Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-28
English Playwright
Condemns Modern Novelist
rom Staff Correspondent.

LONDON. November ~, 1899
q LFRED SUTRO, the dramatist, has
~ rediscovered a flaw in the universe
= of fiction. He is lamenting the
trend of young writers to whom the one
great law is for the individual to develop
in himself an acute sense for the fullest
life.
They are noisy souls ne says, al
ways protesting, and duty does not exist
for them. Their heroineS are not women,
! bur super-women. Their heroes never
pause in their upward march to refrain
| from hurting the humber creature at
/ their side
| Furthermore. they are usually unhap-
| PLY married. and invariably they meet
| their affinity. In due course the super
hero sits with the super-heroine by his
side; his thoughts go back to the woman
| who was his wife and he says beautiful
and deathless things about her. So, had
she not her reward?
Cruelty is the dominant note of this
new school. The humber virtues are
ruled out of court. Sutro finds life It
self mass of beautiful contradictions,
haVin. at its root love" Therefore he re-
pudidtes the young writers who are In
clined TO scott at that root
Sutro's condemnation could have teeN
propheSied by these SeerS who tell one S
character from the state of ones bureau
drawers. Sutro has an orderly nature
Recently a gentleman 1ho was visiting
the dramatist asked permission to write
a note to a friend. and in doing 50 dis
arranged the order Of the blotter and its
Surrounding district" on Sutro's sacred
work table. AS often as he threw a pen
where IL had no right 10 be. or a scrap
of paper treSraSsed with equal serious
ness upon the just-so-ness of the scene,
so often did Sutro restore the article to
its assigned place; and when the visitor
had finished his furiously written epistle
and had risen from the study char .ils
host went quietly over TO the ruffled table
and carefully .'tided up.
Later in the day he found his visitor
sitting on chair with the waste pape'
basket between his knees, busily engaged
with its contents.
mn. dear fellow" cried the dramatist
in panied amazement what on earth are
you up TO now?
fiendsh smile lit up the countenanc.:
OF the visitor as he replied sWeetiy:
You ought TO be grateful to me. my
dear Alfred. Can't you see I'm neatly
folding up all the bits OF paper In this
untidy basket of yours
Robert Sherard a Paris correspondent.
has known every Frenchman Of eninence
for many years past OF Al. honse Dau-
Diet he tells story which goes to show
that the novelist's heart was stronger
than his head Daudet, in his anxiety TO
see every one happy, used TO keep Il
bowl full of silver coins in his room. so
that any Bohemian of literary tendencies
who needed help might take a few with
out feeling ashamed. But there were
those who came to his receptions only
for the sake of the bowl and put too
liberal an Interpretation on the invitation
extended to them.
II used TO see the fellows pocketing the
coins by handfuls," said Daudet. land
in the end I had to abandon the prac-
tice''
Sherard was seeing Daudet off at the
Victoria station. London. on his return
to Paris when Meredith came ND to say
Goodbye to his brother novelist. The
two had gripped hands heartily: the tran
began to move and. Daudet's hand being
stiff from rheumatism while Merediths
fingers were none too supple from govt.
the two were unable to release their
clasp. The train increased in speed. and
Meredith tottered on the brink of In"
platform Sterard. therefore. seiz 81
Meredith round the waist with both ans
and simply "ysnked" him out of Dau6et'e
grip Then Meredith turned round and
said with his characteristic urbanity. ITO
whom am I indebted for my timely res
cue?" This was Sherards introduction
| to Meredith.
| In a fiower-decked cottage in the VIII
| lage of West Humble lives the man who
J for thirty years was the faithful servant
| and devoted friend of Meredith. A mile
away. at the foot of Box Hill. is the
house in which the poet and novelist lived
] for large part OF his placid. beautiful
life. Frank Cob was much more than