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diff --git a/old/51560-0.txt b/old/51560-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 500c577..0000000 --- a/old/51560-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1293 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mentor, Vol. 1, No. 25, American -Novelists, by Hamilton Wright Mabie - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Mentor, Vol. 1, No. 25, American Novelists - -Author: Hamilton Wright Mabie - -Release Date: March 26, 2016 [EBook #51560] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MENTOR: AMERICAN NOVELISTS *** - - - - -Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE MENTOR - - “A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend” - - Vol. 1 No. 25 - - - - -AMERICAN NOVELISTS - - HENRY JAMES - WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS - THOMAS NELSON PAGE - JAMES LANE ALLEN - WINSTON CHURCHILL - OWEN WISTER - -[Illustration] - -_By HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE_ - - -This group of distinguished novelists may be divided into four -smaller groups, not only in time, but in selection and treatment of -subjects. Mr. James and Mr. Howells are now the senior members of -the literary fraternity in this country, and have not only American -but European reputations. Only three novelists before them attained -this distinction. The earliest of these, Cooper, is still read in -many parts of the world, and in little German villages boys call -themselves “Cooper Indians,” and play at oldtime savage warfare. -The author of the “Leatherstocking Tales” wrote the first original -American novel, and Hawthorne wrote the first American romance. The -first described the manners and customs of a people whom he knew -at first hand, but whom Europe knew only by hearsay; the second -analyzed the motives and described the workings of the Puritan -spirit, and showed how the consciousness of sin worked itself out -in the Puritan character. The theme was new, and the manner of -treating it was both effective and beautiful--and Hawthorne remains -the most artistic writer this country has produced. - -[Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE] - -The next novelist to whom Europe paid attention was Mrs. Stowe. -“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was like a great torch held up over a fiercely -disputed field; it showed men and women living under all conditions -of slavery, paternal and humane on one hand, and commercial and -cruel on the other. It made a drama of a political issue, and was -read with bated breath by a million people. It interested Europe -because it was a powerful story dealing with a situation that had -attracted the attention of the whole Western world; it was at once -translated into several languages, and could be found from London -to Constantinople. - -[Illustration: HOME OF HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. HARTFORD, CONN.] - - -HENRY JAMES - -When Mr. James began writing a generation ago there had been no -American fiction of a high order for twenty years or more, and -the country had grown rapidly in experience and knowledge. Mr. -James showed this more cosmopolitan attitude toward the world, -and his style had a quality which was new in our fiction. It was -clear in those days; it had great flexibility and capacity for -conveying fine distinctions and delicate shadings of thought; it -had a tone of maturity which was lacking in the earlier writers, -and it was the medium of expression of a thoroughly trained man -to whom writing was a fine art. The early short stories, of -which “The Passionate Pilgrim” may serve as an example, arrested -attention by reason of their insight into character and their fine -workmanship. There was an air of romance about them; but it was the -romance of human temperament, not of incident. The early novels -were not popular in the sense of running into large editions; but -“The American” found many readers who were quick to appreciate -its penetrating and searching analysis of character, its sharp -contrasts of American and European traits, and the refinement of a -style which is both rich and restrained. - -[Illustration: W. D. HOWELLS’ SUMMER HOME AT KITTERY, MAINE; ALSO -INTERIOR OF LIBRARY] - -[Illustration] - -All novelists reveal character; but those in whom the dramatic -instinct is strong show it chiefly in action. Mr. James brings out -character largely by means of analysis and description, and for -this reason he is often classed among the psychological novelists. -In his later years the habit of analysis grew on him to such -an extent that the movement of his stories was impeded and his -style became complex and at times obscure. In a time when social -relations between America and Europe were becoming more intimate, -Mr. James found a rare opportunity of studying American character -against a European background, and in the whole range of fiction -there have been few writers of more acute penetration, of greater -delicacy of stroke and line in painting character, than he. He -was one of the small group of American authors