The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-19
ID3N@m'@ [R@ply Strikes
Sympathetic Chords
BY DR.. THEODORE BRYANT nNGsBuRY.

| have my reWafd--and it is large finan-
cially, and larger spiritually. Out OF
the depths of the Unseen these pas.
sionate cries of the heart come back
in echoes wet with tears and winged
with hopes, and life becomes a JOY
wide as is the world that holds these
kindred souls and deep as are the Sc
crets OF their hearts which are also
mine. And l am content"
Since 1865, have been a constant
reader of books. and of the best OF
nearly three thousand years, but
have not read very much of Northern
novels, and but little for two decades
/ prefer English or British literature
to all others, while dipping now and
then into Continental literatures. AND
reading back to the poets of Athens
and Rome and Italy. l am not sur
prised to read that the American lit
erary output of a quarter of q century
is not of marked excellence or origin
ality. Mr.. G. L. Moore, in the capital
mi-monthly of Chicago, 1.-THE Dial,'
that has no superior of it's kind in the
United States, takes a depreciatory
view of the actual output in American
letters. The editor of the New York
Saturday Review" commenting,
says:
1.-The article is rather disagreeably
smart, in addition to being rather dis
agreeably pessimistic. But the fact
remains that we have not begun to cut
in literature the figure that might
have been expected of us, and that we
are not at present giving any very
valuable pledges for the future.
I'VE are too old to be pleading in
fancy as an excuse for our shortcom-
ings.''
1t is admitted by him that original
and great literary creations in this
country do not count for much. Re-
ferring to the American criticism and
disparagement of German literature,
the Review says very properly:
"The German intellectual product is
only in a small degree literary, being
mainly scientific. But even SO, no pa
triotic and prudent American would
challenge a comparison with Germany
in the strictly literary arena. The
mere mention of the names of Goethe
and Schiller and an invitation to
match them would suffice to put him
to silence and shame. After a century
and a quarter of political independ-
ence We are as much a literary de-
tendency of Great Britain as on the
first day."
The best products of our country
We're in the past half of the century.
w
Lowell, Prescott, Motley, Holmes,
were a much higher body of authors
than any that can be named now in
this country. AS to Germany, begin
ming with the nineteenth century, there
has been an array, of eminent poets,
essayists, novelists and scholars that is
prodigious. In fact German literature
for one hundred and fifty years has
been very prolific in men of very rare
NJ H..
umes of Essays well knows how
been the product. A country that can
boast of a Lessini, a Heyne. a Goethe,
a Richter, a Schiller, a Hoffman, a
a Heine, a Noryalis, q
Musacus, a Luther, a Won Ranke, a
Mommsen, and others, is not Empower
ished as to literature, but opulent and
progressive. The tDial' thinks litera-
ture is not only not as good as it was
once in this country, but it is really
growing worse. 1t says justly, how
ever much New England may kick,
that Poe is "our profoundest thinker
and artist" The Review says that
there are Americans who find con-
temporary American life keenly inter-
esting who find contemporary Ameri-
can literature extremely dull. When it
is pointed out, even for the thou.
sandth time, that the prevalence and
predominance of the mercantile stand
ard discourages the raising of any
other, we have to own that the point
circuit is on safe ground" But
merely desired to note a passing dis
cussion that is hopeful Of writer's and
country. The South is more to the
front now in letters than it was prior
to the war or before 1880. 1t may
forge ahead to nobler things and high
er rank. A few very solid, able
works have been issued by the South
and among them all not one equals
in Importance the two eminent works
of Hannis Taylor, Ii. D., native of
New Bern, North Carolina. Next to
those two the most important contri-
buttons by North Carolinians to the
present time are McRee's Life of
James IredelI; Hawks History of
North Carolina in the Colonial period;
Benton's Thirty Years in The Senate.
We have no poets now equal to the best
in the South in the past--Poe, Lanier,
p H. Hayne, Theo. II. Hill
and ]. II. Boner. None has made his
mark as these mentioned, unless we
except Prof. Stockard. 1t is certain
We have no Poes, Laniers or Timrods
now unless they are hiding themselves
in corner.
1t would be well for educated
Southrons to keep a close watch upon
Northern periodicals, weeklies and
dailies. Why shall man of sense,
and Southern birth and rearing, spend
his money for publications that an
tagonize the South at every turn, and
misunderstood, misread and misrepre-
sent our people, what they are, and
what they do and say and think
Dailies like the inimical and unfair
New York Evening Post; weeklies like
the New York Outlook and Independ-
ent, and monthlies like the Boston "At-
lantic Monthly and others of like
might be avoided with pro-
priety. They will do injustice to the
South, and are incapable of fair deal
ing and right Interpretation of motive,
policy and facts. In tolerance, in fl
deity to truth, in regard for morality
and religion, in the real type of Chris
tan profession and life the South is
quite equal to anything in the North
and in some particulars the
superior of their boastfuI and
neighbors in the
frozen regions of Northland. The
Boston Congregationalist appears to
be willing to glimpse the facts as to
the South, but it's surroundings are
g.. L. -