New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-22
trained educators should focus their energies
il would he we'll Illiteracy must go.
NOTELy or THE TIME.

II is one Of the literary fashions OF the time
10 talk vaguely of the commonwealth or le'-
tors A. if il were transcendental realm uncon-
noctcd with any country or race. This Is not
tbc teaching of the library shelves. The great
noots and prose-Writers of the past have not
only belonged to the living, breathing world
Of their time. but each to his own country ana
peoplc. From the hOmely soil where each had
learned the aspirations, the ideals, the carklng
cares, the harassing perplexities and the moral
purposes of men and women of their day came
that touch of life which made their work I'M
mortal What was true of Homer, Shake
spearo and Goethe applies equally well to our
own day. While book writers are securing inc
ends Of the earth and ranging over past ages
for new themes and unique characters, the
great successes of literature are achieved by
those who are content to breathe their own air
and arc instinct with the thought, doubts and
puIposes of their times. 1t is the natural law
Of the intellectual world that what is lndIg-
cnOus and acclimated to current conditions
has free growth, ilourishes and bears irut
abundanty.
Among the thousands of novels which have
been printed for the entertainment OF CAPRI
cious and imaginative world during the last
decade il will not he difficult to select two
which have profoundly impressed thoughtful
men and women. Rival authors may have
longer lists of published writings and wider
circles of more intense admirers. but Mrs. Ward
with her Robert Elsmcrc' and David
Gricyc.' has established with extraordinary
rapidity an enduring reputation as one who
has EXPRESSED what is deepest and most real
in the thought of the time. The virtues OF
English soil are concentrated in each OF those
powerful works They are dramas OF the
time. vitalizcd by the hopes, fears, doubts and
dcspairnc struggles after higher ideals which
are swaving the minds of men and women Of
this generation Other novels of the day may
fill the pauses of railway travel or the tedlum
of COMMONPLACE routine, but these are books
which throb and palptate with the inner life
of this modern age. This was what Mr.. Glad
stone meant when he introduced " Robert Els
mere" as 4" eminently an offspring of the time"
Those who can find naught in these novels
save theological controversy and the vaporng
of ratonalism are molcs when they should be
eagles The motive of each drama il the strug-
gle Of an earnest, truth loving spirit to con
form 10 hidden laws Of development and 10 ac-
compIish ideal aims apart from and III opposl-
ton To the requirements Of self-intercst. Rob
crt Elsmete. the gifted and accomplished clergy
man. and David Gricye, with his genius for
mercantile success, have the same experience.
Each starts ont :" the glittering prince OF cir
cumstanccr apparently destined to rise stead
lis in social station, worldly influence and all
that passes for material prosperity and each
i condemned 10 - wrcstle Of conscience as
sensitive as il was profound, as tenacious as 1t
was scripulous" In David Grieve' this
motive is clearly brought out in the reflections
Of Ancrum. who watches the heros career from
childhood on the breezy moors to the storm
and stress OF temptation and despair in Paris
and thence To maturitys full accomplishment
of IDEAL purposes in Manchester Ancrum takes
the part 0f the Greek chorus in anticipating
the future of wealth. political influence and
social promise and then in watching the grad
ual cxtinguishmcnt OF brilliance and passion,
and the survival of " one patient toiler the more
at the eternal puzzles of our humanity" sacri-
fcing with contentment. but not without mel
ancholy. the material interests Of prosperity
for the sake of being loyal 10 tho truth that
was in him and Of standing by his own pco-
pie the poor and the oppressed.
II is because material success overtops every
thing else in this modNn world that the meat
seems more than the life. But in the natural
order of moral development hidden forces are
released and the ideals Of high unsclfsh pur-
pose become the most precious things in the
world. The noble motive in Mrs. Wards
books is to teach that the life i, more than the
meat even if it involves abandonment Of all
that is accounted success and is accompanied
with much inward wrestling and agonizng
struggle. II is because every thoughtful man
can recognize in David Grievc n living brother
man of his time and generation. of the common
clay and with the same restless informing and
cnnobling spirit, that the author writes with
ma terly power.