to whom the word -“distinction” may be applied. - - -W. D. HOWELLS - -Mr. James was a student of men and women in society, using that -word in its narrower sense; Mr. Howells, who is also a keen -observer, has dealt with less sophisticated men and women, and has -given us American types unmodified by other influences. A man of -deep sympathy with his fellows and sharing in his heart the sorrow -and pain of the common lot, a lover of Tolstoi and a professed -realist, with a strong leaning toward constructive socialism, Mr. -Howells has kept his fiction free from any kind of preaching. He -has understood his vocation as an artist, and has not made his -novels serve his social and political doctrines. Although a man of -strong convictions, he is a writer whose touch is notably light, -and whose humor is delightfully unforced and happy. - -[Illustration: W. D. HOWELLS IN HIS LIBRARY] - -Born in the Central West, Mr. Howells has kept its democracy of -spirit and reinforced it by familiarity with modern languages and -literature. In his lighter work he has made studies of the whims -and foibles of certain feminine types in this country, of such -fidelity that they have disturbed those who believe that Americans -should tell the truth about themselves only to themselves, and that -to take Europe into the national confidence is a kind of petty -treason. But if Mr. Howells has seemed sometimes to draw American -women with too light a hand, no one so well as he has conveyed a -sense of the purity of American women, and the wholesome tone -of American social life outside the very limited circle of what -is known as the “Fast Set,”--a group of men and women who are -representative not of a nation, but of the attitude toward life so -strikingly defined in “The House of Mirth.” In his graver mood Mr. -Howells has given us “The Rise of Silas Lapham,” one of the lasting -achievements of American fiction, and “A Hazard of New Fortunes,” -both original studies of American life during the age of great -fortune-making. The charm of Mr. Howells’ art and the refinement of -his humor have not given him the popularity of the more dramatic -novelists; but he has made a place of high importance for himself -in American literature, and in the hearts of a host of readers who -have discerned in him a singularly pure and lovable nature. - - -THOMAS NELSON PAGE - -The aftermath of the war between the States was an idealization of -the old social order in the South. Mr. Page and Mr. Allen found -in the tradition and habit of the Old South elements of a romance -founded on reality. Society in the South before the war received -its tone from men and women bred in habits of deference and -courtesy, sensitive to any slight put upon honor, and prodigal of -hospitality. It had rested on an unstable basis; but it had those -delightful qualities which came with leisure, easy conditions, and -the absence of commercial spirit. This vanishing order found in Mr. -Page’s earliest stories a record true to life and yet enveloped -in the air of romance. “Marse Chan,” “Unc’ Edinburg,” and “Meh -Lady” gave the country a thrill of pleasure, so sure was their -appeal to sentiment, so refreshingly human and unforced, a rich -and picturesque life of its own, a fresh field for the romance of -spiritual adventure and social habit. - -[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF THOMAS NELSON PAGE - -_Oakland Plantation, Hanover County, Virginia._] - -In these moving tales, told with unobstrusive artistic skill, the -long-suspended literary tradition of Virginia received an impulse -which has since given the country a group of stories of original -quality. - - -JAMES LANE ALLEN - -Never did pioneers carry into a new country a finer blending of -the daring which moves the frontier farther from the old centers, -and the chivalry of romance for women and idealization of emotion -and experience, than went into the fertile and beautiful Kentucky -country in the days which followed Boone’s adventurous career, -and produced the types of character which appear in James Lane -Allen’s “The Choir Invisible.” The Blue Grass country found in -him a lover who was also an artist, and the background of his -stories is sketched with exquisite skill. “The Kentucky Cardinal,” -“Aftermath,” and the stories in “Flute and Violin” have not been -surpassed in beauty of diction in our fiction. If one might venture -to predict long life for any contemporary writing, he would not -hesitate to put the short stories of these two Southern writers -among American classics. - -[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF JAMES LANE ALLEN, NEAR LEXINGTON, KY.] - -Mr. Page and Mr. Allen have written long stories as well; in -several instances dealing with contemporary life and manners. Mr. -Allen has kept in the field of character study with increasing -emphasis on the influence of environment. The title of one of his -later stories, “The Mettle of the Pasture,” suggests the relation -of the actors in the drama to the soil on which they live, while -the lifelike study of the horse-breeder in “The Doctor’s Christmas -Eve” is a portrait