182 THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



Epic and the Addisonian essay have utterly lan- 

 guished. Even poetry, though of comparative 

 high order, is not specially coveted by editor or 

 reader. It strikes one singularly enough that 

 in this age so full of ripe and rich history, won- 

 derful invention, startling discovery, powerful 

 combinations, thrilling incidents and yet more 

 thrilling achievements, that the story-reading 

 habit is so dominant and persistent and so uni- 

 versal. We need not scold over it, as if in 

 mind and morals we were deteriorating. 



The truth is, we are growing up into realms 

 of richer life in history, and art, and science 

 and indeed of all knowledge. 'Our horizon of 

 thought sensibly widens and heightens. To-day 

 our creative literary talent goes largely to the 

 making of novels. The drama is given over to 

 the study of social difficulties, or to the close im- 

 itation of contemporary life. It concenters its 

 thought on matters of passing interest. Poetry 

 has lost its grip on the public mind, its vitality 

 has waned. A few books are published, but they 

 are not emphatic, are not commanding literary 

 attention. The imagination and the sympathies 

 and the artistic intelligence of the literary world 

 are almost wholly devoted to the novel, and 

 bids fair to do so for decades to come. The 

 novel has of late years widened its sphere and 



