The sun., 1896-10-10
NEW ROCKS.
Brief Reviews OF Important ana T,,,
ing New pubIicnt,on.

l. aFN'a
Sons). contains among otler cs.nys
titled respectively Tho Modern Nov.l" an,
komance ana Realism, OF which MIR S,co.,
tells us in n preface that they ,yrrc ,icl. -
the editor of our best popular n,,v,yino ~, ~
ground thet hlhe'tehths of his readers wouIi
not be able TO understand them" I, sco,, -,
US TO be hopeless to TRY to determine hat edi,o,
of what magazine this was An H. rf,ro,.. 49,
seems to us to be reasonable, after n car.fr, omS
appreciative perusal OF the two ,..nys.,, ","
fed. Is that the editor who refused ~, -
considerate rather than sincere l., l. -
known that magazine editors lust ,ho ,
rs other and moro ordinary pcrsons -
hearts in their bosoms. and that thrre ,s -
ground for the suspicion, not uncommon ar,or.
those whose interesting habit II Is to ienyc ,h,ir
literary offspring ever hopefully on Tho door
steps Of tho magazines, that the reasons o, IN.
editorial action are not always quite iup,,p,
ously declared. Let us discover. II we fnay.th,
real motive of the editor who returned IN.
essay on Tho Modern Novel" to its author
In the course OF this essay wo flnd this per,cc,Iv
clear expression OF opinions "Reaii,tlc nr, !.
says Mr.. Stearns, Is correct. LITERAL and uro.
sale. 1t concerns itself mainly with the pe,tY
details OF life. which may, however, he Of great
Importance to certain individuals. Its tru.
value consists In this, that II must he genuine
and amid 30 much pretension. affectation, and
uuTchilty, tnlh ID not 10 DC 0esplteu. Its place.
however, is not a high one. 1t has no Interior
Significance; II leads to nothing beyond itself
1t represents life, and yet Is without that spirit
which informs all life Its novelty may Interest
us. but 1t fnda no abiding place In our aEec.
tion. 1t can have neither depth of thought nor
feeling; for depth OF thought leads directly TO
an ideal conception, and depth OF feeling to
romantic situations. 1t seems to us that II 1,
fair at this point to venture upon an Inference.
Surely Mr.. Stearns's style and meaning ar,
clear enough. The editors readers might not
agree with Mr.. Stearns but they could hardly
fail to understand him. Obviously Mr.. Stearns
affords case of literary reversion or back.
sliding. He is for Walter Scott and not
for the late Prof. Boyesen. He is for the
gentle and Joyous passage at arm. at
Ashby, to the exclusion Of any particular
concern regarding the thickness of the tcacup,
used at social parties in Ithaca n. Y. He set,
Robert Louis Stevenson above Prof. Brandsr
Matthews. A bold fugitive in the heather dis.
posing of his enemies occasionally with an
effective claymore, is more to him than the con-
scientious enumeration of places between Pro.
Matthews's house In East Eighteenth street ana
the Hoboken Ferry. Persons o: u recklessly IL.
dependent habit of mind are taken this wsf
every now and then. We may deplore tx
manifestation. but It is hard to see what then
is TO be done aboutit II might be thought thai
Mr.. Howells's essays, to say nothing Of h6
notably fine examples OF realistic flo.
tion. would servo as an efficient cor.
rective; but, curiously enough, by soms
perversity that is quite unaccountabe,
those same essays and examples seem to have
produced an effect exactly the opposite OF the
effect desired and contemplated. The direction
of their force seems strangely to have been often
centrifugal instead of centripetRl. negative
rather than positive. People have been known
to fly with singular fury. " like stone from some
taut catapult let loose" straight away from
these reasonable pleadings and opportunities,
back to the unspeakable things OF Dumas and
his kind. Plainly enough. in our perception, it
was the luck Of Mr.. Stearns TO submit his essays
on " The Modern Novel" and The Real and
Ideal in Literature" to editor whose
convictions of tho truth. beauty, and i'm.
portance of the "ViEnettes of Manhattan"
and Tho Golden Calf" superior
to any romantic assault Miss Agnes
Repplier of Philadelphia, In graceful
and interesting essay in which we wish she had
not felt herself called upon to use quite often
the word "anent," has recently directed atten-
tion to the contentiousness OF the novelsts Of
the several schools. She remarks the we'll
known habit that story writers have OF supple.
menting each story that they publish with
exhaustive essay setting forth the great truth
and Importance of the story in question. and
proving conclusively its immeRsurable superi.
ority to all other stories IN the world. Miss
Repplier seems rather to deprecate this
habit and to cast playful reproach
upon 1t, but We should hardly think that
1t was likely to cease as long as tho
instinct and opportunities of selT-advertisGg
are as keen and abundant as they now It
is barely possible that the editor who returned
Mr.. stearn's essays thought that fiction was
"a chaD t,in sd ly
authors Of 1t, but We have never remarked
tendency on the part Of magazine editors 10
think anything Of the sort, and we are pretty
sure that tho rejection of Mr. Stearns i attr!0-
utable to the unhappy circumstance that hs
preferred "Ivanhoe" to THE Golden Cat"
From North Pole to Equator: Stades Of
Wild Life in Many Lands" by the distinguished
naturalist and traveller. Alfred Edmund Brehm.
translated by Margaret r. Thomson IS In
ported bv the Scribners. This Is book maze
up from Brehm's lectures, and it Is an account
of marked interest and value. 1t contains uI-
ward of eighty illustrations and Mr.. J, Arthur
Thomson has supplied 1t with a bog-s1h.cs.
and critical Introduction. Brehm born IN
Saxe-Weiinar In 1929. His father. minister
OF the Lutheran Church. was also an accom-
plished ornithologlst. The boy WAS brought up
among birds He accompanied his father In RAM
bles through the Thnringen forest, questioning
and being questioned about all the slSlts ana
sounds OF the woods. and listening to The eI'
perts who came to see his fathers famous coli
lections. As he grew older he was appreciated
TO an architect, but at the end of four years h'
quilted this calling. and he was n naturalist
always afterward. When he was s he wrGio On
an archaeological expedition TO Africa ~ assist
ant to Baron John Wilhelm Won MGrr l'e
was in Africa for five years. and the stra. IL aii
privations that he suffered produced upon IS
health effects from which he never recovered
On his return he attended the unver-lies OK
Jena and Vienna and took a doctor, actreo
He had geological holiday in Spain. visited
Lapland. and in 1869 went as scientific guide
on an expedition to Abyssinia. He WAS dT"r'r
OF the Geological Gardens at lnwhHii
and established the Berlin Aquarium. N'
wrote and lectured and made Journeys 10 7'
IBERIA and America. lie died in l>Ni W.
Thomson says of Brehm that he dOubt"-s haa
| the defects Of his qualities. lie vas too gem
erous TO animals, and sometimes read the man