Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1908-01-02
GREAT MEN OF
NORTH CAROLINA.
part IV.)
MIR. THoMAs DIXON, JR.

L
come under the general heading 'Great
Men in North Carolina but as lie is a
great North Carolinian and one about
whom [ wish to write, 1 take the lib
erty Of changing the general heading
to sc reat Men of North Carolina"
AS people have not yet ceased to cuss
Mr.. Dixon for 1.-The Traitor''-peopie
both north and south-we deem it not
an unreasonable time to write some
thing for him of the nature of a de-
fence.
If Mr.. Dixon had never written the
would have been judged more chari-
tably, but unfortunately he did write
the lone Woman which in truth is
not worth the reading, and which may
seem obscene in the eyes of the vulgar
minded, who gave it's author the name
of a scandal monger. We do not be-
Heve that the motive which prompted
the writing of the zone Woman was
any ything but a good one. We think
that it is poor book, but can not
see that the lesson taught by it is any
worse than the dollar -and-a-half EEK
poses'' of New York society, which are
SO popular today.
'The Leopard Spots" is great
book, "The Traitor his latest, is
greater, but his second, ''The Clans
man. is the greatest of the three and
in our opinion the greatest novel of
|
critics. No, thank the Lord it isn't
literary. And why is it not literary? In
the first place because it was a good
seller. That makes 'hacks" mad.
Then the author had something in his
stomach when he wrote it besides dry
toast and skinned milk. An author
must suffer wait or hunger or some
thing, or be q tramp, or go about with
seedy clothes sad 8 vacant look, and
not write anything that, cen be grasp
ed until read SIX or seven times and
then not without unexplainable ex-
plantations, called editorial notes, con-
cocted by Andrew Lang or Hamilton
! Wright Maibe or DR.. White or some
wild animal belonging to that species
escaped from classic Harvard to be
literary, Notwithstanding the fact that
Kipling had plenty to eat and good
clothes and home to go to at the time
that 'MorogIi the man-monkey" was
being precipitated upon q suffering
public, MIR. Dixonfs not literary. And
since he does not suit the professors by
plagiarising Addison and Macaulay and
Dick Steele and o. Goldsmith, we
must call him popular and let our
souls rejoice that he had as much
gumption as Scott and Dickens who
ignored every mechanical rule ct
rhetoric which permitted of good Eng
lish. They are classical writer's be-
cause they had nerve enough to start
school of their own, and the weak
minded plagiarists of Addison and
Macaulay began to plagiarize them.
Who knows that Mr.. Thomas Dixon,
Jr., has not started new school; he is
not dead yet; perhaps he has.
| We know one thing: He has done
inestimable good in the South. He
has done more toward perpetuating
those traditions of our torefathers than
anyone else has dared to do. In the
Leopard Spots, - 1.-THE Clansman "and
1.-The Traitor" he has put before US
history which, within less than hun
dred years time, will according to con-
dition of affairs today, certainly repeat
itself. Perhaps we seem pessimistic-
we are, but about this one question
alone. From what we can gather, the
average man is not pessimistic enough
about it. Begin to dictate to your
cook and see if we are not correct in
our views.
Dixon lis more fearless than some
writer's, and hence he is not spoken OF
by them as conservative man."
Dixon, they say, sis vile and violent"
because he tells the plain unvarnished
truth. Dixon exaggerates because
that truth is horrible to think about.
The truth about Dixon is that he is
too sensible to be anything but popular
1 in his style, too brave to clothe true
statement with circum locution, too
dutitul to refrain from bearing mes
sage which he thinks that it is his duty
to bear.
He is, in our opinion, the greatest
writer in the South; the greatest novel
ist in the country.
| BLYTHE MORRIS.