St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-26

Inevitable, which takes place in the
soul Of a man young and full of a GER
tain vague and meaningless spiritual
enthusiasm, while he himself believes
he is developing"
Our first quarrel with the author is
that he has chosen for the hero of this
tragedy man elected to degeneration
Theron Ware was not Of the stuff of
which men are made It was not that
his circumstances were too strong for
him, but that he was too weak for any
circumstances whatsoever. There Is a
certain form of insanity occurring dur
Ing the latter years of growth in in
dividuals whose brain tissues are too
feeble to endure the development and
energizing Of new tracts of the brain
which take place at this time. The
stress Of growth is too much for them
Theron Wares moral nature is COM
parable to such minds as these It is
the kind that is bound to break down.
Now the really tragical failures Of life
are those of the people who might
have succeeded, and man who is Or
dained to damnation by his own fee
bleness Of spirit is not a fit hero for
a great study of deterioration.
auInOr
is on the ground that he has treated
a purely psychological motive in
wholly objective manner. This is a
merit or a defect, according to the
point of view. To present merely the
facts bearing on his story, and to
leave the reader to Grasp their mean
ing as he grasps the meaning of oc-
currences in real life, Is a difficult
thing to do, and implies an immense
amount Of confidence in the interest
and perspicacity of the reader Mr..
Frederic has performed this feat
with art, but we submit that a psy-
Geological study cannot be made from
the outside. The method of the re-
porter is adapted to stories of the
outer life. Stories Of the inner life
demand another method and a certain
amount Of editorial comment. At
least, Shakespeare and George Eliot
told them in shat way, and no other
method has yet produced their re-
suits.
Lastly. We quarrel with the author
because his story has no high lights
and its shadows are a uniform grayish
tint. If there We're any really fine
character in the book, or any very
repulsive one, we should have some
thing with which to compare the hero.
Mr.. Frederic carries the objective
method so far that he not
only neither condemns the evil
nor commends the good. but
he effects a sort of obscuration in the
readers standard as well. Now. if
he really believes that no one is either
good or bad, but that everybody is
''just human" he could not have writ
ten his story otherwise. But most of
US do not look at the world of souls
through smoked glasses which turn
everything the color OF a London fog
We see differences and distinctions
more sharply in life, and we wish TO
see them so in fiction. The book pro-
dnces the same feeling as a picture
by some painter whose color is too
'loose"-we long for lines and edges.
However, If Mr.. Frederic does not
see edges, he cannot be expected TO
paint them; and though his book may
transgress our traditions and excite
our protests, it is, nevertheless, thor
oughly consistent in and with itself.
It is a fine piece Of work. yeritable
end vigorous contribution to that
American literature of which we talk
much and see little, and to read it is
an interesting If somewhat saddening,
experience sss
c.The Danaaation of Theron Ware by
Haroid Fredeffess Chicago Stone & Kimball.