The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-04-13
CONCERNING SEVERAL GROUPS OF NOVELS
some Of WHICH ARE Of MUCH INTEREST
By DIR. T. B. KINGSBTRY.

MY NOVEL,, bulNci L ~
With 1t, Bulwer; Bertrand FeVerei,
George Meredith. If [ were to make
other selections of the ten best [ should
have to include John Inglesant, by
Shorthouse; Blithedale Romance, by
Hawthorne; Hypatia, by Kingsley;
Far From the Madding Crowd, by
Hardy; Jude the Obscure, by Hardy:
Master Of B%alantrae, by Stephenson;
The Pirate, by Scott: Ten Thousand a
Year, by Samuel Warren; In the Lit
tie Peoples Country, by Miss Murfree;
A Princess of Thule, by VIM. Black;
Valentine and His Brother, by Mrs.
Oliphant; Far From the Maddlng
Crowd, by Hardy; In the Clouds, by
Miss Murfree, and two by George
Macdonald. I have not drawn upon
novels of the last ten years or more,
for I Ia not read them. Nor have
I referred to Richardson. for, I have
not read any Of him; nor have | cited
any from other eminent noyellsts,
some, or all Of whose writings I have
read, namely, Madam p'Arblay, Jane
| Austen; Smollett, Marrayatt Lewis
Lover, Mrs Ward. and a score OF
others who could be- cited. What has
been written may serve, in way,
to help move % readers, not
| at least many Of the very best as We'll
as many of the real merit that can
not be said to. be strictly of the best.
| left out without intending it, DE
mars very extraordinary two novels,
The Three Guardsmen' and Forty
Years After Other famous novels by
Scott, Dickens, George Eliot n
Thackaray should be introduced. The
Talisman, Domby and Son, Nicholas
Nicklehy, The Monastery. Legend Of
Montroee, Peveril of the Peak. Pick
wick, Dickens, Anastasius, and others
should be included. L read two or
three of Mrs. Wards novels. h is
q remarkable writer, n unless she
has improved there is hanger lurking
in her writings. h may not be athe-
istical or-deistical but I found those Of
her books I read. while finished as to
style and very attractive as to interest,
yet not Ch~ristian-like. An attempt
appears to be made to substitute some
thing else for the religion taught by
the Lord Jesus Christ. She says beau
tiful things CT God, and she gives you
beautiful scenes full of human sym
pathy and interest, and Yet if young
[ would be afraid Of her books. It
seems to me that n not Wei versed in
teachings of the Bible. and even
theology, and without q clear, full, sat
isfactory experience of his own in the
Christian life, would do we'll to avoid
her, gifted and rich in power as she
is. Her writings may do him rea
harm that shal last.
There is enough Of %negation aud
darkness in at least some Of her writ
lngS to poison the pure fountain Of
the soul it may be. But if YOU will
read her books. and many other that
have appeared, then my advice is,
give your Bible a fresh. close, inte1li-
gent study.lf you wish to read a nelp-
full. excellent Christian novel, tina may
help to undo anything objectionable.
sinister. poisonous in Mrs. Wards
books, read John Halifax Gentle
man. by Miss Mulock. who became
Mrs. Clark. I found one of Mrs. Wards
novels highly finished as to style, even
quite mastery. and it was the history
OF a soul crying for the light to
quote the great Tennyson's welE-
known words in that marvellous.
elegias poem, In Memoriam." BUTT
is as one in great darkness gfoping
and stumbling ana hut
without the Great4Teacher who came
to seek and to ave-" and coming
brought life and immortality to Zig ut.
| Remember what / have written Of
Mrs. Ward concerns her two or three
first works that attracted my marked
] attention.. l nave read none of her
iatef works. Or living English nov
ellsts, so tar as l am informed. She has
no suDerlOrS unless it be George Mere
dith and Thomas Hardy.
1t is q rear pity that the really high
~ merltorlOus novels. and the greatest
Of all, should be neglected and the
common sort. some Of them very OBJ
J~ectionable, it is said. from the moral
standpoint, should be so eagerly
read. One of the hangers of the pres
ent. as it has been for the last fifteen
years, or more. is the extravaganza Of
the praise bestowed upon novels of but
little merit as if they were productions
Of rare powers and even of supreme
genus. Criticism runs to seed, and or
binary books are covered with. the
most exalted praise land the .raresf
gifts of the gods are affected to be pc
slowed upon writer's of the most hum
Die endoWments. Enthusiasm seems
easily klndied.' An able writer in
Lodon Literature some ten wears
ago referred scathingly to the loath-
some, disgusting fictions and wrote:
One breathes throughout an at,nos-
phere Of filth, squalor, profanity. and