The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-11

The constant reading of the .Amerf- can newspaper, which is almost as sure to contain the account of some mur- der as 1t Is to, report the Weatns. news. is responsible for a familiarity with crime among us which anose : amounts to apathy. yet Poe mas man .a. aged to surround some of his sto,ies with such an air of responsiveness that our natural abh horrence of such tnihss is instantly aroused and our inihoss nature recoils with horror.
 If the reader Is in doubt as to foss pre- -eminence as writer or myss,y and terror, let him seek some .on.g .s,n,.s chamber at night and read ths q. may ders of the Rue Morgue. ne ,ss know fin the beginning that the perpe- trator of this frightfui tragedy IS ony an ascaped wild animal; he may nav read 1t in daylight and laughed ~ un absurd mystery that pervaoes aais he can hardly hope to avoid tne st,, ing of horror that pow s.co ovs.ci toia the- story that we cannot explain Tn wna. if difYars from the usual accouh., wa cannot say just what. lends ft tnls gruesomeness. but it is there. pnhlstaiA- ably. ,, ,,attve- this lonely woman ana net inc fas you know) live quietly on r,.n', ste fourth floor of a house in Paris. Iney ara found murdered and their pooies horribly disposed or. .he
 The contents of the room are In the widest disorder, still several pass ol money and some other yaiuaoies aIe untouched showing theft was not the cav.e Tine murderer has done his work with apparent satisfaction, even plee. hut above all Is the evidence oi superhuman strength: the head Of the rla woman Is almost cut from the ooay and the only weapon found is razor. The body of the girl has been thrus. with such violence up .ne sey that the united strength or TOUT nien is required to remove It..
 with ,breathless impatience we loi- low the writer, seeking some clue. us- taning to the testimony of witnesses, scrutinizing the locked doors ana nailed down windows and becoming each moment more and more mystinsu. ye,s
 Al iast Dupin. an analyst, man who derives the keenest enjoyment in tne solution of mysteries tthe model pos sibility of sherlock Koimes) unoer- takes for mere personal gratihcatoh to search the premises and ind. II pos sible, the criminal. L
 His weIl-trained eye sees some things the police have failed 10 op- serve and at last he proves the mur. oerer to be not a man, but an escapea
 This is the outline of the story . which seems fiimsy and impossipIe enough when the tangle of mystery has once been unravelled Tor us put with Poe's marvellous skill it ID piooo curdling.
 The greater part of the writings or this gloomy genius is in this strain; his bizarre imagination haunts tne realms of mesmerfsm. pestilence' in- sanity, and no subject Is too grue- some or uncanny to be uneartneo anu paraded before our benumbed senses That much of this Is due to Foes un. fortunate weakness for alcohol ana opium is true; yet It Is hi&h Art anu at no time does he descend 10 mere sensationalism.
 We would not have him otherwise, for to change him would be to strip him of originality; yet we are grateIui for some delicious evidences that he ts sensitive to the happy vein Tn nature. Tn the "Island of the Fay" he paints e very fair picture. He speaks Of me trees as mirthfuI, of the motion or tn- numerable butterflies that might have been mistaken for tulips with wings,
 Poe was distinctly . magazine writer; his aim, was to produce an immediate effect and he knew exactly how to produce 1t.
 The next division of my subject realism--bringf us to the study of that large class of American writers who have depicted the provincial life in its varied settings In every part or the United States.
 To quote Mr. Spencer Fisk, "Ameri- can literature may be said to be made m of an aggregation of sectional ltte- ratures-the literature of New England. the South. the Middle-Wes and the Far West" It would be impossible