ee \ cena HouNiNe 6, iid ae 4 ae = ee a f:. a | Of answer if answer can be found. _have kindled the imagination of tne romancer? a |} | distinetive tocal coler—-a genuine. tar | | —~all her own? And then what values | | may be placed upon the work: of those who have discovered these char- | | vest them with the interest and charm | { | population and educational statistics. pe ace aie ; ie ) Dla: (By ‘Louts By Wilson; “Ciprarlan: of the ||. niversity of North Carolina.) A recent re-reading of “The Little | | Shepherd — of Kingdom Come, SP RE | Prophet. of the Great. Smoky Moun- tains,” and “Creole Days,” with their - dividual : characteristics, tinctive peculiarities of life has again raised in my mind a number of ques-' sions concerning the body of fiction || having as its “setting” facts and pe-|_ culiarities incident to North Carolina | - life. Of these, several are wortny What, in fact, has been written in - fictional form about the Old North State? What pages of her. history Has the Tar Heél State a | acteristics and have attempted to in- of story? . Biographical, poetical, and histert: | cal works, especially the last, based on North Caroiina subjects or writ- | ten -by -resident North Carolinians, have received generuvus attention dur- ing the past few years. Hach year they have been brought under. care- ful review and that production evi- | Gencing greatest merit has received | correspondingly high recognition. | But what of the fiction based on North Carolina Hfe? What of the many North Carolinians can nhame shall speak of the alder-sha de or ‘the swirling pools’ from note. - glow of ‘local color, abundance of in- cree ‘catches will have to and dis-| | @wirling rapids. -eelyed more attention than the un- : | tical, and (4) ‘Acsehiptive: x ta. G3) ody of liter-_ tories constitute; | feonaia of Notth - Carelpare lif trout rose. best. And fra: are the | | differences. between the North Caro- lina species and the Tennessee ne And the weight of som of the then. am shall have a4 or ine tants, phases of our. life-—whatever we may call that woot. out. of, which stories are woven—are ‘few as. compared swith, “Setting,” or. special Anteresting ‘and pic- The shaded pools, and the. have naturally re- | i ip! been” equally turesque.. ‘runs through “the open Without © attempting: too. close a Classification, and_ allowing” for occasional, unimportant. excep | tions, these settings may be char- | “acterized for the sake of distinction as: (1) historical, (2) soeial; (3) poli-| A A further’ subdivision may beomade ofr “these ih obstructed mea,dows. - the interest of greater clearness. The: historical may bé divided into three representing, respectively, the periods of settlement on Roanoke Island, of the Battles of Alamance’ and Moore’s | Creek Bridge, and of the Revolution. The™ social need no division. Recon- struction’ times and the_ ‘Wilmington Riots | constitute the — political, while the - ‘Carolina Banks: and’ the 3! older stories as well as the new? How three novels written about the State ether than those by Thomas Dixon | and Christian Reid? . AS @ result of our schsol training and general reading, we know that the fate of the Lost Colony, the Bat- tle of Alamance, the Campaigns of {| 1780 and 1781, and North Carolina’s participation in the Civil War have been made the frequent subject of painstaking ~ historical investigation, but we have. failed to learn that }- around — these same subjects the novels wri furnish the two ‘principal bases for nature. and char- acter descriptions. = ~~ : The atter_pted Nothleiment of eaan: Rac OSES) Ridge - Mountains — oke Island” in 1587 by Governor Whito and the Lo equent ragic fate ‘of .Vir- 1 nd at the head of the et ngs” _which have been ory. “A. half ~dezen within the pies. twenty embodied ragedy 4s their eentral pas ses veel with the drapery of thrilling story and ro-} mance have been artistically drawn. Ve ure aware, too, that our unsur= | S€ passed © mountains of the West—-our ‘Land of. the Sky’—-are known every- where. in America. ‘Daily they are / But seldom has it been even hinted jing “the. Spaz sh main, tne long over-| {ern ‘shore. erected; (tween the new comers and tne na- of, Darbar: , captains : IT TS. Af-,, Cpovennee made hostile galleons sweep- Op. anchor off our east- | , Fortresses are quickly relations are established be- tives; Virginia Dare, the first white | child of the new world, is born; } leaders are chosen te preside over the dostinied: of ‘the colony until it can ren} ed. ats : aise als o us what the story writer, -with eart open to the — _ndeur of moun-| neand Peers © and. the infinite. beauty - and second é battles: af ees eric a pa 4 TS, ee Caps oan. region ‘and Roan- } -oke Island are also. prominent in two novels” which — embody. this setting, “Wallannah,” by Hurgrave, and “Old Dan Tucker,” by Wiley. New Bern's ‘social life, Tryon’s. vanity and cruel- aoe the Regulators’ earnestness, and ‘the fortunes of battie find expression , ‘in “Wallannah.” “The Regulators,” by Otis, though in. no proper sense a novel, fius out ‘the picture of tne, times. A different view of the same_ scenes is. afforded | by “Old Dan’ ‘Tucker.’ — resentative of the Crown, the ‘‘Bank- ers” of Eastern Carolina, | the High- landers of the Cane Fear section, the ‘pre-Revolutionary patricts,. Harnett, ‘Lillington, and Caswell, appear in the igjue of principal protagonists. Fever- ish activity characterizes the whole setting and predicates the fields of ‘Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse on iwhich wrongs. long. borne without re- |dress will be righted. The Revolution followed the Regu- lation, — The importance of this great: American: erisis was so significant that ‘North Carolina’s brilliant = participa- ‘tion in it has compelled the interest of the nevelist as well as of the his- ‘torian. But unlike South Carolina, — ‘the deeds of whose ‘Marions and! |Sumters were thrillingly ‘told four. decades ago }~ William . Gilmore Simms, North .Carolina has had to wait these thirty years to find an artist to portray adequately the great part which she heroically played in that grim struggle. I purposely ex- clude “The. sei nets Nest£,”’. by Roe, and “Alamance,” by Wiley,., though | | Kevolutionary incidents, because they | are in no true sense genuine fiction. Vit remained for Mrs. Kennedy and Mr. Brady, in “Joscelyn.: Cheshire” and “When Blades are out and ‘Love's | jAfiela” to write realistically..of those stirring times. Central Carolina— | fiom Hlillsbore to Salisbury—is the scene of action, The staffs of Greene and Cornwallis, the ranks of the two -gbattle lines, and the members of tory and patriot households along the lines of march from Cowpens — to Yorktown, furnish the heroes and heroines of these stories, : This setting and the first are vastly {gifferent. Virginia Dare has been lest ‘to view on the mist-shrouded shore of ‘Roanoke. .The cruel, moccasined In- dian, then the victor, now the van- quished, has taken his silent trail to the distant West. Tryon and Martin ‘no longer press the yoke of the foe upon a lone-suffering colony. ‘The heroes of Alamance and, Moore’s Creek Bridge have passed through the ‘period of testing and have emerged’ ‘true, Hiberty-loving American patriots. ‘The fight for independence is ‘on. The | lp eas ‘of a great and noble peo- pele is at the dawning. — The. seventy years, itercasilne be- neaeh 1780 and-1850 contribute noth- ig sas historical import to the novel- s Although the war, of 1812 fell parti feprontéjon. 3 ‘to. 860. hirniatien: a most iutaneating et ne is peta,” ‘not historical, ia { 1 by the fine at- 3 the wealth: ed ‘fof the Old South. Governor Martin, the. rep- | written. years ago and dealing. with || 3 ‘In “The Héirs of ‘St. Kilda,” a. novel only by courtesy, and “Sea Gift,” this. setting furnishes the woof for. ‘wholesome, pleasing ro-. ‘mance. The scene of the former is aid at the splendid estates of one of the before-the-war families “of the jcentral ‘counties of the State-—-Chat- rham, presumably. Gentlemen ‘of the old gchool, ‘queenly : ladies, imposing’ ‘mansions, Mctansive servant uarters, -himberless: ‘thoroughbreds ~ ‘of horse and hound, are “objects around, which ‘the story centers. School voy’ ‘exper- lences near ‘Wilmington, student” Aife at the University in ante bellum days, lines as participated in by a favored. son ‘of the Old South are depicted.in “Sea Gift.” Fox hunting and wed- dings at the couniry estates, student escapades and commencement dances at the University, visits te the con-| tinent and watering places.in the ac- | quisition of culture or m the search for pleasure, these and the sentiment and luxurious ease of the forties and fifties; are the themes. to which we} ef a later day turn back in these) two stories and ponder. -Iror us its) | unreality is its char | Two political situations of import-. ance have arisen in the State since 1865,. =f refer to the struggles for party supremacy during reconstruc- tion days and -the political conditions \which precipitated the -Wilmington | riot of 1898, “A Fool’s Errand”? and “The Marrow of Tradition’ embody | them respectively. “The: Leopard's Spots;” covering the greater part of the three decades crate L870 te 1960, -embraces both. “A description of | either is unnecessary here; for every detail of the misery and horror of the | former is only too well known by us, and the latter is still painfully fresh | in. our memories, ' As might naturally be expected, the beauty of Western- North Carolina | mountains and the picturesqueness of the motintaineer’s character have -re- peatedly been treated by the novelist. In “The Land of the Sky,” by Chris- |tian Reid, valleys, peaks, sunshine, shadows, the ever-changin= appear- ance of the mountains themselves | | 1 | | | and their slumbering mysterious spirit || are themes of compelling interest. ‘Louisiana,’ “A Tar Heel Baron,” “The Frophet. of the Great Smoky Mountains”’-—I might mention a dozen -and scouting duty beyond the Union | j swamp and forest, fill every page with (boro patriot. | Co pies. of most’ readable stories—have made a splendid background of these char-!) j acteristics against which they. have ters of the mountains... And these sons and daughters, what of them? Their. separation’ from the outer world, their silence, their indenend- enee, their fidelity, their nearness to the heart of nature, their kinship to the mounitsins about them, their loves, their hates—these :are, if I mistake ;not, and will continue 'to be the sub- jects of North Carolina’s best fiction. Here is “material Gt for the master’s hand. A&A eareful consideration of the fore- going leads to the cunclusion that | ‘North Carolina has a history and life | so characteristically her own that she ‘will always invite the attention of the ‘novelist, — The settlement of I oanoke presented the native sons and daugh-j, bravely, While “My Lady Pocahon-! tas,” “Wutaw,” and “Red Rock” are based. on conditions similar to these portrayed in “John Vytal,” “Joscelyn Cheshire,” and-'The Leopard’s Spots,” tespectively,. there was but.one Noriu Carolina among the original colonies, and there is but one North. Carolina today... Of Western North Carolina this is doubly true. Its mountains and thetr sons have’ been marked for artistic presentation. Both are to have their Cables and Allens just as Louisiana and Kentucky have had theirs; for in the grandeur of the one and the strength of the other is that which. will have itself told in story. North Carolina’s best fiction is yet to find its basis in this setting. As my reading has not been so ex- i ‘\tensive as to bring every setting em- bodied in our fiction to my attention, | iso has it also not beem-so eritical as | to enable: me to judge finally of the worth of each story read. Consequent- lly, whatever value —£ may place on'! any particular volume or volumes will be estimated in aceord with my own opinion and will not necessarily be | considered the result. of. careful in- | vestigation and critical comparison. | Of the Virginia Dure stories, “John Vytal’ is especialy well conceived and executed. The days of Raleigh, Drake, and the Spanish main are: vividly por- trayed. Skillful fencing, Jjesuitical trickery, the dread of stealthy Indian- craft, the silence of interminable a a wonderful, realistic picture. Char- actezs are strongly cast and the story | has charm and Vitality. “Joscelyn Cheshire’ has the right: of way over “When Blades are out} larid Love’s Afield” and other Revolu- | tionary ~ stories. One could not help; loving the spirited Hillsboro Tory maid and honoring the brave Hills- There is something tart in all of her sayings, and in her od there is # love of which her heroic nee can wee ‘Strive te be the Dos- sesso “Sea: ditt, * though almost unknown to the recent North Carolina , public, hoids and will continue to hold a warm place. in the hearts of all those who are fortunate enough to find and read one of the tong out-of-print The one copy at the Univer- sity library has. been constantly read sand zealously suarded these last dozen | years, for. every son of. the University who would ‘know the traditions of his alma ‘mater in the golden days of the for ties and fifties gocs to it gnd ‘loses himself in the glamour and romance ef its pages. Though this copy has never been issued for reaaing outside the Hbrary- building, and consequently ‘has been read under difficulty, I have yet to see a reader who has found nis way into its pages stop, finally, until the last page has been finished. The Tourgee, Dixon, and Chestnut stories (the last by a hegro originaly from Wilmington or Fayetteville) have been sufficiently. exploited te ineed no review at. my hands. It may l suffice to s that they . present in strong, vigorous fashion the bitterest political “struggles through which North Carolina has passed. While they are not the most pleasant read- ing and are bitterly partisan, they ase exceedingly valuable in filing out the histerical story of the seventies and late nineties. They supplement and make living the thrilling experiences of. those stormy days... RE fi > iow we the eo Ess _ Appendix. ; te ‘settings’ considered ove: along, with others not. included in the voedy of the paper, are. to. be found a the following list of fictional works “which. relate in whole or in part to. ‘North..Carolina. — “Hf other titles are known, and there must be a number -of such, I should be glad to be in- | rmed concerning them, Altsheler, whe Au; My Captive; ton Ww York, ete: igs es a ie, Forget-me-nots of the Fleming, St. Louis, | 1909. Bie Maia, Jack ‘O'Doon, | “Holt, Tk, 1894) Pe tent C. T., When Blades are out