Evening journal., 1911-02-09
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Half Fulfilled Prophecy Of
Famous American Publisher
By @RoIland."

Who hears today of James Thomas
Fields? Yet in what has been termed
the golden age of American literature,
he was a famous man, albeit his fame
was not so great as that of some OF the
many men whose publisher he was
Longfellow, Hawthorne, Emerson,
Lowell, Holmes, Whittier. But he was
not a book publisher only; he was a
writer and lecturer of wide reputa-
ton. and famous editor. After James
Russell Lowell resigned the editorship
of the Atlantic Monthly, which was
published by Mr.. Fields house, Mr.
Fields himself assumed the editorial
direction of that famous periodical.
That occurred In 1862, and for eight
years thereafter he held the post, al
though at first his purpose in taking
the position involved no more than
temporary editing until he could find
some one competent to I'LL Lowells
place. From the day in 1889, when
he became a publisher, until his death
I'm 1881, he had more intimate person
al associations with the great literary
men and women Of the United States
and Great Britain than any other
American, and, perhaps, any English
speaking person.
When ! met Mr., Fields. in 1879, two
years before his death. his long beard,
quite the beard of a prophet, was
streaked with gray. as was his abun-
dant head of hair. His complexion
was fair; his eyes semed to be dark
brown, but owing to a constant twitch-
ing Of his eyelids, 1t was almost inn
possible to decide whether the color
was dark brown or deep gray A slen-
der man, Of medium height, his stoop-
ing shoulders, of the bookworm type,
caused his stature to appear shorter
than it really was.
Let us sit down." he said. in a
delightful voice that at once backed
up the reputation he had long enjoyed
of being q man of charming personal
qualities, of deep sympathies, and OF
great liberality In all his dealings
with authors, "let us sit down, and
will make answer, according TO my
ability, to your questions: Are there
any young writer's of promise to whom
my attention has ben called?
There are one or two in Massa-
chusetts," the dean of American pub
fishers continued; II mean, of course
writer's of fiction. But | am now sat
isfied that the great masters Of Amer
ican fiction will hereafter be men and
women who have had personal fsmil-
iarity with the new life of the West
Bret Harte and Mark Twain have al
ready shown how rich that field is.
Our New England writer's have al
most exhausted New England. as a
field for fiction. Modern New England
is intensely practical and material. ]
doubt whether it is longer possible to
write great work of fiction based
upon New England life. Some of the
short story writer's may continue to
give admirable vignettes of this life;
there are numerous quaint hooks that
remain to be discovered in New Eng
land. But quaint hooks do not call
forth great novels
No, the day of New England in fc-
tion Is passing, and the day of the
West in il is dawning. The great
original work of fancy and imagina.
! ton by an American is to have for
its background Western life, and ii
must OF necessity be told by some one
who has been familiar with that life
BY West | mean that part of the
country which lies beyond the Ale
ghany Mountains; and it may be that
this great work of fiction will come
from West Of the Mississippi"
The great American novel so called,
that Mr. Fields clearly had in mind