ENOUGH OF BOTH WORLDS:

THE NOVELS OF E. P. ROE

Ann Harrold-Doering

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

March 1974

Approved by Doctoral Committee

BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY © 1974

ANN HARROLD-DOERING

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED IT

ABSTRACT

This study of the novels of Edward Payson Roe, which were popular between 1872 and 1914, was based on the premise that the popular novel serves as a "mirror of life." It was found that Roe used a form­ ula, "Enough of Both Worlds," to reflect and mould both the readers’ spiritual and temporal lives. Analysis of the elements of this formula —the Situations, the Characters, and the Messages—provided insights into the attitudes, values, and critical concerns of the popular audience.

Roe, a Presbyterian minister who left the pulpit to extend his ministry to a wider sphere through what he called "society sermons," was a popular if not an artistic success. The first and second chapters of this study surveyed his contemporary reputation, his life, and placed him into the context of his time. The experiences of Roe's life informed his novelistic ministry: man must have nurture enough for success in his practical as well as his religious life.

The third, fourth, and fifth chapters analyzed the elements of the formula. The Situations provided plot, instruction, and interest to Roe’s readers. The Characters were stereotypes which provided models and lessons and, at the same time, represented the ideals and aspira­ tions of the democratic Christian nobility of American society. The Messages served to reveal the audience's need for faith, reassurance, and practical aid in their lives. Roe's novels provided a conservative basis of affirmative religion, practical instruction, and information which his readers used as a bulwark against the problems of their era.

The sixth chapter showed the similarities in Roe's relation to his audience to that of later novelists. Representative works of C. M. Sheldon and H. B. Wright along with six modern novels were analyzed to compare and contrast Roe's era and the present. Vast differences were discovered between the worlds reflected in the "mirror of life."

Although the bases for the popular formula have changed with different audiences, this study showed that the elements have remained stable. Thus, the method of analysis developed in this study of E. P. Roe provides a useful tool for future students of the popular novel. Ill

CONTENTS

Page

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

CHAPTER

I. THE CONTEMPORARY REPUTATION OF E. P. ROE: THE 1870’S AND 1880’S ...... 8

II. THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF E. P. ROE: "ENOUGH OF BOTH WORLDS"...... 34

III. ROE’S BEST-SELLING FORMULA: THE SITUATIONS ...... 69

IV. ROE’S BEST-SELLING FORMULA: THE CHARACTERS ...... 96

V. ROE’S BEST-SELLING FORMULA: THE MESSAGE ...... 131

VI. CHANGING REFLECTIONS IN THE "MIRROR OF LIFE"...... 159

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 184

APPENDIX...... 205 INTRODUCTION

The novels of Edward Payson Roe, the subject of this study, were published in large editions at regular intervals from 1872 until

1914. Estimates of the total number of his readers show four million to be a conservative probability. His best-known novel, Barriers

Burned Away, was adapted for both the stage and the screen. Although carefully preserved copies of Roe’s novels may still be obtained from antique dealers, the public libraries no longer have the name of E. P.

Roe in their catalogues. Roe's extraordinary popularity seems to have been limited to the period prior to the First World War, although sales were recorded into the 1920’s. This pattern is typical for a popular novel, according to James D. Hart, who says there is a "cultural lag" which would allow the expectation that an audience for such books may exist long after the last publication date.1

Such popularity entitles Roe to an important position in scholarly consideration of the popular culture of America. The values of the much-read novel for scholarly analysis are primarily its histor­ ical and cultural implications. "Popular art," according to Russel Nye,

"confirms the experience of the majority . . . [and] has been an unusually sensitive and accurate reflector of the society for which it is produced. . . . The popular artist corroborates (occasionally with great skill and intensity) values and attitudes already familiar to his audience; his aim is less to provide a new experience than to validate an older one."2

1 2

Working directly from this assumption, that the values and

attitudes of a society can be determined through the analysis of

popular art, this study is intended to discover this validated know­

ledge in the works of E. P. Roe and to express its implications for

modern students of American society. Methods for making this kind of

discovery in the popular novel are not unlike the traditional methods

of literary analysis. Little attention need be given to evaluation of

artistic merit, although the popular novel mayor may not be an

artistic success, because the only evaluation criterion of any impor­

tance is that of the novel’s immense popularity. Once the popularity

is established, emphasis must be placed upon analysis of the novel’s

structure in order to determine the ways in which the separate parts—

character, setting, and theme—combine to form the whole. This is

accomplished as in traditional kinds of critical analysis, by going

directly to the novel or group of novels. Patterns are then observed

and categorized which serve to classify the total information of that body of work. The popular novel usually seems to be written according

to a formula in which attitudes and values change as the society which

it reflects changes. The elements of the popular formula seem fairly

stable, however. The main focus of the study is upon the elements of

Roe’s successful formula, "Enough of Both Worlds." A secondary and preliminary focus, deemed necessary because of the paucity of informa­ tion available to the modern audience, is upon Roe's position among his contemporaries and upon biographical data pertinent to the novels.

The first chapter surveys Roe’s contemporary reputation. It 3

clearly establishes Roe as a popular success, possibly as the most

popular novelist of his time. Although there was no doubt of that

popularity, the critics of the 1870’s divided rather sharply upon the

point of Roe’s artistic success. By the 1880’s, it was clear that Roe

was no longer considered a major literary artist, even by his most

sympathetic critics. During this period, the rise of Critical Realism

as a standard for the interpretation of literary quality served to

contradict the less exacting judgment of the popular audience. Roe’s

novels were, in fact, the antithesis of the kind of artistic excellence

favored by this critical movement, whose major writers were Henry James,

Mark Twain, and William Dean Howells. James was never a popular

success. Twain, who was immensely popular, was appreciated chiefly for his use of humor, a genre which Roe never attempted. It is Howells,

the chief promulgator and most respected critic of the movement, whose work is most useful in the discussion of Roe’s relation to his contem­ poraries. Because Howells’ domestic novels of the 70’s and 80’s shared, in lesser degree, the popularity of Roe’s, a consideration of similari­ ties and differences in their novels shows that, although differing widely in literary excellence, both novelists mirrored the values, attitudes, and concerns of their society. Other popular writers of the period are also briefly considered to emphasize similarities in audience appeal.

The second chapter presents Roe’s biography as it is pertinent to his writing. Until very recently, the reputation of the author was the key to his success with the popular audience. Roe’s novels were 4

planned to be "society sermons," to minister to the spiritual and

temporal needs of his audience. Thus, the experiences of Roe’s life

are important for two reasons: One, his experiences show him as the

good man he needed to be to gain the confidence of his audience. Two,

his commentary on these experiences showed the ideals and attitudes

which are later apparent in his novels. The biographical data and the

analysis of Roe’s purposes as a novelist lead to a preliminary explana­

tion of the formula, "Enough of Both Worlds."

The third chapter discusses the first of the three elements of

the formula—The Situations. Roe used spectacular current events such

as the Chicago Fire, the Charleston earthquake, a Yellow Fever epidemic;

he also used commonplace events such as runaway horses, auctions, and

donation parties. In every instance, the situation provided the

occasion for Roe to give the advice necessary to both the spiritual and

temporal welfare of his audience. Roe's death-scenes, a staple situa­

tion in the religious novel, are typical of this. Roe’s readers enjoyed generous glimpses of the future world as interpreted by the dying character. In addition, they received ample instruction about the demeanor proper to the bereaved.

The fourth chapter considers The Characters—the second element of the formula. Portrayals of True Knights and True Ladies exist side- by-side with Dickensian "Grotesques," ethnic stereotypes, Belles, and

Bon Vivants. Roe’s emphasis showed his recommendation of the idealized characters as models for his audience; thus, the implication is that

Roe’s preference mirrored the ideals of his audience as well as showed 5

his intention to reinforce these ideals in order to reform the actions

of his audience.

In the fifth chapter, the third element in the formula—The

Messages—is discussed. The messages were both for this world and for

the other world envisioned by the Christian minister and his audience.

The value of hard work to achieve earthly reward was a message which

was paralleled by an explanation of the heavenly reward available to

the true Christian man or woman. Practical instruction in "How to

Catch a Husband" was combined with equally practical advice on "How to

Get the Husband to Become a Christian." The message of duty to God was

extended to include duty to family and society. Roe’s use of the

Messages showed the problems for which his audience wished answers as well as the ideal values of the era.

The sixth and final chapter serves to summarize the data gained by the analysis of the preceding chapters. C. M. Sheldon and Harold

Bell Wright, popular novelists who also wrote before the First World

War, are discussed to show the continuing similarities of the first and later generations of Roe's audience. The method used in the analysis of Roe's formula is then applied to the works of three modern writers,

Arthur Hailey, Fletcher Knebel, and Irving Wallace, whose novels are the present-day successors to Roe's. This application shows differ­ ences between the present era and Roe's. It also demonstrates that the concept of a "formula" for the popular novel is valid. However the values reflected may change, the elements of the formula are stable.

The contrasts of the two eras demonstrate that the values and ideals 6 shown in Roe’s work, those which reflect his era, are in direct opposi­ tion to those shown in today’s novels. 7

FOOTNOTES

1The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1950), p. 169.

2The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts in America (New York: Dial Press, 1970), p. 4. CHAPTER I

THE CONTEMPORARY REPUTATION OF E. P. ROE: THE 1870’S AND 1880'S

The decade of the 1870’s had barely begun when the soaring

flames of the Chicago fire laid low that towering city which was the pride of America's heartland. The electrical impulses of the still marvelous invention, the telegraph, carried the news of the calamitous events of those October days in 1871 directly to the hearts of the

American public. To a nation still suffering from the devastation of

the Civil War, this added blow became a personal one. The gallant response of the citizens of Chicago and America to this tragedy stirred the sympathies and imaginations of many. The editor of Harper's wrote of this response, "While the great fire of Chicago was a calamity unspeakable, and a terrible blow to the reviving prosperity of the country after the war, yet it revealed such humanity and generosity and sympathy that every one was prouder of his country and his kind."1

The great fire was, also, to mark the beginning of the writing career of one of America's most popular romanticists, Edward Payson Roe

Spurred by a sympathetic impulse shared by the entire country, the young New York minister visited the smoldering city. In a letter written on the twelfth anniversary of the fire, Roe reminisced about his journey, saying, "I can now scarcely account for my trip to Chicago

I merely followed a strong impulse as soon as I heard of the fire. The whole thing took hold of my imagination as nothing before had ever done

8 9

For days I wandered among the ruins like a ghost. I shall never forget

the hours I spent watching the full moon thro’ the ruins of Dr. Robt.

Collier’s church and prowling around generally on the ’North Side.’

Think of a moonlight stroll from 34th St. to the Park without seeing a

single house standing or meeting a human being!"2

His experiences in Chicago resulted in Roe’s writing Barriers

Burned Away, a novel which was serialized in the New York Evangelist

and finally became an All-Time Best Seller. His writing career was to

continue until his sudden death in 1888, at the age of fifty. During

these seventeen years, Roe produced sixteen novels, one children’s

novel, four horticultural treatises, and numerous short stories and

essays.

Roe was an immensely popular author from the first novel, which

had touched the sympathies of a ready-made audience by its news value,

to his last. As with the first, all his novels were published first as

serials in magazines and later in hard-cover editions. By the time of

his death, "over a million copies" of his books had been sold.3 Publi­

cation continued until 1912 in most cases, with several issued in the

1920's.1* Frank Luther Mott's compilations of "Best and Better Sellers"

(based on all-time sales) show that E. P. Roe had two novels which were

"Best Sellers," Barriers Burned Away and Opening _a Chestnut Burr, as well as two which were "Better Sellers," From Jest to Earnest and

Driven Back to Eden.5

For these same years, other authors' names appear on the popularity lists with Roe's. Mark Twain, in the cumulative totals, 10

appears to be more popular than Roe: Tom Sawyer, Life on the Missis­

sippi, and Huckleberry Finn were "Best Sellers"; Roughing It and A

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court were "Better Sellers."6

William Dean Howells had two novels listed as "Better Sellers," A

Modern Instance and The Rise of Silas Lapham.7 The other great

novelist of American Realism, Henry James, does not appear on the lists.

Edward Eggleston, Bret Harte, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Jane Holmes, and

Will Carleton are among other names on the lists. The speculation has

to be that there were elements in Twain's and Howells' novels which I were not so visible in those of James, elements which allowed these

"elite" artists to share in the popularity of Roe, Alcott, and Holmes,

who are always assigned to the group of "popular" artists. The contem­

porary audience probably saw the commonplace values in Twain and

Howells, the same values which are overlooked by modern critics who

value irony and technique more highly than does the popular audience of

any age.

Contemporary critical acceptance of Roe can be seen by looking

at some of his reviews and, also, at reviews of other popular authors

of the 1870's and 1880's. In most cases the positive social qualities

of the novels are similar. The reviewers stressed such audience

appeals as wholesomeness, use of interesting local color or historical

incidents, the moral lesson, character development, and fidelity to

real life. The definitions of critical concepts varied so considerably

that there is no standard from which to judge the meaning of the terms; however, some conclusions can be drawn in evaluating Roe's reputation 11

among his contemporaries.

For example, an Atlantic review of Tom Sawyer said the novel

has a "boy of the Southwest for the hero . . . and has presented him

with a fidelity to circumstance which loses no charm by being realistic

in the highest degree, and which gives incomparably the best picture of

life in that region as known to fiction."8 In this case, it is the

local color and use of familiar character which are of primary note,

rather than the ironic observations or the philosophy. The Prince and

the Pauper was valued by another reviewer for its "romantic surprises

. . . historical facts and teachings . . . [and its] generous and

ennobling moral."8 Presumably, A Connecticut Yankee and Life on the

Mississippi could qualify for popularity on the points mentioned by

both reviewers.

Another popular artist, one who has suffered oblivion in the

20th century, Will Carleton, had a book of poems called Farm Ballads

which was a "Best Seller" in the period. The Harper's review said that

the best work of the volume was Carleton’s "delineation of the homelier

phases of American life and character. ... In these home pictures Mr.

Carleton is an artist not inferior to Bret Harte, John Hay, or Joaquin

Miller, while both in the moral tone and in the warmth and healthful­

ness of feeling he is vastly superior."10 Again, a concern for the beauty of the familiar is apparent as is a respect for moral sentiment.

