The times., 1898-12-05
The WORLDS STORY -rlElIlIERs.
An Art Beginning at It's Birth. Never
to He Extinct.

Ffom the Minneapolis Tribune.)
While scientists. moralistsp sages ard
philosophers count their Ireaders by
scores, the story tellers reckon theirs by
tens of thousands. The love of stori s.
although popularly supposed to be trait
of childhood, is equally Developed in
children of larger growth. The world
grows old, but the story tel'er's art re-
mains fresh and vernal as in the ch Id
hood of the race, when written iitera-
ture was not. and the popular traditions
were transmitted orally from generation
to generation OF all heroes and hs-
roines, those most assured of immortal
ity are the ones who never. lived save in
the imag;nations of the creators. The
story of Cinderella is as old as Moses.
Other popular nursery tales have Ike
antiquity.
Every nation has Its sacred books into
which the story element largely enters
The stories of our own Hebrew scrip
lures have for countless generations been
the delight of youth and the solace of
age. Had Greece no authentic histO-y.
1t would live immortal In the Had ard
odyssey narrative poems, which proba-
bly, had birth before the invention of
written language. The lamentable sto-y
of Troy and the romantic history of the
foundation of Rome form the subject of
Virgil's Incompatible epic.
The Germans have their ancient stories
of the Nibeungen Lied. resurrected in our
day to form the text of Wagner's roman
tic musical dramas The early Britons
have their legends of King Arthur and his
knights of the round table. The caliphs
of Bagdad and their empire live again in
the wonderful recitals of the Arabian
Nights. Spain has its romance tales of
the Cid. Switzerland its Tell legend; re-
mote Iceland has its Eddas. Every ma
| ton. savage and civilized, has its legends
of romance. war or chivalry. Italy, in
Ddnte's Divine Comedy" rises to a high
er plane and tells the story of the three
words-earth, he'll and heaven.
John Bunyau embodies his ideas of the
Christians jorrneying from the earthly 10
| the celestial life in that Incompatible ale
CORY "rhe Pilgrims Progress" Ger
| vantes In Don Quixote," the story of the
| romantic adventures of the knight of La
Mancha, held up the institution of chival-
ry to the world in such way that it died
| in peals of inextinguishable laughter. Sir
Thomas More in Utopia his political
romance of an ideal commonwealth
sought to popularize in story form the
| idea of Plato's Republic" Bulwer'
Coming Age" Bellamy's Looking Back.
ward and various modern attempts tc
| lend to the dismal science" of politica
economy the charms of personal romance
are examples In the same direction
shakespeare dramas are a retelling ir
more enticing forms of stories and legend:
of medieval times. Goethe in his Faust
puts in modern poetic form very ancient
and familiar legend. Sir Walter Scot
found in the ''gaily appareled" days OF tn,
| crusaders and in the ballads and border
| legends of his native land a vast treas
ure house of song and story. othel
Scotchmen have in our day won the pop
ular heart by simple stories Of smpl,
| folk. and created that new sort of 70
nance which is derisively called "kailyarc
| literature. - a
| The late Prof. Ebers resuscitated ancient
| Egyptian life and art in a charming serie.
| of romantic stories. Marian Crawford ir
| his Ave Roma Immortalis," has just
| given the world the story OF ancient
| Rome which he calls THE most splendid
romance in all history" Thousands who
would never consult the pages OF history
SC called, will turn with delight to thi.
history presented in the form of fasci
mating story
| Many of our modern authors, when the,
have a great principle to efucidate or 9
great lesson 10 teach, resort 10 the story
teller's art. In fact there is danger ii
| our day that the story may usurp tht
place of the pulpit-the purpose and di
dactie novel being quite too much In evi
dence. But of the story OF pure romance
and adventure the world will never tire