New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-26
ST. MEDARD.

81. WEDAhbs
THE PLEASANT WAYS OF ST MEDARpi, ny
Grace king. i2mo. % Sos henV NOT
Go.
"An American literary classic" Mr..
| Edward Garnett has called this DOCK
in his much discussed, much disputed
Atlantic Monthly" article on our cur
rent fiction; and, certainly, in this in
stance there will be no dissent, either
here or in England, from his judgment.
1.-THE Pleasant Ways OF st. Medard" ts
little classic, not only Of American
! literature, but of American history as
, well.
I IL comes Unexpectedly, this postscript
to the historical fiction Of the old South
whose possibilities we had come TO be-
| lieve exhausted. That fiction gave US
much in its early days Of grace and
| strength, of wistful Renaissance and
vain. tenacious regrets, of bitterness
and rancor, of manly chivalry and noble
womanly devotion. The epic OF the
/ South at war and in the despair OF its
rebirth has been worthily written by
contemporaries, many of whom we have
| forgotten. And now Miss King, whom,
too, we had no longer counted among
| the authors Of to-day, has written
"fnis" TO it all in this chronicle of the
New Orleans which the men left 70
offer their lives, and which the women
deserted to remain loyal to the Cause,
of the New Orleans to which they re-
turned to find it changed beyond recog-
milton, offering them neither place nor
| livelihood.
The method adopted by Miss King
] in the writing of her memories OF those
/ DAYS is that of Crawford" Her book
D Il. il .alA
/ first The parish of St. Medard is down
/ the river, a poor district bounded by
/ the barracks of the Federal garrison.
, Then its inhabitants -Creoles, Spanish,
and, since Emancipation, Negroes, be-
wildered by their freedom, turning II
: into license-the beginnings OF the
vicious, idle town niggers.' Its peas
/ ant priest, simple, honest, devout, the
/ unconscious tool of the enigmatlc Dr.
/ Botot. and. last of all, the returned
warrior, Mr.. Talbot, the leading law
B yer Of the city once, now ruined, pro-
/ scribed since he refuses 20 take the
/ oath. facing the future with the daunt-
| less courage of his fighting days, but
without a ray of light. II IS 20 81.
Medard that he takes his wife, his chill
/ dren. two faithful Negroes and their
offspring, TO an old mansion fallen
/ from its once high estate as far as his
/ own fortunes have declined. The man,
his wife, his children, the Negroes, the
mansion, the parish, it's inhabitants, the
/ garrison-these are the ruined, pros
/ trate South in little. Therein lies the
supreme artistry of the book.
And now they pass before. US, the
characters of this tragedy, who never
/ cease 10 be individuals, however great
] II
/ There is the debonair, graceful,
thoughtless past-M. Pinseau. who took
| dancing lessons from an emiQre. but
/ terfly of fashion, dncien regime to MS
| fngertips in those gay social days OF
wore. ruined, not by the war, but by his
/ extravagances of long ago, subslsting
in his old age upon the scant earnings
/ of his daughter Mimi, who humbly
! teaches what she learned once at the
+ Convent of the Ursulines. There Is
Tommy Cook, Mr. Talbots protege, now
a LAWYER. but faithful still TO his bene-
factor. whose Offices and law library he
/ has saved from footing by taking nomi-
nal possession Of them himself There
il San Antonio, the saloonkeeper and
usurer. dealer in loot, Spectator IN cot
ton. whom the war has enriched, ana
whose daughters the Ursulines nave
turned into a good imitation or ladies'
though gentlewomen they cannot Pc
There is Mademoiselle Coralle, the
erstwhle goyerness OF the Ialoot emil
/ dren, left, on Mrs. TalDots nlghti IN
| charge of the house, which she rlfied
N maze herself attractive in the eyes
Of the Federal officers. There are old
friends who have prospered and dare
not know the prescribed Talbots; there
are backward glimpses of Buffers vii
/ famous administration, and OF condl-
lions only slightly better under his
successors. There are the scallawags
and CARPET baggers and their Negro
followers, and there is jerry, the plan
/ tation carpenter, helpless in his free
dom. a worthy. self-respecting Negro,
/ faithful and beloved, who, too, is be-
yildered and ruined by the new regime
who sees his daughters go 10 the bad,
and his wife 90 with them TO share
their evil, idle prosperity.
And, one of the finest chapters IN the
book, there is Mrs. Talbots lonely long
wait on the remote plantation up the
river, without news of her husband,
without food, without medicine or
! clothes, the helpless providence OF the
Negroes clustering around her in the
terrors of typhoid epidemic. This Is
war as the women of the South knew 1t
and fought it-a poignant page OF
tribute TO their bravery and endurance,
with confidence in their looks but de-
spair in their hearts. And from those
days Of half a century ago DR.. Botot's
words echo to-day in a world Of horror:
There are no fortunes Of war
for women and children. 1t is all
misfortunes for them-they are the
sufferers and their war goes on
after the peace-they will be still
suffering for it when the war is
forgotten.
A classic Of American literature and
American history, indeed, written with
all the grace and gayety Of the last old
Creole days, with all the strength and
dignity of a period which, too, tried
mems souls and womens hearts and
darkened the childhood OF their chill
dren. A book of tribute to high viz
tues shining in adversely, a book vi
brant with Indignation at times, again
with bitterness of remembrance, but
always without rancor. Miss King has
not forgotten, but she has learned to
forgive. After fifty years she has re-
opened a chapter that was closed, only
to write firmly and lastingly across its
last page the words "The End"
BONNIE MAY.