Another comment in the review which is pertinent is that, while the poems do "exalt home and the home life,” they also show a kind of "love which is absolutely free from sensuousness or passion."11 12

Another "Best Seller" of the 70’s, and one notorious in that

age for its lack of wholesomeness, was Charles Reade's A Terrible

Temptation. The Atlantic review pointed to the author’s "artistic

reluctance to enforce a lesson that ought to teach itself"12 as one

reason for the disfavor of many readers. The unpointed moral lesson

must have received more vocal criticism than actual protest as shown by

refusal to purchase the book. There is little doubt that the sensa­

tional implications of the story constituted the popular appeal. The

novel, intended as an expose of baby farms in England, was described by

one reviewer as having "a positive odor of coarse vulgarity which is

disgusting."13

The Atlantic review of Edward Eggleston’s The Hoosier School­

master stressed its "plain fashion" and its telling of a story of

"manners hitherto strange to literature." The characters, while

serving to illustrate the manners are "easily known from each other,—

which is much for characters." The reviewer cited as conspicuous

weaknesses the use of pathos and piety, which "are not so well managed"

as the more sensational and unpleasant aspects of the novel, although

he believed that pathos and piety are "good things to have in a

story."11*

The Roe reviews are found in Harper’s and in the Atlantic,

interestingly, during the times when Howells was not in charge of these magazines. Shortly before Roe had begun his writing career, William

Dean Howells had assumed responsibility for the reviews of new books at

the Atlantic magazine in 1866. He was, thus, in the position from 13

which he could begin the critical assessments which led to the main

innovative movement in late 19th century American literature, Critical

Realism. In 1871, the year of the Chicago fire, Howells assumed

nominal editorship of the magazine. By 1873, he had been given

complete responsibility. In addition to his work as editor and critic,

Howells was writing a series of novels which promulgated his critical

concepts. Harper's faithfully and pleasantly reviewed Roe's work from

1873 until December, 1885. After this, the beginning of, Howells'

tenure, there was no mention of Roe. The earliest review of a Roe

novel in the Atlantic is in December, 1881, after Howells had left the

magazine. Throughout Roe's productive years, Howells was a powerful

force against the critical acceptance of the kind of novel written by

Roe.

Spencer Park Lane, in a more recent study of Roe's work, says

that Roe and Howells were good friends and that Howells refused to

review Roe's novels because of a gentlemanly reluctance to hurt Roe.15

It is true that Howells did ask, in his early writing, that critics use

courtesy and not needlessly hurt writers.16 It is clear that Roe's work is antithetical to Howells' ideas of good fiction. According to

Howells' definitions of kinds of novels, Roe's would fall into the category of the "romanticistic novel," of which he said, "The romanti­ cistic novel professes like the real novel to portray actual life, but it does this with an excess of drawing and coloring which are false to nature. It attributes motives to people which do not govern real people; and its characters are of the quality of types; they are 14

heroic, for good or for bad. It seeks effect rather than truth; and

endeavors to hide in a cloud of incident the deformity and artificial­

ity of its creations. It revels in the extravagant, the unusual and

the bizarre."17 In addition, Howells spoke against the author who wrote to instruct his audience.18 Howells’ obvious refusal to review

Roe’s work must be acknowledged as such. If the two men were such good

friends as to furnish the motive for Howells’ silence, there should be

some record of the friendship. There is none available at this time.18

Lane suggests that Howells perhaps was also motivated by an "unwilling­ ness ... to criticize fully anyone so popular."20

Whatever the reasons, however great the friendship, Roe was still speaking to Howells shortly before his death; Roe invited Howells to join the New York Authors Club for the annual outing at Roe's home.21

Howells was not listed in obituary notices which included the names of well-known guests at this outing; so, we can assume he did not attend.

The Harper's obituary notice was conspicuously brief, only three lines, when contrasted to the pages and columns given to Roe’s obituaries in other magazines and papers of the period.

This much is certain: these two men whose careers blossomed in the same time period in America were generations apart in their ideas of literary technique. Roe was the last, over-blown bloom of the fading

Romanticism which was the avant-garde movement at the beginning of the century; Howells was the first of the new avant-garde movement of

Realism.

The contemporary treatment of Roe’s novels in the Atlantic was 15

in sharp contrast to those in Harper * s—in length as well as in appre­

ciation. While the Atlantic changed from silence to respectfully non­

committal comments to outrightly disgusted critiques, Harper * s gave

Roe’s work fulsome praise and adulation until 1879. The reviews began

to cool then and disappeared in 1886. The influence of the new critics

was undoubtedly being felt.

The Harper’s reviews always gave enough summary of the novel to

whet the readers’ appetites. The following notices are typical of the

Harper's commentary; the summaries are omitted. In discussing Barriers

Burned Away in an 1873 edition, Harper's said that "the plot is

certainly original, the incidents are certainly fresh, and disclose not

a little power of imagination. The only conventional character we

recognize is Deacon Gudgeon and deacons always are conventional. There

is a good deal of power, too, in working up the scenes, which both in

conception and in general effect are strong without being objectionably

sensational.1,22 And when the second book came along, the reviewer said,

"'What Can She Do?' . . . may possibly not prove as immediately popular as Mr. E. P. ROE's previous fiction, Barriers Burned Away, but it is a better story, more artistic in conception, more carefully or at least more maturely, developed, more natural both in characterization and incident. . . . Like that work, this is thoroughly American. ... It is a study from real life. Like the previous story, it is written for a purpose, and despite the critics, we maintain that a definite, though not an avowed nor perhaps always a conscious purpose is the first condition of a true work of art."23 16

The reviewer was still friendly to Roe's purposes and optimis­

tic about his future when Opening <1 Chestnut Burr came across the desk:

"Mr. EDWARD P. ROE has made a marked advance upon his two previous

stories. . . . Mr. Roe has already exhibited a remarkable power of

description, which in this volume he uses with good effect in the

scenes of the fire and the shipwreck. But in this work he has also

shown greater skill and fidelity to nature in his character drawing."211

And when the Revolutionary War novel was ready for review, the editor

was more enthusiastic than ever about Roe's skill: "'Near to Nature's

Heart' ... is unquestionably the best of Mr. E. P. ROE's novels. We

believe, also, that it will be the most popular. . . There is a

certain family resemblance in Mr. Roe's stories. . . [To the absence

of class structure and the obstacles produced by them in America] may be attributed the poverty of American fiction. ... In Mr. Roe's

stories religious diversity serves in lieu of these social differences."25

In the criticism of A Knight of the Nineteenth Century, the reviewer was as apologetic in his criticism of Roe's technique as he was enthusiastic about his purpose. He wrote that the novel "is quite as intensely as religious a novel as any of its predecessors, and in some respects more wisely and more profoundly so. Its moral and spiritual power is certainly not less; we are inclined to think it greater. . . . Its most serious defect is unevenness in execution .

. . . [There is a problem of the] too hurried narrative of the closing chapters. But it is a book which those who begin will be pretty sure to finish, and which no one can finish without deriving from it a new

impulse to the truest knighthood.1,26

These are the most complimentary of the commentaries on Roe’s

work which appeared in Harper's. A change is apparent in the tone of

even these reviews, which were the most positive of those of his

contemporaries. The qualities which are critically admired—original

plots, studies from real life, conception and effect of strikingly

unusual events, religious sincerity of purpose—soon become insuffi­

cient to allow the critics to overlook the flaws in Roe's technique.

Subsequent reviews, with the exception of the ecstatic review of

Nature's Serial Story, a novel published serially in the magazines and

in an elaborate gift edition by Harper's Brothers, the tone of the

Harper's reviews became less wholeheartedly approving and more critical.

The reviewer of A Face Illumined said that the "freshness and vigor of portions of its narrative, and the spiritual variety of some of its

incidents, compensate in some measure for its abounding crudities and imperfections." He objected to an "incongruous medley of romance and religion," but the heroine's use of laudanum may have had its effect on the reviewer's sensibilities, because the word "carnal" is mentioned, also.27 A Day of Fate drew the comment that it was "not a work of art, but nevertheless . . . very pleasant reading."28 Still later, a review of Without a. Home noted that the novel showed an "unmistakable improve­ ment upon its popular predecessors," but that it was not "literary

The qualities admired in Roe's work are not so different from 18

the things the writers praised in Twain or Carleton or Eggleston. They

approved the wholesome, the "pictures of life," the historical inci­

dents. That art is important is shown despite the obvious differences

in the expertise of the critics. Often credit was given by the

Harper's reviewers for artistic excellence which was not recognized as

such by anyone else. The majority found Roe short on artistic quali­

ties, no matter how much they admired other aspects of his work. How­

ever, when one applies the test used by Roe to evaluate his own work,

the test of total sales, of popularity as shown by the cash outlay of his customers, shows clearly that Roe was superior to most of his

contemporaries.

Roe was sensitive to the disagreements among the critics about his merit as a writer. Every "Preface" contains some reference to his not writing to suit the critics but to suit his audience of good

Christian men and women. He spoke so often of his critics that it is abundantly clear that he wished very much to please the literary critics as well. He chose to discuss the problem in his autobiographi­ cal sketch for Lippincott* s magazine. In discussing the reviewer who found Barriers Burned Away "absolutely nauseating," Roe claimed that the most important test of worth in a novel is whether large numbers of people will purchase it. Claiming some superiority for his work, at least from this point of view, he said, "People cannot be found by thousands who will pay a dollar and seventy-five cents for a dime novel or a religious tract."30 He knew that the critical opinions would be of three kinds, "One, condemning, another commending . . . [but] there 19

is ever a third class who prove their superiority by sneering at or

ignoring what is closely related to the people. . . . The only thing

for a writer is to be himself and take the consequences."31 Roe

concluded his argument for the people as the final judge of quality in

literature by saying that "the simple truth in the case is that, in

spite of this immense and cheap competition, my novels have made their

way and are being read by multitudes .... My one aim has become to

do my work conscientiously and leave the final verdict to the public."32

A Cosmopolitan article of 1888, "Is Literature Bread-Winning?",

further substantiates the claim that Roe was the choice of the people

when it came to paying money for literary endeavors.33 The writer

discusses at length the problem faced by many American writers—the

inability to earn an adequate living by their novel writing alone.

Looking at the earnings and sources of income of several writers, many

of whom are known today, the author shows the inadequacy of literary payments: William Cullen Bryant was an active newspaper man who did not rely on his poetry to earn a living. Ralph Waldo Emerson rarely earned $2,000 a year but managed to survive through careful economy.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing produced very little and he had to work at other jobs. Henry W. Longfellow married a rich woman and was a professor at Harvard before he finally began to receive generous payment late in life. Dr. J. G. Holland made money on his books but more for his lectures. He had to supplement his income by investing in stocks and by publishing Scribner's magazine. Bayard Taylor earned a living by the lecture circuit and by being a writer and an owner of the 20

Tribune. Walt Whitman seemed to be wholly dependent on others to

furnish his living, a "kind of modern Elijah, miraculously fed by

ravens."S1* Henry James wrote in leisure because of an inheritance.

Bret Harte made an excellent wage from his writing but not a living

because of his poor business sense. William Dean Howells was "one of

the most prosperous of authors, for as a novelist he is the fashion.

. . . Yet he has always had a salary."35 Thomas Bailey Aldrich, also,

had almost always had a salary. Samuel L. Clemens made as much as any writer or lecturer, but had discovered there was more money in

publishing than in writing books. Howells received $5,000 to $6,000 a

novel, and Henry James less.36

The most outstanding paragraph in this listing of authors and wages is the one in which the author did not even find it necessary to give the novelist’s name. The person to whom he referred is clearly E.

P. Roe. The commentary noted that "the author who doubtlessly makes far more money by his novels than any author in America—perhaps four or five times as much—has also a farm on the Hudson and raises small fruits for market. Financially he is a giant among liliputians as to manuscript making. It sounds incredible; but I am authoritatively informed that the royalty from his works for the last fiscal year reached forty thousand dollars."37

Thus, we can see that by his own judgment and by those of others, E. P. Roe was a popular success, a money maker. Unlike Twain,

Howells and others who enjoyed artistic as well as popular success, Roe was an artistic failure even by the standards of his contemporaries. 21

Twain and Howells are today considered master writers of American

literature and Roe is forgotten. Although Twain was more popular,

Howells was the most important literary figure of the period. As an

influential critic, he—more than Twain who was noted by his contempor­

aries not for technical excellence but for local color, humor, and his

espousal of rural virtues—set standards for a new kind of American

novel. The lasting success of both Twain and Howells is based on

different criteria than their contemporary popular success. As Howells

improved as a literary artist, his popularity diminished. No novel

after The Rise of Silas Lapham attained the "Best" or "Better Seller"

lists.

Howells’ popular success in the early novels, however, was

probably based more upon his use of themes dealing with home and family

and characters which dealt with the commonplace in American life than

on literary excellence. The use of the commonplace was, in large part,

an explanation of Roe’s popularity, also. Roe idealized and glorified

the commonplace, a trait of his kind of romanticism which the ironic mood of the present century cannot tolerate. Roe was as concerned with

"showing" rather than "telling" as were Howells and his followers. It is ironic that they should be so close in so many ways and so far apart in excellence. The difference, of course, in this instance lies in what they were "showing." Roe was interested in "showing" an ideal principle of behavior, in dramatizing a moral lesson, while Howells was

"showing" in dramatic form the human condition.

More than any other contemporary artist who is considered an 22

artist by present standards, Howells shared with Roe the materials

dealing with the values, concerns, and attitudes of their society. For

the purposes of this study, the similarities are more important than

the obvious artistic and thematic dissimilarities. It is this common

ground which constituted the basis for popular appeal and which

reflects the American middle-class in the era which began with the

ending of the Civil War and ended with the beginning of the First World

War. In "A Study of Predominant Themes in Best-Selling American Fic­

tion, 1850-1915," Ruth Ellen Coplan said that there was a direct

relation between the popular themes and the social, religious,

economic, and political conditions of the era. Coplan divides the major themes according to the myths usually agreed upon as central to

the late 19th century and emphasizes the Garden of Eden myth of rural superiority and the myth of the Self-Made-Man. The religious theme and

the reform theme, too, are discussed by Coplan.38 These themes are predominant in the novels of both Roe and Howells. A brief comparison of A Modern Instance and The Rise of Silas Lapham (Howells’ popular novels of the 70’s and 80’s) with Roe’s novels will serve to illustrate further the relationship of the "popular" artist to the "elite" artist.

It shows the similarities of theme and the dissimilarities of treatment.

Regardless of the ostensible purpose of Roe’s novels, each one is a love story. The major characters are involved in the discovery of their love and in the clearing away of barriers in order to achieve a happy marriage. Some problems are more difficult to solve than others, but always the complications of the love story form the skeletal 23

structure for the novel. In his popular novels, Howells has love

stories, also. In A Modern Instance, Marcia and Bartley must overcome

several barriers to be married; Halleck must waste his life in fruit­

less love for Marcia because she is another man’s wife. Even though

Bartley died, Halleck cannot claim Marcia as his wife because his honor

will not overlook the fact of his love for her while Bartley lived. In

a subplot, Clara Kingsbury and Atherton must overcome the barrier of

her superior wealth to become happily married. The complications of

the Irene-Penelope-Tom triangle in The Rise of Silas Lapham constitute

a major part of the story, a part more often understood by readers than

the "rise" of Silas, which was Howells’ main theme. The business of

being in or out of love and the relationships resulting from that

process form as large a part of the Howells novels as they do of the

Roe novels, regardless of the artistic use which is made of that business.

