The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-05-05

only Justice and that this country
would give justice in return he could
deal with the Mexican government
and the Mexican people with more
hope of success. -
The administration has taken hold
of the problem of foreign affairs in
a very acceptable manner and If the
same common sense is used in our re-
lations with urope, America can hope
for an era of friendliness with all ma
lions. - Forum.
WILLIAM d. HOWELLS
On April 6, the first April meeting
Of the Faculty Club, Secretary G. A..
Lee read the following paper on Will
lam Dean Howells. The general sub
iect was the Modern Novel and Nov
elsts." Certain paragraphs OF Mr..
Lees paper have been omitted. We
have tried to substitute a summary
of those omitted.
Omitting men whose lives are lden-
tilted with the short story, America
has produced five novelists Of 1nterna-
tional distinction - Cooper, HaW-
thorne, Mark Twain, Henry James,
and Howells. 1t is interesting to OBJ
serve that not one of these bears any
resemblance to the other four. One
might expect in a "new" country,
necessarily influenced by the precepts
and models of older nations, charac-
terized by the timidity that invari-
ABLY accompanies lack of self assur-
ance, that our leading novelists would
show unmistakable family likeness.
The exact opposite is the truth. 1t
has been asserted that the British nov.
elsts of today are so familiar that II
would be easy to mistake the product
of the one for that Of another; wheth--
err this be true or not-imagine Coop.
err scribbling ''The Marble Faun, )"
Mark Twain signing the last page OF
"Deerslayer," Hawthorne composing
"Their Wedding Journey" .Howells
writing "The Golden Bowl" and
Henry James debating "Huckleberry
Finn" y.-. a. d.. .-.s H.,
We Americans have reason to be
proud of our famous five. Each made
a distinct contribution to literature:
Cooper was a pioneer in romances OF
woods and waves, and was one OF the
greatest novelists of action IN literary
history; Hawthorne, in his own sphere
of imaginative realism, has never been
surpassed; as a purely psychological
realist, with the emphasis on the ad-
jective, Henry James is unlque; How
ellis made correct portraits OF Amefl-
can city and country life; whilst Mark
Twain himself answered the query
which had become almost petulant ny
repetition, "Who will write the great
American novel;" For "Huckleberry
Finn" is not only the great American
novel; it is America. -,
It is as a novelist that Howells will
be remembered. Mr.. Howells' belief
in realism amounted almost to re-
lieion. He felt that art, like human
intercourse, should be founded on lit
eral truth. To him all romanticists
were liars. He detested the sentl-
mental and romantic in fiction. :,
Although the novels of Mr.. HoWells
are for the most part vigorously OBJ
iective, one cannot fail to obtain
through them some notion OF their au-
thor's temperament and character
Hauptmann says, can artist will not
put his opinions and his beliefs into
his dramas and stories; but any 1ntel-
ligent person. after. reading a consid-
cradle number of them, ought to be
able to discover what kind Of a man
wrote them" The superstructure OF
our novelist's education was so diff
ferent from it's foundation that the
combination is plainly seen in his life:
his character, and his written work,
Ohio plus Italy-subterranean. solidlty
supporting beauty and grace. Brought
up by. simple, sincere, God-fearing
parents, spending the years of boy
hood setting type and writing articles
in a Middle West country newspaper
Office. he was made United States
Consul at Venice at the age of twenty
four. Imagine the effect of a resi-:
dence in Italy on the mind and tenn;
permanent of an Ohio youth, who had !
already published volume of poems!
His sensitiveness to Venetian impress.
ions was quickened by the romance OF
love, for at twenty-five he was mar mar
ried: his marriage exhibiting the same
combination Of rural America with q
Continental city, for he was married
in Paris, and his bride came from Yer
mont.
Mr.. Howells wrote many books on
foreign scenes, and became in every
sense citizen Of the world, but he
never lost the simplicity, democracy;
and honesty that characterized his
fathers household. just as Abrahapl
Lincoln was always and everywhere
the same man, whether in a country
lawyers office or receiving a delega-
ton of diplomats in the White House,
So Mr.. Howells, whether in Boston
New York, orsLondon. always exhaled
something of the Middle West. He
was chameleon only artistically and
Observation-Disclosures moment one walk
ed with him alone, one felt an I'M
adorned Americanism as sturdy as it
was unagressive. To his last days, the
spirit of his parents talked through
his lips and held the pen while he
wrote.
He was. in influence, as well as In
name, a Dean. For many years he
was looked UP to as the first of our
living writers of fiction, and he had
more effect on the tone, quality, and
tendencies of American novels than
nrv other person.
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