which could not have been drawn outside the -boundaries of Kentucky. Mr. Page in his later stories has dealt -with the spread of the commercial spirit, the conditions in which -women work, political corruption, and social changes. - - -WINSTON CHURCHILL - -Mr. Wister and Mr. Churchill have one great interest in -common,--they are deeply concerned with American character and -experience. Mr. Churchill has dramatized our history in a series -of works, beginning with “Richard Carvel” of the Colonial period; -continued in “The Crossing,” of the period of the first great -westward emigration through the passes of the Alleghenies; in -“The Crisis,” a picture of struggles between the old North and the -old South, between 1861 and 1865, localized in St. Louis; and in -“Mr. Crewe’s Career,” a study of the “machine” in politics and the -beginnings of the struggle for popular government which has become -a national movement. Mr. Churchill draws with a free hand on a -large canvas, and his works have epic quality, emphasizing large -and significant movements and defining the place of individuals in -them, rather than presenting delicately sketched portraits of men -and women in the narrower range of personal experience. - -[Illustration: HARLEKENDEN HOUSE, THE HOME OF WINSTON CHURCHILL IN -CORNISH, N.H.] - -[Illustration: MUSIC ROOM IN HARLEKENDEN HOUSE] - - -OWEN WISTER - -Mr. Wister has the gift of picturing real, vital characters, and -his stories are full of a brilliant and moving life. His people -are not only alive, but intensely and actively alive. A man bred -in the best social traditions, a graduate of the oldest American -university, Mr. Wister was fortunate enough to know the frontier at -the very moment when the forces of business and the second great -Western movement were about to destroy it. Most men who wrote about -the old frontier, either in fiction or in plays, were concerned -with its melodramatic aspects,--its guns, and shirts, sombreros, -and bucking broncos. Mr. Wister saw the character behind these -stage costumes; he recognized the fiber of the men,--their courage, -their spirit of comradeship, their rough but genuine humor, their -passion for wide horizons and the freedom of the life of the -plains. In “The Virginian,” and the short stories from the same -hand, our fiction has a series of studies of types of character now -almost extinct, and of a stage of life which has disappeared. When -“Lady Baltimore” appeared, Mr. Wister had passed from society in -an elemental stage to a Southern community which has preserved its -oldtime qualities of refinement of manner, dignity of habit, and -a hospitality which is the very flower of high breeding and ease -of condition. And Mr. Wister was as much at home in Charleston as -on the old frontier; a fact highly significant of the quality and -fiber of the man. Among American novelists he will hold a place of -his own by reason of the vitality and artistic skill of his work. - -[Illustration: OWEN WISTER’S FAMILY PLACE, IN GERMANTOWN, PA.] - -[Illustration: EDITH WHARTON] - -Mrs. Wharton’s stories, even more than those of Mr. James, describe -a social life which has taken its tone largely from an older and -more conventional society, which has lost its moral simplicity in -the complexity of an age of highly organized luxury, and which -has taken on the easy ways of a social life that is entirely -comfortable in conscience so long as it feels itself secure in -matters of taste. In art Mrs. Wharton is an expert by intuition -and practice. The author of “The House of Mirth” is analytical, -and secures her most striking effects, not by boldly projecting -her characters on a large canvas, but by uncovering their most -elusive moods, their obscure motives, the conflict of temperament, -character, and social traditions. - -Such a power of lighting up hidden processes of thought as Mrs. -Wharton possesses needs the reënforcement of an art which is -both vigorous and sensitive; and this art is always at Mrs. -Wharton’s command. She has both precision and delicacy. She can -draw a character in detachment with such vitality of insight and -of portraiture that it holds the attention without the aid of -accessories; or she can sketch a cross-section of society with -convincing energy of stroke. She is the recorder of a highly -sophisticated society, more or less relaxed in tone and corrupted -by luxury. - -[Illustration: MARGARET DELAND’S HOME IN BOSTON] - -Mrs. Deland’s method is broader and her emotions of wider interest. -She has painted one portrait which the whole country loves. Dr. -Lavender has taken his place in the small group of imaginary -Americans who are as real as historical Americans. He is a type -dear to Americans, because his nature is sweet without a touch of -weakness, his vision clear without hardness, his moral perception -relentlessly keen but never divorced from pity and sympathy, and -his humor fresh and abounding. And Mrs. Deland has also the gift -of construction, and has written two or three novels which must be -counted among our best fiction. - -[Illustration: MARGARET DELAND WRITING IN HER