Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-12-06

L.
TT was his habit" she recalls. ito
write three or four books at a time.
and pointing out that this method has
been and is still Followed by all great
painters. she goes on to state that 1t is
the right one for the author TT is
the one sure safeguard" she says.
against veiled autobiography, which
is the fatal danger to those who con-
centrate for too long a period on any
one group. OF characters and any one
particular set of scenes. Balzac's now
els are therefore, well balanced They
are always impersonal always just,
and in order to describe life one must
show not merely knowledge of men
and the spirit Of criticism, but strong
sense OF Justice" These are sugges-
tive words. But when we take them
as embodying something like rule of
practice for the novelist, we presup-
pose, of necessity, power in him SO
rare that we do not see how much good
it can do. as a rule, after ALL The man
of genius may do as Balzac did
though it may be observed that a good
many geniuses in the history of liter
ature never did anything of the sort,
and yet left us masterpieces-but, then
the man of genius does not work by
rule, but by temperament.
There has been a good deal of cor
respondence and argument in the pa
pers of late about the modern novel.
and "rhe Academy has gone so far
as to hold pfebiscite in order to dis
cover which are the most popular nov-i
els recently published. With the nov
els which headed the list and SO may
be supposed to have found most favor
in the. eyes of the public. we are not
specially concerned, but the general re-
suit is lamentable. 1t brings before us
what we would gladly have forgotten
the appalling dearth Of great novelists
from which we are suffering at presA
ent.
With the exception of Mr.. Meredith
and Mr.. Thomas Hardy. there is no one
who even approaches first class rank,
and what is worse. no one who even
holds out the promise of approaching
it in the future. Meredith and Hardy
moreover, who were, Of course, not
mentioned in the plebiscite, belong
rather to the past than to the present
for they have long since made their
regulations, and there is no one who
can take their place. Our greatest liv-
ing writer, Mr.. Kipling, is writer Of
short stories rather than of novels, ana
all the best men shine more in short
than in long stories. For the time be-
ing we are in period of transition, but
there can be no doubt that the novel
will before long flourish as it used to,
for never was there a greater demand
f0, Gaks xL4r se,v A.,
it is pretty clear that so far the great
| men to come have not yet begun to
| write. or at any rate to publish.-The
London Globe.
Mrs. kipling. the mother of the au-
| thor, has Just published, with her
daughter, Mrs. Fleming. a little book
| of poems. Hand in Hand" is its title
not a very good one. The frontis-
piece. signed by the initials of the elder
lady's husband, bears an attractive de-
sign of n mother and daughter seated
| together on the seashore between a
palm tree and an oak. The mothers
verses occupy about a third Of the
| book. and many of them have themes
| derived from India. London critics say
| that they are of unusual value.
When Sir Leslie Stephen, or Mr.. Les
| lie Stephen, as he was then, withdrew
from the editorship of the Dictionary
| Of National Biography, it seemed likely
| that he would give himself a long rest.
| But instead he seems to have been un-
ceasingly busy. He has given us, since
his time became more his own, an ella
borate study of the English Utilitari-
| ans Recently he has brought out a
new edition of his Invaluable work In
| two volumes, English Thought in the
| Eighteenth Century," he has contribu-
| ted volume on George Eliot to the
| new series of the English Men OF
Letters" and he rs preparing similar
/ study of Hobbies. At the same time he
has been writing SO many essays that
/ out of them he has been able to make
i two volumes to add to his Studies of a
| Biographer," and he is at work now
i upon his "reminiscences of the English
/ men of letters of his time. Altogether
i his activities in the last few years have
been such as a much younger man
might envy. -,-.,,. q
4 Miss Lille Hamilton French, who has
i recently written a story of canaries,
"Hezekiahis Wives" is now contribut-
ing a series of papers to ''The Century
called MY Old Maids Corner" where
| the characteristic fcibles of the mar