The age-herald., 1900-06-17

the young author Is a gentleman to whom
 the State of Indiana is the center of the
 literary universe will be surprised in his
 new story. For, in Monsieur Beaucaire'
 MT. Tarkington has shown as neat a tureh
 in dealing with a comedy of intrigue as
 if he were a born Frenehman. The story
 contains a good dramatic situation in the opening pages and flies along with breath
 less swiftness. Mir Harrington is one of the most promising young writers of the day.
 A great deal of interesting matter has been written about the ''short story'-that form of fiction which is peculiarly Ameri- can in its conciseness, brevity and humor. Bret Harte is generally spoken of as the originator of the short story as we now enjoy it, and consequently an article by
 him on this subject in a recent number Of the New York Times is of peculiar interest.
 We all know that Poe and Longfellow and Hawthorne had lent this medium of work the graces of the English classics, but they were not the short stories as we have them
 today. In tracing the origin of these while American literature was still under the in- fiuence of English tradition, MT. Harte says that an unexpected factor appeared,
 and that was humor, of a quality as dis tinct and original as the country and civili- zation in which it was developed. Mr.
 Harte says '+it was at first noticeable In the anecdote or story and after the fash
 ion of such beginnings, was orally trans-
 mitted; and it at last received the cur
 rency of the public press. But wherever met it was so distinctly original and novel,
 so individual and characteristic, that 1t was at once known and appreciated abroad as an American story.
 This crude beginning which voiced the dialect and habits of a people or locality and was full of humor, developed from paragraph of a dozen lines into possibly half a column. Yet the conciseness and felicity of expression was retained by de- grees it developed character with its 1n- cident often in a few lines, giving a strik- ing photograph of a community or sectlon And here we have what may very correct ly be called the parent of the American 'short story" It is an interesting theme to dwell upon, and MT Harte's article is one of the most suggestive that has ever been written on the subject
 Few names in history are more immortal than the name of Savonarola-the simple monk who went to Florence without rep utation, without honors yet who left shining light behind him which glows con- tinuously from the little cell in San Marco. Many writers have dwet with fervor and tenderness upon the life and work of the sainted martyr. George Eliot has devoted her genius to him in the pages of Romola, and Mrs. Oliphant in her Makers of Flor ence' has given a graphic description of this mighty man which is exceedingly
 sweet and tender and full of interest.
 Among quite number of recent books
 upon the great preacher is one entitled
 Was Savonarola Really EXcommunicat-
 ed?'' by the Rev. J. l.. ONeil, O. r. The
 author shows conclusively that whatever
 the wicked Borgia may have illuminated
 against the great preacher and noble re-
 former could have no power over him. What the scholarly author seeks to show in his book is not that the Pope did not issue a brief of communication against SaVonarola, but that for certain reasons
 which he specifies it was powerless to ex- communicate the saint, who has been revered these many generations for his exalted and devoted character. As Savon- arola disdained to be awed by the splendor and power of Lorenzo, so he did not fear the Pope. And when his holiness sent as
 messenger to Fra Girolamo bishop of the
 sacred palace with the offer of a cardinals
 hat he prophesied T want no other red
 hat but that of martyrdom, reddened by
 my own blood" Present interest and ap-
 preciation in this ~great character looks very much like the twentieth century in- tends to crown him, whom the fifteenth century grossly, stupidy and seltishly murdered