Roe is always referred to as a religious novelist, and his stories do usually have much to do with religious sentiments. The one aspect of religion most often stressed, however, is the need of men here on earth to care for each other in a Christian community. The social concern usually labelled religious in Roe is very similar to the sense of "complicity" which is central in all of Howells* writing. It is the main argument used by Atherton against divorce. It is the reason for Silas Lapham’s difficulties; at bottom, the complications which led to his business failure began when he ignored the rights of

Rogers. He could not experience his "rise" until he had "set straight" 24

his conscience about his early conduct, even though Rogers was far

beyond any such consideration at the time Lapham insisted upon helping

him. Although Howells does not sermonize as Roe does, he sends the

Laphams to a sensible minister (one of whom Roe would have heartily

approved) for advice in solving the dilemma caused by their misunder­

standing of Tom Corey’s intentions toward their daughters. Mrs.

Gaylord, of A Modern Instance, experiences a narrowing of her personal­

ity when she leaves her religion for the Squire's hearth. Of course,

in an E. P. Roe novel the Squire would have become an active member of

the church as well as a generous contributor of money and they would both have experienced the joy of the church community. Howells does not denigrate religion but neither does he insist, as Roe would have, that the lack of religious belief and affiliation might have led to the

Gaylord's problems and to Marcia's plight. A reader could draw his own conclusions on this point. Who knows how many 19th century readers believed that the lack of religion was the cause of the trouble?

In choosing topical matter for his novels, Roe settled upon the plight of the shop girl, opium addiction, slum housing, prostitution, suicide, and other sensational kinds of topics. Howells, in A Modern

Instance, also utilized a current topic of the same sort, divorce, as a part of his novel. The novel was not "about" divorce, nor was it designed to teach the evils or the cures of the divorce problem as a

Roe novel would have been; but it is usually referred to in this way, a reference which shows that readers looking for topical novels with a lesson might so interpret this novel. Roe used the problems of the 25

business world in several novels. The same real business depression

which complicated Silas Lapham’s affairs furnished the complication in

several Roe novels as well. The struggle of a young man for success in

business and as a newspaper man, used by Howells in A Modern Instance,

is a part of the topical material in Roe’s A Knight of the Nineteenth

Century. The career of writing seems to have been of interest as a

topic, because Roe uses it as an alternative chance for success for

several of his heroes. The hero of A Day of Fate wins his true love

through his crusading editorials.

The family and the home were central in works of both authors.

In Howells’ utopian novels, A Traveler from Altruria and Through the

Eye of the Needle, his ideal world is an expansion of the family unit

to include an entire society.38 For Roe, also, the relationships of

human beings in a family situation are central. In The Rise of Silas

Lapham, Mrs. Lapham urges her daughters to comfort their father because

of his business problems. Roe, several times, makes the compassion and

understanding of the heroine for her father's business worries a part

of her redemption. In both of the Howells novels, sibling relation­

ships are explored. In Roe’s novels, these relationships are idealized;

inevitably the family ties are beautiful and wonderful. Howells

explores realistic personalities in conflict as well as in harmony.

This difference runs throughout their characterizations.

Since married love is a part of the love story as well as a part of the human relationship of the family, both authors use this relationship often. For Roe, the bond of matrimony solves most 26

problems and the subject is rarely inspected closely, although in two

novels he treats married life in an idealized fashion. The married

couples usually furnish the background for the problems of the young

lovers. Howells’ marriages are real; he explains the kinds of marriage

in the relationships of the Coreys, the Laphams, the Gaylords, and the

Hubbards. In his utopian novels, he treats the Altrurian visitor to a view of American marriages which show a "predominantly matriarchal" family structure, an attitude which expects females to be intellec­ tually superior to their husbands and which expects the male to

"worship" his wife.1+0 Howells is much harsher in his treatment of the wife who deserts her husband for the summer to go to a resort, although

Roe comments negatively on the point. In both novelists’ work, the conventional attitudes toward women as wives are similar. Howells chose to explore alternative attitudes, and, except in advocating practical education for women, Roe chose to perpetuate the conventional ideas either by further idealization or by simple acceptance of the stereotype.

A particularly stereotyped view of women is shown in Roe's treatment of the invalid mother. Roe, in seriousness, idealizes most of his mother figures. When the mothers are not of this kind, Roe would refer to them as "false" mothers; and the reader knows immediately that they are not good. Invalid mothers who are really ill are saints who inspire the entire family. Their rooms are havens of joy for the entire family; their husbands are privileged to care for them. Invalid mothers who assume illness to avoid responsibility are shown in direct 27

contrast to the others. In adversity, they soon adapt to the needs of

the situation and cease their sham. In a Howells novel of a later

period, April Hopes, the invalid mother is shown realistically, as both

a pleasure and a trial to her family. In the treatment of this one

similar situation, the artistic superiority of the Realist is more

clearly evident than any other I have observed. Roe’s idealized

invalid mothers are perhaps his most saccharine conception; he always

drew upon his memory of his own mother for these descriptions and

claimed their reality to life in each case. Silas Lapham discloses, in

the Events interview at the beginning of that novel, a similar ideali­

zation of his mother as an angel who survived painful trials in her ministries to the Lapham family. Silas Lapham and E. P. Roe, in their views of reality, have more in common than Howells and Roe, as a matter of fact.

Roe’s description of rich people and high society show similar­ ly that he was as ignorant of the society which Bromfield Corey described as having those "qualities—which may be felt, but not defined,"1*1 as was the Lapham family. The novels of both authors are full of a consciousness of levels of society, however well or clumsily they are described. In a supposedly classless society, this novelistic concern with social position should be surprising. It indicates that the readers were interested in the topic, for all their democratic protestations. In the novels of this period, Howells shows little preference for any level of society.1*2 Roe definitely expects to find the best people in the rural middle class. Howells, in the two popular 28

novels, might seem to the reader to be favoring the same class. The

Gaylords and the Laphams are presented as people who lose their seren­

ity in the city society, and an interpretation stressing this point

might be possible, depending upon the reader's viewpoint.

Other points could be mentioned. In each case, Howells'

treatment is so different that the modern reader scarcely recognizes

the similarities of subject matter. This is not surprising, especially

when one considers Howells' critical principles. In 1899, Howells, at

the height of his career, stated his belief that the novel was a good

place to go for the reader to find "what we are, and where we are," a

better place than the sermon which may "no longer serve this end.,,£l3

Roe had decided thirty years earlier that the old-time sermon was no

longer the vehicle to reach the American public and chose to utilize

the novel. Yet, because of the differences in their critical and artistic ability, it was of Roe and writers like him that Howells spoke so disapprovingly in his lecture when he said that "literature swarms with second-rate, third-rate romanticistic novelists." It is ironic that Howells shared an audience in many instances with the lesser novelists whose work he so strongly dislikes—an audience which he denigrated rather strongly. Howells characterized those who read novels like Roe's as "people of weak and childish imagination, pleased with gross fables, fond of prodigious heroes, heroines, portents and impracticabilities, without self-knowledge and without the wish for

Parts of this harsh estimate of the popular audience as it was 29

particular to Roe are refuted by an analysis of Roe’s major concerns in

his novels. Others are confirmed. This audience was indeed childlike,

in the sense of being unworldly and naive; it loved heroes and heroines

who could realize happiness often similar to the kinds of happiness

available to the audience itself; it was "fond of portents" which

fulfilled its religious expectations. Contrary to Howells’ estimate,

it thirsted for knowledge of all kinds, including self-knowledge. As

such, it was not too different from the popular audience of any era.

Its idealizations were different, its goals were different, and it was,

thus, different from the society of today.

It was this audience whose needs E. P. Roe met so well.

Although the critics of the 1870's and 1880’s were correct in their

estimates of the literary qualities of Roe's novels, they could neither

deny nor negate the tremendous popular response to these "society

sermons." In his final message to his public, Roe said, "When a critic

condemns my books, I accept that as his judgment; when another critic and scores of men and women, the peers of the first in cultivation and

intelligence, commend the books, I do not charge them with gratuitous lying. My one aim has been to do my work conscientiously and leave the final verdict to time and the public. I wish no other estimate than a correct one; and when the public indicates that they have had enough of

Roe I shall neither whine nor write."45 It was several generations before the public had "had enough of Roe." The verdict of time is that these novels still have a practical use in the discovery of the atti­ tudes, values, and concerns of these generations, regardless of their 30

artistic merit. Roe would have been gratified to know that 20th-cen­

tury scholars could learn from his novels. He would have been proud to

see his work used as one of the historic documents of American

culture. A study of this sort would have been the kind of monument he

would have preferred to the granite boulder placed on the slopes of the

Hudson Highlands by his loving friends. It would more probably have

ranked, in his estimate, with the stone church he built in the

Highlands.

The next chapter will further explore the life of this man who

ministered so well to his society through his novels. With a heart

full of love, Roe used the materials of his experience to aid his

fellow mortals to achieve both better lives and spiritual salvation.

Because he was a man so much of his world, he was able to understand

the needs of his audience and produce the novels which are so valuable

to the study of his era. 31

FOOTNOTES

1"The Editor’s Easy Chair," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XLIV (Oct. 1881), 133. The magazine will be referred to as HNMM in subsequent citations.

2Letter from E. P. Roe to Richard R. Bowker (9 Oct. 1883), in the Richard Rogers Bowker Collection, New York Library.

3E. D. Walker, "Edward P. Roe," Cosmopolitan, V (Sept. 1888), 401.

See Appendix.

5Golden Multitudes: The Study of Best Sellers in The United States (New York: MacMillan, 1947), pp. 309-10, 322-23.

5Ibid., pp. 310, 322-23.

7Ibid., p. 323.

8Atlantic, XXXVII (May 1876), 621. This is during Howells’ tenure as editor of that magazine.

9HNMM, LXIV (March 1882), 635. This is before Howells was editor.

10"Editor’s Literary Record," HNMM, XLVII (June 1873), 129.

uIbid., 130.

12Atlantic, XXVIII (Sept. 1871), 384.

13"Culture and Progress at Home," Scribner's Monthly Magazine, II, No. 6 (Oct. 1871), 668. The magazine will be referred to as Scribner's in subsequent citations.

^Atlantic, XXIX (March 1872), 363.

15"e. P. Roe: A Study of Popular Taste in Nineteenth Century American Fiction," M.A. thesis, Univ. of Missouri, 1948, pp. 53-54. Lane's thesis deals with Roe's novels in order to discuss common themes of the era. It was done from an elitist point-of-view, and Lane did not consider the value of knowing about the taste of the popular audience. It contains a literary analysis of Barriers Burned Away as well as critical commentary and brief biographical notes. 32

18William Dean Howells, Criticism and Fiction, ed. Clara Marsburg Kirk and Rudolf Kirk (New York: New York Univ. Press, 1959), p. 23.

17"Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading, An Impersonal Explanation," ed. William M. Gibson, Bulletin of the New York Public Library, LXII, No. 1 (Jan. 1958), 20.

18Ibid., 24.

18A standing joke between Twain and Howells had to do with Twain’s threatening to send manuscripts to Howells for the Atlantic before he sent them to the Christian Union, H. W. Beecher’s and Lyman Abbott’s magazine which serialized some of Roe's novels. H. N. Smith and William M. Gibson, ed., Mark Twain-Howells Letters 1872-1910, Vol. I (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1960), p. 271.

20Lane, p. 54.

21Letter, E. P. Roe to W. D. Howells (10 June 1888), in Howells Collection, Hayes Memorial Library, Fremont, Ohio.

22HNMM, XLVI (March 1873), 615.

23HNMM, XLVIII (Feb. 1874), 449.

2t*HNMM, L (Dec. 1874), 139-40.

25HNMM, LIV (Dec. 1876), 149.

26HNMM, LVI (Dec. 1877), 148.

27HNMM, LVIII (Feb. 1879), 467.

28HNMM, LXII (Jan. 1881), 313.

29HNMM, LXIV (Jan. 1882), 316.

38E. P. Roe, "A Native Author Called Roe," Lippincott's, Oct. 1888, p. 488. With Roe's usual excellent sense of timing, this article was in proof at the time of his death and was available to the public when it was most interested in his life story.

31Ibid., p. 489. The reference to the "critics who ignore" may explain the stance taken by Howells.

32Ibid., p. 490.

33Paul R. Cleveland, Cosmopolitan, V (March-Oct. 1888), 312-20. 33

3 Cleveland, Cosmopolitan, V, 315.

35Ibid., 317.

36Ibid., 319.

37Ibid.

38Unpub. Diss., Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1966.

33Alma J. Payne, "The Family in the Utopias of William Dean Howells," Georgia Review, 15, No. 2 (1961), 217-30.

40Ibid., 221.

4William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press, 1971), p. 138.

42Note, however, that Howells* utopian novels clearly express the preference for a rural, classless society. See, particularly, Payne, 221.

43"Novel-Writing," 21.

44Ibid.

45"A Native Author," p. 490. CHAPTER II

THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF E. P. ROE: "ENOUGH OF BOTH WORLDS"

The materials concerning Roe’s life, although few, contain the

evidence necessary for this brief biographical survey.1 The facts of

Roe's life are important only as they serve to prove that Roe was what

his audience would accept as a "good man" and to reveal some of his

life experiences which were utilized in his novels. There is no doubt

that Roe was regarded as a "good man"; this qualification was prerequi­

site to any popular success in his era. His kinship to his audience

and his sympathy for suffering souls were the qualities which led to

the novels which he proposed as sermons to minister to the needs of

this large audience.

Roe once told a friend that he found the average biography

disgusting. He said, "I shouldn’t like to be painted as a little tin

god. I have my weaknesses. I am sadly human, and I know it. And if I

ever had any influence over souls, either as a minister of the gospel

or as a writer, it is because of my consciousness of these weaknesses.

Criminals and outcasts have travelled long distances to make me a sort of father-confessor, but through all their crimes and vices I have never failed to recognize the kinship that existed between us."2 The construction of Roe’s biography does, however, give a picture of a man very close to a "little tin god." Existing records show a man as idealized as any of the characters in his novels. Only in brief

34 35

remarks in his personal letters and in such statements as the one here

cited can be discerned any hint of the man who suffered the heartaches and trials of a private individual. If E. P. Roe, the man, was differ­ ent from E. P. Roe, the author, there is very little evidence of this fact. Thus, if Roe should appear as though he were a "little tin god" in this biographical sketch, it is the fault of the age in which he lived, an age which liked its heroes larger than life. There is probably no better indication of Roe’s secure place in his era than this heroic quality in the facts Which remain to delineate his life.

