The times., 1898-10-30
"T'lle CDcnIlcd >,

The Uncalled." by Paul Laurence D,,-
bar, has two or three peculiar claims on
the interest of the reading public. One is
that 1t is the first long novel of a writer
who has already made considerable rep
u'auon by short stories and poems, and
Us good novelists are nowadays more
scarce than good writers of short stories
possible newcomer in this field is al
ways an object of interest. In the Sec
ond place, the book is quite unique in
that II Is dialect story dealing entirely
with white people and written by a ne
gro. We have had plenty of negro dia-
Iect stories by white writers. but this ts
the frst instance in which the tables have
| been turned. The third claim which tho
DOCK mas to public notice will be discov-
! cred only by reading it. There is a de-
cided freshness of insight and originality
OF construction about 1t which give prom
use Oh some sort of new development in
fiction In the future
The scene is laid in n small Ohio town
ana the motive of the book is the conflict
between character and environment The
nero, who comes of dissipated and pover-
ty-stricken people is left an orphan at
an early age. and adopted by a conscien-
tious and respectable maiden lady. who
Is determined to make a minister of him.
Ihat Is where the significance of the title
comes In The young man finally rebels,
insists on choosing his own career. and
ultimately develops into a very decent sort
of fellow
Inc Idea of the author seems to be that
a certain type of boy, naturally affection
ate and impressionable brought up ac-
cording 10 a strictly moral plan, will find
that he cannot, even if he would, sink
very far into degradation after his char
acter is formed. Nine writer's out of ten
would have made young Frederick Brent
hurl himself into vortex of drunken
ness and rioting when released from his
obligation to enter the ministry Mr. Dun
par, however, works out his plot in
way that has a certain sly humor of its
own, by taking Fred to a great city, into
the midst of temptation. and causing him
to discover that the more or less refined
associations of his boyhood, and the
thoughts and aspirations into which he
has been led as a youth, have given him
a set of nerves which positively will not
allow MIN to loaf about in beer gardens
and dance halls. 1t is an original sort of
development, but it is exactly true to life
If the young man had continued in the
ministry he might have turned out an
other Theron Ware, but discovering in
time that he was not meant for that sort
any very violent reaction.
The character drawing In the book is
good. though some of the types are not
particularly interesting, and the character
of Miss Hester Prime is a little too like
the conventional old maid to be entirely
realistic. Some spontaneous bits of hui
NOR in the dialect are delicious. For In
stance, there is the remark of the old
Methodist class leader:
lso;n 7
want it strong. and want it bitter; SOS I'll
know I've got it."
''Meb5e have tried to make things jest as
easy fe- myself possible. but / amt never
tried to make EN- no harder fer other people"
And there are certain wise sententious,
philosophical reflections which have pith
and point of their own. For instance:
Girls are missionaries who convert boys Boys
are mostly heathens. When boy has girl he
remembers TO put his cuffs and collars and he
doesn't put his necktie into his pocket the way
TO school.
became sacred to Fred Brent. 1t was wicked to
cough in church, as it was sacrilege to play with
a hymn book. His trimming was the apotheosis Of
the non-essential.
devil that comes 10 the aid of oppressed human
ity. From the means it is often hard to tell
whose handiwork are the results.
To many people the life described in this
book will seem bare and hard and uninter-
esting. The life of plain, uncultivated and
narrow persons is apt to be all of that. In
addition to the natural limitations of the
subject Mr.. Dunbar seems to have felt
that he must be relentlessly realistic and
severe, and nobody can accuse him of
idealizing anything in his material. The
book has some of the crudities of first
attempt, but it is truthful study of the
life with which 1t deals, and 1t is an ear
nest of good work in the future. The au-
thor is still very young man, and this
story was written two or three years ago.
(New York: Dodd. Mead & Co. $.25)