Show Anti 11 t I I It seems a pity that the sympathy e by the stories of the destitution destitution tion lion of oC n the novelist no should have led Jed to a revival of or the demand for COl her bool hooks books s. s It was all uIl right tIght for Cor tIme the British government coY gov ov- ov to grant lant her a pension lon and for COl the tho Italian government to send tend her a II substantial sum oC of oney She amu amused d If she did not In Instruct truet a u former lormer for former for lor- mer generation of novel readers reader and she should be he taken care cafe of or in her liar old age But as for tor her books It Is bettem better better bet bet- ter tem that they be forgotten Ii e a n. bad badIi Ii dream in A recent critic has said that Ouida's stories arc not bad In iii a moral mom sense they thoy are arc merely in ba had bad taste and not nice When hen wo we add to this that they are arc unreal distorted not true truc to nature nature nature na na- na- na ture or life simply Impossible and therefore inartistic the thc Indictment Is strong enough to justify a n sincere well ell wisher of oC the rising rising- generation In a desire to procure a literary Injunction against their theil return to general vo vogue ue There is little dan hanger danger of this in any am event A few Cew may be led by curiosity to dip lip Into Moths or Un Under cr Two Fla Flags s or In but hut they wj will find such a rc redundancy of words such continuity of plot and purpose such remoteness from flom earth and all really human emotions that the they will soon weary of the J pursuit ur Modern readers of the better class S 'S of fiction have fortunately acquired a taste for s directness force and ind corr correct ct detail Slovenly plot and ami mere melC drafts upon the dictionary as a n substitute for careful thou thought ht and artistic delineation dont don't go S-O any more The Tho modern novelist must be as practical and amid correct a workman In his ifs wa way va as the worker In business nn and the he crafts must be In his to achieve success Even with this catering to the he realistic spirit of oC the tho ago age by the best writers the demand lemand for books booles of the tho lighter l' l type Is said to be falling ofT off Even the sales of oC the authors of I big bI- reputations are l. dwin dwindling S This is no au doubt partly due duC to the tIme newspapers which furnish such a bulk of or matters that It absorbs much of ot the time that man many renders readers formerly pave gave to bol books s. s The newspapers also command command com corn mand tIn tho heat best talent in all fields and pre present ent their readers with its best fruits But Dul over o an and he beyond ond this modern life is so full of experience that less time an and desire Is left Icet for the imaginary and the emotional With Vilh universal education the da day may yet come wh when hen n only bool hooks books s of real genius s will find much sale and writers writers writers writ writ- ers who are mc merely talented must perforce per per- force foice betake themselves cs to concrete employments Perhaps the age Is b becoming he- he coming too prosaic and a a. reaction toward the sentimental may ho bo predicted predicted pre pre- later But Dut Just now the trend Is unmistakable It Is toward an utter repudiation rc of i tomm roL |