Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-03-21

Ill NOV elilDHI Vi lcpl. I1OuSHlOlI, hlllllll
&, Co. published Before the Dawn"
novel of Russian life by Pimenoff-
Noble: last week ID. Appleton & Co. is
sued Before the Dawn a story of
the fall of Richmond, by J. A. Alt
sheler.
The sources of the names used in
fiction have often stirred the student
to investigation but as a rule he has
confined himself to the masters and has
sought t. discover some esoteric rea-
son for the choice of the names he has
hunted down. Latterly this subject
has been neglected. but it might be
worth while for some one to take it up
again. BY what processes do con-
temporary novelists dealing with mod
ern life arrive at the names which
they use? In great many cases it
would seem as if they gave little
thought to the matter, using the first
names entering their minds, with no
attempt to make them fit the charac-
tiers for whom they are borrowed.
Possibly this is the wisest plan. The
novelist who tries too hard to give one
of his characters a really expressive
name is apt to give the impression that
he is feebly initiating Dickens. The
only author of the day we know who,
while avoiding the Dickens system
still seems to find for his characters
names that somehow seem to belong to
them is MI. Henry James. His new
book of short stories. The Better
Sort is full of good names. Stuart
Straith. Mrs. Brash, Maud Blessing
bourne, Mrs. Dyott, Lady Wantridge.
Mrs. Cavenham, Howard Blight. Morris
Gedge, May Bartram, John Marcher.
Lady Gwyther. Lady Beldonald, all
have sufficient individuality, yet not
one of them carries undue emphasis.
In the stories they seem very James,
ian, but very natural, and even when
detached from the text they convey the
same impression. To be as successful
in this mater as Mr.. James is, one
must have a gift for the right choice.
The saddest of the unfortunates who
have gift for making the wrong one
are those who still cling to the tradi-
ton of Ouida and dot their pages with
Navasours. Nandeleurs, Dalrymples,
Muriels, and SO on.
hundred years ago there We're only
two books in Scilly-the Bible and IL soil
tary copy of Doctor Faustus." The lat
ter had been so frequently lent and so
carefully read that it became ilegible,
and eventually meeting of the inhab-
tantS toEe preSumeS of st. MaryS the
largest islandl was called, to consider
what should be done to meet the public
demand for something to read. After Il
prolonged discussion it was decided. no
body having word to say against it. that
instructed to send a letter to Penzance
bookseller and procure another copy of
Doctor Faustus."
Love Thrives in War is the title Sc
lected by Mary Catherine Crowley for her
romance of the War of 1872 to be pub
lished by Little, Brown d Company Miss
Crowleys two previous novels have met
with marked favor. "A Daughter of New
France passed through seven editions
while The Heroine of the Strait" pub
liShed year ago. is i'll it's ninth thousand
The early life of G.. D. Brown the au-
thor of The House with the Green Shut
ters.', was not an easy one; Ills father
to-do After the boy left the village
school he worked for two years at a pit
head at Trabbock. Then he went to a
higher. school. helped by the proceeds
from the sale of heifer which his father
fattened for the purpose each year Boxes
of farm produce also helped to carry the
capture of the Smell Scholarship of elias
gov. That took him to oxford. where he
was not happy. They tell at the univer
sity this story of Browns days at
Balliol. DIR Jowett was still master Of
of EalliOl when the young eXhibitioner
went mp to oxford and one day he asked
him to a breakfast to which James An
thony Froude among others, had been
invited. Brown had not taken much part
in the conversation. when Froude turned
to Jowett. and said: Our young friend
over there is strangely like our old friend
-. Then after eating several mouth
fuls he again glanced al Brown, with Il
reflective air and added: You know,
Jowett. We always used to say that -
was the uglieSt man we knew
1T is said by his biogra pher that Brown
was quite we'll aware of the ferocity of his
one notable novel. More than once it is
added. while he was still writing it he ok
pressed fear that his story was taking
too strong hold upon him. II s bccom-
ing terribly brutal, he would say. 'Peo-
pie will get false impression Of my point
OF view. ! wonder if it's not a shame to
write such savage book?' Many hailed
Browns novel as a snrewd blow at the
Kailyard School: II love the book for just
this Il sticks the kaIyarderS like pigs. =
says Professor Raleigh. for instance.
Browns first book was a worthless pot
boiler called Love and IL Sword pun
lished under the pseudonyme of "kenne-