The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-02-17

"But did it affect national fiction and
national poetry?"
Swayed by vivid "reminiscences Nj A.
len almost strayed from the more pas
sive elements Of literature
TT did It brought out Of the North
some OF the most memora bic Of American
poems, But these were net national, in
the sense that they were hurled AZ part
Of the nation. Remember Lowell, BRYANT
Whittier. LonsfeIlow. It's effect upon
fiction also vas deep ard ineradioaoie-
Examine the Northern novels Of this
period and hnd, Il you can. single one
that IS in sympathy with Southern in
stltuaons or Southern types Of character.
Examine the Southern novels OF the per
iod ard find if YOU can, a single enc
that does not treat the North siJh ridl-
cule or aversion. The entire attitude OF
the two sectional literatures Of fiction
was antagonistic.
with what did this movement eul-
minates When did It end?r
1T eliminated IN one OF the most ter
rihle novels ever written and in one es
the most terrible wars ever fought-ia
Uncle Toms Cabin and IN war dur
ing which one-half OF the men Of the na-
ton no longer marched under the na-
tIonal flag"
DO you think Mrs Stoves book had
anything to do with causing or precipifat-
ing the civil WARP I asked. realizing
that in Mr.. Aliens opinion our old friend
Uncle Tom had a new responsibility.
Il 90 not. No civil war has ever helped
the war would have come. when. and as
it did. No doubt her work infamed the
passions Of the time But It did not
add anything 10 the convictions OF the
nation: and such a war Is not fought out
on the basis of passions but on the basis
Of IDEAS. As TO the truth OF falseness Of
her work, that is not a question here
This should be borne in mind, however,
that her book belongs TO the class Of
great prose satires which so often precede
a revolution; and 1t is the very genius
Of satire TO exhibit what it attacks on a
scale Of gross exaggeratiOn Witness Ra-
belais. IN a word, Mrs. Stowe was only
one voice among innumerabIe ones that
had been sounding over half a century
She did not produce the civil war: it was
produced by the uneonuouable evolution
Of human societies. from the sEavehoId-
ing TO the non-slaveholding type. It was
not Mrs. tsowe who was back Of that
evolution; it was God"
But was there not a literature pro-
dueed during this period which was
neither pro-slavery or anti-slavery which
was not sectional in feeling and which
did not deal with national ideas at ALP
There was. But this must be remem-
bered, that the literature Of a country.
whether or not it deals with national
ideas. is always affected by the condition
Of the country, By It's prosperity or re-
verses, its rest or its unrest The very
fact that some Of the best literature nro-
duced in the United states at this time
was not national only goes to prove how
the American writer's turnad away from
their own cfvriza ton IN its disturbed and
excited condition. 7 call your attention
particularly to one fact. a very significant
one. During this period Of national con
fusion and distress there appeared simul-
taneousIy and far apart-one at the
North and one at the South-the two
greatest writer's of ina ginative prose
that this country or any other country
has ever. produced-Poe and Hawthorn
and both Of these men were out Of sym
patty with their national place and time.
Poe never wrote { line Of what may be
called Southern literature Hawthorne
was glad that the old Union. such as it
was. went to pieces, nor did he ever write
word Of national contemporary litera-
lure. Both of these rarest of all ner of
genius either sought their themes out
side the world Of their contemporaries or
in the world Of the purely ideal"
do you think that the civil war helped
rational Iterature2''
Il do mt No civil war has ever helped
any national nteraturs when it has been
fought out by parts Of the nation on
questions OF RIGHT and conscience. How
could the civil war have helped national
literature? Il broke down national unity.
it was a case Of a house divided against
itself How could either part speak for
the whole2 How afterward. could either
celebrate its triumph over the other in
the name Of the whole nation2 The best
that such a war can do is TO put an
end to mold quarrel which had made
national literature impossible, and r this
way to prepare for a new movement
what was this new movement
cit was the third great movement
Scarcely had the war ended and the IA
ton been made one again-as a non
save holding modern societv-before
there began 70 appear a new literature
at the North and = rev literature at tbs
South. Again these were sectional; but
with a vital difference. You have seen
that the sectional Iiteratures Of the coun-
try before the war were antagonissc;
nation asunder. But these new literatures
were sympa thetfc. For the first time IN
Northern fiction something Ike Justice
was done Southern men and women.
Southern Institutions. Southern life For
fhe few awful wears ~ that war had
taught the Northern people more about
the South than al the preceding wears u
pssce Moreover. the old cause - mis-
understanding ard hatred was gone ard
gene forever So thai out ~ TIRE N7rt1
sounded for the first tire the new voices
~ ueace. fsrretfuIness. reconciliation. re-
union. Similarly ar the South thsrs
euranz Up a whole sgeneration - native
writers. ali q whom sent their work
North - Re pubgshed and scattered
among the Northern people While these
with scarce IN exception. stood loyalty
hv the Southern cause. they. too. f3r sha
arst time treated N1rthern eharacters
with understanding ana symDa t1y. ard
the Northern cause With tolerafien.
1T xoui7 81 easy q AXE Ta-ee col
lection IF stories 81 whieh some Nrt7erH
solder frhrnE fl the South falls II love
wi-h Southern woman " II whien
s5-ae southern solder III a Nerthe~rl pts
On hosr,sI Is carea Err ard l7ve7 by
some northern von1sn. the whole t=7-