Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-10-31

| October, Prof. Woodberry OF Columbia
| advances the new theory that Edgar
Allen Poe's life in the south I'm slavery
times Is responsible for the cruelty and
gruesomeness In his stories;
is not The House of Usher a
southern tale at the core, however
theatrically DEVELOPER" asks Prof,
Woodberry. Poe Is the only poet, so
far as | know. who is on the record
as the defender of human slavery. 1t
must not be forgotten that he grew up
in a slave holding state. There are
traces OF cruelty In Poe. or patience
with cruelty. easy to find, The BLACK
Cat" could not have been written ex-
cept by man who knew cruelty well
and was hardened to II. "The Pit and
the Pendulum belongs in the same
class, IL is not any one of these items,
but the mass OF them. that counts. The
morbid, melancholy, dark, gruesome,
terrible, In Poe seems to me TO be re-
lated to his environment; these things
sympathze with the south in all lands,
with Italy ana Spain; as the Spaniards
Is plain in CerVantes, II may well seem
that the southerner Is manifest In the
temper of Poe's Imagination, character
ization, Incident, atmosphere and land
scape, His tendency toward musical
effects Is also 70 the point. So Lanler
tried to obtain such effects from land
scape, trees, and the marsh; though
Poe Is free from Lanier's emotional
phases In which he seems like lxion
embracing the cloud.
Such In brief. are some OF the rea-
sons that may lead one to see In Poe
great expression of the southern tenn
permanent in letters. He, certainly, Is
the lone star of the South. and yet IL
may eventually prove that the song
Of Dixie is the most immortal oontrl-
button that the old south gave to the
national literature
One OF the remarkable literary figures
Of the period is Joseph Conrad, Pole,
who writes English as though II were
his native tongue He Is acknowledged
to be the best living writer of sea
stories and as short-story writer he
has no superior today. He made his
first hit with story of the Malay coast,
IAN Outcast OF the Islands, and sew
eral Of his other tales deal with the
strange life of the Straits settlements.
He knows this life intimately, as for
years he was supercargo on steam
er that piled along the coasts of Su-
matra, Java and Borneo. He has writ
ten q half dozen books, but he has
.
Lately he has taken to short stories,
and IN these he easily shows himself n
master Mr. Conrad was born IN one OF
the southern provinces OF Poland, and
his father was well known as a critic
and poet, and was editor of a Warsaw
review. He expressed his patriotic
views too plainly, and just before the
Polish uprising In 1851 he was arrest
ed by the Russians. Mr.. Conrad
mother was exiled TO Siberia, where she
died Conrad was educated In Cracow
and when boy showed his fondness
for the sea.
One OF the epigrams mentioned by
Prof. Brander Matthews, In an article
on American Epigrams" In Harper's
for November, Is the following by Wal
ter Learned
"You say, when | kissed you, YOU are
sure | must quite
Have forgotten myself So / did; you
are right.
No, I'm not such an egotist, dear. 1t
is true,
AS to think OF myself when I'm look
Ing at you"
Many examples are also given OF
epigrams by Holmes, Lowell Aldrich.
and other OF our poets, among them
this adapted by Fitz-Greene Halleck
from Goethe:
IAN honor to women, the sweetheart
the wife,
The delight Of our homesteads by
night and by day
The darling who never does harm in
her life
Except when determined to have her
own way"
A notable coincidence In the realm OF
late literature lies In the fact that
James Lane Allen, In his "Mettle Of the
Pasture" and Alice Brown, In "Judg-
ment," give impressive consideration to
the same problem with widely varying
conclusions. What effect is had upon
the heart Of sweet and Innocent
minded girl when there comes to her
knowledge some unpleasant secret from
the past OF the man she loves? In Mr..
Allen's story this problem IL the corner
stone Of the whole structure. In the
FIRST chapter Rowan makes part con-
fession, and Isobel. bruised of heart,
leaves him and goes to Europe. Even
tually she returns, for her heart can
not give him up. But the end Is
tragedy. In Judgment there is an.
hiiltI IulAuk illbllit Uhl iAlN buiHN Hu'H-
ton between Rosamond and Kent gives
rise TO no small part of the story's
interest. RosamOnd's attitude can best
be shown IN her own words to Kents
sister;
"Whatever they say, they prove
nothing, Nothing to me- Bess. There
IL something wrong, | have known II
since yesterday. Your mother knows
t. But refuse IL. II he wished 10 tell
me himself, | should refuse II. That's
all. Not a word about Kent, not a
world"
Suppose | told you myself, Rosa
mondW
~ should refuse to lsten.'
The hand-clasp broke because they
were too moved 10 keep II,
'As 10 what you call evidence said
Rosamond. IN II can be used against
him, he and I must face that together
But don't act as II | were the world
outside Of him. Bess. ! AMI shall
be-" She paused upon the words and
could not form them; but Elizabeth
knew and silently said them for her m
equal reverence.
And later to Mr. Markham
us that what troubles Helen? she
asked what she afraid / fhould find
outg Afraid shall blame him. Judge
him? why. I'll tell her Neither
death nor life. that was what she said
the other night, nor prlnclpalities nor
powers Mr.. Markham She spoke