From his birth in Moodna, New York on March 7, 1838, Edward

Payson Roe was nurtured in the Hudson Highlands, in an atmosphere of close family ties and intimacy with nature and American history which was to be apparent in all his writings. From his father, who maintained a station on the Underground Railroad as well as a successful fruit farm, he learned the practical use of nature’s bounty which resulted in his successful horticultural enterprises and the horticultural books which were as successful as his novels. His father’s example, also, was important to the growth of the concerns for social reform which were central to Roe’s novels. Living in a household dominated by his invalid mother, Roe developed a reverence for the sacrifice and compas­ sion of a loving Christian mother. Mrs. Roe’s illness was caused by complications resulting from Edward’s birth, and duty combined with love to make the young boy her faithful companion. From his mother,

Roe learned the Bible and the classics of secular literature. Her love for her rose garden, where they spent many happy hours, resulted in her 36 son’s life-long interest in growing beautiful flowers as well as useful

fruits. The example of his parents was important to the formation of the man who was to become one of the most popular novelists in America.

Besides his love of God, his reverence for family ties, and his social concern, he drew from them the most basic of his ideas—that human sustenance must contain nurture for the body as well as for the soul.

Mary Abigail Roe wrote about their childhood, when, as the youngest of six brothers and sisters, they roamed the woods and fields of the Highlands. She told about the strength of Edward's ties to his mother and of her brother’s early gifts for storytelling. On a visit to the ruins of their grandfather's home, she said, Edward told a family anecdote of the Revolutionary War and made it seem "very real to us."3 The Rev. A. Moss Merwin, Edward's friend at his brother Alfred's classical school, wrote about his young friend: "His face and manners were attractive, and intellectually he ranked high among his companions.

Well informed as to current events, with a wider knowledge of books than is usual with young men of his years, and with great facility in expressing his thoughts orally and in writing, he commanded our respect from the first. . . . Then as we came to know something of his kind­ ness of heart and enthusiasm for the good and true, we loved him."11

During Roe's youth, according to Merwin, "there came a time of special religious interest when Edward was deeply impressed. With loving purpose he sought out two of his most intimate companions, and through his instrumentality they then began the Christian life. One became a successful businessman in Chicago, and to the day of his death 37

remembered with gratitude the helping hand and earnest words of E. P.

Roe. The other friend [Merwin himself] remembers that soon after that

decision, when he and Edward were walking through the grounds of the

Friends’ meeting-house, they covenanted together to study for the

ministry."5

Merwin and Roe were also classmates during their high school

years at Burr and Burton Seminary in Manchester, Vermont. While Roe

was in Vermont, the family suffered financial hardship. Roe told this

story of an incident from these years: Having heard that his father

had cancelled his subscription to the Tribune in his need for economy,

the boy decided to cut nine cords of wood for the school in order to

pay for a subscription to give his father. The fifty-year-old Roe said,

"My back aches yet as I recall the experiences of subsequent weeks, for

the wood was heavy, thick, and hard as a bone. I eventually had the

pleasure of sending to my father the subscription price of his paper

for a year. If a boy reads these lines, let me assure him that he will

never know a sweeter moment in his life than when he receives the

thanks of his parents for some such effort in their behalf. No invest­

ment can ever pay him better."6 It is obvious that, even as a child,

Roe was aware of the rewards possible to the man who was true to filial

duty and the ties of earthly love.

Roe went from Vermont to Williams College in Williamstown,

Massachusetts. During his first year at Williams, his eyesight failed

because of his diligent efforts to study by defective light. Only walking in the cold air gave him any relief. Fearing that his 38

education was at an end, he went to Dr. Mark Hopkins, the college

president, for advice. In his autobiography, Roe referred to the

importance of this meeting: "Never can I forget how that grand old man met the disheartened boy. Speaking in the wise, friendly way which subdued the heart and strengthened the will, he made the half-hour spent with him the turning point in my life." Hopkins advised Roe to take a "partial course" and enter the senior class the next fall.7 Roe, thus, was graduated from Williams College in 1861.8

In 1862, Roe was at Auburn Theological Seminary, having noted great improvement in his eyes through a summer spent in outdoor activities. He reported to his classmates at Williams, "I am looking forward with joy and hope to the high, laborious and responsible, yet happy calling of the Ministry. I have enjoyed Seminary life and studies exceedingly." His classmates noted that Roe was "fast bound in a true lover’s knot" over a Miss Sands.9

A brief notice in the 1863 Williams College Class Report indicated that Roe was a chaplain for the Harris Light Cavalry and had returned to Auburn after a year’s service.10 In the 1865 Report, Roe wrote about his war service and his career as a Chaplain at Hampton

Hospital at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. During his time as the Cavalry

Chaplain, Roe was also a correspondent for the Tribune and the New York

Evangelist. In his letters he described the terrors of the war as well as the nobility of the men in war. Mary A. Roe recalled the intensity of Roe’s enthusiasm for serving his country and included in her account of his life the following letter, taken from the Tribune, which was 39

written by a soldier who had known Roe: "Chaplain Roe ... is a man

whose praises are in the mouth of every one for timely and efficient

services. He is always with the regiment, and his whole time is

devoted to the temporal and spiritual welfare of the men. He is their

friend, adviser, and counsellor, and commands the respect of all who

know him—something that cannot be said of every chaplain in the

army."11 Another soldier wrote a letter to his parents about Roe.

Later published in the Observer, the letter said that Chaplain Roe "by

his mild, gentle, manly, humble, and Christian-like de-meanor, has won

the respect of all with whom he has had intercourse, from the most profane to the most gentlemanly, which few chaplains have been able to

do. In a fight he is seen encouraging the men; in the hospital administering to the soldier’s wants, both spiritually and bodily.

. . . These and other innumerable like acts have gradually caused every one to at least respect him, and some to love him."12

While Roe was with the Union Army, he witnessed the battle of

Fredericksburg and Kilpatrick’s raid on Richmond. He used this experience for his lectures and the Civil War novels. In 1863, after

Fredericksburg, Roe returned to Union Theological Seminary to complete his education and to be married on November 24th to Anna P. Sands, his childhood friend. Following the raid on Richmond, Anna joined him at

Hampton Hospital where they remained until the end of the war. While at Hampton, Roe again utilized his talents to serve his patients. He served not only as their spiritual advisor, but also organized a large agricultural enterprise to feed their bodies as well as a library to 40

feed their minds. Having secured commitments from major publishers to

supply books at cost, Roe launched a campaign for public subscriptions

to a fund for their purchase. When he wrote to the "Readers of the

Evangelist" in this appeal, he said: "Give them [invalid soldiers]

cheerful, entertaining instructive books. . . . Who can calculate the

value of a brave, cheerful book? It stimulates and strengthens the

mind, which reacts upon the weakened body, and the man is at once made

stronger, wiser, and better." Even before Roe became a novelist, he

suggested that men need other books than merely religious books because,

like all good people, soldiers "do not like religious reading all the

time." He requested Dickens, Irving, Cooper, Scott, T. S. Arthur, and books of poetry as well.13

In October, 1865, Roe returned to his home on the Hudson with his wife and baby daughter, Paulina, who had been born on July 6, 1864.

In his letter to his classmates, he said, "I am no longer a chaplain, though I still preach to soldiers. Providence has put me down among the Highlands, within a mile of West Point Military Academy."14 The

Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.,

New School, show his assignment to Highland Presbyterian Church,

Buttermilk Falls, New York, in 1866.15 In 1871, the town was renamed

Highland Falls. He remained at the Highland Falls church until 1875,16 through nine eventful years in the life of the parish.

Roe’s delight in the use of words to achieve a link between the temporal and the spiritual worlds is evident in his report to his classmates in 1867. Telling of his work with the small congregation, 41

he said: "God has truly prospered us during the last twelve months,

and to Him we gratefully ascribe the praise. The little church under

my charge has been increased one-third in its membership, thirty-three

having been added to our number. We are preparing to build a new church

that will be three times the size of the present little wooden structure.

We shall quarry the granite from the mountains near us, and build from

the rock with the rock, earnestly hoping that the Great Spiritual Rock

may underlie the entire work. The stone will be rough-faced except at

the Gothic windows and corners, and as speedily as possible covered with

ivy. . . . This is the only monument I wish to rear over my bones, and

in all human probability it will stand long after the heads of my

children’s children are low."17

In this report, Roe mentioned his children. By 1867, he and

Anna had two daughters, Paulina born in 1864 and Martha born October 9,

1866. The family was to grow continuously until 1882 to include

Eltinge born August 17, 1869, Sarah born March 26, 1872, L. Murray F.

born February 18, 1877, and Louise born October 3, 1882. One son,

Edward P., Jr. was born December 3, 1875 and died in infancy on

February 3, 1877. The size of his family and the obvious responsibili­

ties of parenthood were added burdens and joys during Roe’s immensely

productive final years.

Although Roe’s report to his classmates in 1868 indicated that

his life as a "country parson" would not seem very exciting to the world in general, it is clear that his life was a busy one. During

that year he had raised $1,300 to help pay for the new church by 42

lecturing and he planned to continue the next fall. He claimed for

himself a "mulishness" which allowed him, with the help of Providence,

to achieve these things.18 The 1869 Report told of a July 4th dedica­

tion for the new church, forty-eight lectures given in the past year,

and expectations of continued lectures.19

In his moderately successful attempts to break into the lecture

field, Roe was facing severe competition. Since before the Civil War,

the lecture had been an established institution in America. Robert A.

Greef, in "Public Lectures in New York, 1851-1878," stated that the

lecture was a combination of the church, the school, and the theatre.20

The chief elements of the best lectures were "instruction, reform agitation, inspiration, cultural appreciation, and entertainment."21

The lecture audience, "motivated by a desire for self-improvement," still wished entertainment.22 It is Greef’s thesis that the topics of the popular lectures were a "reasonably accurate measure of the public taste."23 The public for the city lectures was mainly upper middle class.211 According to Greef’s classification, Roe's lectures were not religious but historical in nature. Two lectures were cited by Greef:

"'The Romance of Cavalry Life,’ which dealt with the famous ride of

Kilpatrick and Dahlgren to attack Richmond in 1863 . . . and 'The

History of Secret Service at the Front.’"25

The first lecture was well received, according to the Tribune account: "A good audience was present, who responded readily to the eloquence, humor, and pathos with which the lecture abounds."28 This lecture was held in a Presbyterian Church. In December, 1869, Roe gave 43

the second lecture at the Baptist Church for the benefit funds of the

veterans of the G. A. R. and at a Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn.27 A

notice of the Secret Service lecture when it was given in Providence,

Rhode Island, spoke of it as being "amusing and interesting" and

"entertaining." Roe concluded with a "hearty and well-deserved tribute

to their [the soldiers’] patriotic and fearless devotion."28

Roe's strenuous efforts, combined with the strawberry festivals and contributions from nonmembers, enabled his congregation to build the new church and also to remodel the parsonage. Thirty thousand dollars were spent on parish buildings during Roe's tenure.23

In 1870, Roe gave his lectures forty or fifty times in the New

York City area, he told his classmates. The growth of his church, he said, had been "natural and constant, like that of a tree."30 In the fall of 1871, while Roe was visiting a larger city church with a view of becoming their pastor, he received the news of the Chicago fire, the news which was destined to change the course of his career. Although the decision to visit Chicago was undoubtedly spontaneous—he, after all, lost the chance of a much better parish by this obedience to an impulse—everything in Roe's life prior to 1871 points to his becoming a writer as a viable alternative in his choice of careers. His class­ mates knew him as a verbal young man who was a good scholar; his sister recalled him as a born story-teller; his lectures affirmed this talent.

Surely, a successful minister needed to possess many similar skills.31

Common soldiers had noticed that the same concerns for the spiritual and temporal welfare of men had been evinced in Roe's work as a 44

chaplain. Roe had already established contacts with the publishing

world through his Civil War correspondence and his solicitations for

the library at Hampton Hospital.

It is not surprising that an enterprising young man—especially

one with a strong sense of mission—should turn to writing or lecturing

in this era of America's development. J. G. Holland, in 1866, writing

about "The Popular Lecture" of the time, spoke of the immense influence

available to the lecturer who had a mission.32 Such articles as W. C.

Wilkinson’s on "The Bondage of the Pulpit" could not have escaped their

influence on E. P. Roe in his wish to reach an active congregation with his message of faith. Wilkinson said that there is talent and dedica­

tion aplenty in America's pulpits, but that the ministry "lacks initiative—Prussianism—pluck."33 The ministers did not attack sin as they should, he said. His attack included traditional as well as liberal, socially-oriented ministers. As with all men, according to

Wilkinson, ministers lacked "moral courage"31* and "intellectual independence."35 The necessary attentions of the congregation to the minister had become a form of bribery which precluded the minister from giving utterance to the truths about the congregation’s sinfulness.36

The article, "Fewer Sermons and More Service" might have been directed to E. P. Roe, who was as tired and weary from his strenuous efforts to raise church money and to support his family as the "ministerial wrecks" referred to in the article. The author insisted that church audiences wanted an improved kind of sermon, one which interested and intellec­ tually entertained them.37 Another article, "Novel-Reading," in 45

Scribner* s discloses another attitude current in that period, that the

universal acceptance of the novel had made it "one of the favorite

instruments of reform. If a great wrong is to be righted, the senti­

ments, convictions and efforts are directed to it through the means of

a novel. It is mightier to this end than conventions, speeches,

editorials and popular rebellions. . . . the church itself is now the

most industrious producer of the novel. . . . The pictures of

character and life that are found in a multitude of these books cannot

fail of giving direction and inspiration to those for whom they are

painted."38

It is not difficult to imagine how these ideas might have

interacted with the events of the fire to suggest a new career for such

a man as E. P. Roe. The tremendous success of his first novel,

Barriers Burned Away, was indicative of Roe’s future success. Although

he stayed in the ministry all his life, after 1874 he no longer had his

own assigned parish. He had chosen a larger parish, the reading

audience. By the time he had published his second novel, What Can She

Do?, he referred to it as his "novel ’with a purpose,’ or society

sermon."39 In 1875, Roe told his classmates that this novel had been

"somewhat of a test in [his decision to leave the church at Highland

Falls]. ... I wrote a very quiet and simple story, in which the

development of Christian character was the main feature. I put into it

just the kind of truth I would put into a sermon, and I felt that if

the public would read such books, I could do more good than by continuing to preach to a small congregation and giving my whole time 46

to it." He said that he believed that "Providence had opened for me

the field of authorship rather than that of the pastorate,"40 adding

that "although I have given up the pastorate for the present, I have by

no means resigned the ministry."41

The novels with a purpose, combined with the crop produced from

his horticultural interests—small fruits and small books about them—

produced an income for the remaining years of Roe’s life which was

reported as anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000 per year.42 All of the

novels were first serialized in a magazine: Hearth and Home, The

Christian Advocate, The Weekly Tribune, St. Nicholas, Harper's,

Scribner's, The Current, The New York Evangelist, The Christian Union,

and Cosmopolitan. All were published in hard cover editions in the

United States and England. There were Australian, German, even

Japanese editions. The first American novel to be published in "cheap

edition" was Barriers Burned Away.43 The seventeen novels were

published one a year until Roe died of a heart attack while reading

Hawthorne to his family on July 19, 1888.

