The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-01

0oushO'h oS"poNhiobs bcOHhTu LotuulOu IL
from Sherman, Tex. In the preface help Ia &C
knowledged from one Missourian and two
Texans.
2. Nearly q page Of space Is given to Jefferson
| Davis and only Ave lines to Abraham Lincoln.
| 8. Edgar Allen Poe receives q very severe
and unjust criticism"
4. Mention 10 made OF Alexander II. Stephens.
John G. Calhoun has q page to himself, Henry
Clay has nearly two pages, and Garrison. Phil
lips, and Sumner have to content themselves
with a page and a half. all told.
8. We are accused Of "barely mentioning''
Alice and Phoebe Cary and Louisa NJ. Alcott
while we give Charles Egbert Craddock q page.
y. Simms, Cooke, Kennedy, Hayne. all from
the South, and all practically unknown. get q
page and three-Quarters.
The trouble with American 10 that he has
neglected to take the beam from his own eye.
American" 10 not an American at all. but. q
bitter partisan who doesn't seem to know that
the war Is over. He Judges the book from a po-
littcal bias, while the book Is o literary history,
and there was no thought OF politics" In writ
Ing It He wants us TO make men who were
prominent publicly THAT is, II they were North
ern mem prominent In n literary way, whether
they asplred to literary recognition or not. Our
book has been used In every northern State In
the Union. and this 10 the first time any one has
rushed to the public prints to denounce 1t as se-
ditiou- doctrine.
w. admit at once that we do not give exactly
the ZANE prominence to all of the 23s authors
re treat that another critic might give or that
10 given by other books on the same subject.
mont OF Northern authors a. Southern authors,
and no more so. There are no absolute tests in
criticism. No two critics nnd just, the came
things to mme In . single author. much
less to all of q long list, But we assert that in
our judgments we applied literary tests solely;
bias. The book shows this: /. BY the selection
OF authors treated; 2. By the Importance given
Test OF space which is the crude method OF
HAmerican"D 3. BY what we say OF authors.
a1. sh sS aSssi .sS,s sp no;n., viii # the !. S ssSsF sisa numsr-
!. Must 1t DO assumed that a man from . Ger
tain section Of the United States 10 n violent
American assumes II the people Of the
OF the North that "Amcriean shows against
those OF the south the North would have been
books used in southern sctooi; since there was
z South have been written. printed. and sold
~nrithmetIca. Biographies. and GRAMMAR, but
United States histories written by, Northern
book Ia q Southern man o suflcient ground upon
which to alleRe sectional treatment
Ja 4 Tnas D ~ si Sna n cnIy A.. R {iSse. 10 To- A 'pasS 1S
Lincoln ie only part OF the truth. and is stated
In the nm Snf at MAY tina, IN 1b In,H nso pIr' h,an,,n .l~ay y
Some Statesmen and Historians" This chap
ster. Choa,e. Everett. j: q. Adams. Winthrop.
Ssward, Lincoln; sparks pAltroy; Parkmah.
soish-r a,e Writer'S. A and s calhoun, Clay. BaSs'
sssGssn' ps .ees 10 soI ss : N %r ! !, Sntsor ns@ nhS
not quite two pages TO the Southern authors
toned. but ! do not know upon which side they
should be counted. It Qtves moro anacs tn
c Miaiiam I. E gives 6 more space sse to W !; dSss - than msnf L
does to both Calhoun and Clay. his great south
srn m SDP" oi .,1on 1t F Nor,R %9Ts ' fesfi. 20 H bnt r na;
H. stephens. Vice President, of the Confederacy,
does this because Hiidrsth sspifed to literary
recognition. and the literary, work Of stephens
American" does not say that Just preceding
the nearly . Dag" III 10 really less than one
vote twice as much space to u. S. Grant. He
neglects to record that, while We say Davis's
Of the world told at hrst hand BY one Of the
the simple, straightforward naturalness OF the
stvls in which It i! written adds greatly to its
nevertheless strong and diGnin-d and always
adequate to the demands IL has to meet"
Poe was a Southern man. or %os he would aI no, have
said that our criticism of him was severe and
unjust" To maintain q false charge one must
n"
correct, we ought TO have been very tender with
We do not for q moment admit that our treat
ment Of Poe ia severe and unjust;" It was
4. American" seems to have taken %particu-
lar offence ut our mention of Jefferson Davis
OF afa an ai taet tSs, W. We ss SiSe onI;y a aHs m pines to Is RSr.e
ham Lincoln. Besides the historians who were
NS nSt sT,l men. enumerated r. "S % We mention
A. Drake. Gems. Sherman Sheridan. and Nc
Clellan, other historians OF the North, The Ave
be said OF him In a literary way. We invite the
reader to read these, ave lines page 7s) and see
Though we have given but i've lines to LINCOLN
We have given more than a page TO John Hay.
dhlneoInaI" m e1%SrSpnesi oD w Rom as . : ai,srsr Ei. mSn'
The fact lie. "Amsrican' does not want South
ern writer's mentioned at all. He Is ready IN say
to them. Us Sir Anthony Absolute said to Capt.
Jack. Don't breathe the same air or use tho
same light with me. but get you an atmosphere
%. We may have given les: space to Alice and
Phoebe Cary and Louisa NJ. Alco,t than they
asaSrV sh sn@ ae %"Ts I but, + EVER Ws have SsSs'S SSs
arc not convinced by Americans" asser-
t as%0.,,y We secS did n not oo fr I to s,o. place %o them hem
never thought OF their political principles.
ANY one but one as thoroughly blinded by par
pages. TO Mira. stoddard one ana one,third pages,
sarah Orme Jewott one-third. page, to Helen
Hunt jackson one and two-third pages. Eliza
beth Stuart Phelps Ward one and one-third
pages. Gall Hamilton one-third page all North
ern women and all born In Massachusetts. OK
cept the ONES VINO were born in Maine. On the
other hand, we - barely mention" Mrs. South
worth and Mrs. Evans, two southern authors
whose books have numbered their readers by
the tens Of thousands.
In the American Literature" Of Prot. Rich
ardson. a monumental work consisting OF Two
octave volumes containing more than 1000
pages, Alice and Phoebe Cary are more barely
mentioned" than in our book. Miss AlcoLt has
a little more than O half page, and Is merely
mentioned by name on a previous page; Misc
Mnrfree tCraddockl gets a page, and on. three
other pages is mentioned for purposes OF COM
parison. Yet Prof. Richardson T. not so South
ern that he sticks over into the Gulf. He Is pro-
fessor Of literature in Dartmouth College.
q. Whether or not SinImB, Cooke, Kennedy.
and Paul hamilton Hayne are unknown de-
ponds upon the literary knowlsdHe of the per-
son speaking. Thomas Nelnon Page says the
three leading literary men of the South during
the period which extended down 10 the war
were John Peudleton Kennedy OF Maryland.
William Gilmore Simms of South Carolina, and
John Ester, Cookeof Vtreini&" !Hayne Is 9fa
erary knowledge of the mar who. like "Ameri-