LIBRARY. - -HER DOG “ROUGH” SITS BY] - -No list of contemporary American writers of fiction would be -complete without the names of F. Hopkinson Smith, John Fox, Jr., -Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and Miss Mary Johnston. Mr. Smith has gained -skill as a writer steadily as he has gained skill as a painter; and -in the small group of stories which bear his name two or three are -likely to be read for a long time to come. “The Fortunes of Oliver -Horn” shows Mr. Smith’s art at his best, for it is art of the -heart as well as of the brain and hand. His romance has permanent -elements of human nature; idealism, loyalty, and love are the soul -of it. - -Mr. Fox, who also finds his characters largely in the South, has -drawn the picture of the primitive mountain types in the Kentucky -hills with the charm which comes from great simplicity and from an -intimate knowledge of the people he describes. - -Miss Johnston, who began by writing romances pure and simple, has -dramatized the story of the Civil War in two able novels, “The Long -Roll” and “Cease Firing.” It is not easy to characterize these -stories in a phrase, nor is it necessary. They are written with a -kind of quiet passion which gives the current sufficient volume to -carry an enormous amount of history without sacrificing dramatic -interest. - -[Illustration: F. HOPKINSON SMITH] - -[Illustration: MARY JOHNSTON] - -[Illustration: JOHN FOX, JR.] - -[Illustration: DR. S. WEIR MITCHELL] - -Dr. Mitchell, like Dr. Holmes, revealed himself in several -different capacities, as physician, as poet, as essayist, and as -story writer. His novels are characterized by inventiveness, by -dexterity, by freshness of feeling. “The Adventures of François” is -a capital piece of story-telling; while many people regard “Hugh -Wynne” as the best semi-historical story which has appeared in -this country. In other novels Dr. Mitchell showed his skill as a -psychologist. - - - - -_SUPPLEMENTARY READING_ - -[Illustration] - -A Study of Prose Fiction _Bliss Perry_ - -Criticism and Fiction _W. D. Howells_ - -Essays on Modern Novelists _William L. Phelps_ - -American Prose Masters (Cooper, -Hawthorne, Emerson, Poe, Lowell and _W. C. Brownell_ -Henry James) - -American Poetry and Fiction _C. F. Richardson_ - -Great American Writers _Trent and Erskine_ - -Some American Storytellers _Frederick Taber Cooper_ - -American Short Stories _Charles Baldwin, Editor_ - -The American Short Story _Elias Lieberman_ - -[Illustration] - - -_QUESTIONS ANSWERED_ - -Subscribers desiring further information concerning this subject -can obtain it by writing to - - _The Mentor Association_ - _381 Fourth Avenue, New York City_ - - - - -[Illustration: HENRY JAMES] - - - - - Henry James, a careful and thoughtful writer, is the subject of - one of the six intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating “American - Novelists.” - -HENRY JAMES - -Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course - - -A number of years ago Henry James was at work on a volume of short -stories. “And when will it be ready?” he was asked. - -“Oh, I never know,” he said. “I work by easy stages.” - -That sentence gives the keynote to the character of the great -novelist himself and of his writings. He wrote carefully, easily, -and neatly. - -Born in New York City on April 15, 1843, Henry James spent most of -his boyhood in Europe. His father was Henry James, the theological -writer, and from him the novelist derived his idiomatic, -picturesque English. His brother became Professor William James, -the psychologist and philosopher, who died in 1910. - -Henry James entered Harvard Law School in 1860; but found out soon -that he cared more for literature than for law. His first short -story was published in 1865, and many stories and sketches quickly -followed this. - -After 1869 he made his home in England, living in London, or Rye in -Sussex, for the most part. He was a member of the American Academy -of Arts and Letters, and in 1911 received the degree of L. H. D. -from Harvard. - -Mr. James dictated all his work to a secretary, and he rewrote -and polished it from a typewritten copy. With his writing he took -infinite pains. His sentences are long and involved at times; but -in spite of this confusing fact his sentences are balanced and -complete. - -His whole life showed the same ordered neatness as his books. -His library was carefully selected and shelved. His letters were -always arranged in little piles of the same size. One man tells -that during a call on the novelist he saw him, when the ash had -collected on the end of his cigarette, walk the length of his study -and snip it out of the open window. - -Henry James has been called a modern of the moderns as a novelist. -He described contemporary life. His characters are people of -the world; but they are subtle and complex. The human element -predominates. - -He is not widely read, because the public finds him hard to read. -As someone said, “His books need to be translated for the average -reader.” This is due in part to his use of long and involved -sentences, and in part to his subject