Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-04-08
SHORT STORY WRITERS.
Special Gifts of Many Bright Men and
 Clever Women.
Especial Corr,spondenco.I


 truo of literature. When an author is wcicumrd and praised abroad, he may rest assured that his fame will reach another generation. Whatever value tho carly Americans may have srt on their writings immediately after the establishment of their independence they were not rCCoE- EiZcu as literary people until oarly in tho present century, when Washington Irving and subsequently FUnimUrO Cooper wCru accepted in Europo as authors of freshness, individuality and power. Since thUn our literary reputation has steadily and rapidly increased across the sea, and now most of cur books arc not only repro duccd in Great Britain and her colonies, but arc translated into the leading conti- mental languages.
 Our famc in fiction stands highest for short stories, and dcservcdly perhaps, for our novels and romancos in general arc not ranked there as equal to those of the old world, fast as they arc gaining in orig inality and strength. Irving indeed won his first substantial rCnown by the sketch Book, ;" the first volume of which hC print Cd in London at his own expense, though Murray later Gavo him S2 uuO for tho com plctG work. It is a collection of short stO- rcs, tho most notable of which arc Rip Van Winklu" and tho Legend of Sleepy
 
 tion from its novelty and tho beauty of its sentiment and style.
 It must ho moro than 50 years since Ed gar Allan Poo wrote tho greater part of his short stories, collected and published pOsthumouSly as tales. They arc the stran- gcst and most remarkable of his writings, and on thom his reputation rests. They have been translated into all modern Ian GuagrS and haVU been everywhere admired and lauuCd for their invention, SuhJlCty variety and pprfCctnCSS of expression. Thcro is nothing that approaches them in any literature. They stand alone, the un- mistakahlc product of morbid genius, but | tho highest genius of its kind They com hinU to wonderful degree tho poetic mCtaphy ySiCal and mathematical faculties. Their language Is so closely incorporated with tho thoughts that tho two arc in divisihlu to tho understanding. The Fall of the House of Usher, the Murders In tho Rue MurguC, " the Descent Into tho Maulstrnm" and tho "F;Nts In the Case of M. Naldcmar" arc not only orig inal, but they arc originality itself They are unfurSrttahlu. Nathaniel Hawthorne < "TwiCu Told Tales wrro probably writ ten about the same tim" in divers pcriudi- | calls, where they ,irVw no attention what cvrr and very slowly made their way 10
 
 unlike I'n's stories Us possible, they nrC 1 models of their kind, and tho style is | faultlrss No man, l venture to affirm, | has ever written English prusU liko flaw | thurnr.
 I 1 havr mentioned thcso departed au- | thurS-thry live and will long live in their | wurks--tu atinw N hat Il genius tho Amer jeans haVo lad f"r short stories almr'>t i from the very beginning. Uf th,ir ht'ra turU. And the genius i> clearly Cuntinut q, | as Wa svv hy any number of living au | thurS, s,,IuH uf them just coming on the | stage. One r, .I>un unqUVatiunahly for their | production in the last few years is the | increased tlrIuail fer them that has | sprung up, not eu much from tho mag | aZihCS, always in the markvt for them, as | frum daily ntw~ihp,r~ throughout the | country. tnul recently the dhili,4 did | not publish them, th"u&h they had done so h.f,r" th' War. I.itvr;lturr. like every | thiu. else in thi, age. k c"inncr, ial, It 1 Is nut furnished uul,.,S 1t can hU .uIu, and tho higher tho price paid the greater tn, supply and th" better the quality. Tn, l ratU for short stories has advanced in IL or l9 years from p to 10 DOT cent, and tho tendency is still upward. There are SC many short story writCrs-mOrc women perhaps than mrn-that they can hardly Do enumerated. And they arc springing up cnnstantly-cast, west and south.
 Ono of tn" very best of the elder grnuI is Bret IIartc, who, whilc editing Tho Overland in San Francisco 25 years since contributed to its pages the "Luck u ] Rearing Camp" tho "Outcasts of Poker Flat, "Trnnrssco's PArdncr, ' M 'liss and other idrali zrd mining stories. The! caught at ouCo tho car of the Englisi speaking race everywhere and prrcipitatot him into fumo, which still holds.
 Thomas Bailey Aldrich has done mum bcr of capital short storics-in dainty fife tion, uf cuur>t-uir of tho best of then being: Marjorie Daw, which closes witt an unidrIIilin& surprise. II" has a harrl knack for such things, but ho seems {, prefer lis cameo cut versa dolicatoly ger l fumn Il.
 Edward EgGl,'~tnn accidentally sccurrt fame by contributing a short story tt Hearth and Home when ho was it's edit" bCcau>u suimo writer of fiction had fail"t to send in his manuscript. It. had euri suCcCss-thiS surprised him. as he had II, idea of attempting anything Uf the kin' that he was induced to write other stO ries, mainly founded on his observation and experiences in the west.
 Julian Hawthorne has shone in shor stories. So have Edward Everett Halo, Ed ' B. Lewis, John Hay, Thomas Nelson 1 Page, Owen WiStar. George w. Gable Thomas A. Janvior, Richard Harding Da wis, WOlCOtt BalCstiCr, Joel Chandler liar ris Fred Stims0n, Maurice Thompson anI any number of men, young and middl aged.
 Quite as many women as mon do vCr, clover short sturcS-Mary Wilkins liar rict Prescott Spofford (her first, Ina Gel lar, ill Tho Atlantic, was not publiShe' for somo timo because it was thought t bo n translation from the French), Eliza ! beth Stuart Phelps, Julien Gordon (AIrs $. Y. Crugcr) Mrs. Burton Harrison Mary Mapcs Dodge, Mrs. Kate D. Wig gin, Rose Hawthorne LathrOp, Louis Imogen Quincy, Frances Hodgson Bur nett and dozens of others.
 Thcro is scarcely an end of the shor story writers of both sexes. Many tha have been mentioned havo done long ste I ries, too, but 1 refer to the short, whicl may bo called a speciality of the country Compared with tho English short stories they are superior, as the English thom selves admit, having far moro variety flavor and originality. Only tho Prone equal us in this line of literaturc and the lack our force, freshness, raciness, indi viduality. It has often been said that i is harder to tell a story in from 5, 1000 to 10, 900 words than to extend it to ten time tho length, and this saying is true. Cor densation of thought and expression, ir t tellectual glimpses and fertile suggestive ness arc among our gifts. This particulu 9 gift we displayed early in the century with the recognition Of our literature. Is still ours, and likely to Do indefinitely As n German critic said latoly, ''Tho Amer I I jeans have made the short story peculiarl 2 their own.'' JUNIUs HENRI BROWNE. Verbum Sap.
 Ardent lover, read and ponder
 Ere across the seas you roam;