The Forrest City times., 1891-10-30
ITO os ContinuedJ
Books and Writers.


 Books and Writers.
 Moro and more come to the desk of the reviewer books having the Chica- go imprint They are, as rule, paper covered, but many of them are good. and there comes occasionally publi- cation as pretentious in the matter of bidding and as notable in quality and name os author as any printed any where. The substance of all is that Chicago is coming rapidly to the front as publishing center, and is becom- ing. naturally, one of the literary cen ters as well. Some strong men in the world of letters; men who have al- ready done striking work. and who will be better known with each year that passes, are included in the Chicago group.
 The personal character. the sur roundings, the particular style of effort of the Chicago literary COD tingent should not be without interest No one of the group, probably. is better known than Eugene Field. Wonder fully versatile in his work, writer of dainty verse. teller of stories that touch the heart and ruthless delineator Of what is the weak or vicious trait ir he pompous among Philistines. it was inevitable that he should make q reputation. The fact that he has had  newspaper column, in which to in, dulgo his grotesque fancies. the ..Sharps and Flats" column of the Chicago News. has assisted greatly in securing for him the recognition he deserves. He has done work outside the newspaper, but of this work the public has yet seen little. When there appears by-and-by something which will make people say that there is sn American Hans Christian Anderson. it will be book of short stories by Eugene Field. He may like other work he has in hand better, but none will do moro to make his famc where fame counts for something.
 Opie P. Read, of The Arkansaw Traveller, humorist. story-feller, . giant in figure and little child over the beautiful, is another Chicagoan whose name may be a national posses- sion. Who has not read his story of "1.en Gansett' has missed reading one American novel which is a photograph of life in one part of the country and . tale which somehow reaches the heart It has man and a woman in it. When Theodore Winthrop died in battle the man who might have been the Ameri- can novelist went down. There have been shores of American Novels, so called, written since then, but-save one or two reminders in the work of DeForrest-nothing until Opie Read began to write which even suggested the outdoor American virility of John Brent" the real American whom we recognize with his love affair.
 John McGovern, editorial writer on the Chicago Herald, has written ono novel, a strong one, but of the city purely, in .John Trentworthy. McGovern is the Chicago Carlyle. His sentences are like stones from a sling. his thoughts above precedent or present fashion. He is in literary group what Ingalls, is in the United States senate. He is student, has brain. and is what, perhaps, the man whose name is used in the smile may not be. a crusader. He must be heard from. for he is a power naturally. On newspaper less bold and just than the newspaper on which he writes, in it's editorial tone, he would be almost a bull in china shop. He is at home where he is, but thcre cannot be his only field.
 E. J. McPhelim. dramatic critic of the Chicago Tribune. is one of the Chicago writers who should do more work for the magazines. He can do wonderful work-a choice poem. 8 review which will command attention. a dramatic story he cares to do so. but he doesn't often care to do so Scourged. he would make a name swiftly.-Ex.