gll
2
THE HESPERIAN.
testants. The Hesperian would urge the expedien
cy of removing all possible causes of dissatisfaction
in the future. The inter-state association has cause
for congratulation in regard to the satisfactory de
cisions in the past. But it will be wise to avoid all
chance for dissatisfaction.
Of the three judges on thought and composition,
two marked the representatives of their own states,
first. Of the three judges on delivery, two marked
the orators from their own states, first. The Hes
perian hesitates to call the attention of the colleges
of the association to tl e above facts, but ii believes
that a wise step will be taken when all the judges on
the contest shall be chosen from states not represented
in the contest. Quite often in the effort to avoid be
ing partial to the oratorwith whom he is in sympathy,
he is unjust to him. Why not relieve judges ot any
such perplexity?
LITERARY.
A gentleman called my attention the other day to the
somewhat remarkable fact that there exists between some
parts of "Hen Hur" and "Salathiel," by George Crowly, a
striking resemblance. Acting on the advice of the gentleman,
I procured with some difficulty a copy of "Salathiel" and
read it to see whether it could be justly said that Wallace
was guilty of plagiarism. Comparisons, they say, arc
odious, yet Hen Hur" need not fear to be placed alongside
such a book as Salathiel," nor will such comparison be
wholly valueless to the readers of "Hen Hur."
Salathiel" is a stoiy of the wandering Jew, and is as fan
ciful, in some portion, as could well be imagined. Men cal
ling fire from heaven, scaling precipices at a single bound,
supernatural sights and sounds these fill up a great part of
the book. The story opens where Hen Hur" ends, at the
crucifixion. The sentence, ''Tarry thou till I come," has
been pronounced by Christ upon Salathiel, a priest and a
chief of the tribe of Naphtali. The story runs somewhat
tediously through a long account of the personal adventures
of Salathiel, with marvelous meetings and happenings. The
author of the book aims to give a picture of Jerusalem dur
ing the Jewish revolt put down by Titus in the years 6671
A. D., and siege of Jerusalem is no doubt the climax of the
story. But whatever there may be of strength or of dramatic
beauty in the climax, is hidden under a mass of abnormal
events and miraculous occurrences. The book is finished,
with a word in regard to the enforced immortality of Salath
iel, and in this is a great mistake. For in the beginning of
the story, the author takes great pains to impress upon the
reader the awlulncss, the loneliness, the importance of
immortality on earth, and then finishes the book without
showing in what the importance consists, lie starts out by
saying he is going to tell us a story of the wandering Jew,
and that he is going to keep his story from all suspicion of
mysticism and superstition. In reality he tells us of the out
break in Judea in 66 A. D., and lets his imagination run
away with his pen. To be sure the book was written some
years ago, which may account for some weakness in literary
style, but not for such a grave defect as has just been pointed
out. The way the story stands it looks as if the author had
undertaken more than he could perforin, and afterwards had
not the courage to acknowledge his inability to complete it.
So much for a general outline of the book Salathiel" No
sketch of "Hen Hur" is needed, the reader may draw his
own comparison, and find no similarity.
Hut there are likenesses of detail tliat arc curious, to say
the least, but it is noticeable that that this similarity does
not exist between any strong point in "Hen Hur" and any
passage in Crowley's book. Thus, in both books there is a
scene in an ampithcatrc with gladiatorial games. Everybody
knows that the 'Chariot Race" is the strong part of Wal
lace's book, while the arena scene in Salathiel" is flat and
weak, and not even the imagination of Crowley could see
any resemblance in the two passages.
Hclow arc some passages from each book that the reader
may sec with what truth it can be said that there is a simi
larity. In Salathiel," page to, Crowly describes the Gate
of Zion at Jerusalem, telling of the vast crowds that gathered
at the market there, of the different nations represented, of
the curious sights to be seen In "Hen Hur," page 30, is a
description of the Joppa Gate; "A pilgrim wanting a
cucumber or a camel, a house or a horse, a loan or a lentel,
a date or a dragoman, a dove or a donkey, has only to
inquire for the article at the Joppa Gate. The scene
is at first one of utter confusion confusion of actions,
sounds, colors, and things. The ground is paved with broad,
unshaped flags, from which each cry and jar and hoot-stamp
arises to swell the medley that rings and roars up between
the solid impending walls. Here stands a donkey
There is a camel .11 the the corner some women sit with
their backs to the wall," etc.
On page 59 of Crowley's book is written: "Go to war with
Rome! as well go to war with the ocean, for her power is as
wide; as well fight the storm, for her vengeance is as rapid 5
as well march against the pestilence, for her sword is as
sweeping, as sudden and as sure. Rome is the mistress of
all nations." And in "Hen Hur," page 90:" "He wise.
Give up the follies of Moses and the traditions; sec the situ
ation as it is. Dare look the l'arcac in the face and they
will tell you, "Rome is the world. Ask them of Judea and
they will answer, "She is what Rome wills," and again p. 158,
"In the wide, wide world there was no place in which he
would be safe from the imperial demand; upon the land
none, nor upon the sea." Farther on in "Salathiel" page
S3, Vol 11, we find this passage: "Come forth," she said,
leading out two lovely horses, white as milk, "Come
forth, you two lovely orphans of the true breed of
Solomon; princesses with pedigrees to put kings to shame
unless they can go back 2,000 years; birds of the Hcdowcen,
with wings to your feet, stars for your eyes and ten times the
sense of your masters in your little tossing heads." Cor
respondingly in Hen Hur, page 256, "Come," Ildcrim said,
"Why stand ye there? What have I that is not yours, come,
I say." The horses stalked slowly in. "These, O Son of
Hur, are the kings of their kind, of a lineage reaching back
to the broods of the first Pharoah; who to .their instict have
added our wits and to their senses joined our souls, until
they feel all we know of ambition, hate, love and contempt."
Again, in "Hen Hur," on page 57, there is a line which
reads thus: "He looked up; the stars were gone; the light
was dropping as from a window in the sky; as he looked it
became a splendor." Asa parallel to this in "Salathiel,"
we find: "The light rose pale and quivering, like the meteors
of a summer evening. Hut in the zenith it spread and
swelled into a splendor. It swiftly eclipsed every star. The
moon vanished before it." This on page 81, while follow
ing are similar expressions. The sea-fight in "Ben