matter. - -His career was a happy one. It was long, and was free from serious -mistakes. His talent and point of view were personal. He had a -crowd of imitators; but none of these approached the master in -greatness. - -There was one side of the character of Henry James, the man, of -which few people knew. Never did a man in need come to him whom he -did not offer to help. Years ago, when James was deriving an income -of less than $1,500 a year from his writing, a novelist died in -England. He died in poverty, leaving two little children absolutely -alone in the world. A friend assisted the children and wrote to -other literary men asking for help. One literary man, whose income -was over $200,000, was appealed to in vain. Among those from whom -aid was asked was Henry James. A check for $250, more than a sixth -of his whole year’s income, arrived from him by return mail. - -Henry James died in London on February 29, 1916. - - - - -[Illustration: WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS] - - - - - William Dean Howells, a close student of American character and - a realist in his writings, is the subject of one of the six - intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating “American Novelists.” - -WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS - -Monograph Number Two in The Mentor Reading Course - - -The “Dean of American Letters”--that is what William Dean Howells -is called. He is and has been for half a century the literary -leader of America, and well he deserves the title! James Russell -Lowell said of him that he “is one of the chief honors of our -literature.” He has never written a bad sentence, never struck -a false note. He is the leading representative of the realistic -school of American fiction. - -William Dean Howells might with truth be called a “self-made man -of letters.” He was born at Martin Ferry, Ohio, on March 1, 1837. -His father, William Cooper Howells, was a printer and editor, whose -library was large and well chosen for that time. It was in this -library that the future novelist picked up most of his education. -As usual in a small country town, the regular schooling consisted -only of the “three R’s”; but Howells was an omniverous reader. He -particularly enjoyed poetry. It is said that even as a small boy -he wrote verse, setting it into type himself. Whether this was -ever printed is not known; but surely some space in his father’s -newspaper must have been found for these productions of his -juvenile pen. - -In 1851 the family fortunes met with disaster, and Howells went to -work as compositor on the Ohio State Journal at a salary of four -dollars a week. He soon graduated into journalism, and at the age -of twenty-two was news editor of the Columbus, Ohio, State Journal. - -Howells’ first published work appeared in 1860. The “Poems of Two -Friends” were written with John J. Piatt. He began to contribute to -the Atlantic Monthly, then just founded, about this time also. A -campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln was written by him in 1860. -For this he was appointed consul at Venice, where he remained until -1865. There he studied the Italian language and literature, and -broadened his education considerably. - -On his return to the United States he wrote for the New York -Tribune and the Nation for a time. Then in 1866 he became assistant -editor of the Atlantic Monthly, becoming editor six years later. He -was a model magazine editor. - -For awhile he contributed to Harper’s Magazine; then he became -editor of the Cosmopolitan, and in 1900 revived “The Editor’s Easy -Chair” for Harper’s. He is at present the writer of this department. - -Mr. Howells has received many honorary degrees. Harvard and Yale -have both conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts, while he -has received the degree of Doctor of Letters from Yale, Oxford, -Columbia, and Princeton, and the degree of Doctor of Laws from -Adelbert College. In 1909 he was elected president of the American -Academy of Arts and Letters. Since 1885 the novelist has lived in -New York City. - -Howells is a great realist and a perfect artist in words. He was -once asked if he never lost himself in his work and was carried -away by what he was writing. - -“Never,” he answered. “The essence of achievement is to keep -outside, to be entirely dispassionate, as a sculptor must be, -molding his clay.” - -And indeed of all American writers Howells comes the nearest to -success in holding the mirror up to Nature. - - - - -[Illustration: THOMAS NELSON PAGE] - - - - - Thomas Nelson Page, a novelist who writes of the fast vanishing - old order of the South, is the subject of one of the six - intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating “American Novelists.” - -THOMAS NELSON PAGE - -Monograph Number Three in The Mentor Reading Course - - -Above all things Thomas Nelson Page is a Virginian, by birth, by -family, and in his writings. Born on the old plantation of Oakland -in Hanover County, Virginia, he can boast of two grandfathers who -were governors of the state, one of these, Thomas Nelson, being -a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It is Virginia and -Virginians “before the war” and during the reconstruction period -that he has sought to portray in his books. - -Thomas Nelson Page opened his eyes in old Virginia on April 23, -1853. He was a rather precocious boy. Many a beating did he -receive at school for stealing time from his lessons to write -short stories on his slate for the amusement of his companions. -He entered Washington and Lee University when he was only sixteen -years old. He remained there three years, and then after spending a -little time in Kentucky decided to enter the law department of the -University of Virginia in 1873. He finished the work there in about -half the time usually required, and began practising in Richmond, -where he remained until 1893. - -Page had always felt the charm of times gone by. He tried to -follow the law faithfully; but more and more strongly came the -call to picture artistically “a civilization which, once having -sweetened the South, has since well nigh perished from the earth.” -He yearned for the old plantation life,--the stately mansions of -his forefathers, the grandeur to which those men and women of other -days attained, and the overgrown fence rows and fields of his own -country home. - -Finally he decided to write. “Marse Chan” was published in 1884, -and won the author immediate recognition. People of both the North -and South were enthusiastic about it. The author himself tells how -he came to write this tale: - -“Just then a friend showed me a letter which had been written by -a young girl to her sweetheart in a Georgia regiment, telling him -that she had discovered that she loved him, after all, and that if -he would get a furlough and come home she would marry him; that -she had loved him ever since they had gone to school together in -the little schoolhouse in the woods. Then, as if she feared such a -temptation might be too strong for him, she added a postscript in -these words: ‘Don’t come without a furlough; for if you don’t come -honorably I won’t marry you.’ This letter had been taken from the -pocket of a private dead on the battlefield of one of the battles -around Richmond, and, as the date was only a week before the battle -occurred, its pathos struck me very much. I remember I said ‘The -poor fellow got his furlough through a bullet.’ The idea remained -with me, and I went to my office one morning and began to write -‘Marse Chan,’ which was finished in about a week.” - -“In Ole Virginia,” a collection of three stories of negro life -and character, was published in 1887. This is perhaps his most -characteristic work. Many stories, essays, and poems followed. - -Uncle Billy in Page’s story “Meh Lady” is a distinct creation. -At the wedding of his mistress and the Union captain in the old, -dismantled home, the minister asks, “Who giveth this woman to be -married to this man?” His lady is without a relative, and Uncle -Billy sees that it is up to him. But he doesn’t want to take the -responsibility; so stepping forward he answers solemnly, “Gord.” - -Thomas Nelson Page is never sectional in his writing. Everything -that he writes tends to bring about better feeling between the -North and the South. - -He is now ambassador to Rome, appointed by President Wilson. - - - - -[Illustration: JAMES LANE ALLEN] - - - - - James Lane Allen, a romanticist of Kentucky, is the subject of - one of the six intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating “American - Novelists.” - -JAMES LANE ALLEN - -Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course - - -A historical novelist worthy to rank with Nathaniel Hawthorne, -James Lane Allen has been called. Both have given us pictures of -the lives of our forefathers; but, while Hawthorne has shown us -New England, Allen draws the Blue Grass region of Kentucky and its -people. - -It may be due to the fact that James Lane Allen was a seventh child -that he has achieved such remarkable success in literature. He was -born in Fayette County, near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1849, the -youngest child of Richard and Helen Allen. He can number among his -paternal ancestors some of the first settlers of Virginia. One of -these ancestors, Richard Allen, moved to Kentucky, where he lived -the easy, hospitable life of a gentleman farmer on his large estate. - -Mr. Allen’s mother was a descendant of the Pennsylvania -Scotch-Irish and the Brooks family of Virginia. A native of -Mississippi, she was a lover of nature and literature. She inspired -in her son a love for reading old romances, poetry, and history. - -Although Allen was only twelve years old when the storm of Civil -War broke over our country, he was old enough to realize its -horrors and the suffering that it brought to the people of the -South. Just before the beginning of the war his father lost his -fortune; so the formal education that Allen received was small; -but under his mother’s guidance he pursued his studies at home. -Long walks in the fields and forests about his home gave him a keen -insight into nature. - -He was graduated from Transylvania