The age-herald., 1898-01-16

It is the little things all taken together that go to make up the great sum of life The half-unconscious acts that reveal the character of the man of woman. The painstaking novelist may indeed picture to us accurately the feelings and emotions of the heart A great writer has very truly said that psychological analysis, in a book, can never be more than a series of state ments on the part of the author, telling what he himself faHcies that he might have felt could he have been placed in the posi- tion of the particular lterson whom he is analyzng. It is a matter of imagination merely, and when the writer sits down and tries to put the feeling into language it becomes very difficult matter. Yet there are many who have a special genius for this sort of introspective reasoning and the ability to depict the emotions grows with it's exercise.
 A greater skill and knowledge of human nature is needed to portray the person and his individuality by the little things that he does: his many half-unconscious acts. These mean somethng-they have their significance and to observe them and att tach to them their true import is faculty possessed by few. The pronounced and prominent actions of his life are the result, more often, of reconciliation and effort toward some particular effect and cannot always be judged with correctness, nor the proper estimate made of their sincerity, but his little spontaneous actions are the more direct outcome of his own person. ality and are often times prompted by the true inward nature of the man. Yet if one becomes too observant and searching in regard to these there is danger of overesti nm in0 hni things in life, Or in fiction, and place upon them their. true estimate and significance is the highest art in knowing and under standing human life. It makes of the novel something more than relation of well conceived incidents, or the story of a womans love, or a mans villainy and treachery, and gives the reader a thought full, observant picture of life that will edu- cate him and make his mind both broad and deep. Women as rule observe more closely the little things that pass unno- ticed by the majority She responds more quickly and is often influenced by them, yet in the world of fiction it is a question if many of them apply this insight to their work. However, among recent writers know of no one who possesses this faculty in so eminent a degree as the author of "Corleone"
 It is perhaps a trusm to say that F. Ma rion Crawford is a master of his craft, yet as read each new Work or ms am more and more convinced that hardly any living writer knows human nature more intimate ly than he. What an observer in the real world about him he must be! how care- fully he must note these little acts of peo- pie and speculate upon them and lay them away in his big, prolific brain for subse- quent comment and use. For instance who but he would have thought of dlatng upon the significance of a persons going to the window and gazing out? Have not each of us done it thousand times? When wearied and perplexed over the perform ance of some duty how natural to turn to the window and look up into the sky or down into the street and seek momentary pause; in some anxious crises stand there and let the features relax, the eye darl1en, or the lips smile. the case may be. Or, if more sentimental, as we Amer jeans are, take a. look into the outside world, giving the mind. breathing spell.