The San Francisco call., 1910-12-18
"The Old Virginia Gentleman
and Other Sketches"

hE Seoree W Bsghy. Published bv Charles
Scilouer sons, New York. Price Sri so
The public at large may not annre-
ciate what has been done for letter. ~,
Ahomas Nelson Page in bringing To lis
Aouce thls charming volume of
SAetehes. BUT certain number al
ways on the lookout for the hest a.,
American letters, who are never lea
astraY by best sellers but whose
opinions are OF real value-these will
- teel that they owe Mr. Page a debt
n gratitude.
Ihe Oid Virginia Gentleman and
otnsf sketches is the title of the
-ooA Wfltten by George w. Bagby.
lhohas Nelson Page, in his introduc-
ION TO the book. SAYS: Next to Poe.
tAe most original of Virginia writers
was ne whose reputation in his life
t!lhe mainly rested on humorous
sketches OF a mildly satiriesl and ex-
ceeolhgiy original type, but who was
master or pathos rarely excelfed hv
any author and rarely eoualed bv any
american author. Like Poe. his work
was known among his contemporaries
merely by small coterie of friends.
But these sdored him.
George W. Bagby was absolutely
realistic-so purely realistic that no
one can read, even at random. a page
OF his genre sketches and not recog-
nize at once the truth Of the picture
ano-if he be a Nirginian-point to the
original He was not a fictionist, but
realist
other writers had magnified her
Nirginis) through an idealisn col
ored by reading Of ether life and other
times The scenes were painted and
so were the life and speech. 1t was
generally well done. often admirably
done, but 1t was not real In the desert
OF uhrealfty CAME a new writer. a con-
tributor TO newspapers and magazines,
who, discarding the stills and the
struts and the IE'ated palaces. pic
lUred the old NiTse nia homesteads set
back. simple ~and peaceful and plain,
under the immemorial oaks and locusts,
with the life lived there with its
sweetness and simplicity and tender
charm.
But while he pictured Virginia, he
reflected the human nature of the uni
verse he is set down in a recent bio
graphical encyclopedia merely as a
physician and humorist' He was much
more than this. He was a physician by
profession. humorist by the way, bat
God made him man of letters"
This author has gone practically un-
recognized all these years, but the war
and the dreadful and depressing recon
structiou period had much to do with
that The sketches, Is in number, have
more than local value, for they pre-
serve with a Photographic fidelity some
little known features of Virginia life
as it was before the war. One which
Is a fine example of the authors home,
When Rubenstein Played" has often
been printed in papers and magazines
and generally credited TO Mark Twain.
Many readers viii think. without pre-
Judice. that ii is better than anything
Of the kind done by Mark Twain.
The life of Doctor Bagby is briefly
sketched. He was born in Richmond
county. Virginia, in 1928: educated at
Princeton and the University of Penn
sylvania, taking his NJ d. at the latter.
He practiced for time a Lynchburg,
but soon devoted himself to writing.
He edited the Express and other papers
Of his state, and his short stories and
essays appeared in all the principal
papers Of Virginia. He volunteered
when the war broke out and served in
a clinical capacity at Beauregards
headquarters. He was assistant secre-
tary Of state and custodian of the state
library after the war. He died in 1888.