The San Francisco call., 1897-10-03

I erary men that so few novels based
upon historical subjects have thus lar
been written IN this country. Many and
various have been the theories advanced
to account for the phenomenon, the Pc
cullarity Of which becomes the more ap-
parent when a comparison is made be-
tween writers of America and those of
European countries. The Englishman
has his Scott, his William Harrison Aims
worth; the Frenchman his Dumas, father
and son: but so far no man has arisen to
elaborate the history of this country as
have the authors mentioned theirs.
To put forward the excuse which is the
stock IN trade of the lingo that 1--WE are
only young country, you know" were
puerile, and however the remark may be
applied to our institutions, communal,
municipal and national, il cannot be made
to lit the American novelist. What our
poets have done to make America notable
could with equal facility have been done
by our novelists. After all said we have
not yet had the "Great American Novel, !"
which remains to-day unwritten, the
vision of dreamers of dreams.
Perhaps the best specimen of a
historical novel thus far given to the
reading world by an American nove.-
ist was Cooper's Spy" 1t was a
mastery piece OF work, and even to-
day compares favorably with the pro-
6uctions OF some writers across the water
we could mention. Then, to bridge
long space of time, we have had Mr..
Cranes Red Badge of Courage" clever
in way, and certainly, for young man
who up 10 the time of writing the book
l.
wonderful knowledge of war.
But the cardinal defect of both these
books msy be said TO exist in their lack of
coloring, / n their f-ilure 10 convey any
clear and definite idea of how the resi-
dents of the United States lived in early
days, or later, of their manners, sheir GUS
toms, their modes of administering JUS
tice. and the thousand and one details
which in the hanas of a capable historical
romancer might be made to serve almost
in place OF history itself. Some of the
clearest ideas OF history are gained by the
European youth from the pages of such
works. Take the case of Scott's Ivan
hoe" What a splendid picture have we
there of English life of the times of the
early Plantagenet.! Many is the British
boy who has ayailed himself of the assist
ance of the Wizard of the North in pre-
pairing some difficult paper in history.
Coming down to more recent times, read
Harrison Ainsworth's ''Old Saint PauFs,''
and you will have an excellent series of
sketches illustrating the state of King
Charles the Seconds court, or Guy
Eawkes" for some well-penned descrip-
tions of the administration OF his Majesty
James the First And, in our own
time, there is Ben jamin Disraeli, who
in English as pure as it has ever been
written shows the state of political senti.
ment in the present century.
An attempt has lately been made to
give some idea of life in America imme.
diately preceding and following the Revo-
luton in a novel by S. Weir Mitchell.
entitled 'Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker"
1t was first published as a serial
in the Century Magazine and at
tracted much attention for the reason
that, as we have pointed out. there have
been very few books written dealing of the
period of which the book treats. Now it
makes its appearance in the somewhat
unhandy two-voIume book form at price
OF 81, published by the Century Com
pany, and on sale by William Doxey,
Palace Hotel.
The story is a good one, but is told in
the first person, and to the manner of the
telling we must object. 1t is tiresome in
following the thread of a romance to be
obliged frequently to stumble over OBJ
structive 'thees'' and 'thous.' We main
tain that these could well have been
omitted without detriment to DR..
MitcheIps reputation as a novelist. In
addition TO this fault, there is another
and an almost equally serious one-that
OF proIixity. Each OF the volumes under
review consists of more than 800 pages,
averaging say $50 words to the page, or a
total of ABOUT $4,000 words. This may be
very well for story published in serial
form, but we fear the size of the book will
deter many who would otherwise be glad
to make the acquaintance OF frst-class
novel of Revolutionary days.
DR.. Mitchell, we learn, has been en-
gagged Tor several years in gathering ma
terial for his work. He has personally
visited the places be mentions after the
fashion of the up-to- date novelist who de-
sires correctness, and has also made a
careful study of the period of which he
writes. The story taxes up the social life
of Philadelphia during and before the
Revolution and embraces the exciting
scenes of the Revolutionary War itself,
the time covering the period OF from 1853
to 1888. The much-bruited questions of
those important years are well handled,
and one is led to correct appreciation of
the popular sentiment at the time when
taxation without representation seemed
about to be saddled upon the colonists.
The hero of the book, Hugh Wynne,
who, assisted in part by liberal extracts
from the diary of one of mis- comrades,
tells the story, is member of the Society
of Friends, the son of a Quaker father and
a French mother. Educated by the
Friends, he yet succeeds in fashioning his
character after the example furnished by
an aunt, who is Whig of the old school.
and in whose house he sees much of that
gambling ana wine-drinking class of peo-
pie common in the time of the Georges.
For various offsnses against the Friends
he is "read out of meeting" ana becomes
a soldier, serving on the staff of Benedict
Arnold, that worthy being then in COM
mand of the American forces in Phila-
delphia.