During those years, Roe always had to contend with critics who

rejected his work's artistic value. In his autobiography, Roe finally

chose to discuss the problem publicly. His defense for his work was

its immense popularity, as has been shown. In addition, he always

claimed originality as his outstanding characteristic. He said, "I do not feel myself competent to form a valuable opinion as to good art in writing and I cannot help observing that the art-doctors disagree wofully among themselves. Truth to nature and the realities, and not 47

the following of any school or fashion has ever seemed the safest guide

I sometimes venture to think I know a little about human nature. . . .

I at least know the nature that exists in the human breast. It may be

inartistic or my use of it all wrong."1*1* As he wrote to a friend, Roe

believed that "the sparrow has his place as long as he strikes his own

note," in the world where the wood thrush reigns.1+5

Another constantly recurring problem encountered by Roe was

evidently financial. In 1874, 1876, and 1879, Roe wrote to Mrs. Mearns a boardinghouse keeper at Highland Falls, to borrow money, mentioning

that his brother, James, would cosign.1*6 In October, 1883, the copyrights to his first nine books were sold to liquidate his debts.1*7

They were bought by a friend who quickly reassigned them to Roe with enough cash to cover the rest of his debts.1*8 When the family went to

Santa Barbara in the fall of 1886, Roe was forced to make arrangements for free tickets in return for tourist promotion in his books.1*9 In

1887, Roe was in trouble again because he had "endorsed so largely" for his brother. He had hopes only of salvaging the house, land, and furniture which were in his wife’s name. As he had faced previous financial embarrassments, Roe faced this one: "It is my purpose to meet all my obligations if it takes the rest of my life + I would like you to tell this to all my friends at the Falls. I shall cheerfully go to work to pay my own debts + those of others for which I am liable just as I tried to pay the debts of the church, only I shall not ask anyone to give me anything." He did ask his friends to sponsor a lecture for him so that he could pay his life insurance.50 It is 48

difficult to reconcile this picture of the man who was constantly on

the brink of financial disaster with that of the richest, most success­

ful author of his time. It must have been that Roe was not so good a

businessman when it came to family needs as when he made his arrange­

ments with English publishers and his copyright agreements.

These pressures of the last years of his life undoubtedly

contributed to his prodigious output. In 1874, Roe reported that 9,000

copies of What Can She Do? and 13,000 copies of Barriers Burned Away

had been sold.51 In 1876, From Jest to Earnest was reported to have

sold 16,000 copies four months after its introduction. A total of over

21,000 Roe novels had been sold in the first six months of that year.52

The 1877 Report was more glowing. The latest novel, A Knight of the

Nineteenth Century, was reaching a weekly audience of 50,000 in The

Christian Advocate, and Near to Nature's Heart had sold 18,000 copies.53

The next year, Roe could write his classmates that 19,000 copies of

Knight had been sold in hard-cover editions.54 By report time in 1879,

A Face Illumined had sold 19,000 copies.55 In 1881, having missed the

1880 report, Roe wrote that A Day of Fate had sold 26,000 copies, and

that he believed his total sales were a quarter of a million.56 In

1883, Dodd, Mead & Co. reported that each of Roe's novels had sold over

40,000 copies.57

The story of Roe's phenomenal sales figures is repeated in many places, with the final estimate probably most accurately stated in the

1939, 100th Anniversary history of Dodd, Mead: Barriers Burned Away

"started off well, but not explosively; 13,000 was the first season's 49

sale which was a big one in those times. Before long, however, it was

taking the public by storm, selling something like a million copies in

its various editions—a GONE WITH THE WIND of the 1870’s. For E. P.

Roe, the author, this was the start of a tremendously successful

career. . . . For twenty-five years and more after Barriers they [his

novels] kept right on selling. At one time the American News Company

placed an outright order for 350,000 copies of E. P. Roe’s novels, one

of the largest orders of its kind ever given. The total circulation of

these works has been between four and five millions."58

The secrets of Roe’s success were thoroughly discussed in the

obituary notices. All these articles stressed two points, Roe's

personal characteristics and his sincere intentions toward his readers.

The Tribune said that "Mr. Roe was personally one of the most popular

of men. His amiable disposition and courteous manner endeared him to

all who were so fortunate as to enter the wide circle of his friend­

ship."59 The Critic said that "Mr. Roe was above everything else a

genuine man, a good man; and it is by the impression of his sincerity

and goodness indeliby [sic] stamped upon every page of his books that he has won the hearts of the people. The word ’people’ we use advisedly; for it was not among men and women of great intellectual

cultivation that Mr. Roe found responses to his work. ... It was among the great middle class of workers and readers that his writing

took deep hold and lent a helping hand."60 The editor of Cosmopolitan said that "the secret of his enormous popularity lies in his close sympathy with the heart of the people. He knew precisely what they 50

wanted, and offered them that with unaffected simplicity. He was

always on the side of conservative feeling. He stood out strongly for

the sweet and mellow growth of home life. He showed how in common

practical life to work out the impulses for good that everywhere strive

for expression. Life to him was no hollow pessimistic sham, not yet a

gay pleasure hunt, but a field for active, upright labor. What

nobility of purpose he described he also lived, as an ingenuous,

courageous helper of his race."61 Publisher's Weekly said that Roe

"never wrote a line he could not have preached, but he never preached

in his stories."62

Testimonials from his close friends confirm the attitudes

toward Roe which were shown in the obituaries. Julian Hawthorne, the

son of Roe’s favorite author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote that Roe "was

at once manly and childlike; manly in honor, truth and tenderness;

childlike in the simplicity that suspects no guile and practices none.

... He knew the human heart, his own was so human and so great; and

the vast success of his stories, however technical critics may have questioned it, was within his deserts, because it was based on this

fact."63 Edward Roberts, a friend from Roe’s winter in Santa Barbara, said that "none could know Mr. Roe and not respect and love him. . . .

In his family Mr. Roe was the ideal husband and father,—the very personification of kindness and generosity. . . . Whatever may be said regarding Mr. Roe’s talents as a novelist, this much must be acknow­ ledged: he gave his heart to his work, and led the thoughts of his readers through pleasant paths."61* 51

In the twentieth century, Roe’s work has suffered more intense

disparagement at the hands of the critics than it did from his contem­

poraries, although most still grant him the nobility of his intentions.

In 1932, B. M. Fullerton wrote that "it stands to his [Roe’s] credit

that he did his work conscientiously, and that he stuck to the humble,

fundamental facts of life. This, and his carefully disguised sensa­

tionalism, are the explanation of his popularity."55 Arthur Hobson

Quinn later said that Roe produced "A series of absurd productions

which sold widely and preached plentifully the special form of senti­

mental Evangelicalism to which Roe belonged."55 Edward Wagenknecht

said that "Roe was capable of astonishing crudeness and naiveté. But

he had the courage to choose themes worthy of the largest talents, and

his gift for breathless narrative and sensational incident never failed

to please the ’young’ and the ’common people’ to whom he avowedly

addressed himself."57 Mott probably summed up the present attitudes

toward Roe when he said, "E. P. Roe! Once that name was magic. But how stale his chapters are today, how stilted the conversation, how

tiresome the sermonizing!"58

Another point frequently mentioned in this century about Roe's work is that his work is, in Fullerton’s words, "too much of the same pattern."53 Carl Van Doren attempted to define what he called Roe’s

"simple formula" in this way: It "included: first, some topical material, historical event, or current issue; second, characters and incidents selected directly from his personal observation or from newspapers; third, an abundance of nature descriptions with much praise 52

of the rural virtues; and fourth, plots concerned almost invariably,

and never too deviously, with simultaneous pursuit of wives, fortunes,

and salvation."70 Coplan describes the formula by saying that "each of

Roe’s fictional works is an evangelical sermon: his formula calls for

a religious hero or heroine who labors to convert an unbeliever, usual­

ly of the opposite sex, to Christian beliefs, and succeeds through the

intervention of a great disaster."71

This aspect of Roe’s work, that he wrote with a formula which pleased an immense middle-class audience over many years, is important to the present study. Analysis of this formula can lead us to the discovery of the ideals and attitudes which characterized this audience

Although previous analysts have attempted to delineate its characteris­ tics, their suggestions need to be further clarified and developed.

Since a major premise in this study is the idea that Roe chose to become a novelist in order to enlarge the audience for his sermons, his statements of his intentions as a writer are pertinent. In the

"Preface" to Barriers Burned Away, Roe stated that the "losses, sufferings, and fortitude" of his characters "might teach lessons . . . that the flames might reveal with greater vividness the need and value of Christian faith." He added that the historical scenes "are employed to give their terrible emphasis to that which is equally true in the serenest and securest times."72 In the "Preface" to What Can She Do? he said that he had "not written to amuse, to create purposeless excitement, or to secure a little praise as a bit of artistic work.

. . . I have tried to write earnestly if not wisely." Explaining why 53 he had written about so "delicate" a subject as prostitution, Roe said

that it was his "belief that Christian teachers should not timidly or loftily ignore it, for mark it well, the evil does not let us or ours alone. It is my belief that it should be dealt with in a plain fear-less, manly manner."73 In introducing Opening a Chestnut Burr,

Roe spoke of readers to whom his books "were sources not only of pleasure, but also of help and benefit." He expressed his gratitude for being able to extend his Christian message in this way.71* In Near to Nature's Heart, Roe used the "Preface" to explain that his purpose was to help the reader to do his duty and that "success in this respect, is the best reward I crave."75 In the "Preface" to Without a. Home, Roe said that he wrote not from a desire to please but "rather from a strong consciousness of something definite to say, whether people will listen or not."76 He was concerned with the problems of the "morphine hunger"77 and conscious of his "obligation to be conscientious" in his research for his novels.78 In his children’s story, Roe noted that "a gun will cure him [teen-aged Merton] of cigarettes better than a tract would," when he had Merton's father give him a gun in return for a promise not to smoke until he is twenty-one.79 He said that he wrote to "lure other families from tenement flats into green pastures.1,80 An

Original Belle was written, Roe said, "to illustrate the power of a young girl not so beautiful or so good as many of her sisters. She was rather commonplace at first, but circumstances led her to the endeavor to be true to her own nature and conscience and to adopt a very simple scheme of life. She achieved no marvelous success, nothing beyond the 54 ability of multitudes like herself."81

These statements tend to affirm the position already taken, that Roe’s intention was still that of a Christian minister, to reach a congregation of men and women with a sermon written to meet their needs in daily life as well as to meet their spiritual needs for a future life. Although Roe often spoke about the mission of the Christian minister in his novels, in two novels he dealt at length with the problem which faced the man who wished to be an effective preacher.

The characters and situations in these novels illustrate Roe’s belief that a good sermon must meet both these needs. The method he advocated in his novels is precisely the approach he used in his novels to develop his "society sermons."

In From Jest to Earnest, the story of a love affair between a young Christian minister and a pagan society belle, Roe discussed Frank

Hemstead’s first sermon, saying that in it "he under-valued our earthly state and its interest."82 Lottie, who is gradually seeking enlighten­ ment, said to Frank, the "’people are not going to get into the fiery furnace and commence having a miserable time of it before they must.

Let us be as comfortable as we can, while we can.'"83 She reasoned further: "’Suppose heaven is a grander place than this world, that is no good reason for hating the world. The earth is our present home, and it looks sensible that we should make the most of it, and enjoy ourselves in it.’"81+ Hemstead’s concern was that he might make the world turn away from Christianity by his unappealing sermons, and he soon realized that "he had exaggerated in his first crude sermonizing 55

one truth, and left out the balancing and correcting truth."85 As Roe

said later in the novel, in approval of Sunday night hymn singing,

"There must always be a first support on which the grovelling vine can

begin to climb heavenward."88

It is obvious from this and from later references that the

basis for Roe's formula was "enough of both worlds," signifying his

desire to include teaching for and reference to life in both the

spiritual and temporal worlds. As noted by a soldier during the great

war, Mr. Roe ministered to all the needs of his people. The sentiments

of the society girl, Lottie, were echoed by Aun' Sheba, a Black mammy

in The Earth Trembled, when she said that "’gen’l preachin’ am like meal. Folks has got ter take it an’ make out ob it a little hot-cake

fer dere selves. It’s de same ole meal, but we’s got ter hab it in a shape dat 'plies ter our own inards, sperital and bodily.’" Uncle

Tobe agreed, "’I'se alus ’served dat de hitch come in at de ’plyin’ part. Dere’s a sight ob preachin’ dat soun’ an’ true an’ straight as dat de sun an’ rain make de cotton grow, but when you git down to de berry indiwidooel cotton plant, dere’s ofen de debil to pay in one shape or oder.’"87

Thus, the formula must include enough of the real and of the ideal worlds and it must illustrate an application to real life of the

Christian principles which it intends to teach to the readers. Roe's statements about telling a good story give more information about the formula. In An Original Belle, a young soldier, who wished to tell the story of a battle in order to impress the heroine, said, "’In order to 56

give you a quiet, and therefore a most artistic prelude to the tragedy

of the battle, I shall touch lightly on some of the incidents of our

march to the field. ... I shall give a pleasant incident which

introduces a light among the shadows and suggests that soldiers are not

such hard fellows after all, although inclined to be a little rough and

profane. ... I will now give you a glimpse of a different experience

in a rain storm. ... I will now relate a little incident which shows

how promptly pluck and character tell. . . . Now I will put in a few

highlights again. . . . Here is a rough sketch I made. ... I am

trying, as you requested, to give a realistic picture. . . . One

engaged in a fight sees, as a rule, only a little section of it; but in

portraying that he gives the color and spirit of the whole thing.'"88

She commented, at the conclusion of the story, that Blauvelt was a

skillful narrator for he had "reserved its climax to the last."89 Roe made an editorial comment that "mysteries are fascinating" in the same novel.90 In his notes for the last novel, Miss Lou, Roe said that to end the tale, "it only remains for me now to get all my people happy as

soon as possible," adding that the "reader's imagination will picture more if more is wished. It is better so."91

Some conclusions about Roe’s method in writing can be drawn from these comments. He was concerned that the writer include both light and shadows in his story, that he give a realistic picture of the scene and of character, that the moral lesson of character be included.

He wished to add small incidents of human interest. He believed that the study of a small segment of life could reveal truths about all of 57

humanity. Like the story-teller in his novel, Roe placed realistic

pictures in his books. He knew that a mystery with a carefully

reserved climax would aid the reader in his attention to the story. He was unconcerned by his hurried endings which piled up future incidents

in a very sketchy manner (a trait for which he was often criticized) because he wished the reader to use his imagination to fill in the details of his emphatically required happy ending.

