The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-29

can to assist them. and when a crisis
like the famine comes it is heart
breaking not to be able to relieve their
suffering. The peasant problem
stretches from one end of Russia to
the other.
"America and Russia are the great
est wheat growing countries In the
world. Our Internal resources are vast
enough to support us without assist
ance from other countries"
us that true of Russian" Jimmie cut
in, his commercial instinct getting the
better of his awe of Tolstoy. Where
would you get your coal?"
| True" said Tolstoy. 1--WE could not
do 1t as completely as you, and your
very resources are the reason Tor our
admiration of America"
I'm case of war, now" went on jim
| mie." He stopped speaking and look
| ed down In deep embarrassment, re-
membering Tolstoy's hatred of war.
YES" said Tolstoy. kindly. in case
| the whole civilized world waged war
on the United States, / dare say you
could still remain tolerably prosperous
people,"
"At any rate" said Jimmie, recover
ing himself, ut would be good many
years before we would be hungry
nation, and in the meantime we could
practically starve out the enemy by
cutting off their food supply. and dis
able their fleets and commerce for
want of COAL so there is hardly any
danger from the prudent point of view
of the world combing against u.s."
'Now about your men of letters?"
said Tolstoy. 1T is some time since
have had such direct news from Ameri-
ca. What are the great names among
you now?"
"Ah! Mark Twain" repeated Tolsoy.
81 have heard of him"
Have you, indeed? I thought no
one was known in Europe except Fen
imore Cooper. He is supposed to have
written universally of America, be-
cause he never wrote anything but
Indian stories. In France they know
of Poe and admire him, because, they
tell me, he was like themselves"
He was insane, was he not" said
| Tolstoy innocently.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing,
| for Tolstoy had not perpetrated that
as a. jest.
But many Of our most whimsical
| and most delicious authors could not
be appreciated by Europe. in general,
because Europe is so ignorant of us.
| There is Frank Stockton, whose hu-
| NOR con tinentals would be sure to take
| seriously, and then Thomas Nelson
| Page writes most effectively when he
uses negro dialect. His story 'Marse
Chan, which made him famous, con-
slider the best short story ever writ
ten in America Hopkinson Smith,
/ too, has written a book which deserves
to live forever, depicting as II does a
| phase of the reconstruction period,
| when Southern gentlemen of the old
school came into contact with North
ern business methods. Books like
these would seem trivial to Euro
| pean, because they represent but a
single step in our curious history"
Il understand" said Tolstoy. synpa-
| for US to realize that America is not
| one nation. but an alnalgamation
largely of all nations. But If it
weren't for the dialects I think more
Europeans would be interested in
| American literature
'"That is true" I said, land yet
without dialects you wouldn't get the
United States as it really is. Take
| for instance. James Whitcomb Riley,
| poet who, to my mind, possesses alb
| solute genius, genius to ennoble the
| commonplace. His best things are all
| in dialect, which great many find
| difficult. and yet when he gives pub
lie readings from his own poems he
draws audiences which test the ca
| pacity of the largest halls. ! myself
| have seen him recalled nineteen
| times"
America and Russia are growing
| closer together every day." said Toll
| stoy. Every year we use more of
| your American machinery, and all ag-
| ricultural implements are coming into
| us here. Every year more Americans
settle in Russia from business inter-
ests, and we are rapidly becoming de-
! pendent on you for our coal. If you
| had a larger merchant marine IL would
benefit our mutual interests wonder
| fully. Is your country as much in
terested in Russia as we are In your"
Equally So" I said. Russian lit
| erature is very well understood in
| America. We read all your books. We
know Pushkin and Tourkenieff. Your
| Russian music is played by our or
chestras. and your Russian painter,
| Verestchagin. exhibited his paintings
| in all the large cities and made us
familiar with his genius"
"Ail art, all music has a moral effect
upon the soul. Verestchagin paints
War--hideous War. Moral questions
should be talked about and dis
cussed, and remedy found
for them. In America you will
not discuss many questions. Even in
At this juncture Coup tess Tolstoy
drew nearer to Bee and Mrs. Jimmie
and our groups somewhat separated.
"Our great names?" repeated.
Either we have no great names now,
or we are too close to them to realize
how great they are We have lost our
Lowell and Longfellow and Poe and
Hawthorne and Emerson, and we have
no others to take their places"
But a young school will spring up"
said Tolstoy.
ut has already sprung up" said 1,
land is well on the way to manhood.
One great drawback, however, l find
in mentioning the names Of all of them
to a European or even to an English
man, is the fact that so many Of our
most characteristic American writer's
use a dialect which II is all that we
Americans can do to understand. For
instance, take the negro stories. Thou
sands of Northern people who have
never been South are unable to read
II, and to them 1t holds no humor and
no pathos. To the ordinary English
man IL is like so much Greek, and TO
the continental English-speak per-
son Il is like Sanskrit. In the same
way the New England stories, which
are written in Yankee dialect, cannot
be understood by people In the South
who have never been North How,
then. can we expect Europeans Ia
manage them?
"How extraordinary" said Tolstoy
"And both are equally typical / sup
pose3" ,,,... -.