University at Lexington, -Kentucky, in 1872, and three years later received a degree of A. M. -from there. A little before this his father died, and James had to -begin teaching in order to meet expenses. He spent a year as master -in a country school, walking six miles to and from the school every -day. - -For two years he taught in Missouri and then came back to Kentucky -as a private tutor. He was called to his alma mater to teach, and -two years later Bethany College, in West Virginia, offered him the -chair of Latin and higher English. - -He planned to go to Germany for a time; but gave this up when the -idea of becoming a doctor of medicine attracted him. This was when -he was doing graduate work at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. But his -love of literature led him to take up writing, and in 1884 he -moved to New York. He arrived there unknown and with no letters of -introduction; but “he took up his abode in a garret and started -out in a very humble way.” He sent letters to the New York Evening -Post, poems to Harper’s and the Atlantic Monthly, and essays to -the Critic and the Forum. A criticism of Henry James’ “Portrait of -a Lady” first attracted attention to the young author, and soon -there was a strong demand for his sketches of Kentucky life. “The -Blue Grass Region of Kentucky” was the title given to the collected -volume of these sketches. - -Mr. Allen then moved to Cincinnati; but later moved again to -Washington, believing that the capital of the country would be -the future home of literature and art in America. In Washington, -however, he found too much social and official distraction; so he -returned to New York. - -“The Kentucky Cardinal,” published in 1895, is one of Mr. Allen’s -best books. It is a sort of pastoral poem in prose, showing the -struggle between Nature and Love. “The Choir Invisible” shows the -noble love of a married woman for a man who is not her husband. - -James Lane Allen is best known as a writer of fiction; but he -has also published many critical articles and much verse. He is -recognized as one of the most poetic and dramatic of American -novelists. - - - - -[Illustration: WINSTON CHURCHILL] - - - - - Winston Churchill, a master of the historical novel, is the - subject of one of the six intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating - “American Novelists.” - -WINSTON CHURCHILL - -Monograph Number Five in The Mentor Reading Course - - -Although he graduated from Annapolis in 1894, Winston Churchill -never served in the navy. Instead, immediately after completing -his studies he began writing. He had found out that he could write -when he was still at Annapolis, and decided that fiction rather -than the navy was his line of work. For this the young graduate had -fine equipment. Annapolis gave him self-reliance and determination. -Those graduates of the Naval Academy who have not gone into the -navy have usually been successful in whatever they have done. This -is particularly true in the case of Churchill. Well educated, at -the same time he is full of the joy of life itself, and likes all -sorts of outdoor sports. He is a favorite everywhere. - -Winston Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 10, -1871, and spent the first sixteen years of his life there. From a -school in St. Louis he went to Annapolis. There he became strongly -interested in American history and problems, and made up his mind -to devote his life and energies to these. In the brief intervals -between studies and drills he gathered much of the material that he -afterward used in his novels. - -While at Annapolis he stood among the first five or six in his -class. He also reorganized the crew and was captain for a year. -He likewise played a good game of football. Fencing, tennis, and -horseback riding are his favorite sports. - -For awhile after graduation he worked on the Army and Navy Journal, -and then joined the staff of the Cosmopolitan Magazine. During this -time he wrote a great deal; but did not attempt to publish these -first experiments in fiction. - -He married in 1895 and moved not long afterward to his home at -Cornish, New Hampshire. Churchill was very fortunate. He did not -have to earn a living by doing hackwork, and could take plenty of -time with anything that he wrote. - -It is said that genius is the capacity for taking great pains. -Winston Churchill surely illustrates this adage. Hard work, -determination, and a keen sense of values made him the successful -novelist that he is. He was ambitious to write the very best he -knew how. Once, when living in St. Louis, he hired an office and -went down to it as regularly as any other man of business. His -writing was business, and was treated as such. - -He rewrote “Richard Carvel” at least five times. He worked from -breakfast until one o’clock, after lunch for two or three hours, -and after dinner often far into the night. This, the first of -three of Winston Churchill’s novels dealing with American history, -became the most popular book in the United States. “The Crisis,” -the second of these historical novels, appeared a few years