Asheville daily citizen., 1894-12-20

was MS tIVorite autnOr, cut, II one may
Judge BY internal evidence, it was Haw-
thorne over whom he fingered longest in
the hope of discovering the secret of one
Of tie greatest masters Of simplicity
combined with great bcauty, an exact.
ness ofexpression. and the charm that
comes only with genius and eludes
specific name, being like the odor of some
delicate flower. 1t is singular, too, that
in power of recital of the horrible, still
with that same delicate art, the author
of "Dr. Jekyl and Mr.. Hyde" has been
approached perhaps nearer by Haw-
thorne's son, Julian, an American man
of letters, than by any other writer OF
the present day.
1t is difficult not to reflect, now that
the hand Of the novelist is helpless. that
Stevenson seemed never quite to write
up to the full measure of his power. His
style was 50 exquisite that it seemed
wasted, measurnbly, even on such inter
esting works as Treasure Island
which reeks with blood and has muir
der on every other page. "Dr. Jekyll and
MIR. Hyde" is a powerful moral lesson,
something to make the blood creep in
the full glare of the sun, intensely inter
cstiug and with we'll KEEP: secret, but
it is far from pleasing and it is doubtful
if it be literature. In kidnapped"
especially, and in David Balfour' and
IN the Master of Ballantrae" we have
Stevenson at his best probably, but not
one of these is worthy, except here and
there, of the beauty of his style. They do
not, so to speak, live up to their dress.
The same is even more II ue of one OF his
latest works, The Ebb Tide" in which
grotesque characters shock one with
their counterfeit presentment of religious
feeling, mouthing some of the most sa.
cred phrases as one wouldexpect to hear
them Knocked in dive.
"The Master of Ballantrae'-the
master was the devil personihed-is
called Stevcnson's greatest work, but
If he ever wrote one that deserves the
appcllation great we should say it was
Kidnapped" Though founded on his
( toiical tact, one need never to have read
! a word of the history OF the time and
country in which it is placed to find it
absorbingly interesting, not alone on
one reading, but on several. Without
lie grand sweep Of Scott-what the
great novelist himself called the "big
bow-wow strain"-it rivals Scott in lit
eralness, in the quality of being pictorial,
being iull of vivid scenes that seem more
actual than if accompanied by illustra
tons by the most skilled artist-whilt
there are also passages of great beauty
and visor. But even here we find decks
slippery with blood, murder sits in G
high place in creating the interest in the
narrative. swords clash, and knives are
drawn, and there are villains and sub
villains in plenty.
he true lover of Stevenson will alway:
regret that there did not come from hi!
hand something rs fit for his genius as
"Thc Scarlet Letter" was for that o
lIaw thornc. But he is gone without
leaving behind that supreme work. He
had his limitations, doubtless. and non.
know them so well as he. Perhaps hi
wrote the best that was in him; perhap.
lack of fixed and sufficient religion.
principles twisted and dwaried his men
tai vision. The devil and all his work!
seems to have had. if not a charm fo
him, at least a fascination; but if he por
trayed him as horrible example of tn,
wort that is ard therefore as a warning
OF the wrath to come, then Stevenson
I, failed as Il moralist, for. at least to tn,
lover of literature for its own sake, tn
charm of his style as writer obscnreC
tie moral. We inhaled the perfume o
the flower with so keen and absorbing {
rapture that the prick of the thorn wa
untelt.