The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-17

matter with American literature. few Illustrations will furnish suggestions. The novels of William Dean Howells are charming in style-so charming that one is fascinated by it; but what else IS there in his books to recommend them? Bret Harte furnishes us with charming natural setting, and engaging sincerity but with an utter disregard for rhetoric. Steve Crane with all his electric flashes, is disappointing in that he could not write dialogue. Some personal features of which complaint is made, well warrant harsh criticism-one of which Is the al- most universal use of profanity-of differ ent degrees, 1t is true. It cannot be urged that it is natural, and, therefore. to be represented as such. In some Of Dickens characters 1t moved along as a thing belonging to an individual-but was not put on as a veneering to round out sentence, or give force to statement If fctions mission is education, then It must not perpetuate that blot upon hu- man speech which makes it anything but ideal, to say the least of it.. There is still another serious flaw in fiction writ ing at the present time. of which we have heard very scathing comment
 Immortality Taught.
 The representation of personal demean- or of men and women toward each other The liberty of personal contact is so un- chivalrous that one inevitably feels the repulsion as of familiarity. No scene is too courtly, no character too ideal to forbid social department which is in- consistent with true chivalry. and ele- vating idealism. Any scene. which is intended to represent a trueness to life, but which causes in any mind sense of contempt drops the author and his story to level of commonplaceness Mankind, to love chivalry must be taught to be chivalrous. A thought akin to this is one from Emerson, Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry 1t with us or we find 1t not"
 This brings to mind the reminder that about May 18th the one hundredth anni- versary of the birth of Ralph Waldo Emerson is to be the occasion of celebra- to be a memorial school in July of three weeks. There will be lectures on the Emerson work and influence and these will be delivered by many astute thinkers and scholars. Emerson's religious in- fluence will receive wide notice, and all these things will effect literature as well as a religious discussion, for how long we may not reckon. The Emerson home at the Lexington turnpike is occupied by Miss Ellen Emerson. the poets daughter. The house stands a little distance from the road, back of clump of fine trees. This spot will be of interest to those who attend the centennial celebration. Another incident in Boston literary circles is the dramatization of Louisa Alcott's Eight Cousins and it's presentation in the Children's Theatre. for the benefit of the Dorothy Dix summer home.
 Miss Lillian Writings Boston Days. Is on the press for the third time. This is an acknowledgement that Miss Whit ing has added materially to our fund of knowledge of the men and women who made New England famous. Spring is the season when we have grown to expect labor troubles; and the present seaso1's fiction Is favored with this essence. The Legatee" by Alice Prescott Smith, is a suggestion of labor antagonism and lumber town is It's situation. A great mill strike furnishes food for thought" to G. w. Carryl, demonstrated in The Lieutenant Governor" has receiv- ed some commendation from President Roosevelt; and "A Daughter of the Pit' by Margaret D. Jackson gives vivid picture of a strike in an English coal mine. Aron Nosir:ah