At the time when Mr. Howells’s novel, ‘The Lady of the Aroostook’, was published, it was regarded as an antidote to some recent poisons. It is its patriotic and chivalrous purpose to rescue the American woman from the aspersions from which she had suffered in one or two quarters before, and to show of what fine stuff she is really made. Very original materials have been chosen with which to work out this idea, and the result is a fresh, vivacious, elevated story, in which real novelty of conception is combined with all the other fine qualities which have given Mr. Howells his easy distinction among writers of fiction. But the ‘Aroostook’ is a ship, and not the remote county of Maine of that name; and the events of the story take place upon her deck and in her cabin during a voyage from Boston to the Mediterranean. We will not spoil the book for the reader by describing its plan in detail. We will only add here that in it Mr. Howells seems to have written with a pen of broader moral nib, so to speak, than usual; a high and generous purpose taking the lead of a mere technical skill. The character of the story’s obvious motive, and the strong and steady hand with which it is carried out, give ‘The Lady of the Aroostook’ a foremost place among the works of this author.
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