A COMING SCOTCH NOVELIST.

Evening Star, Issue 11893, 22 May 1903, Page 3

A COMING SCOTCH NOVELIST.

The literary tide which, takgn at the flood,_ led three or four people on to fortune in Scotland, began to ebb some time since. It was a strong tide while it lasted, and the question now arises: In what shape will it return? Fa-hi on changes in literature as it does in ladies’ hats, and as rapidly. The “ Hoots, mon!’’ novel has had a very good innings, and now it is time for another team to come to the bat. Of course I am mixing my similes, but that is a fashion set by the “ kailyard ” school, so if the reader is particular in the matter of similes, I withdraw the man from the bat, and say it is now time for another wave to roll up the sandy shore of literature. The Scottish novel of the past ten years presented characters of the poor but honest brand. The people who moved about more or less slowly in its pages were rough and uncouth, so far as exterior was concerned, but they were alwavs pure gold within. They were capable of amazing and unexpected self-sacrifice, which usually came upon the reader unaware, for until he got well acquainted with them he thought they were merely uncultured boors, narrow, selfish, and in chronic ill-humor. But it invariably turned out that the heart was in the right place, and that, after all, was the main thing from the Scottish novelist’s point of view. Many of the discussions turned upon the matter of a somewhat narrow and harsh religion, which frequently broil ,ht about a crisis toward the final chapters. But this crisis was always sooth d down or uiiti' ated by the natural good heartedness of all concerned. There was also a glimmer of fun of a sort in the books, very sparindy indulged in, and yet some of those novelists actually acquired the reputation of humorists. But the great asset of rec -nt Scotch novels has been salt wat«r. For some time an uneasy foehn" had been prevalent among Caledonians that (hey were not really the white-winged angels depicted by this group of writers. 1 th'nk it ws the poor W E. Henley who p : nned to the coat tai’s of the group the phi ard labelled “Kailyard,” or if it was not Henley, it was some writer for the magazine which the poet at that time edited. However, the great exanmle of the swing of the pendulum was the issuing of the la re George Douglas Brown’s biting bonk ‘The House with the Green Shutters.’ This was a work of genius, which many of the books of the Kaiiyarders were not, but it. was neverthe-1-ss as untrue In life in tlie one d.Tecrion as lan Maclaren's goody- oody contributions were on the other. "The House with the Green Shutters’ could rot have founded a school, a.: did the " Window in Thrums.’ for it could not he imitated, and Hi- author of the former told me himself that he did no! intend to write such another. 1 Irani an oil. Ed Scotch humorist say the o'her day that the Green Shutters had cl sod mi the Window in Thrums, hut I fh'nk the 'Window m Thrums is the one hook issim I by the ” Kai'yaid ’* enmhin-tion that will l : ve. and T doubt if that ran he said for ’The House with thg Gm-ii Shuit rs.’ A storv must be founded on eternal truth if it is to taste ••‘ernity. It t.u t he without false note, ex i _■ g.er r ion. w melodrama : such a work, for iusiame. as • Rah and His Friends." The average Scofsirv n knew verv well that he inhabited neither the houswith the green shutters nor a cottage in Hrum'o- htv. The coming man in Scotti- hj literature, than, is hke'y to take a middle course between the bitter hnr'n-'ss of the one and the s-ntinicnta! -r-li of the’other. Is this man in sight’ I tide’-; so. Towards the end of last year a friend ha F. ! iuh«vgh called my attention to some domestic sketches that were appearing in a Gl w w paper. I read a few o' ti, mi, in d found for the fiid |'m», set down in print. tiekind of Lowland Scott ii \vh ch I ta'kei when T left Gla-gow at the a-" of lon--years, and which was a const ut source of merriiKnt to youn" Annrkans when I imported the lingo. These "mini d sketches se-med to me to con ahi the tr-e.-s-atv sterling qualities. Tlvrc was i riiibitv l a fin-, delicate humor, and a ton hof pa'ln s now and egis'diy fine an 1 deli ntg. Throu -h them all i n a sw. el dop- gieev, tin- t'-w-h ing flavor of a humid- home. There was an utter al;.- nee of straiin 1 " for -ft ■(, and real life was depicted exact!" as it exists in tint lowly sph're whi-h the au hor ha 1 chosen. later I nr r Mr J. ,T. Bel. il-c writer of these conti ihutinns to tb" Glasgow pitier. He is a v- :y young man. and is modest, as most of th‘-:n are at the beginning. ft did not occ-w to hj m that these sketches ware of a.nv value : in fact, when he sent the fhst of them to the cd’tor he wrote liim a letter ap-logising for (h----contribution. Mr lied! at that time was <n the s'afl of the Glasgow ' Evening Tim-s,’ and it was his duty to furni-h a column to that pa r every now and then as occasion required. Tins column was g<-neraTy on some ton'eal subject, but one day nothin" particular happened to wr'te about, and he sent to the editor a sketch which lay by him in which his hero “ Wee Maegregor” first appears. He told they editor frankly in his note that, if this falling away from duty was excused, he would not offend again, and suggested that the sketch be not used unless it was absolutely necessary to fill in the space. The editor, hou r cvcr, was taken with it, and published it. Its local success in Glasgow was instantaneous, and so many letters poured in upon the manager of tile paper that he asked Mr Beil to carry his small hero a few steps farther. Even when “Wee Macgregor ” had been appearmg for some time, Bell had no notion of the value of his contributions, and it was that sterling novelist Xoi! Munro who first suggested that they should be got. together in a book. Here, however, the usuaf difficulty met the young and unknown author. He offered the book to .two publishers, asking a modest 60dol for its sale outr "ht. Luckily both refused, and as Neil Minim and other friends urged its pub’ication. the young man offered the book for nothin", and that being also declined, he published it at his own expense. Even then he did not venture to put his name on the cover but contented hj raself with the initials that bad appeared in the newspaper. It was brought out in a form which publishers recognise as little liable to produce a profit namely, in paper covers at the price of one As was the case with Hugh Conways ‘Called Back,' the printin'presses had to run night and dav to supply the demand, and up to the time of wr;tih" the profits have mounted to more than £3,010. and England is just beginning to wake up fo the fact that such a hook is in existence, ft was omy the other week that it human to appear m the bookstalls of London •John Joy Bell was horn in 1871. After t.ie usual school life of a Scottish boy te ent.-md Glasgow University, where he studied chemistiy. It was his intention in the first place to learn the blending of tabacco, for his father is one of the chief tobacco manufacturers of Scotland, but when he left the University he was attracted toward the literary fife, and took tile first steps leading thereto by becoming a new-paper man. His book is soon to he got out in more expensive form, illustrated v.lr A. Hoyd, a fellow townsman, but for many years a resident of London. Mr lhe ill, y Graphic.’ The b r U “I™** the li:e ‘ lnn g Wend of Bret Harte, and it was Bret Harte who persuaded him to leave Glasgow for London and who was Ins introducer in the metropolis.—Sydney Brooks in ‘Harper’s’