Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-01-15

written by an able lawyer, an eastern man as MT. Garland is a western one.
 MT. Garland complains that there is a conspiracy or something like it-tacit and unacknowledged perhaps-by which i6 is understood that the east shall not recog- nize or give any considerable support to the writers of the vest and he intimates that great reading public will spring up in the west which will repay these writers with fame and fortune, so that it will make no difference to them however much of in- difference their works receive in the east. MT. Stevens, the lawyer, goes much far ther than MT. Garland, claiming that there are influences at work in this country which have prevented any commanding writer of literature to appear in America for many years, and it seems to be his opinion that until these influences are overcome the United States will not keep pace with Eng land in showing to the world great masters of thought expressed in powerful prose or poetry. At recent gathering in an east ern city where there were publishers, writers of great ability, although of no particular public fame, these two articles were dis cussed with interest and something of ex- citement, and in the course of the conversa- tion it was shown that the point of view of each of these writers leads them to wholly erroneous conclusions.
 One of the publishers said that it had been his experience that there was no sec tional discrimination in favor of or against true literature, and going back to his own recollection he instanced some striking facts in proof of his assertion.
 First of all, he mentioned Mark Twain, a western man, born and bred in the valley of the Mississippi and doing his first writ ing in the region of the Rocky mountains. Cri ct ol- most a cosmopolitan-yet his stories are for the most part of western life. They have been accepted by the English speaking world, and some of the greatest critics, like Andrew Lang, believe that his works are destined to longer life than those of any other American of his generation.
 There was no sectional recognition or in- difference to Mark Twain. Then again MT. Howells was referred to as a proof of the statement that Mir. Garland has been mis- taken in his assertions. Howells received the literary training in his impressionable age in the west, where he was born and where he lived until he was 24 years of age. The works which gave him his first fame were written before he had ever been in the east, excepting on brief pleasure trip and on his way to Venice. He is always spoken of as an Ohio man, notwithstanding his long residence in Boston.
 Then again it was said that the most suc- CeSsful book in recent years was written by a western man in his country home in the west-General Lew Wallace and his TO- nance entitled "Ben-Hur." The first recog- milton of very remarkable book, so unique ly written and printed shat the work upon it was done in the evening and it was actu- ally set up and printed in the office of country newspaper, fell flat when it was I. T and fame in farotf city upon the Atlantic coast. That was MT. Howe's Story of a Country Town"
 Octave Thanet's readers are bounded by no sectional lines, although she lives in Iowa. Miss Murfree, hidden for many years under male nom de plume, had gained recognition as one of the most brilliant of American novelists, and Miss Evans sto- ries, written in the far southwest, were ae- cepted with delight by readers all over the country. Bret Harte gained his fame by writing western stories, from which pur- suit he has never deViated. So that 1t was the opinion of this experienced publisher that if the stories appealed to the people they would be welcomed without any ref erence to the section which they portrayed or in which their writers live.
 Mir. Stevens complains that the mighty rush of immigration beginning somewhere about 1880, has choked American litera- ture, and that America has produced no giants of literature born since that year. Yet American literature has been enriched by immigrants and the children of imm- grants. Mrs. Burnett was born in Eng land. James Parton was of foreign birth Miles O'Reilly-better known by that nom de plume than by his real name, Charles c. Halpine-of Irish birth, was pre- eminently the poet of the war. O'Hara, whose lines beginning 'On Flames eternal camping ground" are immortal, was of foreign birth Agassiz was of foreign birth Brady, Cock ran, McDougall, Baker and many other orators whose names are traditional were not native Americans. So that it was said that whatever may have been the effect of immigration, American literature has been greatly enriched by the works of those not born in this country
 It was the opinion of the publishers and some of the writers who were there that one of the chief reasons why pre-eminent literary genius is not recognized now is that men who might have the capacity for such pursuit have been distracted by the more exciting and profitable opportunities which the development of the wealth of the United States has been offering, and it was Chauncey M. Depew who said that there were Q dozen men prominent in &geat affairs of business or finance who would have been able, had they turned their rattcn- tion to literature, to match the ableSt that. Great Britain has produced.
 E. J. EDWARDS
 A servaut of a London naturalist, whose