The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-28
The Fiction of the Future.

IL III IGdQ1HS one OF MT. James
hcuons you are conscious of being in
a maze, you know that there is an is
sue if you are but clever enough to
find it Mr. James gives you no help.
He hatters you by assuming that you
are sufficiently clever.
There are readers who find the clue
it is not to be doubted, and follow it
in all its serpentine Wanderings,
though they seem to do so in virtue Of
a special sense-the sense, it might be
called, of understandingly- savoring
Mr.. Henry James But to the
majority of intelligent and cultivated
readers, whose appreciation constitutes
fame, the great mass of his later writ
ing is of a difficulty to conquer which
requires an amount of effort dispro-
portionate to the sense of assured re-
ward.
Are the masterpieces of the future
to be written in this fashion? If they
are, they will differ signalIy from the
masterpieces of the past in the substi-
tuition of a highly idiosyncratic manner
for the hitherto essential element of
style; and in consequence they will re-
quire a second reading, not, as hereto
fore, for the discovery of new beau
ties" or the savOring again of old
ones, but to be understood at all In
which case, one may surmise. they
Will have to be very well worth while.
It can hardly be hoped that they will
be as well worth while as those CT Mr.
James, and the chances are, accord
ingly, that he will occupy the very
nearly unique niche in the history of
fctiOn-hard by that of Mr.. Meredith
perhaps-of being the last as we'll as
the first of his line. He has a host of
imitators, it is true; he has, in way,
founded a school, but as yet certainly
this has produced no masterpieces.
Has he himself? If so. they are. at
all events, not Enthusiastically of the
scale and on the plane suggested by
his unmistakable powers-powers that
make it impossible to measure him
otherwise than by the standards of the
really great nOvelists and of the mas
ters of English prose.-W. @. Brow
nell, in the April Atlantic.
Y. NJ. c. A. Work in Japanese Army.
Japan is usually regarded as a heath
en- nation, and it will be a surprise to
many people to learn that the Young
Mems Christian association has organi-
cations throughout the Japanese army,
under the patronage of high officials Of
the country. A recent writer says:
1.-THE most conspicuous piece of Chris
tan work inlsJapan at the time when
the war with Russia is absorbing the
whole national heart is the army de-
partment Of the Y Dung Mems Christian
association. hat renders it con-
spicuous is the hearty endorsement OF
the movement by the war department
with the full sympathy of H. E Count
Katsura. the premier. OF course. the
young men. the foreign and japanese
secretaries, are in with the enthusiasm
and sacrifice of young men but it re-
mains to be said that the beauty and
strength of the movement lie in the rare
tact that has won the confidence of the
army authorities without any friction
or suspicion such as too often mars the
initiation of Christian movements in
non Christian environments. When
distinguished statesmen and officers re-
turning from the front can say with
pleasure of this work that Christian
movement is the only one that is worth
while and has the ear Of all nations, as
no other has, and when the premier
and the minister of war give letters of
introduction to the generals on the
field and cordial words OF parting to see
who goes to the front with the distinct
object of doing a little under the direc-
ton of the central committee of the
Young Mems Christian associations, 1t
means that a new and great and bless
ed advance has been made in under
standing the spirit that lies behind all
sincere Christian work; it means that
now is the accepted time for the most
generous backing by prayers and gifts
of this work of love among the soldiers
of Japan"