The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-07-14
Howe About:
New Literary Find
History and Fiction
Domestic Mystery
By ED HOWE

human lie, L Delleye ne snOul0 men-
ton II frequently. there is so little Of
such encouragement to be found I
therefore mention again the statement
or literary observer and critic that
The people seem to be firing of the
society stories so long used as We
hicles of sex filth and foolish romance.
The critic cites a story called The
victory" as an example of the new
naturalism he says is growing in pop
ularity. The story is simple and web
written, and naked human nature APP
pears in every paragraph. but the sub
stance may be told in few lines.
A worthy man lives to old age with
a cold, critical wife who finally com
pletely dominates him as she dOmi-
mates everyone with whom she comes
in contact The old man fears her as
a child often whipped fears a cruel
mother and lives a completely sup
pressed life. In his last illness be
has bad cough which he knows par
ticularly disturbs his wife, and he
constantly struggles TO smother IL.
When in dire need of assistance he is
afraid to ask 1t, and spends many
nights alone struggling to suppress his
coughing. One night when seriously
i'll he knows he should call his wife
asleep in an adjoining room, but,
afraid to disturb her, he staggers
about, old and gaunt and pitifuL But
ne manages to suppress his coughing;
hic mi &c dicff1rhn6 Whan she
enters his room at eight O'Clock next
morning, she finds him dead
/ lately visited circulating library,
hoping to find a book to interest me
during an approaching evening promis-
ing to be dull There were hundreds
of shelves displaying 6ctiOn- but
only one little corner containing books
devoted to sober truth. During a iull
| talked with the librarian -Al
books are fictitious" she said The
historical novel intended as fiction
contains as much truth as the mem
oirs of Silerius, said TO have been
written by the own hand OF powerful
Roman. Silerius told only such truth
as suited him, and exaggerated that
Was he truthful in speaking of the
five wives with whom he had cOntro-
versies? Was he truthful and fair in
his references to other Roman gen.
erals? He wrote when very old; when
all those he criticized were dead. Take
the Bible, sacred book; il gives diff
ferent accounts of the same events
All truth is hidden in fiction and the
reader must find it"
Silerius says in his memoirs he new
er knew whether he was fool or wise
man.
Grotius, contemporary and friend, in
a long and interesting introduction To
the memoirs, says that while Silerius
was probably an exceptionally sensi-
BILE man, he also had unusual respect
for the average intelligence of the peo-
pie. Grotius believes this was the rea-
son Silerius declared he never knew
whether he was foolish or wise.
There were so many opinions con-
fiicting with his own and he had such
marked respect for the opinions OF
others he was uncertain as to his OVID
judgments and rights.
During the most troublesome days in
the history of Rome, Grotius further
says, Silerius opposed public policies
later proving disastrous. but was so
much in doubt as to rights of the
questions under discussion did not use
the army as he might have done to ed
force his own conclusions as TO what
was best for the nation in an emer-
gency.
The wrong policies later proving dis
astrous had more popular support than
the policies Silerius believed to be
the best way. This opposition from
men he respected so confused him, he
hesitated, and Rome was destroyed.
Much of the last part of the Memoirs
of Silerius was written when he was
old and ILL., In the last chapter he
says: "a funeral director is being kind
to me. | think l will leave directions
that he be employed, although | shall
dislike to offend other acquaintance
engaged in the same trade. l like
those who solicit me, If the soliciting
is done with reasonable politeness."
/ once lived in a community where
a rather decent man left his wife and
refused to longer live with
her. The neighbors were astounded,
for the wife was known among them
as gentle, womanly, capable and in
telligent. No one can understand why
a man should refuse to live with such
a woman. 1t was the reigning mys-
terry for years and is today.
l am like others In that ! do not
understand 1t 1 suppose the expla-
nation is that In the gentlest wife's
disposition there is touch of the Old
Harry not observed by the neighb0rs,
but which appears occasionally In min
Cling with a husband.
The question is being anxiously
asked everywhere: What of the tu-
ture? This much may be Destroyer;
nature is not foolish enough to IN
necessarily drop monkey wrenches in
to its OWL machinery as men have
been doing. The talk of the world
coming to an end either from fire or
famine is a joke; the talk of the hu-
man race being destroyed is another.
The world will go on with It's billions
of living creatures increasing steadily
In number. as has been the rule from
The beginning; nature produces plenty
of babies of various types to perform
their various mischievous stunts and
then die old and neglected to make
room for other youth movements and
struggles and wars.