Soon James Whitcomb Riley was to sing of the next
generation of Hoosiers, who frequented "The Old Swimmin' Hole"
and rejoiced "When the Frost is on the Punkin." It was the era of
Denman Thompson's plays, "Joshua Whitcomb" and "The Old
Homestead." Both the homely and the exotic marched under this
banner of local color: Hamlin Garland presented Iowa barnyards
and cornfields, Helen Hunt Jackson dreamed the romance of the
Mission Indian in "Ramona," and Lafcadio Hearn, Irish and Greek
by blood, resident of New Orleans and not yet an adopted citizen
of Japan, tantalized American readers with his "Chinese Ghosts"
and "Chita." A fascinating period it seems, as one looks back
upon it, and it lasted until about the end of the century, when
the suddenly discovered commercial value of the historical novel
and the ensuing competition in best sellers misled many a fine
artistic talent and coarsened the public taste. The New South
then played the literary market as recklessly as the New West.
Let us glance back to "the abandoned farm of literature," as a
witty New Yorker once characterized New England.
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