The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-04-04

No one denies that there are fashions In
clothes fashions in manners and fashions
IN speech. And Just as truly are therc
fashions In heroines. The general idea of
how n book comes to be written Is that
the author Is possessed by certain charac
ters and incidents and has no rest until
ne has described them. II would be better
for literature II 1t were 80. But only 10
the past masters in the craft belongs this
story of creatJon-the great mass OF
writers do not create nor have any indie
pendent conception OF iher characters,
they merely wait until the leaders have
clearly crcAteu "a new type. then they take
possession of that typo, dress II up, place
u IN fresh surroundings and try to pass Il
on As something OF their own, And che
worst part about II IS that they never
seem TO know when to leave OF, but 10 on
aud on harping on the old idea. supimeIy
unconscious OF the fact that they are
driving wearied public TO desperation.
A lola or q Hardy creates something
brutal. but which possesses at least the
quality OF being forcible and clever. Inn
mediatey there rises up a cloud of vui-
lures which sarny to the reading world
heavy load OF awfulness worse than lola
or hardy and wholly lacking in the origi-
majors skill. Or perhaps. II il SEVEN
son, whose lurd style and clearly deiined
types appeal TO the IN mics. who cry,
Nothing easier" and the historical TO
nance becomes a caipoature. Perhaps Il
10 a Barrie who appears, and Immediately
there rs an army OF novices writing OF Ola
mothers and domnieS and the shorter
catech. SIN. All of which proves the first
sta tement that there Ia a fashion IN books.
The carrier novelists bestowed all theii
powers OF characterization upon their he
rocs. There was plenty of Individuality
IN the male characters, but the herolno
was a fixed type-the ideal of woman al
that tlme-and she was added as a sort OF
stage property to every book. Feeding,
in his sophia Western describes the
style which reigned trumphGntly Tor
many a day;
81 never heard anything of pertness, or
what Is called repartet out OF her NOUN:
no pretcnsc to wit, much less to that kind
OF WIS dom the anectah"n OF whch IN
young woman is as absurd as any of the
Alterations of an ape. NO dic'ator-dl
sentiments. no judicial opinions. no pro-
found criticisms Whenever 1 have seen
her in the company OF men she ham been
all @tten.lon. win the moue9-y OF a learn
or. not the forwaro'noss OF teacher.
once. TO try her only, desired her
opinion on p9nt , Which was eonaioY Mr
SQUARE. TO which She answered; YOU
viii pardon me- am sure you can MOI ~
earnest think me capable OF deciding any
point III which such gentlemen disagree.
This Sophia may be recognized in al
most every one of SCOTS hero.nes and
survives even in Thackeray's Amelia Sed-
ley, the gentle creature" who took her
opinions from those who surrounded her,
such hdolity being much too humble Hind.
ed 10 think lor Itself" But SOPHIA ana
Amelia have given place all too certainty
30 ess ana lrIiby ihe reaction g even
worse than the original state. While the
yauid creatures OF the past We're dreadful,
tho tanned creatures Of she modern htera-
turc are dangerous. There seems to be "A
tendency amcng the sbsllful sophista OF
the present dny 10 teach that such a thinS
as a good, Intelligent woman IS 10 be is-
nored. There IS deplorable atmosphere
which seems TO breathe that only women
oil .piense passions are capable of lVlng
and loving. and that the feminine heart
which beats truly and steadily for good
ness and purity Is too prosaic to be worthy
of notice. The swing OF the pendulum
from the colorless heroine of the past to
the VIVID hero.nes of the present mas
wholly left out of account the happy me
alum of the heroine with real womaniy
.s,r N ~ and lnfelllpl