The times., 1899-08-27
TYnes i'm Eintinn

a ocotcn writer, IN the pages or the Sep
tember Atlantic Monthly" makes a gen
tie protest against the way in which fiction
writers have pictured the native of Scot
land to the world. In this essay it is point
ed out that the Scot of fiction is a type
whereas the real Scot has as much human
nature in him as any ordinary mortal and
manifests it in as many different ways
incidentally, it is suggested that New Eng
land is not inhabited altogether by timid
maiden ladies, or the far West entirely by
the Bret Harte specimens
This suggests train OF thought which
1t may be as well to follow out to its legit-
innate conclusion. In this century which
is just drawing TO a close we have deveI-
oped the type" in fiction as it was never
developed before. The short story has been
at once cause and result of this The
main cause, however, has been the gradual
iessening of distances by means of the rail-
way. Formerly a journey was a matter
of time, inconvenience, and expense II
is now possible to reach with ease many
out OF the way corners of the earth, and
vice versa, the inhabitants of these retired
spots emerge from their seclusion and seek
the cities. Hence, there is an exchanging
of ideas and mutual study of characteristics
The Alabamian, the Louisiana creole, the
New Englander, the Californian, the Ken
tuckian, the people of the Middle West,
are portrayed in turn, some by men and
| women who themselves are refined and edu-
Gated children OF the people whom they
describe, more rarely by outsiders who have
lived long enough in the regions which they
picture to gain the confidence OF the peo-
pie. These stories find multitudes of read
ers, partly because there has been a quick
ening of general intelligence, followed by
a desire to learn more of ones fellow be-
ings, partly because, owing to the facility
| of travel, many of those who read have Wis
tied the places from which the local color
is drawn, or hope some day to do SO.
The immense variety of subjects thus
handled in larter-day fiction has led to a
sort of totem collection of types" each
of which is accepted as characteristic of
some one part of the country The Ameri-
can who visits England will realize this
when the more or less educated Briton tries
to take kindly interest in the birthplace
of his visitor. He will find that If he comes
from a certain section of the country about
which the Englishman has read, the mind
Of his host is filled with ideas of that sec
tion, which, to the American, generally
appear like caricatures.
The time is coming when there will be
change in this respect We have learned
that our fellow beings are interesting; we
are outgrowing the tribal or clan feeling
which dictates that every outsider shall
be regarded as an enemy. We are coming
to understand that there are nine and
sixty ways of constructing tribal lays" and
it remains for us to add to this knowledge
the more useful item that every single
one of them is right" The delineation of
types will some day give place to the por-
trayal of human nature. We shall have the
true novel, not the short story; the finished
painting, not the sketch. Then, and only
then, will the great American novel be born.
! Would there ever have been a great Eng
lish novel If every county in England had
been estranged from every other county? 1t
viii take longer to reconcile the warning
elements in this nation, because they are
infinitely varied and spread over huge
territory; but the time will come when they
will be reconciled.