ABSTRACT
What makes it valuable is the evident truthfulness of the narrative, and where this is lacking and its place is taken by ingenious invention, the book suf!:crs. What is inimitable, however, is the reflection of the whole varied series of adventures in the mind of the young scapegrace of a hero. His undying fertility of invention, his courage, his manliness in every trial, arc an incarnation of the better side of the ruffianism th:~t is one result of the independence of Americans, just as hypocrisy is one result of the English respect for civilization. The total absence of morbidness in the book-for the mal dtt siecle has not yet reached Arkansas-gives it a genuine charm; and it is interesting to notice the art with which this is brought out. The best instance is perhaps to be found in the account of the feud between the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords, which is described only as it would appear to a semicivilized boy of fourteen, without the slightest condemnation or surprise,-either of which would be bad art,-and yet nothing more vivid can be imagined. That is the way that a story is best told, by telling it, and letting it go to the reader unaccompanied by sign-posts or directions how he shall understand it and profit by it. Life teaches its lessons by implic:~tion, not by didactic preaching; and literature is at its best when it is an imitation oflife and not an excuse for instruction.
