Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1903 — Local Critics. [ARTICLE]

Local Critics.

“Local color” is an excellent adjunct to a good story, but it cannot supply the place of incident and character. A young author, now in possession of a promising reputation, has related how this fact was first painfully Impressed upon his mind. He had spent the summer in an ancient seaport of’New England, and desired to reproduce Its atmosphere of quaint, old-fashioned tranquillity In a story. He worked hard over it. When the tale was done it occurred to him to try its effect upon a native resident-a retired sea-captain, unliterary but Intelligent. At the end of the reading he asked his listener, with a pardonable hope of a commendatory reply:, “Does it seem natural? Is It like* the place?” “Yes; oh, yes,” replied the old man, promptly. “It’s like the place. But seems to me places were madeifor folks; and folks were made ito do things; and so I lieen kind o' waitin’ all along for somethin’ to be doin,’ and the fust thing that happened uvas the end!” Still more crushing was the comment of another local critic who rt*ad the story after It was published. Some one asked liep If it tyere not well-writ-ten. j “Land, yes!” said she. “It’s written real elegapt, anti lifelike ns natur’; only whatever did he write it for?”