Show The Heroine of the Novelists of Today May I be pardoned the impertinence imperti-nence bat I have of late take n some pains to ascertain the age of the her oinethe heroine of the contemporary rary novel Examining carefully in several instances the data furnished by her sponsors 1 have sorted out and tabulated certain general facts These facts show her age to be never under 20 rarely 22 usually from 24 to 27 28 and even there above giving an average of 24 pins While pursuing these numerical calculations I am closely observing the heroines face There are no telling lines upon the brow cr about the eye and her color is still faultless It is to be noted moreover that she retains in her manner a wonderful measure of youthful vivacity of frankness I am far from caviling at the happy ease and gracefulness with which she carries car-ries the weight of her years This is as we would have it but the singu larity of the case appears when her age is contrasted with that of her predecessor tbe heroine of the old fashioned novel The latter is always a jeune file who when the narrative cf her fortunes is concluded has scarcely more than crossed the threshold of the twenties Rustic and unschooled or accomplished and sophisticated phlegmatic or piquant timid or audacious whatever her temperament and behaviour ehe is invariably lovely and of tender age What writer of fiction in its early days would have presented cr what reader would have accepted a heroine hero-ine who did not possess the two chief requisites beauty and youth Of beauty it is still expected the heroine I sbftll have a certain allowance as a pair of fine eyes or a sensitive month As to youth tue restriction no longer holds Why the changed fashion I account for it in only one way the metaphysical tendency of the modern novel seems to require that the character of central importance import-ance shall interest ua subjectively this character must be subtended by actual experience ripe feelingsettled convictions and a clever vein of casuistry cas-uistry Now as these do not consist with the idea of extreme youth and as consistency and realism are the special jewels of the present fiction school it follows that we have a heroine her-oine who to say the least is no longer young Again conversation is as every reader knows an essential element of the contemporary novel and analysis would probably show the following ratio Conversation including includ-ing speculative interpolation by the author three parts incident one What in the present exigency were a silent or monosyllabic heroine The heroine is she who converses subtilely saying far more than meets the ear adroitly touching both the heights and deeps of experience The conversation cf schoolgirls is not wont to be of this order hence the reigning heroines maturer age April Atlantic I |