Evening star., 1897-05-15
pRorLIGACY OF WRITING.
1t IL No Longer a Distinction to Besan
Author.


Author.
From the New York Advertiser.
This is an age of vigorous intellects. but
not of great minds This is as evident in
science as in the arts. 1t Is the motto
which every publisher should paint over his
door, There were never so many vigorous
intellects. The schoolgirl has one: your Of
flee boy affronts you with his vigorous in
tellect. 1t Is the stigma of the age. The
result has been a general leveling up-and
Gown. There is less scholarship and more
intelligence. There is less genius and more
talent.
Fifty years ago it was In the way of be-
ing distinction to have written book.
Authors were pointed out on tine street;
poets had hats doffed to them. The female
novelist was an exceptional person. Amaze
ment waited upon her public appearances,
as though she had been white crow. To-
day far surer anodyne to oblivion Is to
be nodded at the man who has never
written q book or letter to a newspaper.
The cause of all this prof1igacy of writing
is not far to seek. The world is democrat
ic. education of a sort Is universal. the
printing press has become fecund and i'm
personal breeding monster. OF old it sat
Ike a hen and Matched out dozen novels
in twelvemonth: now it is an incuba tor,
which has practically no limitations. 1t can
hatch its thousands as easily as its scores.
Production is at the cheapest. The most
anaemic schoolgirl can publish her novel
for few hundred dollars. even If the spec
uiative publishers reject it. And literature
who used to he a retiring and august dame
has gone down into the highways and by
ways. She may be found In the boudoir and
| in the nursery, on the race track and in
| the barber shop. If you are beset now
ard again by a curious, eager wish to look
| into the future, you have often asked your
| self what the outcome of this is to be. 1t IL
evident that literature Is coming home to
mems bosoms and business. There can be
| no question of this fact. Most Of us write,
and all of us read. The wisdom that used
| to be kept in the jars of the pundits has
been spread thin over the whole generation
| NO one of us is very wise, but, taken all
| together. We know more than our ances-
| tcIs. Wisdom was fj note, which one man
| carried in his pocketbook; today ii Is
changed INTO coppers, and each one has his
| tuppence.
| Books are cheap-even good books are
| wantonly cheap. For $50 you can buy a
better classical library than Christopher
North could have bought for $500. More
| than tnat, for few cents you can buy a
| newspaper containing more sound itera-
| ture than your grandfather could have got
| Tor twice as many dollars. The populariza-
| ton of literature is the most nota HE fact
| or tCday-more notable than the mechanical
progress of which 1t is the exponent 1t IL
irevftable that the average should be low
You cannot get quantity and quality The
| machine which makes things chean and
| plentiful makes them insignificant Book
| are set up and printed by machinery Som,
| OF tnem arc not even written by hand-Mr
| Howelis uses typewriter. This is natural
( There Is an immense market which car
only be supplied by tireless machinery. In
| this race to supply demand the man oi
genius goes under. There is no place for
| him. -o'
None of the books written today will sur.
| prise posterity. We are a happy. intellec.
| tuai ana mediocre generation. We are prod.
| lsal ana fecund. but we lack distinction
| literature has become 4 trade, in spite OF
| scme desperate endeavors to raise it to thf
| dignity of sport. This result IS perfecti,
| logical in an age the shibboleth of which Is
the greatest good of the greatest number
1t is better that every man should have .
| Waterbury than that one man should have
| Tobias.
| What is true of literature is EQUALLY true
| OF the arts. One need not assume the air.
OF a prophet In foreseeng the time wher
Gil painting Will be done by machinery Th;
| statue makers have already shown the Way
| Democracy demands the merely clevel
| workman. because it is he-and not the mar
Of genius-who contributes most to tn.
| general comfort. physical or intellectual
The tendency Is easily ciscerned. Book,
VIII grow cheaper and more plentiful: littIt
by little the line between journalism ani
| literature will be obliterated; the state NJ
Literature will &C rrespond to the social sta 70 70
The tendency is not deplorable: il is in
deed. the most hopeful sign of the day. Th,
greater danger Of the future lies in tn,
greed of the unintelligent rich and tn,
despair of the unintelligent DOOR The hes
weapon against this danger Is the printint
press. For it is only unintelligence thai i,
dangerous.