The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-01
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to have published thirty-six volumes with
out really. introducing a new one. The
same denatiOnalism has followed on a
higher plane the much greater gifts and
qualities of Henry James, of whom il has
been said that ''eYen his cosmopOlltanlSm
has its limitations. To be truly cosmopoli-
tan man must be at home even in his
own country. We can see the same belit-
Ting influence at work on younger Amer
leans, Henry 'Harland. and even the ex-
traordinary ability shown in the late
Stephen Cranes Red Badge of Courage"
was beginning to dwindle as he stayed in
|. England III. So ts-
The peculiar charm Of Howells's prose
style has. doubtless; had it's effect in dis
arming criticism. He rarely fails to give
pleasure by the mere process of writing,
and this is much, to begin with; just as,
when we are listening TO conversation, a
wit or wisdom. Mr. HowellS is without an
equal in America-and, therefore, without
an equal among English-speaking contem-
porar1eS-aS TO some OF the most attractive
literary graces. He has no rival in half
tints, in modulat tons, in subtle phrases that
touch the edge of assertion and yet stop
short OF 1t. He is like skater who ex-
ecutes hundred graceful curves within
the limits of a pool of a few yards square.
AS native Of Ohio. transplanted to
Massachusetts,, he can never forego the
interest implied in this double point of
view. The Europeanized American, and If
we may so say, the AmericaniZed Euro
pean. are the typical figures that reappear
Aroostook," although the voyagers reach
the other side at last, the real contrast is
found on board ship; and although he al
lows his heroine to have been reared in a
New England village, he cannot forego the
satisfaction Of having given her California
Tor birthplace. Mr.. James writes inter-
national episodes; Mr.. Howells writes inter-
dialogue between the Atlantic and Pacific
slopes. . Mr.. Howells is really con-
tributing important studies to the future
N q . lIxn I'm 80 -
be stratified? How much weight is to be
given to intellect, to character, to wealth,
to antecedents, to inheritance?
Here the lecturer spoke of several minor
authors or the West among whom were
Hamlin Garland, Booth Harrington, DR..
John Gault, Ella Higginson, Miss Murfree,
Mrs Catherwood, Mrs. Mary Halleck
Frank Norris, Eugene Field, Joaquin Mil
Ter, Mr.. Burgess, DIR. Edward Robson Tay-
lor and Edwin Markham, and gave brief
that he varied from his previous practice
OF ignoring the minor authors. because he
was dealing with a more recent literature
where individual leadership had not yet
developed itself so distinctly as in the older
States.1
The literary status of no country is firm
ly established until it has produced poet,
and the great central region of America
has unquestionably produced one in James
Whitcomb Riley. 1t is easy to say that
this author has done his best in dialect
NciSC Ohiy, but tulS Is equally true Oh
Burns. Riley speaks for the great South
eastern element of the Indiana population.
He loves his people thoroughly and he is
able 10 sec with their eyes. He does not
write as Lowell did in New England,
through vanishing dialect, but from the
very life around him. or portion of that
life Stu less does he, like Rudyard Kip
ling. mix together phrases from all parts
of the continent and put them in the mouth
or one p1an.H The characters that he. has
created.tftDoc Sifers" and the 'Ragedy
Man,. are local and vernacular as is Mark
Twain's rPudd'n Head wilson in another
part or the country. He shows real skill in
the use of dialect, for he makes it pathetic
as in The Old Man and Jim" "Nothin to
Say and The Absence of Little Wesley"
and even the "Old Band" All these are
pathetic, and TO make dialect genuinely
pathetic is more than Lowell eyer attempt
ed. When once achieved. IL lasts. Once
apart from dialect. Rileys excellence is
less secure. although his poem. From a
Balloon, may well touch the imagination
of every reader; but his touch constantly
grows firmer, and no one is entitled TO say
where he will stop.
When Tennyson and Gladstone visited a
town in the Orkneys and received at Kirk
wall the freedom of the town, Gladstone in
his speech thus proclaimed the supremacy
or literary service over all others. THE
words he said, ~ speak. have wings to
ny away; the words of MIR. Tennyson are
or higher order. / anticipated for him
Immortality. In some distant time the
people Will say looking at your roll. The
prime minister. who was he. what did he
dor We know nothing about him; but the
poet laureate has written his song on the
hearts or his countrymen, and il can never
die ="
We may well bear this in mind in the
year that makes up the hundredth birthday
of Emerson.