Two letters to the publishers of The Youth’s Companion provide glimpses of Roe’s method in relation to their requirements. He said,

"I welcome advice + am ever ready to revise a story until it is_satiS2.

.factory. I take it for granted that those who are conducting such successful journals as Youth’s Companion, St. Nicholas, + Harper's know better what they want than I do + that it is my business to furnish what they want. ... If I should fail it would not be thro’ any conceited clinging to my own method of treatment of any part." In speaking of an idea he found in another's book, Roe said, "The chief value of the work is that it gives the life-color to the events + times." This he said was caused by use of a "dramatic episode" which suggested to him the possibility of a story in which "each chapter could contain some striking incident + that from the nature of the times + character of the region at that date, they would be natural + unforced." He added that he would "spend a great deal of study on the subject + probably visit the region." So far as the elements of the story, he planned to include "the Negro + some natural history resulting from the intelligent observation of the boys themselves. 58

... It would be a story of strong family affection, self-denial +

heroism, giving as far as I could a true picture of life at the time."

Roe believed his "theme a good one because it cannot possibly offend

any prejudices of the present day + it admits a great variety of

incident while at the same time interesting readers in the history of

their country."32

Roe, in his planning, considered the audience for which the

story was intended. He planned to include striking incidents and local

color as well as an illustration of moral values. He wished to educate

as well as to interest his audience. In another letter to the same

magazine, Roe repeated his idea that a story should have a "rapid

dramatic movement" as well as be' a "picture of real life, resting broadly on a historical basis," and that it should be "true to nature + conditions of life which have existed, or may exist—that it should

teach the lessons of fortitude, courage + loyalty to the best impulses of the young."33 Thus, it is clear that Roe did have definite ideas about writing, but that he believed he could adapt them to different audiences. The truth is, however, that his children’s novel, Driven

Back to Eden, is very much like all the others. The only exception is that it is not a love story.

According to this analysis, Roe’s formula is based upon the premise that a society sermon must, first of all, contain "enough of both worlds." Thus, Roe would include instructions and incidents pertinent to the reader's life on earth and his life after he leaves the earth. Concern with these two aspects of the reader’s life lead to 59

the creation of both realistic and idealized incidents and characters.

As a matter of technique, Roe used dramatic incidents to furnish light

and shadow and he used a mysterious set of events to lead to a climax

which in turn led to the obligatory happy ending of his story. For

material, Roe chose that part of his own life and study which encom­

passed the small part which was applicable to the whole. Thus, his

stories were located mostly in the Hudson Highlands, abounded in

descriptions of the nature he knew so well, were peopled by characters

much like the people he knew or observed, and centered upon situations

and problems which were those of his own time. They were the kind of

"quiet and simple" stories which he might have used to embody the kind

of truth he would have put into a sermon, the truth of the human heart.

He chose to stride fearlessly and boldly into the midst of the problems

of his society. He wrote to aid his readers in the discovery of the

best that was potential to them and to aid them in their steadfast

quest to achieve this ideal.

Working within a structure of real and ideal elements, Roe

created novels intended to minister to the needs of his audience. The man who was known to his neighbors as pastor, author, and "strawberry man"91* created a formula which contained practical and spiritual

elements sufficient to satisfy the needs of the millions of readers for whom he had resigned a pulpit to seek the larger ministry of the novel.

A "good man," he utilized the experiences of his life to create his novels. Roe knew the extent of his artistry and he knew his audience.

As he said, "I have been blamed because there is not art enough in my 60

novels. Well, to be frank, there is as much art in them as there is in

me. No more and no less. I never try to write down to anyone's intel­

ligence, but I write as well as I am able to write, and then let the

art take care of itself. No one could have been more surprised than I

was at the great success of my first books, unless it were the news­

papers; but my explanation is that I happen to feel and think very much

as the average American feels and thinks, and my manner of expressing

myself is such as he, without effort, can understand."35

Roe, feeling and thinking as the average American did, was con­

scious of the changes which were taking place in America and of the

problems which plagued his society. In ministering to his audience,

Roe was aware of their needs to cope with the anxieties and doubts

raised by the increasing complexities of their society. The Civil War

had left wounds to be healed. It had created the problems of the Black

citizen who, as well as the dissident southerners, had to be made a

part of a strong national unity. It had added impetus to the growth of

a technology which in turn created other problems. The telegraph,

railroad, the trans-Atlantic cable—all these advances shrank the world

of the average citizen, linking more closely the frontier to the

eastern cities and the United States to Europe and the rest of the world. The demands of technology for human and natural resources led

to increased immigration from abroad and the rapid growth of cities.

Rural isolation became increasingly less possible as the interior areas were more and more necessary to the cities as a source of supply of 61

workers, food, iron, coal, timber, and other sorts of raw materials for

the industrial complex.

The practical applications and obvious validity of science as a

handmaiden to the impressive technology of the age lent credibility to

other scientific statements made during this period. Particularly,

Darwinism, in its aspect of explaining the origins of man, produced

doubt and skepticism about old religious beliefs. In its social appli­ cations, Darwinism led to a reinforcement of the individualism which had always been a counterthrust to the ideal of Christian brotherhood.

Greater individualism, at a time when the bonds of community were already being weakened by the disappearance of the small family-based enterprise and the isolated rural village, threatened to change the entire structure upon which American society was based. This Social

Darwinism provided a basis for the justification for the new American heroes such as Andrew Carnegie who exemplified the full bloom of

American individualism, pluck, and persistence.

The growth of the cities, the new citizens, the questioning of old religious beliefs, the rise of individualism, and the concomitant loss of a sense of community led to many other problems. Within the squalor of the city, prostitution, labor abuses, illness, drug usage, drunkenness, and crime of all sorts flourished. When the information about these problems was more widely available, the interdependence of all citizens led to an increasing concern for these problems. It was during this period that the great social welfare movements began, that the Sunday schools and Bible classes were organized. Struggle for economic survival and the conflicts of individualism in this enterprise

led to financial speculation and depressions caused by business

failures. Increasing need for female labor led to the question of

practical education for women. This period was one of great agitation

in the area of women's rights, also. With the weakening of family and

religious ties, the question of loyalties and duty became prominent.

To which community was the loyalty due? What duties remained important?

Did a real "individual" owe any loyalty to another person? Was his

duty not to individual success only? These questions led to many

religious and moral doubts as people were exposed more and more to

influences from outside their former narrow spheres.

As a part of this increased exposure to a larger world, Ameri­

cans grew more curious about the "other person" and his culture. The rural, lower, and middle classes were consumed by an interest in "high society." The newly rich turned to Europe to satisfy their desires for a cosmopolitan veneer in their education and manners. The American had a great interest in his own country. This was a time when Americans yearned for a national art and a history to rival that of their neighbors in the rest of the world. Books about George Washington and the Revolutionary War experienced a tremendous burst of popularity.

American homes were adorned with pictures of George and Martha Washing­ ton, or of Betsy Ross sewing upon the flag. As the century came to a close, stories about the Civil War achieved a similar popularity. As city dwellers became increasingly disenchanted with their surroundings, a nostalgia for rural life and an interest in nature became apparent. 63

Obvious statements of filial responsibility and domesticity were being made. The walls of the average American parlor, in addition to the

Washington portraits, would have held a picture of Abraham Lincoln, a brightly-colored landscape of heroic proportions, and a sentimental

domestic scene which included several generations and a dog. The daughter of the family might be copying in pen and ink the latest

Gibson portrait of the "American Girl Abroad" to replace the dreary elegy which had hung on the walls of her bedroom for so long.

A conservative in matters of religious belief, E. P. Roe was nevertheless a liberal as he dealt with these problems of his society.

His novels were as welcome a Christmas gift for the young girl in 1914 as they had been in 1880. In his ministry to the average American,

Roe wrote so courageously about the problems and the interests of his age that the novels outlived his lifetime. Interweaving Situations,

Characters, and Messages in a formula containing "Enough of Both

Worlds," Roe presented his readers a series of novels which, for many, served as solace, inspiration, and instruction during those years of change between the Civil War and the First World War. By providing a conservative basis of religion and loyalty to the family, Roe was able to reaffirm old beliefs as well as to suggest viable alternatives for solutions to new problems. Roe's solutions served the average American well until the society was affected by another series of changes crystallized by another war, changes for which the old answers no longer served. 64

FOOTNOTES

1 Those records of Roe’s life which are available at this time are as follows: a memoir written by his sister, Mary A. Roe (an author who enjoyed some popularity for a brief time after E. P. Roe’s death); reminiscences of personal friends; Roe's autobiographical sketch pub­ lished shortly after his death; the Class Reports of Williams College; obituary notices; and a few of Roe’s letters which are still preserved.

2William S. Walsh, "Some Words About E. P. Roe," Lippincott * s Monthly Magazine, Oct. 1888, p. 500.

3"E. P. Roe: Reminiscences of His Life," The Works of EL JP. Roe, XIX (New York: Peter Fenelon Collier & Son, 1900), 4. Subsequent references to Roe's novels and this memoir refer to this series.

‘♦ibid., 9.

5Ibid., 10.

6"A Native Author Called Roe," Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Oct. 1888, p. 481.

7Ibid., 481-82.

8In recognition of his literary success, Williams College awarded Roe an honorary degree in 1877. Williams College Class Report for 1882 (Poughkeepsie, New York: Eagle Printing House, 1882), p. 25.

8Williams College Class Report for 1862 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1862), p. 12.

10Williams College Class Report for 1863 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1863), p. 9.

1:iMary A. Roe, p. 14.

12Ibid., pp. 14-15.

13Ibid., pp. 72-73.

1‘♦Williams College Class Report for 1866 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1866), p. 8.

15p. 371.

16Minutes of General Assembly, p. 841. 65

17Williams College Class Report for 1867 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1867), pp. 18-19.

18Williams College Class Report for 1868 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1868), p. 19.

19Williams College Class Report for 1869 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1869), p. 16.

20Unpub. Diss. #7669, Univ. of Chicago, 1941, p. 37.

21Ibid., p. 34.

22Ibid., p. 42.

23Ibid., p. 45.

24Ibid., p. 40.

25Ibid., p. 86.

26"Home News," New York Tribune, 15 March 1869, p. 12.

27New York Tribune, 12 Dec, 1869, p. 8; 21 Dec. 1869, p. 3.

28Works, XIX, 105-106.

29Ibid., 106.

30Williams College Class Report for 1870 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1870), p. 12.

31There is no existing record of any of Roe’s sermons. As will be seen from later discussions, these sermons certainly contained the mixtures of practical and spiritual advice which he recommended as important for effective sermons to the ministers who were characters in his novels.

32Plain Talks on Familiar Subjects (New York: Chas. Scribner and Co., 1866), pp. 309-35.

33W. C. Wilkinson, "The Bondage of the Pulpit," Scribner's, I, No. 1 (Nov. 1870), 68.

3I*Ibid., 72.

35Ibid., 73.

36Ibid., 74-75. 66

37"Fewer Sermons and More Services," Scribner's, VII, No. 4 (Feb. 1872), 621-23.

38"Novel-Reading," Scribner's, XIV, No. 5 (Aug. 1872), 493.

39Williams College Class Report for 1874 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1874), p. 23.

40Williams College Class Report for 1875 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1875), p. 29.

41Ibid., p. 30.

42Publishers and authors and people who write about them tend to exaggeration as it suits their purposes, I discover. The $15,000 was reported by Dodd, Mead in 1939; the $40,000 by a contemporary writer in 1888.

43Babbitt, p. 17.

44Roe, "A Native Author," pp. 489-90.

45Letter, E. P. Roe to Stedman, 10 May 1888, Yale Univ. Library

48Letters, E. P. Roe to Mrs. Mearns, 16 July 1874, 29 July 1876 29 Aug. 1879, Library of Congress.

47Letter, E. P. Roe to Bowker, 9 Oct. 1883, NYPL.

48Roe, "A Native Author," pp. 495-96.

49Letter, E. P. Roe to S. S. McClure, 8 Nov. 1866, Univ. of Virginia Library.

50Letter, E. P. Roe to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 6 Feb. 1887, Library of Congress.

51Williams College Class Report for 1874, p. 23.

52Williams College Class Report for 1876 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1876), p. 28.

53Williams College Class Report for 1877 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1877), p. 29.

54Williams College Class Report for 1878 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1878), p. 21.

55Williams College Class Report for 1879 (Washington: Gibson Bros., 1879), p. 23. 67

"Williams College Class Report for 1881 (New York: Geo. MacNamara, 1881), p. 21.

57Williams College Class Report for 1883 (Poughkeepsie, New York: Eagle Printing House, 1883), p. 25.

58Letter, William Oman, Vice-President of Dodd, Mead and Co. to A. Doering, 15 April 1971.

""Obituary," New York Tribune, 20 July 1888.

60"Edward Payson Roe," The Critic, X (July-Dec. 1888), 42.

51E. D. Walker, "Edward P. Roe," Cosmopolitan, V (Sept. 1888), 405.

62"0bituary," The Publisher's Weekly, No. 861, 20 July 1888, p. 140.

63"a Tribute from Julian Hawthorne," The Critic, X (July-Dec. 1888), 44.

""How Mr. Roe Impressed His Friends," The Critic, X (July-Dec. 1888), 49.

65A Selective Bibliography of American Literature, 1775-1900 (New York: Win. Farquhar Payson, 1932), p. 232.

66American Fiction: An Historical and Critical Survey (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), p. 192. 87 * 89

87Cavalcade of the American Novel (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1952), p. 490.

68Mott, p. 148.

89Fullerton, p. 232.

70The American Novel, 1789-1939, rev. ed. (New York: MacMillan, 1940), p. 113.

71Coplan, p. 138.

72Works, V, [i].

7 3Works, X, 5-6.

"Works, IV, [7]. 68

75Works. Vili, 3.

76Works, II, v.

77Ibid., vii.

78Ibid., viii.

79Priven Back to Eden, Works, XVIII, 20.

80Ibid., "Preface," vii.

81"Preface," Works, VI, 4.

82Works, VII, 202.

83Ibid., 214.

8l*Ibid. , 220.

85Ibid., 223.

86Ibid., 234.

87Works, XV, 95.

88Works, VI, 312-19.

89Ibid., 340.

90Ibid., 215.

91Works, IX, 367.

92Letter, E. P. Roe to Editors Youth's Companion, 21 Oct. 1884, Univ. of Virginia Library.

93Letter, E. P. Roe to Perry, Mason and Co., 3 Feb 1886, Univ. of Virginia Library.

"Works, XIX, 143.

