The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-08-16
,:1ss WILKINS. PRIZE STORY.
A., Ann,vsls that Declares II 20 be PueriIe
A Nmsnber of Absurd INconssstencses
In It's Plot and Circumstnhces-na Oh
SIenrness In Realizing the Details
From the Springfield Republican.

wilkins powers in her own proper
field. it must be said that the producer
of This forcing process does not present
her in the most favorable light. Prize
competitions seldom do produce arts
tic results 1t is true that one OF the
finest of Poe's stories took prize, put
then il had been written long before
and If was handed in in manuscript
volume with half dozen others. he
wrote them because they were IN MN,
not for the prize. Now Miss Wilkins,
on the other hand has not only written
distinctly for the prize, but it has led
her out of a field of which she is to
a certain degree mistress, and INTO one
in which she shows no hint OF abillty
to excel. to say nothing OF the iact
that she has never served an apprentice
shin at the construction of plot. as
any reader of the Long Arm mght
we'll guess. To write good story OF
ratiocination requires high degree OF
intellectual power of a peculiar KIND
comprising both the skill in analysis
which Poe praised so highly, and the
corresponding power of synthesis. me
latter quality he deprecated, but II
was really what he used in the con
struction of his tales of reasoning.
ANALYSIS was only his discipline; when
the actual work OF writing began the
opposite process was necessary. WI.
kie Collins seems to have had little OF
the keen passion for analysis but IN
construction he is unsurpassed In
Conan Doyle the analytical spirit
seems to predominant, and there is
less perfect synthesis. Miss Wilkins
certainly shows no trace OF either quai
ity in THE Long Arm. Whatever
its merits as fiction may be, as
tour de force of reasoning 1t is puerile'
To write good detective story IT Is
necessary that all the elements of the
problem be given the reader that the
solution of the problem be difficult,
but possible to genius that every
step in the reasoning be seen on retro
spection to be inevitable and logically
faultess and that the story be free
from Inconsistencies. Let us see how
1.-THE Long Arm fulfils the condi-
tons
Take first the case of the long arm
itself 1t was seven inches longer than
either the detectives or Miss FAR
banks. That means either differ
ence in height of IA inches or length
of arm amounting almost to a deform-
ity, which it is impossible to suppose
would have passed unnoticed. ANY |
one can see the absurdity of supposlng
it necessary to hunt for the woman |
with long arm by doing little
measuring on his friends. Again, not
only had this deformity passed UNI
noticed, but Phoebe seems to have
been the only person of either sex IN
the village whose arm was of sufficient
length, which argues that the men
must have been degenerate race
However, this is only an improbabllity
let it pass. But what shall be said of
the absolute contradictions found at
almost every step in the reasoning:
One of the detectives chief bits OF
evidence against Phoebe was that she
had in her piece bag bits of the same
threads found on the parlor floor where
she had not by Miss Fairbanks
entered. But it is express
ly stated that Phoebe had come over
and taken dress from the closet while
Miss Fairbanks was In the garden.
The threads were found in the parlor
after that, and who could say that
Phoebe had not been in the parlor?
One piece of evidence kills the other.
Again, take the pistol, which is
treated in so extraordinary manner
The detective, who has not seen 1T,
asks Miss Fairbanks to try to pull the
trigger. She is unable. He tries and
says he could if he wanted to. They
Immediately regard it as proved that t
'ome one had tried to fire the pistol
md that it was woman, because a t
nan could have done it, a piece of |
ogic which goes far to support the !
heory long since exploded that 7
are incapable of assimilating S
hat science. But as if this reasoning +
we're not absurd enough, the author !
traightway makes it worse by demon
trating that Phoebe had exceptional
lower in the hands SO as to stab with e
feet with a pair of shears. The use a
f the cat hole as means of entrance j
vas altogether too obvious. How |
ould any ordinary constable, to say s
othing of detective, have passed it
"? And its use involves another I'M c
Explained inconsistency If Phoebe h
,as so anxious to throw the blame on a
,ufus as to circulate rumors concern n
aging that she told leland so !
o to the trouble of dyeing her bloody n
Il W
he shed door again, which would b
brow the suspicion on Miss Fair a
,anks? The answer is simple. The a
uthor has sought only mystery and t
las neglected human motives. 1t was o
ecessary to have the door hooked, so d
S to make necessary the long arm. {
But the motives ought to have been t
nade to correspond. In fact, there is e
urh Iacy of ClnarnpSs in realizinp the N
etais of the story that the author c
GEMS not to know the topography of b
he town. Just before the murder d
'hoebe and Maria pass Mr.. Fair a
anks' house on the way to prayer 81
netting Just after the murder Miss Il
fairbanks passed their home, on her W
Jay the village to give warning. 1t is W
course possible to construct topog G
Apply that would admit of this, but
ingular phenomenon should have been t.
Explained and the inconsistency is II
My of piece with the her. The only Ii
iotive for the crime set up, the jealous g
Election of two old maids, is as much ia
any one story can nj
tand To be sure, it is no more alb u
ormal than much of Pembroke, but al
helps to make the RECONSTRUCTED Il
creak. In short, it is half
nished work, even down to the yellow 81
bbon on the whip handle lugged in c
, throw suspicion on Henry. Is it to VI
e supposed that he would have driv al
D into the yard at night when plan
ing burglarious entrance and murder? to
nd what a whip ornament the ribbon ii
sed to hang great pair of shears W
ON the waist would have made. No |
II.