after -“Richard Carvel,” and in 1904 “The Crossing,” the last of the -trilogy, was published. The background for “The Crisis” was the -Civil War, and “The Crossing” dealt with the great western movement -across the country. - -Churchill has served in the New Hampshire legislature, and also -ran for the governorship of that state. “Coniston” was a direct -outgrowth of his political associations. The novel is a story of -politics, with a charming love story running through it. - -Winston Churchill is still a young man, and there is every reason -to believe that his best and biggest work is still to come. - - - - -[Illustration: OWEN WISTER] - - - - - Owen Wister, a drawer of real, vital characters, is the subject - of one of the six intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating - “American Novelists.” - -OWEN WISTER - -Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course - - -It is remarkable how many successful writers get into literature -by accident. Very few novelists begin by taking up writing as a -profession: most of them drift into it from other fields. Owen -Wister was no exception to this. He settled down in Philadelphia to -practise law; but the call of the pen was too strong for him. He -was thirty-one years old before he began to write. - -Owen Wister is a grandson of Frances Anne Kemble, better known as -Fannie Kemble, the famous actress. He was born on July 14, 1860, -in Philadelphia. When he was ten years old he was taken to Europe, -where he remained three years. On his return to this country he -entered St. Paul’s School, Concord, whence he went to Harvard, -graduating in 1882. He took highest honors in music. - -At Harvard he showed that he could write when he produced a -libretto, “Dido and Æneas,” for one of the Hasty Pudding Club -entertainments. When there he also edited one of the college -papers, and in his junior year wrote a poem on Beethoven, which was -published in the Atlantic Monthly. - -With the intention of becoming a music critic Wister went abroad -once more. He began the study of composition under Liszt in Paris. -In 1883 he changed his plans and returned to America. His health -was bad; so he went hunting in Wyoming and Arizona. - -He found not only new strength, but a new world. The stirring -atmosphere of the West woke in him a desire to write about it; -but he did nothing at this time. He returned east and entered the -Harvard Law School. He graduated in 1888, and a year later was -admitted to the bar in Philadelphia. - -But the West had great attraction for him. In the next ten years he -made fifteen trips there. He soon saw that law was not his career. - -In 1891 a series of studies and stories of the West by Wister -started in Harper’s Magazine. These were later gathered together in -a volume called “Red Men and White.” All the characters in these -sketches were true to life; the Indian was the Indian of fact, and -the cowboy was the cowboy of reality. - -When Wister first began to write a fellow-townsman and critic of -him said, “Owen Wister has written some creditable stories; but so, -to be sure, have many others. His real strength lies in musical -criticism.” This opinion hardly holds good today. - -“The Virginian” is the best thing that Wister has done. It is -absolutely realistic. This is a quality of all this author’s work, -as is shown by an anecdote he himself tells: - -“Once a cowpuncher listened patiently while I read him a -manuscript. It concerned an event on an Indian reservation. ‘Was -that the Crow reservation?’ he inquired at the finish. I told him -that it was no real reservation and no real event; and his face -expressed displeasure. ‘Why,’ he demanded, ‘do you waste your time -writing what never happened, when you know so many things that did -happen?’” - -So well was the story told that the cowboy had believed he was -listening to facts. - -“Lady Baltimore” was another successful novel of Wister’s, and -besides he has written several interesting biographies, the best of -which is “The Seven ages of Washington.” - -Wister is not only a writer. He has actively fought for decent -government in Philadelphia. At one election he ran for city -councilman of his ward, knowing that his fight was hopeless. He is -an American through and through, and in his books he portrays the -best things in the life of our country. - - - PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION - ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, No. 25 - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - - -The printing error “Univeristy” was changed to “University” on page -18 (law department of the University of Virginia). Other uncommon -spellings were retained. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mentor, Vol. 1, No. 25, American -Novelists, by Hamilton Wright Mabie - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MENTOR: AMERICAN NOVELISTS *** - -***** This file should be named 51560-0.txt or 51560-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/5/6/51560/ - -Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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