95Quoted by H. H. Boyeson, "American Literary Criticism and Its Value," Forum, XV (June 1893), 461. CHAPTER III

ROE’S BEST-SELLING FORMULA: THE SITUATIONS

Of the three elements in E. P. Roe’s successful formula—The

Situations, The Characters, and The Messages—the element which

displays the greatest range of interest and shows the most variety is

the Situations. To discover situations which would appeal to his

audience, Roe looked for those events in his world which would supply

the background for his spiritual and temporal messages and thus serve

as the vehicle for the instructions he planned for his popular ministry

through the novelistic sermon. Both the great and the small events of

his era formed the materials with which Roe worked. Two major occur­

rences in the life cycles of human beings—love and death—were central

situations in his novels, as they are in almost every novel. Sensa­

tional items of current and historical interest were utilized. The more homely situations of everyday living were part of the novels as well. All were designed to serve as essential parts of the novel— backgrounds, plot devices—as well as to provide audience appeal and effective instruction. The major concern of this chapter is to delin­ eate the situations which were used by Roe and to explain their impor­ tance in the development of the novels.

The love story was a unifying plot device in all but one novel.1

Regardless of the major situations in the novels, the main interest and and the mystery which Roe found important to holding a reader’s

69 70

attention centered upon the destruction of the barriers which must be

overcome to achieve the main goal of the love story, a happy union of

the man and woman in holy matrimony. Often, the union was impossible

because one or the other partners did not have Christian faith. Paren­

tal ambitions for social position or wealth often provided opposition

to a match. Mistaken allegiances to an inappropriate partner sometimes

produced the complication. Moral unworthiness of one partner temporar­

ily prevented a satisfactory resolution in several novels. Lingering

partisanship to the northern or southern "causes" was, also, the

obstacle in several novels. In one case, the couple had to overcome

the loveless relationship of a "business marriage" to discover the true

status of their love. In another single instance, the heroine’s

madness, which resulted from the death of her first husband, constituted

the problem to be resolved before she could achieve happiness with her

second husband.

In Roe's first novel, Barriers Burned Away, the hero, Dennis

Fleet, faced barriers to his successful conquest of Christine Ludolph

which took all his manly wit plus natural and supernatural aid to

overcome. Dennis was poor and unknown; Christine was the daughter of a wealthy man who had great social ambitions for her. Through his prayers and diligent efforts, Dennis was able to achieve social and

financial recognition as an artist. Even though he was eligible for

Christine's love, she was not suitable for him because she was not a

Christian. The Great Fire, however, produced Christine's conversion to

Christian faith and at the same time, by killing her father, removed 71

his opposition to the match. In his next novel, What Can She Do?,

Roe’s plot concerned a young woman, Edith Allen, who had to accept a

fall from wealth and social position to achieve success as a truck

farmer. She had to discover the truth of Christianity in order to

accept the love of Arden Lacey. Lacey was a young farmer who had, himself, to conquer his romantic yearnings in order to become a solid,

Christian businessman and thus, to merit Edith’s love. Edith had to

overcome the opposition of her socially ambitious mother and the

scandal of a younger sister who had been driven to prostitution. By her efforts, Edith was able to win the acceptance of the rural commun­

ity. Without their acceptance, she would have been unable to achieve her marital success.

In both novels, a successful love match was not possible until three things were achieved: community acceptance which led to appro­ priate social status, a satisfactory level of wealth, and a Christian life. Throughout the variations of the other fourteen novels, although the emphasis and the intricacies of the situation may have varied, these three conditions had to prevail before the happy couple were released to "live happily ever after." It is a tribute to Roe’s ingenuity, as well as proof of his readers’ interest in the subject and their acceptance of his values, that he could contrive so many versions which could always provide the same lessons.

The variations of the love situations serve to show other kinds of barriers to satisfactory achievement of the three conditions for a successful marriage in Roe’s society. In Opening a Chestnut Burr, 72

Annie Walton had to break off a mistaken allegiance to a scoundrel, to

whom she was bound by a death vow to her father, in order to marry

Walter Gregory. Walter, in turn, had to restore his good name and

prove himself as a Christian gentleman to be worthy of Annie. Lottie

Marsden, in From Jest to Earnest, had to quit her society Belle ways to

accept the religion of Frank Hemstead, the young minister whose sermons

were improved by her advice.

Although set in the Revolutionary War period, the love story of

Near to Nature's Heart was thoroughly 19th century. Vera Wellingly had

to make a resolution between the demands of her fraternal and Christian

duty and the demands of her love for Theron Saville. She had to rescue

Theron from his erroneous belief in philosophy. Further complications

resulted from his loveless first marriage and his desire for a liaison

which could be consummated outside of marriage. With the aid of her

personal belief in God, her angel mother's protection, the wise counsel

of General Washington, and the fortuitous arrival of a rich uncle, Vera

was able to stand firm in her opposition to Theron's manipulations.

The conditions for a successful marriage were met, finally, by Theron's

realization of Christian truth; and the marriage was possible when

Theron's first wife died from a rapid form of consumption.

In a complementary set of novels, A Knight of the Nineteenth

Century and A Face Illumined, the major obstacle to be overcome was the

fitness of the hero or heroine to become the marriage partner. The

spoiled and dissipated Egbert Haldane, in A Knight of the Nineteenth

Century, had to reform his entire life and character to be suitable to 73

win the lovely Laura. As a two-star general, instead of the criminal

outcast he had been before his rise to success, Egbert was able to

present himself as a suitable candidate for the orphan, who had been

reduced to genteel poverty in the meantime. The selfish, pagan society

Belle, Ida Mayhew, of A Face Illumined, had to achieve Christian self­

lessness and overcome a rival to whom the hero, Harold Van Berg, had

given his love. When the rival, Jennie Burton, proved herself unavail­

able and uninterested because of her devotion to a dead lover, Ida had

a clear field to the young artist who himself had become a better man

for learning that he could not tamper with souls in his scientific way,

but must render first allegiance to God. In his derision of scientific meddling with human souls, Roe showed his acquaintance with the ideas

of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was his favorite author.

Richard Morton, a crusading city editor in A Day of Fate, had to win out over an unworthy rival to whom the orphaned Emily Warren had mistakenly given her love. Madge Alden, the brave young heroine of A

Young Girl's Wooing, set herself the unfeminine task of winning Graydon

Muir from Stella Wildmere, a female speculator with whom he had made an engagement before he knew of her falseness. Similar, but milder, complications were involved in Nature's Serial Story, where two brothers had to resolve the problem of their love for Amy Winfield. As

Amy matured to the point of accepting a man's love, the younger brother,

Burt, found his infatuation replaced by another love, and Webb, the older brother, with whom Amy had always felt secure, was triumphant.

The rivals and mistaken allegiances which provided obstacles to 74

the successful love matches were not always people. In His Sombre

Rivals, Alford Graham had to conquer his wife’s madness to become her

true lover in a second marriage. Loyalty to a lost cause provided the

complication of The Earth Trembled, in which two love plots define the

story. The southern girls must, in Ella Bodine’s situation, overcome

the objection of a northern father to his son's marriage, and in the

case of Mara Wallingford, overcome her own rejection of a southern man who cooperated with the North during the Reconstruction period. In An

Original Belle, the vow made by Willard Merwyn, whose father was a northerner, to his southern mother prevented him from being the hero he needed to be to win Marion Vosburgh. Through the circumvention, but not the rupture, of his vow, Willard was able to show his heroism during the New York Draft Riots and to win Marion’s respect as well as her love. The heroine of Miss Lou could not wed her northern lover until the end of the Civil War, when her guardians became convinced of the inevitability of the destruction of the old order to which they had demanded her allegiance as well as their own.

In the most sensational of his novels, Without a Home, Roe furnished his heroine Mildred Jocelyn, with two lovers. Mildred’s first love for Vinton Arnold, an invalid dominated by his mother, became a sisterly kind of love. Even after Vinton’s death, her reverence for his memory did not conflict with her practical wifely love for Roger Atwood. Roger was a sturdy farm boy who had to change from a rough, cloddish individual to an ambitious Christian businessman in order to win Mildred. Another novel, He Fell in Love with His Wife, 75

dealt with the complexities of the realization that there were differ­

ent kinds of love before the main characters were able to achieve the

perfect love. Alida Armstrong was a middle-aged woman who survived the

disgrace of a bigamous first marriage to find true love a year after

her second marriage. Just as she fell in love with her husband, James

Holcroft, he discovered that he had for her a more delicate, more

precious, more Christian love than he had had for his first wife. The

"business marriage" became a true love match.

The lessons of these novels, that true love in a Christian

social context will triumph, are clear. The omnipresence of the love

story shows that it was a major concern of the readers which consti­

tuted Roe’s large audience. The barriers to a successful marriage which were presented by the conflicts between duty to God, family, or

society and duty to individual ambition show the conflicts which Roe’s audience also were experiencing in an increasingly complex society.

Death, another element of concern to Roe's readers (and a concern which he, as a Christian minister, was ever ready to meet) furnished the material for other major situations in his novels. The death scenes were usually pivotal to the plot and were described in a manner which provided information about Heaven as well as about appro­ priate behavior in similar circumstances, information which was of vital importance to Roe's readers. The death scene was not so univer­ sally used as was the love story, however, occurring in only nine of the seventeen novels.

The pattern established in the first novel, Barriers Burned 76

Away, was the one followed in the remainder of the novels. The largest

death scene of any written by Roe opens this novel. Dennis Fleet

returned home through a blizzard to find his father dying. In his

bitterness, Dennis’ father says about the God to whom his wife referred

as a friend: "’What kind of a friend has He been to me, pray? Has not

my life been one long series of misfortunes? Have I not been disap­

pointed in all my hopes? I once believed in God and tried to serve

Him. But if, as I have been taught, all this evil and misfortune was

ordered and made my inevitable lot by Him, He has not been my friend, but my enemy.’"2 Dennis’ safe return provided the first breakthrough

in his father’s resistance to God, and the scene continued through the

first three chapters until the dying man was ready to accept God's love for him and was able to die as a Christian. His last words gave advice to Dennis: "'You must do—the best you can, I am not able to advise you. Only never love this world as I have. It will disappoint you.

And, whatever happens, never lose faith in the goodness of God.'"3 To his wife, he expressed his gratitude in a way which gave her satisfac­ tion. For both his listeners, Mr. Fleet described the world he was about to enter: "'I have no heart for glory now. I can see only my

Savior's face looking—at me—with love and forgiveness. That is heaven enough for me,—and when you come—my cup will be more than full.

And now—-farewell—for a little while.'"1* Dennis recited a favorite

Bible verse, at his father's request. The last words whispered by Mr.

Fleet were '"Forgiven!' Then his eyes closed, and all was still. They thought he was gone. But as they stood over him in awed silence, his 77

lips again moved. Bending down, they heard in faint, far-away tones,

like an echo from the other side, ’Forgiven!’"5 The next morning, when

the two little sisters came into the room, Dennis told them that papa

was asleep and when he awakened he would never be sick anymore. He v took them to another room and sang a favorite hymn for them. Roe

explained these actions as best for youngsters: "Thus no horror of

death was suffered to enter their young minds. They were not brought

face to face with a dreadful mystery which they could not understand,

but which would have a sinister effect for life. Gradually, they would

learn the truth, but still the first impression would remain, and their

father’s death would ever be to them a sleep from which he would wake

by and by, 'never to be sick any more.’"6 Dennis took over the

necessary details of daily living, the funeral, and the disposal of the

home with a good heart.

Later, when faced with the death of his mother, Dennis was at

her bedside to hear her say that she was leaving him. "’Kiss me—

goodbye. Bring the children. Jesus—take care—my little—lambs.

Goodbye—true—honest friends—meet me—heaven. Dennis—these children

—your charge—bring them home—to me. Pray for her [Christine] . . . .

Farewell—my good—true—son—mother's blessing—God’s blessing—ever

rest—on you.'" Dennis stayed at his mother's side through the long

hours till evening, holding her hand and taking her pulse. A sudden

ray of the setting sun burst through the clouds and "filled the room

with a sudden glory." Her last words were only for Dennis' ears:

"’Hark! hear!—It never was so sweet before. See the angels— 78

thronging toward me—they never came so near before.’ Then a smile of

joy and welcome lighted her wan features, and she whispered, ’0 Dennis,

my husband—are we once more united?’"7 Her final words were accom­

panied by an angelic look of ecstacy, "’Jesus—my savior!’"8 Dennis,

sadly and efficiently, again carried out the necessary burial services

and made appropriate arrangements for his sisters.

Thus, in both death scenes, Roe showed his readers that there was a future life where people were united with their loved ones, that

it was possible to achieve the joys of salvation from a God who forgave

sinners, even on their deathbeds. He, also, showed wives how to con­ vert husbands, mothers and fathers how to consign their earthly respon­

sibilities, and survivors how to accept the tasks remaining to them.

Not only did Roe show the deaths of Christians as beautiful and full of love and promises for a future life, he also showed death as it occurred to non-believers. In Barriers Burned Away, Mr. Ludolph died, unmourned, in the burning vault of his Art Palace while trying to save his vast wealth. Mr. Allen, in What Can She Do?, on learning that he would lose his wealth, "reeled a second, then fell like a stone to the floor."3 He was taken immediately from the crowded ballroom, the guests were dismissed by the doctor, and the family retired to the sick room. Black Hannibal, the only Christian member of the household, prayed for Mr. Allen, but the "Allens had never looked to Heaven, save as a matter of form." They attended church, but only to gossip about the other members of their social set who also attended as a matter of convention. The female members of the family, with the exception of 79

Edith, fell into fits of tears and swoons. The youngest daughter,

head-strong Zell, demanded that the doctor save her father. Edith

comforted all her family and spent the night with her father who soon

died, "going down into the darkness of death without word or sign."10

The family gave the news to the papers and settled into the business of

choosing mourning clothes as a consolation for the death of their loved

one. In these and other similar scenes, Roe showed his readers the

bleakness of the death which came to the individual who did not believe

in a personal Savior. The behavior of such people as the Allens showed

the inappropriate response of the spoiled rich for whom religion was

only a "matter of form."

Roe’s use of these situations concerning death, in addition to

furnishing a religious and moral lesson and instruction in proper conduct, was to advance the plot of his story. Mr. Fleet's death transferred the responsibility for the family to Dennis, which meant that Dennis must go to Chicago to earn a living. In Chicago, Dennis met his true love and achieved his success. Mrs. Fleet's death, while adding little responsibility he had not already had, served to give her blessing to Christine, showing that the love affair had her sanction.

Mr. Ludolph's death removed that barrier from Dennis' and Christine's path. In What Can She Do?, Mr. Allen's financial failure and death prepared the way for Edith's assumption of the responsibilities of the family. The situation of Mr. Walton's death in Opening A Chestnut Burr provided the opportunity for the villain, Charles Hunting, to extract a deathbed blessing on his betrothal to Annie. Because Esther Wellingly 80

in the death scene in Near To Nature's Heart, extracted a vow from Vera

never to love a man to whom her mother could not give a blessing, Vera

was saved from the misalliance with the non-Christian Theron Saville.

