The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1895-06-11

least satisfactory among his brilliant
excursions in the fields Of literature.
ELSIE Venner'' once achieved consid-
cradle success and Il still regarded as
q classic ID some highly respectable
literary quarters. TT abounds III many
vivid and natural descriptions, and
IS characte BY many high quail
ties but the motive is a hideous one
land the theories and speculations lie.
lin the debatable ground between
lscience and superstition. The Guard
ian Angel is far more agreeable
story; the many pleasing pictures, the
4 pretty heroine Myrtle Hazard leaves
an inde1ible trace upon the mind of
| the reader It IS a picture Of New
England life in which the clergy is
strongly represented and the contend
ling currents and eddies Of Theologi-
cal opinion of early New England life
/ are faithfully portrayed.
His characters are bold transcript
tons rather than repro duction of men
and women, there is no frame Of light
land shade for them which makes the
lcharacters of Dickens 50 life-1ike and
real. His plots are SO OVERHEAD with
physiological and even pathological
discussions that the reader often won
ders whether the book is a philosoph-
lie romance or romantic treatise on
philosophy, His novels will be read
/ for their humor and philosophy rath-
er than for their dramatic qualities,
lalthough they would have doubtless
made the fame and fortune of a lesser
, man. Yet when all is said of his
poetry, of which he left SO much,
4 fixed in our language to be priced,
loved and remembered, it cannot be
doubted that the. work Of DR.. Holmes
4 which will be most lasting is the
/ ''ttAutocrat OF the Breakfast Table. I 4
1 When all is said about the ephe-
neral character Of our American liter
allure, when one has weighed in the
balance the poetry of LongfelloW and
judged most of it as somewhat COM
monplace, when one has seen that the
Bigelow Papers are the production of
a,day, and that the exquisite Essays Of
Emerson are not for all time, we may
4 yet have a shrewd suspicion that
among all American books the auto
crat" is. one of the. few destined to
live h r. 4 +"
/ There the whole man spoke; there
/ he found full scope for his wit and
Il humor and mirth, his keen observa-
| tion, his varied learning, his worldly
wisdom and his tenderest sentiment.
! 1tisHa narrative, discursive, philoso-
1 phizing, criticising monologue whose
4 chapters are lay sermons delightful to
Tread. Its greatest attraction lies in
Il the personality Of the talker who
1 opens the great book of human nature
4 in the form of an essay rather than a
novel. The vitality lacuteness and
originality Of statement, the 4incisiye
and absolute manner and the inter-
tmittent humor place it quite in class
by itself. Such books with life in
them are few and rare, Goldsmith,
Addison and Lamb are the only mod
ern writers who succeeding in combin-
ing in the exact flavor wit, humor, path
os and wisdom Of sense and sentiment,
where the lessons of life run close be-
meath the jest and the realities tread
hard upon the fancies. In this small
company Dr.. Holmes holds a high
! place. 1t is simple sunpretentious and
very touching; true in. every line and
every sentiment, delightfully."- humor-
Gus until the darkness. begins to gath
er at the close then like life when
4 there is. only a backward prospect, it
grows stern for a little, only however
to soften into tender beauty again as
the sun sinks. The glory of DR..
Holmes will always be in his Auto
lcrat" his greatest, his best, his mimi
table triumph.
4 | have spoken very inadequately of
j the writer, not at all of the man, but
/ it is, perhaps rather as man of his
/ time that he will be. remembered: for
above all things the man was genuine.
| As true a union of Aristoerat and
i Democrat as we have seen or likely to
see again. He was at all times a
thorough American always patriotic
and national This enthusiastic pa
/ triotism was the outcome of the 10y
atty of his character and his devotion
to high ideals.
i Although DR.. Holmes cannot be
.Eplaeed in the front rank of American
Authors either as a poet or novelist
he belongs to that chosen band Of ma
tive thinkers who have created Amer
lean literature and there were few ii