Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-10
THINGS IN GENERAL.
Everybody is Interesting When We Come
to Know Them Weil-one Good Feature
of Fiction-The Surest Thing in Human


Life.
WRITTEN FoR THE DIsPATcH,l
Somebody says that Emerson would some-
times rise up in the middle ofthe night and
get a candle and match, and bit of paper
and pen, and proceed to note down some
happy thought. The thought had ventured
into his mind, and he had caught it before it
had time to fly out again, and there 1t was
imprisoned like beetle on pin. Then he
went back to satisfied siumber.
Somebody else says that if anybody would
note down all the bright ideas which get into
anybody's mind in q moHth's time, the re-
suit would be a book worth reading. Ger
tainly, one of the charms of such book as
Marie Bashkirtsetf's autobiography is in the
delightful naturalness which comes out of
that sort of mental record. She set down
whatever came into her mind, and here it is.
And we know Marie Bashkirtsef better than
If we had been of her acquaintance. The
truth is that everybody is interesting when
we come to know them we'll. There is no
picture like the picture of soul-anybodys
soul, an artists or q peasants, OF young
maiden's, OF plumbers, or politicians.
Autobiography is almost always readable,
and rarely lacks for readers. And the auto
biography which is in a measure uncon-
scious and unintended, such for example, as
we get in journal or bundle of letters, is
especially interesting, We like to know
what people have to say for themselves.
Talleyrand, for instance: What opinion had
he of Talleyrand?
Sure to BE Remembered,
Benyenuto Cellini will be remembered as
an artist as long as his fine Perseus holds out
Medusas head in front of the Ducal Palace
at Florence. But that statue will get bat
tered one of these days. And then Cellini
will stay on in memory as the writer of one
of the frankest and most refreshing ao-
counts which ever man gave of his labors,
his aspirations and his escapades.
l have been reading a delightful little
French novel which Marie Bashkirtself her.
self might have written: The adjective
"French" is sometimes suspicious qualifi-
cation of the substantive "noyel''; but in
this case it means only that piquaney,
brightness of tone, and lightness of touch
which make the French the gayest and gal
lantest of people. "The Story of Refine" is
by Jean de Ia Brete. 1t is love story, pure
and simple. One remembers "The Abbe
Constantin" and "a Marriage for Love-" 1t
is as real as life, and great deal more de-
lightful.
After ALL that is what one wants in a novel.
Let it begin as the writer will, but end well
it must. The wise reader always reads the
last chapter before he buys a novel, and if
the hero and heroine get satisfactorily mar
ried and live happily ever after, he buys the
book. If there is q funeral at the end, like
the old Sunday school books, that is enough.
There is sufficiency of funerals in real life.
Necessary in Novel.
Let us have some retreat where we can get
away from all the ills and bills, from all the
discomforts and Inconvenience, from all the
inf n q nj
shine. The title page of novel ought to be
a window into the millennium,
Yes, would have some shade and some
dashes of sadness. One does not care for a
perpetual broad sunshine, or for dinner of
ice cream and candy. But the bitter should
he put in only to emphasize the sweet. The
of the heroes will help us to ap-
preoiate the good fortunes, The course of
true love is not harmed by running little
roughly at the start. But all this novel
writing for the purpose of analyzing char
acter, testing love with acids, and dissecting
hearts with soalpels; all this business of
writing novels for the purpose of teaching
history, or of teaching political economy, or
of teaching theology, OF of teaching any
thing-the Professor of Things in General
desires to be recorded as disappearing of it.
The purpose of the novel is to amuse.
What that verb ''amuse" means is plain
enough. The initial letter, as everybody
knows, is the Greek negative. To amuse is
to prevent musing. We are amused when
we stop thinking. Stop thinking that is,
about responsibilities, and grocers' orders,
and engagements, and letters, and duties !
and anxieties.
Literature Is becoming too instructive.
Even poetry and music, which have long
been used to teach politics, are getting into |
service now as instructors in cooking and |
weeping. And the title "noyel" no longer |
iefines the contents of book. The laws of |
Justinian, being, ! believe, a new digest of |
Roman jurisprudence, were, for their nov !
,lty, called novels" the "novels of Just |
nian." Some of our modern novels might |
De put on the same shelf
A Rather Curious Question.
But not the "Story of Refine" That is a |
lovel OF the right sort. Why can't people |
llways be as agreeable in reality as they |
ire in fiction? That, 1 suppose, is impossible. |
fou might as well expect Rosalind to go |
hopping in the beautiful dresses which she |
wears ON the stage. But really, there is an |
Unfortunate difference between some fiction |
md some reality. And if the novels shall |
each the value of sweet speech, and the |
of gracious manners, and SO |
,ring the real closer up to the ideal, even |
he Professor of Things in General will |
lot object to that species of instruction.
There was man in the Leng Parliament, |
Tohn Lilburn by name, who was SO par |
fcularly disputatious that they used to say |
hat if John Lilburn were to be stranded on |
desert island he would at once cut himself |
nto two pieces, so that the John might
luarre with the Lilburn, and the Lilburn
With the John.
1t is Sir Arthur Helps who says that if
ONE people were set on pillars, like old |
imeon Sylites, and fed with bread by the
,irds of heaven, they would each one con-
rive to save out a part of the daily bread
hat they might compact it into hard balls
Q pelt each other.
A Good Feature of Fiction.
In all good fiction the intolerably unpleas-
mt people go to their Gown place" sooner
IT later and get what they deserve.
1 suppose though that very disagreeable
,eople manage to get a good deal of
pleasure out of life. John Lilburn, no
loubt. enjoyed himself abundantly. The
Country Parsonr wrote an essay concern
ng the Advantages of Being Cantanker-
us Fooln And, really considering the
of the subject, he made good
Ieal out of it. The Cantankerous Fool is the
,erson who always makes himself egregi-
usly and obstrusiyely unpleasant
ghen things don't absolutely suit
i'm. And the consequence is that
verybody takes pains to provide all things
S suitable as possible. The Cantankerous
Aoel always has the best char, and the
oftest cushions, and the tenderest meat,
nd the biggest and sweetest plums lie gets !
much more generous share of attention
nd Of the other good things of life than the
neek and i,umblc do-than, for ins Stance, Wa
%. Of course, we all detest the oantanker-
us Fool, and make remarks about him