The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-04-21
ARE THE BEST
STORIES TRUE?
By Mary +. Wilkins.

~ |
NJ Utmost goes without saving tho,
~ D'' stories must be true In A.
sense. In them the two arS
~. human emotion and exnerienca
80. always make the four OF natural
n,,,s. Inc revelations OF cbaracta.
~, nave the lights and shades 80
own circumstances ana no otI, ~
iaI,., sn' or the story will be essen
uauy raise. But When II comes - a.
tha Ill, are The best stories true IN
g.. Sense of the worap.,
uoupt H. 1t Is seldom ri ever the. 4
800. y. e'N>4ct as possible renderip, an
." occurrence, or faithful req OF
nc gives the most artistic 'rd or
Isl results 1t Is not n.oen and the
az, though that sound, $ true as
ea'. ~ Is eye an" ear wy paradoxi-
soui work. Tb' "a ca " )rk, but not
of deptbs there are M reva,a,,o ene
cast, II no retrospf ct and M fore
no M is one dinner sion ~ truth ona
pb, ore. 1t is not even as reliable az
biography. II + more like the trac-
ing OF the bareS' outlines of q life 90
! seen against th wall of its own anvi1
rohnents, and of no moro val,,a thon
fence. @poH the schoolyaro
.,,-,' story which is q story,
seI1,r, az mere newspaper report, ia
ragar5 - ever, told with such utter
,,n1,,aI,. and stern adherence to the
ltrua. - - They almost never are
.ha rs impossible that they should
a,,,,, H is the inevitable mark of the
~ own individuality upon them;
s,,.,, It's or his own experiences on
&C., lines, which give him points of |
voia,.. lson; he eXaggerates, uncon- |
NJ often, simply because of some |
Nh =. snort or far sightedness. Sim |
,,,,s, Elements can be made. One can |
$50: that Betsey Jones and William
he ,ame ,,i11ooa. - DiousH1 up IN
gentle and fair; that William was
ud and reserved and dark; that ear
y friendship ripened into love: that
Il ley finally married and lived in peace
M happiness ever after. But when
one tries to develop bare and una dorned
Iacts like those into q story the mac
curacy of necessity begins.
Who is going to be sure that one
knows Betsey's and Williams. inner
most motives for their matrimonial IN
ion-whether it was because Retsev
coulo not succeed in winning he affec-
ions OF John Smith and William had {
Deeh Tilted by Mary Jones, or because
fetsey was afraid of being al old maid
ana william wanted somebo dy to keep
MS house for nothing, or because thev
really loved each other with ali that
aylllc aftection of simple and artless
image lovers sung by the poets? Who
S to know about the resulting peace
If happiness, though the neighbors g
ave never overheard a harsh word
PASS between them, even with sI,arn a
ars for listening? The chances are
nat the story as an actual Chronicle
L iacts VIII not be true in any ca Sc
nd all the better for that, provided
nave the truth of reason and proba-
lity. N ptoO@
How many historical novels. which
ne might naturally conclude woui
tand the test of actual truth in deta i
. anything can, are true in that sem -
wen the greatest histories owe m, ,ch
their value to the light or gla o,or
asst upon them by the individu aI;tv
the historian, and by the atmos' ,here
'hich his imagination has pro ,ontaS
round the bare records of fact
Or course this may not apJ Nv +o
ketches of real characters pictr jresone
nough in themselves, even if Is Iitere
lily presented as may be, or a ranord
life written in the first Iarso,
"a |
s untruth under the sembl' ,nc, nf +be
tmost candor which adds to sc IN
.rest? Take, for instance. the Io,,rnal =
Cotton Mather, which seem ~ n re- I
ent with no reserve W hatey. ar a self Y
so pitiless as to he almost
epulsive. Who kno VS. of hat faila-
les, due to his own defect oe ie4a.
)ective vision, tn e old divir ,,,as LII
(? Who knows. that he dii not MI uit
nsy cater - his own g elf-love and
atisfy his own sense of d. .amatic situ- e
ton even in his own Sc lf-condemna-
on? Who knows wheth er he was az
~ ~ " as pau as ne pa inted himself S:
~, I, MHelner' had ne bee n drawn with
oaolute accuracy, ms journal would
ave been half as int erestinp or his
given out SUI h stern chords a
lafacter gwen out ms such stern chords -
lKihg INTO conslderat ion all this tenn
'rlhs ana lntensdyin by the M ad of
le Writer, was str ictly faithful rec
I'd of the happenin gs and characters
some community. say up and down
ome village street. it would undoubt
lily be interesting, appealing as it