86
THE NEBRASKAN
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literary,
Someone, it makes no difference who, once
said that for a lonely man the best kind of a
letter was one that was poorly written and
obscurely composed. The effort necessary
to decipher the words and then to find out
what they meant was supposed to add zest to
the epistle. For anyone who expects to be
wrecked on a desert island and get his mail
at long intervals Prof. Ladd of Yale would
be a perfect correspondent. The University
possesses no specimen of his chirography
and it may be excellent : but as a thought
concealer he is certainly without a peer. A
literary text book on pschology would be too
much to expect. Most of Prof. Wolfe's stu
dents, however, would be willing even to
sacrifice a little of Ladd's science if in re
turn they could get a modicum of respectable
English.
We do not wish to encroach upon the ex
change editor's rights, and so are a little in
doubt as to the ethical propriety of discuss
ing an article which appeared in the last
issue of "our esteemed contemporary." Yet
anything so extremely literary as the article
in the last Hcsfcrian on the study of Greek
and Latin, certainly lies in the province of
the literary editor. The production, as the
saying goes in Junior Themes, has one fault,
which is quite serious. The author's thought
is a little off. We have all noticed the
learned plea which has of late been advanced
by Mr. Stead of the Review of Reviews, for
a more natural method of teaching lan
guages ; but really, wasn't it a little unfair to
him to take his idea and apply it to Latin
and Greek without giving him credit for it?
Nevertheless, it was possibly wise, as Mr.
Stead might have objected to such a misuse
of his darling child. As applied to modern
languages, which we all hope, vainly, no
doubt, to learn to talk and write, the plan is
undoubtedly excellent. Who wants to learn
to talk Greek, semi-modern though it may be,
or Latin, dead as our beloved Mr. Egan's
mummies? The sole object of the study of
ancient tongues, or rather pens, beyond a
better understanding of our own language.
is the ability to enjov ancient liter
ature. If we throw away our lexicons,
grammar and text book, and begin to ask
tor our meals in Latin, it will be a long while
before we know whether it was Cajsar or
Virgil who built that awful bridge across the
Rhine. Moreover, we will probably get
hungry waiting for our meals. Max O'Rell
says that Americans run everything into the
ground. This idea is another example of
our earthward tendency.
The development of magazines is possibly
the most important literary movement of the
nineteenth century. In them we find litera
ture of all kinds and to them we must look
for whatever is characteristic of the present
time. Begging Mr. Howell's pardon, the
novel of today is not all that it might be. It
may be that the impatience of the average
reader with the "continued story" is the
cause of its weakness. The suspense caused
by leaving a fair heroine in tears and per
mitting her to weep for a whole month with
out telling us why, is aggravating in the
extreme. It is in the short sketch that the
magazine reader takes refuge. It is the
characteristic fin dtt Steele fiction. In writing
of this kind Mr. Richard Harding Davis is
particularly successful. His stories arc fresh
and interesting. They are not ambitious as
to plot. Often mere descriptions of char
acter, they are excellent chiefly because Mr.
Davis restricts his efforts to people and
scenes with which he is familiar. He remem
bers the often repeated warning that it is
necessary to live before one can write. In
stead of sending his characters to Africa or
beginning a story, "It was a sunny morning
in the year 2.000 B. C," he sticks to New
York and the present decade. The life he
describes is purely metropolitan. "Sassiety"
young men and Bowery toughs figure quite
largely. In these, at first sight, unprepos
sessing subjects. Mr. Davis manages to find
pleasant traits. They have their good points.
Van Bibber's heart opens to the two young