The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-03-23
THE BLEETING SH0W.
Some OF Its Faots and Taneles.
Written for the JOURNAL AND CoURIER.l
IAN MACLAREN."

| written for the oURNAL AND CoURIER.l
IAN MACLAREN,"
1t is safe to say that of all the books
Of the past year none has so touched the
springs of tears as has that collection
Of sketches of Scottish life entitled Be
side the Bonnie Brier Bush" The most
book hardened reviewers have been sur
prised into weeping over it, breaking
down utterly" as If overwhelmed by
sudden personal sorrow. Never" says
one who has been reading and review
ing fiction for quarter of a century.
during all those years have / read a
book which moved me so constantly and
profoundly" Not that the element of
humor is lacking. There is quiet play
Of wit that is most thoroughly enjoya-
ble-life was not all tragedy in Drum
tochty. But the pathos is keener and
stronger, and 1t is because it is so spon-
taneous-never exaggerated or forced
that it appeals SO strongly to the read
er's best and tenderest feelings.
Now that New Haveners are reading
the book and dropping, 1t is to be hoped
a few real tears upon its pages they
may be interested to know that Ian
Maclaren" is the Rev. John Watson of
the English Presbyterian church, Sex
ton Park, Liverpool. The book contains
his first completed attempts at story
telling, and very wonderful attempts"
they are The author was urged al
most forced, to write them by the per-
sistent opportunities Of his friend, DR..
Robertson Nicoll, editor of the London
Bookman, and the British Weekly,
man of the soundest Judgment in liter
airy matters and remarkably acute In
his rating of the ability of new writer's
He may be said to have created "Ian
Macnaren," who says that the existence
of his book was entirely unprecedented
1t Is as great surprise to me as to
any one" he declared to the author of
the article Tan Maclaren at Home"
which appears in the American edition
of 1.-THE Bool1man."
"There was nothing for it but to give
in" he said, in reference to DR.. Nicoll's
importantly, $50 I thought OF some
types of character which I had known
III my oCUlIlGil pdIlHlltS WHtll l. was a
young minister fifteen years or more
ago, and selected one or two of them,
and wrote 'Domsie, which, you remem-
Der, is the first sketch in the 'Brier
Bush And, by the way, there is one
point which I should like to mention
now. Some people seem curious about |
the originals of this or that character
in the stories. If the book continues
to interest people should like 1t to be
known that there are no originals-that |
there lis not a single portrait in the vol |
ume; the people are simply individual |
izations of types that are familiar to
every minister-or, for the matter of
that, to every laymar--in every High |
land or semi-Highland parish" Now it |
seems rather a pity that some of these |
characters are not portraits" One
would like to believe for instance, that |
Or. Maclure, the nobleness OF whose |
life and the pathos of whose death are |
among the most stirring things in the |
book, was a genuine character. Yet If |
he and Margaret Howe and Lachlan
Campbell are familiar types, so much |
more the honor to the country that pro-
duces such types.
One thing strikes Mr.. Watson strange
y, and that is that the book seems to
produce much stronger and more
general emotional effect upon men than
upon women. who are generally sup
posed to be much more susceptible. He
las received "shoals of letters" from all
Sinds of people, and personal testimony
without end, all bearing witness to
he intensity of the emotions which he
nave evoked in the breasts of those un-
Used to weep. If one might venture an
opinion on this matter, it would be that
he establishment of a man in finding
himself "all broken up" over what
eems to be the simplest and quietest
# character drawing, would impel hun
o remark upon this in acknowledge
nent of the authors peculiar power.
Mr.. Noble, who writes the article re-
erred to, says that "Mr. Watson does
lot look literary. But he looked some
hing else, which was perhaps equally
O the purpose. Tall, strongly built
With clearly carved, decisive features,
nd the steady alert eyes which tes-
ify to a firm will and perfectly poised
lervous organization, Mr.. Watson
truck me at once as being one of those
torn leaders and helpers to whom man
r woman might go with a sure expecta-
ion of receiving aid, guidance, COM
sympathy"
In the portraits we have of him one
ees clearly this "primeval instinct of
ity" Another writer has said of him,
1t is not the wit, or humor, or keen
nor the inherent poetry
nd beauty of composition, that will