The record-union., 1899-10-09
DAVID HARUM. T"
(By c. P. Massey.l

in public spirit who habitually passes
by with something of scornful manner
ence the record of the local happenings
of his town, however much the larger
interests of the world may press upon
his attention, and by parity or reason
ing something of censure must attach
to the educated man or woman VINO
cannot spare a few moments now ana
then from intellectual pursuits or a
more serious character to become ac-
quainted with a contemporaneous 1T
erature that may never be classic IN
the correct sense of the word, but upon
which current thought in great meas
ure chances to center.
John Gilner Speed, an accomplished
writer for the New York press, feeling
recently that he was not sufficiently
acquainted with many of the modern
dramatizations that were attracting the
attention of the public, gave the even
ings of an entire week to witnessing
six of the newer dramas, and in the
same way many of us, when the num-
ber of the newer books, about which
our friends are talking, looms too for
midably upon our Imagination, are dis
posed to make some wholesale pur-
'chases. and emulate the example of
Mr.. Speed, although the objects Of in
vestigation may not be precisely the
same.
Thus ''The Heavenly Twins" ''The
Choir Invisible, "Quo Vadis,'' 1.-THE
Honorable Peter Sterling" THE Chris
tian" and more recently David
Harum" have been passed in review,
and with this repertory of accomplish
ot,o Of
recognition in some Of the politer cir
cles of the land.
David Harum," the last of these
works in point of publication, has
chanced to be the last to claim my at
tention, and what comment I here shall
have to make is suggested by the
strange relation that the really small
merit of the book seems to bear to the
popular favor with which it has been
received. 1 do not remember to have
seen any review of Mr.. Westcotts S
work, but the book had been so warm
1y recommended to me by numerous
friends, among whom was one minister
who was most extravagant in his praise
Of it, that 1 at last procured a copy
for perusal. 1t was, therefore, perhaps,
too much as to a magnum opus of
some description that I approached the
story, and the reaction upon my mind
of disappointed expectations may pos
sibly account for criticism which 1
trust, however, is not altogether un-
just
In plot and construction the story is
lacking in everything that would en-
title it to the appellation of great. A
chance meeting upon an ocean steamer
of friends of the most casual previous
acquaintance leads to an exhibition of
mutual interest between a young man
and a young woman, an intimacy
which progresses promisingly after the
completion of the voyage, until re-
verses of fortune occasion the depar-
ture of the young man to enter upon
a new walk in life as a bankers clerk
in a small community in one of the
middle Atlantic States.
A veritable dens eXmachina, rep
resented by a youth as to whom every
presumption points to his absolute non
existence as a member of the family
to which he is accredited, is construct
ed when the exigencies of the plot
seem to require his presence upon the
scene. The failure Of this lad to post a
letter of coincidence from the young
lady upon the young mans loss, occa-
sions q separation of the lovers for a
number of years, during which other
intimacies are formed by the young
man,oat least, which bearing no rela-
tion to the plot sacrifice the unities of
the story, until finally another chance
meeting upon another ocean steamer
reunites the acquaintances of former
years. An error on the printed pas
senger list occasioned by the young
lady's suddenly and unexpectedly TAX
ing the place of a married lady friend
in the travelling party, leads to the
young mans addressing her by the
name Of her married friend, and
throughout the voyage the delusion is
not corrected. AS the voyage nears it's
completion, however. he tells her the
story Of his imagined hopeless love, to
which she as a supposedly married wo
man consents to listen, even appoint
ing a meeting for another interview at
a distance of several weeks, when lis
tening again to the same protestations
of affection she announces her absolute
freedom, and the denouement is sup
posed to be satisfactorily complete.
This, in brief, is the plot of the story,
title for the book must be regarded as
more than an incident in the storys
development. What there is of Mr.
Harum the reader gets, however,
largely from his own conversation, re-
corded in a dialect which offends every
sense of probability and appropriate
ness. Men and women do not talk as
Mr.. Harum and his sister do; certainly
not as those would be supposed to do
who are introduced to US by the author
as people who on occasion can write and
speak with a large measure of correct
ness. Even the ignorant do not pro-
nounce particular perticler, image inn
midge calculating callatin, or perform
ance pufformance, much less those who,
mingling in affairs, must naturally take
on some of the polish which contact
with even the ordinary men and wo-
men of the world must give.
Such barbarisms of speech as the
author attributes to such a man as
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