to
| the south such as intended 1t to be.
Well. in any event. would it not have been
more kindly for him 10 have left me under
! the harmless dclusi0n that ! had succeeded
in doing what tried'
But has Colonel Ruflin proved his PROPOSE
,iOnY
II is rule Of poemic controversy ms OF
.. -. Al. oil aud tho IfDnlfl the
allegation and the proof, must correspond
Bv This rule has Colonel Ruilin succeeded:
After stating his charge that the story was
untrue 10 life or to art my
,rhere, he deyOtes column and Il
| half 10 showing that the characters
and incidents are not possible in certain
ncighborhood, all the residents Of which he
knew. "Ihe scene Of Meh Lady," he says,
sis laid in the upper end OF Hanover
county," This is pure assumption on ire
Colonies part, based on my having lNeu
there. Then he proceeds To tell how many
Good people: the Berkelovs, the Nelson's. the
PAGES. (by the way, think | would be as
little apt TO traduce them as Colonel itui-
fin would bel the Dabneys, the Molrises,
the FOuntaincs," lived there, etc.
am complilnented that my story should
so have impressed Colonel Ruifin rs TO
create i'm his mind "A sense Of actual locality.
| wonder. however. as the story Is told
| from redOubt. that IT did not occur TO
, Colonel Ruilin that no battles such as were
! fought on Mch Lady place occurred III tnai
section. To relieve the tOlOnels nina |
will tell him that 'Meh Lady il romance,
and that the scene, wherever 1t was iaid'
was not laid in the upper end Of Hanover
county. nor i'm any neighborhood where there
were any good people like those he knew.
If he will get the geography and the census
| he can doubtless locate the place.
/ would further suggest 10 him That a
romance can be Judged only by standard
Of romance; and that idealizatiOn Is by
some deemed allowable in such works. The
| Colonel. however, has authority for his po-
sition. \ noted English reviewer objected
to Goldsmiihs "Thc Deserted Village
that there was no such village IN Ireland.
| am. indeed. fain 10 admit that by any
standard my story has more defects than
the one Colonel Ruflin's assiduity has dis
covered. IL is, perhaps, for this reason
that | am unwilling Ia admit those which 1t
has not. If il were not that time Is too
valuable, | would request Colonel KUHN 10
read the story agan-not in the spirit OF a
small boy going through a garden merely
looking for stones 10 Hing at hirds-who
sees neither the grass nor the flowers,
but hunts only for stones, but with more
literary temper. Perhaps he may, IN such
case. lind "A deeper significance than "a
bubble" in Meh Lady overcoming hcrpride
and selling the mule to buy white iloIr and
delicacies Tor her mother. With this must
leave Colonel Ruflin the field.
We look at the subject from entirely diff
ferent standpoints, he from that Of a math-
ematical table, from that Of "A romance.
do not propose to defend further my
stories. They must stand on their own
merits. and if they require a defender, they
ought to perish.
THOMAS NELSON PAGE.