[Review of The Marrow of Tradition]

In his latest story Mr. Chesnutt deals with the race tragedy in its largest aspects as he dealt with it in its most intense pressure on the individual in the "House Behind the Cedars." The title of this latest story is a fortunate stroke; it is a story in itself. In the "Marrow of Tradition" the collision between the white and black races in the South is brought out with startling distinctness in a very dramatic plot, full of strong situations. The novel gains immensely in force by the restraint with which it is told, and by the dispassionateness with which good and evil are recognized on both sides of the color line. Mr. Chesnutt brings out some charming aspects of Southern character with a fidelity and skill which show how sympathetic he is with the finest qualities of the social order of the stronger race. This air of impartiality makes the tragic situation which the story works out more effective in its appeal both to sympathy and imagination, and Mr. Chesnutt has given no more decisive evidence of his artistic instinct and feeling than the skill with which, without loss of the power which comes from deep feeling, he has stepped aside and permitted the story to tell itself. His sympathies are not concealed, but they are never intrusive. The story is pathetic to the point of pain, and it is told not only with tempered but with sustained power. It has suggested "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to some readers, and there are points of similarity between two stories which deal with the relations of the whites and blacks. It is less exuberant, less overflowing with vitality, than the earlier novel; but it is more thoroughly balanced, more carefully constructed, more condensed and restrained. It is a notable piece of fiction from several points of view; much the best long story that has come from Mr. Chesnutt's hand.