The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-11
Paper on esMysticism, Realism and \
 Idealism in American Literature

#ss to do justice in . short paper to all, l so I have chosen to mention only one from each division. not claiming him or her to be the best. but truly rep- resentative.
 From our.own Southland, have se- Iected Joel Chandler Harris. who knows | so well the negro character. MT. liar | ris remarks in his introduction to Uncle Remus and His Sayings" that
 he has pot attempted merely the re- | production of the negro dialect, but
 Limits of the wierd imagination. the
 quaint and homeiy humor. the pictur- esque sensitiveness--all of which arc prominent characteristics. One cer-
 tainiy gets in reading the qualities
 MT. Harris hopes to give, and Is not
 only highly entertained. but gains .
 more familiar acquaintance with the
 old-time slave. who Is fast passing
 out of existence.
 The little boy to whom Uncle Remus
 relates the stories of the animals re- l gards him as not only a friend but .
 sage, a tower of wisdom and the 1 old man is ever on the
 alert to prevent detection in any
 inconsistency and is too willy ever to I acknowledge mistake. Any reader with the .fainest Knowledge of the
 Southern negro will be immensely en-
 tertained by these stories but native l of Dixie who has been lul1ed to sleep
 in babyhood by the old negro nanny
 with her fund of wisdom regarding | "Wooly-bar," "Brer Rabbit" and "Brer Fox" loves this nonsense with the 1 same intensity that he loves every thing that recalls the happy past. And
 I think we cannot be too grateful to ! to such writers as Joel Chandler Har- l ris. Thomas Nelson Page. Ruth Mo-
 Emery Stuart and Howard weedon. of Aiabama. for presenting the pictur- | esque side of the negro instead of
 emphasizing only his brutality, as in | the "Clansman.''
 I Realism we would have but pi efer
 a flavoring of poetry.
 Jane Field" one of Mary E. vii
 kins' most popular novels is delight fuily typical of New England. It Is a story of Q Puritan and her fierce
 struggle with her consciene.
 Miss Wilkins has woven .i in with
 her story all the pronounced traits
 Of the rural New Englander. She per-
 mfts us to laugh sometimeg at their
 narrowmindedness but never to sheer,
 for behind 1t all ia the backbone of
 the American people-fortitude and
 adherence to duty.
 In the opening chapter we first
 meet Amanda Pratt and Mrs. Babcoek 1 . sasAA eAtctuVpu sewing, &osstp>
 ing In Amanda's sitting room. There
 is no long drawn out description of
 this immaculate little room but the
 mere mention of the braided mats.
 the. crocheted tides, the stuffed gull 1 tAmanda's pride), which she confesses owes It's present good condition to
 a piece of camphor under one wing,
 are details sufficient to complete a picture. not only of the room itself
 but of It's inmate; and we recognise
 the rural New England woman and
 her amazing energy-her faithful and
 persistent fight against dirt and de- | cay.
 l Their small talk is typical--not the | incompetence of their servants. for
 they have none. not the precoolty of
 their children for they have few, if any, but the all important subject of
 house cleaning and their neighbors. I The farming class of the Middle West, stiff joanted ana horny-handed are the characters Hamlin 0ariand de-
 iineates with true appreciation of
 their heroic manfulness under c
 rough exterior. With faithful gen
 directed not only by intimate knowi- edge but large hearted sympathy, he expanse of soil to gain a better ac- 1 quaintance with his hero as he sows 1 and reaps.
 "A Spoil. of 0flcer" Is typical novel of the new world--the rise of
 Bradford Talcott an exemplification of the short cut from the blow to Congress. This lonely life US hired
 man on a fafIn, his close relation l snip with nature and rare opportunF- ties for companionstip with man de-
 velopea his primitive faith in the l uprightness of his fellow ceratures. He ts rudely awakened when he
 reaches the nations Capital to ind not statesmen but politicians, with more respect for dollars and cents | than for worth and merit, He ac. knowledges himself out of place and | unable to cope with the situation and when ready to give up. he learns that
 his long cherished idol, Ida Wilbur, returns his love and as man and wife they begin with renewed vigor the
 work of bettering the condition of | the wn-trodden farmer.
 The realism of Bret Harte brings
 us very near such things as gamblers, prostitutes. robbers pistols. knives. cards dice, etc, but 1t also reminds | us that under the rough flannels and tawdry flnery there are sometimes tender impulses of heart. He por- 1 trays these rough pioneers and rude uncultureu women without eliminat- Ing any of their coarseness but with l due appreciation of their courage.
 self-sacrifice and what he calls bed rock honesty"
 Bret Hartes best stories--asually
 the shorter ones. such as "The Luck | of Roaring Camp" The Outcasts of
 Poker Flat" The Idyl of Red Gulch. !"
 ete.-set forth with much truth and
 with accuracy of detail life in the 1 far West and hiS success Is due to the | fidelity with which localism Is given universal interest,"
 In the authors own words, he is quite content to have collected mere. ly the materials for the Had that is yet to be sung"
 Those who had the privilege of seeing Eleanor Robson in "Salomy Jan" were convinced how deliRhtfulIy this material could be used as the foundation for drama
 The inward sphere, the human
 heart was Hawthorne's field of study | and portrayal
 Life. in his view, was the struggle of individual men; women and chil-
 dren. with the powers within and
 without them and chiefly the powers l within.
 Though we must classify him for | the present as Idealist, we must not
 infer that he was separate or aDart from the Realists-indeed, he was | called by one critic the pioneer and
 master of that literary method which has so strongly affected the fictioa of the latter part of the nineteenth cen- 1 tury.