The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-12-22
CHANGES IN THE NOVEL.
Subject of the Literature Com
mittee Yesterday When
Reade and Kingsley
We're Discussed.

Kingsley, Reade, Stevenson, were the
three authors discussed yesterday after
noon by the ladies of the Literature Com
mittee of the Woman's III at Has
brouck Institute. That is, Kingsley and
Reade were actually discussed. Steven
son was left out, because the lady 10
whom that author was assigned was una
BILE to be present.
Before the Introduction of the authors,
however, a short business meeting was
held. wherein it was decided that on Jan
uary Is. the red-letter day, when Miss
Cecilia Gaine is to deliver her lecture,
women Novelists,'' the various women's
clubs of the city, including the Odd Vol
umes, Ramblers, Open Hand and Travel
ers, as well as the Executive Boards Of
the Woman's Club and State Federation
and the Boonton Club, be invited, and,
the affair be mad a social as well as an
intellectual feast. refreshments being
served under the supervision Of Mrs.
Weart and Miss Crowen,in the kindergar-
ten room, the lecture to take place in
Hasbrouck Hall proper, at $50 P. M.
Mrs. Heating, who handle Charles
Reade'' most cleverly, opened her dis
course with a biography of that gentle
man. from which it appears that he did
not begin to write until some time after
his forty-fourth year. HE is decidedly
physical in all his works" said Mrs.
Heating. "He brings out the physical
projections. He is a disciple of physical
culture" His tendency to expose a pop
ular abuse was also mentioned, and Put
Yourself In His Place. given as an ex-
ample. while he does not decry senti-
ment,' continued the speaker, h does
not leave you foundering around in a sea
of sentimentaiity. None of his characters
are perfect. They all have their faults.
Human motives inspire most Of hts works
and yet his are humane motives. He
sympathizes greatly with mankind"
Never Too Late to Mend" was here mem
toned. HE studied every subject he ever
wrote upon carefully and conscientiously,
and it is doubtful if any technical error
can be found in his works" In speaking
OF his religious views, Mrs. Heating mem
toned Maid, Wife and Widow" saying,
IF ever he had any religious prejudfces,
he shows them in that book" Then fol-
lowed a short discussion by the ladies'
present upon the points set forth by Mrs.
Keating's address.
In the absence of anybody, Kingsley not
having been assigned to any special per-
son. or. as she herself expressed it, the
Kingsley lady is non-existent." Mrs. John
A. Walker, chairman of the committee,
took that gentleman in hand. 81 said
she liked Kingsley's sermons because they
were short, plain. clear and earnest. She
spoke of his birth in the year 1873, in
kDevonshire, describing the country, of his
life as a clergyman. poet n novelist, OF
his course at Cambridge, in which he car
ried off the honors in mathematics allo
classics, and of his rise from curate to
canon. AS to his exhibiting opposite
traits of character. which SONS people
~eriticise as inconsistent, Mrs Walker said
he descended from a long line of clergy
men on his fathers side, while his mother
was a Southern woman, so that while
IN one place he s~ympathizes with he
slaves, in another he looks down upoia
them with a masters contempt. He al
ways sy1npathizes with the worl5ingman,
asbut his chief power" said Mrs. Walker
in conclusion, 'lies in his descriptive abili-
ties
The usual open discussion followed this
discourse, also, and the meeting broke
up, to assemble again on January 4, when
Living Novelists, will be the theme
under which head will come the religious
and political novel. NOTWITHSTANDING the
near approach to Christmas. ana the un-
favorable weather combined, yesterdays
attendance was excellent.