LITERATURE, AMERICAN. IN 1887. 



423 



London in 1858, struggling against the Jerome 

 Clock Company's debts, Otto Goldscbmidt 

 called upon me and offered, in behalf of his 

 wife, whom to me he always called "Miss 

 Lind," any financial aid I might need, which, 

 of course, I declined. And in all the years 

 since my engagement with Jenny Lind ter- 

 minated we both were always ready to do each 

 other any possible friendly service. On the day 

 of her death, in response to my message of con- 

 dolence to her husband, I received from him 

 the following cablegram : " I fully appreciate 

 your condolences, coming from one who well 

 knew my beloved wife, and was always re- 

 membered by her with sincere regard." Jenny 

 Lind- Goldschmidt was buried in Malvern 

 Cemetery, near London, Nov. 5, 1887. 



LITERATURE, AMERICA*', IN 188T. There 

 is little that is encouraging in a review of 

 American authorship during the past year. 

 The observer's attention is, of course, first di- 

 rected to the enormous number of reprinted 

 books in comparison with those which are 

 original, and in this connection the opinion on 

 consideration would be pretty general thnt few 

 among all the works which are republished 

 from English sources or translated from Con- 

 tinental writers are worth the trouble and ex- 

 pense gone to in their reproduction. Doubt- 

 less very much of this is done by publishers in 

 order to keep their presses going; but the re- 

 sult is a flood of trash, which is, of course, 

 most comprehensively illustrated in the de- 

 partment of fiction. But neither the fact that 

 a great many foreign books are reprinted in 

 this country nor the other fact that large num- 

 bers of these are trashy, frivolous, or harmful, 

 affords any explanation of the paucity of good 

 literary work here. After a thorough exam- 

 ination of the list of books published in this 

 country last year, it is impossible to avoid the 

 conclusion that it hardly contains one really 

 first-class book in science, in botany, in criti- 

 cism, in fiction, or in history. The selections 

 here given are, as far as is practicable, the 

 best representatives of American literary work 

 for 1887. 



Fiction. In the department of fiction the 

 tendency seems to be in the direction of the 

 purely practical and business-like, novels being 

 written, after feeling the pulse of the public, 

 for the purpose of sale rather than reputation. 

 Very few really imaginative books are writ- 

 ten, and among the considerable list of novels 

 and stories by American authors to which we 

 shall refer it is doubtful whether a single one 

 will live as a part of American literature. Mr. 

 W. D. Howells has given us " April Hopes," 

 which is, if anything, a considerable falling off 

 from his other works in point of power, in 

 plot, and character painting. From F. Marion 

 Crawford we have "Marzio's Crucifix," "Paul 

 Patoff," and " Saracinesca," which are not 

 thought equal to his earlier works. From 

 Charles Egiert Craddock we have "The Story 

 of Keedon Bluffs"; Arlo Bates has published 



" A Lad's Love " and " Patty's Perversities " ; 

 and Albion W. Tourgee " Button's Inn." "Will- 

 iam H. Bishop gave us " The Golden Justice," 

 which is certainly a bright and clever story ; 

 Sidney Luska has written the " Yoke of the 

 Thorah " and " A Laud of Love." From Joel 

 Chandler Harris we have "Free Joe, and other 

 Georgian Sketches," a capital collection of 

 tales. Edgar Fawcett has written the " Con- 

 fessions of Claude " ; Harold Frederic " Seth's 

 Brother's Wife " ; and Frank R. Stockton 

 "The Hundredth Man," "The Christmas 

 Wreck," and " The Bee-Man of Orn and Other 

 Fanciful Tales." Some of these latter stories 

 are quite up to the best work of this brilliant 

 short story writer. From E. P. Roe we have 

 " The Eartli Trembled." The " Van Gelder 

 Papers " and other sketches are bright efforts, 

 something after the style of Irving. Edgar 

 Saltus has published "Mr. Incoul's Misad- 

 venture," a work in his customary pessimistic 

 style, which has attracted no little sharp criti- 

 cism on that account. Augusta Evans Wilson 

 has written " At the Mercy of Tiberius," which 

 is interesting, though in the too inflated style 

 of this writer. " Zorah, a Love Story of Mod- 

 ern Egypt," is by Elizabeth Balch. " Two Gen- 

 tlemen of Boston " appeared in the " Round 

 Robin Series " ; Mrs. G. R. Alden (Pansy) 

 wrote " Eighty-seven " ; and the author of the 

 story of " Margaret Kent," a work which at- 

 tracted a good deal of attention a few years 

 ago, has reappeared in " Sons and Daughters," 

 which is well considered. "Paradise," by 

 Lloyd S. Bryce, " The Fortunes of the Fara- 

 days," by Amanda M. Douglass, and " Aunt 

 Tabitha's Trial," by L. O. Cooper, are without 

 special features for criticism. " Happy Dodd," 

 by Rose Terry Cook, is in the usual graceful 

 style of that pleasing writer. In ' The Leisure 

 Hour Series " has been published " Pine and 

 Palm," by M. D. Conway. Louisa M. Alcott 

 has written " Agatha and the Shadow " ; 

 Blanche Willis Howard published "Tony the 

 Maid," an exceedingly well-written story, and 

 "Aunt Serena." From John Habberton we 

 have "Country Luck," in which there are bits 

 of admirable characterization. Mary J. Holmes 

 has published " Gretchen," and A. C. Guntlier 

 has written "Mr. Barnes, of New York." 

 which had the advantage of enormous puffing 

 without presenting any very remarkable rea- 

 sons for it. " Mahala Sawyer " appears over 

 the initials of D. S. E., and Mrs. Dahlgren is 

 responsible for a novel under the title of "Di- 

 vorced," while H. S. Cunningham has pub- 

 lished " The Cceruleans, a Vacation Idyl." 

 From Mary Cruger we have the " Vanderhyde 

 Manor House " ; from Mrs. Schuyler Crownin- 

 shield, "The Ignoramuses, a Travel Story"; 

 from Frank H. Converse, "Adventures of 

 Tad " ; and from Clara Erskine Clement, 

 "Eleanor Maitland." Bertha M. Clay, a popu- 

 lar writer, wrote " A Woman's Temptation," 

 and Mrs. J. A. Carter " Won by Love." Emi- 

 ly Brodie is the author of " Cousin Dora, or 