Vera was always conscious of her mother's promise to hover near as her

guardian angel. Alford Graham made a fateful promise to his dying

friend, Warren Hilland, to care for his wife, Grace, in His Sombre

Rivals. The death of their baby led Grace and Alford into conversion

to Christian faith. Madge Alden, in A Young Girl's Wooing, was able to unburden her woes to the only person with whom she could share her secrets, the dying Tillie Wendall. The reader, thus, was able to enter into the depths of Madge's despair.

Roe's treatment of the situations connected with death serve to illustrate his message to his audience about how to face death as a

Christian, the differences between Christians and non-believers as they face death, and proper conduct on the part of the bereaved. The variety of situations in which death had a part—deaths of parents, children, husbands, friends—shows the immanence of death in a society where hospitals and specialists did not carefully remove this fact of human existence from the midst of the household into some antiseptic world of scientific mystery.

For an audience whose only exposure to the events of their age was the Currier and Ives print, the artist's sketch, or the poorly reproduced news photo, the descriptions of Roe's novels must have been as complete as they might have desired. Modern readers, through exposure to live television and radio coverage of catastrophes, will 81

recognize the impressionistic quality of Roe's descriptions. They will,

as well, note that Roe's use of these situations was primarily as a

plot device in order to present his message. Although often accused by

his contemporaries of sensationalism, Roe would be spared this charge

by the present age. There can be little doubt that Roe used the sensa­

tional situations to create extra interest in his stories, but he just

as often used the more homely incidents of domestic life for similar

purposes. He was careful to present controversial issues in a non-sen-

sational way, stressing always the personal heartache rather than the

scandalous aspects of even the most lurid situations. If he pulled

rather sharply at the heartstrings of his readers, it was to produce

the therapeutic tears so prized by his readers rather than to suggest

imitation or self-righteousness.

The catastrophic events used by Roe as situations for his

novels included those which were current at the time he wrote, those

pertaining to general problems of his society, and the historical

events of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. One point of great pride

to Roe was his careful research of this information for his novels. He

personally visited the sites of the catastrophic events where possible.

In each instance, he consulted authorities whose names he cited as

evidence of the realism which he so often claimed for his writing.

The "current event" for which Roe is best remembered is the

Chicago Fire of October 8-10, 1871. The fire served as a background for the events which led to Christine's conversion to Christianity and the resolution of the plot. Amidst the flaming ruins of his Art Palace, 82

Christine’s father met his death through his greedy assertion of his

right to his earthly property. In the cooling, life-saving waves of

Lake Michigan, the life-giving qualities of Christ as her savior were

revealed to Christine. Roe described the fire as though it were the

end of the world. For Dennis, as he surveyed the scene, "the very

heavens seemed on fire. The sparks filled the air like flakes of fiery

snow, and great blazing fragments of roofs, and boards from lumberyards,

sailed over his head, with the ill-omened glare of meteors. The rush

and roar of the wind and flames were like the thunder of Niagara." Roe,

as in all his descriptions, concentrated on the human reaction to the

situation rather than on the physical details. The voice of the

conflagration was compounded of the wind’s roar, the flame’s rush, the

"shrieks and shouts of human voices," and "above all the uproar, the courthouse bell ... no longer ringing alarm, but the city’s knell."11

Using the parallel dangers to property and to human life, Roe chose to highlight the importance of human salvation. He did not discuss the monetary loss through the disaster; he concentrated on the human loss. The fire served, too, as the great agent for bringing together all classes of people at humanity's most basic level: "Judges, physicians, statesmen, clergymen, bankers, were jostled by roughs and thieves. The laborer sat on the sand with his family, side by side with the millionaire and his household. The poor debauched woman of the town moaned and shivered in her scant clothing, at a slight remove from the most refined Christian lady." Although the social distinc­ tions were lost, the real distinctions of character remained: Some 83

people prayed, some mourned; "others had saved quantities of vile

whiskey, if nothing else, and made the scene more ghastly by orgies

that seemed not of earth." Fights, curses, and unmentionable excesses

were perpetrated by the "depraved classes." Dennis, the representative

of Christian character, reacted with sympathy to the "continuous wail

of helpless little children."12

At this basic level, in descriptions not unlike those of the

classic pictures of Hell and the final day of judgment, Roe showed

humanity’s need for Christian salvation. Through Dennis, the reader

could feel this pulsing heartbeat of humanity, could understand this

tremendous human need for brotherhood and love which could only be

found in the personal saviour of the Christian religion. In the sense

that Roe used these heartrendering descriptions to provide a Christian

lesson, they are no more sensational than the hell-fire and brimstone

of a Jonathan Edwards sermon. Roe was, rather than creating a new

sensationalism, doing as he had intended—applying the old message of

the possibilities of damnation and judgment to a temporal situation

with which his audience could readily identify.

With less vividness, but to a similar purpose, Roe used a

shipwreck in Opening A Chestnut Burr. By placing his characters in a

situation of extreme emergency, Roe was able to show human impulses at

both their best and their worst. In this case, the catastrophe served

to disclose Hunting’s cowardice and Gregory’s heroism and, thus, to make easier Annie’s choice of her husband. In that same story, Annie

and Gregory were captured by counterfeiters in a minor episode, which 84

showed how Annie’s generous acts could save her from danger.

In A Knight of the Nineteenth Century, Egbert Haldane had to

face the dangers of a Yellow Fever epidemic to show his willingness to

sacrifice self to others for the sake of his love for God. The reader

learned very little about an epidemic but quite a lot about how to care

for others instead of themselves. This act of nursing her relatives

was a tribute paid by Haldane to his benefactress, Mrs. Arnot, in

repayment for her trust and faith in him. It was, along with the other

events of the last part of the novel, treated very sketchily with very

little attention to the events of the epidemic as they involved anyone

other than the occupants of the immediate household.

In one of his last novels, Roe again achieved the power to describe a catastrophic current event which he showed in his first novel. The Charleston earthquake in The Earth Trembled was used, as was the great fire, to bring together humanity at its lowest level of need. In this situation, the divisive factors of north-south rivalry tumbled along with the city of Charleston. Another plot problem was solved by the earthquake when, at the moment at which Clancy, the hero, was about to become engaged to an unsuitable woman, the earthquake intervened to prevent this grievous error. Just as Clancy began to speak, to declare his love for Miss Ainsley, "a low, deep sound far to the south-east caught his attention. . . . With awful rapidity it approached, increasing, deepening, pervading the air to the sky, bellowing as if from the centre of the earth, filling their ears with its unutterable and penetrating power, and appalling their hearts with c

85 its supernatural weirdness." Feeling as though they had passed

"through an eternity of agony," Clancy and Miss Ainsley were able to find a place of safety for the moment.13 Clancy, however, soon moved on to heroic efforts on the behalf of his community. Miss Ainsley could not respond with a similar selfless heroism, and Clancy’s realiza tion of her weakness ended forever any possibility of their marriage.

Roe used Clancy’s reactions to the terrors of the situation to give his descriptions the same concentration on human suffering as he had in his story of the Chicago fire. The faces of the fleeing people were "ghastly pale and horror-stricken." Using the analogy of this emergency to the "final day of doom," Roe said that Clancy had to compare the scene to a "picture of the Judgment Day by one of the old masters, with its naked, writhing human forms." As Clancy moved through the city, "the air was resonant with every tone of anguish, hoarse shoutings, shrill screams, and the plaintive cries of children.

Above all other sounds articulate and inarticulate was heard the word

'God.'"" Rich, poor, white and black—all people were in the same circumstances of complete dependence on an unknown fate. "The fear among the educated had become definite and rational. Not that they could explain the earthquake or its causes," but they knew of the phenomenon. Even with their knowledge, they were greatly frightened.

Roe pointed out that "if such considerations weighed down the spirits of the most intelligent men, imagine the fears of frail, nervous women, of the children, the wild panic of superstitious negroes to whom science explained nothing. To their minds the earthquake was due 86

directly to the action of a malignant, personal devil, or of an angry

God." Roe showed that the consolation for most people was found in

their "simple faith" in God.15

If this was serving the "horrors hot," as one reviewer said,16

it was also a dramatic use of topical material to serve the novelist’s

purpose. Although the first generation of readers may have recoiled at

this use of a catastrophe to make the climax of a novel, those who read

it as a historical novel could appreciate its force. Its lesson—that

man needed a kind of help which was beyond his own strength, the help

of a God—was clear to all.

Roe also used other experiences of his era as plot devices in

his novels. The business failure of the 1870’s and the machinations of

Wall Street brokers were a part of the background of What Can She Do?,

Without a. Home, A Face Illumined, A Young Girl's Wooing, A Knight of

the Nineteenth Century, and Opening A Chestnut Burr. The knowledge of

the actual operations, as disclosed by Roe, was merely enough to place businessmen on one of two sides, good and bad. Failures resulted in unhappiness to the families of the businessmen, in the tycoon's resort to alcohol, in forced marriages to consolidate interests, or in dis­ grace to the businessmen and their families. Few of the situations involving speculation on the Street were happy ones; the profit from the element of risk and the suggestion of dishonesty seemed to pale before the value of self-reliance and hard work to achieve honest ends.

Other problems faced by his society were used in a more crusading spirit by Roe. They became as much a part of the message as 87

of the situation. These aspects will be considered in more detail in

Chapter V. Some examples, however, are in order. In What Can She Do?,

the problems of women’s education, society marriage, shop girls, and

prostitution were key situations. The central complication of Without

a. Home was the use of opium, although the problems of the shop girl

were also important. In the same novel, the problems of city living

led to suicide and caused the death of several other characters.

Attempted suicide was a catastrophic event in A Face Illumined and His

Sombre Rivals. The last novel also dealt with the problem of madness

and societal solutions to the problem. The complication of one novel,

He Fell in Love with His Wife, was furnished by the situation of a bigamous marriage.

Materials from two American wars were used as scenery and to provide critical events to further the plots of several novels. For readers, there was interest also in the situations themselves. In Near to Nature's Heart, Roe used the events of the Revolutionary War.

Attempted rape; chases through woods, in rivers, and up the steep sides of mountains; battles—all the usual appurtenances of war—were utilized. Heroes of local legends, such as the Robin Hood of the

Highlands and Captain Molly Pitcher were made pertinent to the story, the first as burner of Vera's home and the second as Vera's protector from rape. General Washington, that revered ancestor and father of the

American republic, served as Vera's personal earthly benefactor and her guide in her renewal of Christian faith. The French rationalist thought served as a foil for the Christian philosophy espoused by Roe. 88

In the three novels about the Civil War, An Original Belle, His

Sombre Rivals, and Miss Lou, the historical events were presented as background for the love story. A battle was fought and won to get a northern major together with a southern girl in Miss Lou. Another battle was lost so that Lou could save her northern lover from his captors. The great battles of the Civil War were used as background for the love stories of Warren, Grace, and Alford in His Sombre Rivals.

The New York Draft Riots of 1863 served to prove the valor of a man who had promised his southern mother never to don the uniform of the north­ ern army. The descriptions of the war undoubtedly were very interest­ ing to Roe’s readers, but the situations were never used solely for their sensational value.

The stress in the battle descriptions (Bull Run, Gettysburg,

Fredericksburg, Richmond), as in those situations discussed earlier, was on the valor and bravery of the human beings rather than on the parti­ sanship of one side over another. This human emphasis is shown in the following excerpt from His Sombre Rivals:

The battle-field began to present grand and inspiring effects. The troops were debouching rapidly from the woods, their bayonets gleaming here and there through the dust raised by their hurrying feet, and burning in serried lines when they were ranged under the cloudless sun. In every movement made by every soldier the metal points in his accoutrements flashed and scintillated. Again there was something very spirited in the appearance of a battery rushed into position at a gallop, —the almost instantaneous unlimbering, the caissons moving to the rear, and the guns at the same moment thundering their de­ fiance, while the smoke, lifting slowly on the heavy air, rises and blends with that of the other side, and hangs like a pall to leeward of the field. The grandest thing of all, however, was the change in the men. The uncouth, coarsely-jesting blackberry-picking fellows that lagged and straggled to the 89

battle became soldiers in their instincts and rising excitement and courage, if not in machine-like discipline and coolness. As I rode here and there I could see that they were erect, eager, and that their eyes began to glow like coals from their dusty, sunburnt visages. If there were occasional evidences of fear, there were more of resolution and desire for the fray.17

At a time when both the northern and southern regions of the

United States still bristled with hostility, Roe's novels were intended

to heal the rift rather than to extend it. His use of battle scenes to

indicate equal heroism on both sides as well as love stories which

showed love and marriage as remedies to heal old wounds were designed

to that end. Roe was not able to condone slavery, however, and the

scene in Miss Lou where Lou stopped her mammy’s whipping by taking the

blows of the lash herself was an inflammatory episode.

The sensational situations in Roe’s novels served to convey

information of both current and historical interest to his readers.

These situations were pivotal to the plot and served as background to

establish a scene or to provide key action in the story. The readers'

interests in the sensational can be implied by Roe's use of these

situations. Their greater concern for the human aspects of the

situations has to be inferred, however, from the way in which Roe used

them.

If, in his use of sensational situations, Roe gave his readers information about exotic places and events, in his use of homely situa­

tions, he presented his readers with a set of instructions on how to behave should they encounter similar difficulties in their daily lives.

Those commonplace events of a homely nature were also necessary to the 90

workings of his plots. Although usually less spectacular than the

catastrophic incidents discussed earlier, the homely or commonplace

occurrences were actually or potentially catastrophic also. Sometimes

used as major crises and sometimes used to indicate minor changes in

the direction of plot or development of characters, these situations

belonged primarily to the city, primarily to the rural areas, or

primarily to the arena of high society.

Typical of the situations in the city was the one in A Knight

of the Nineteenth Century in which Egbert Haldane was enticed into a

drunken poker game by Harker, Van Wink, and Ketcham, confidence men who

fleeced him of $1,000 of his employer’s money. This episode led to the

public ruin and incarceration of Haldane. It was necessary for Haldane

to sink to these depths to rise to his true knighthood. The humilia­

tion he suffered in jail led to Haldane’s ability later to reach the

prisoners and criminals in his Bible classes. Should any of Roe’s

readers have been tempted to swerve from the path of duty as Haldane

had been, they would have known to refuse their temptors. Young men

planning to carry God’s word to the occupants of jail cells would have had insight into the problems of these men.

Although Roe did not isolate con men and thieves in the city,

in Driven Back to Eden he used the instances in which these people were encountered to instruct his readers in the ways by which they could enlist their wiser rural neighbors on their behalf to protect them from these rascals. Robert Durham made the acquaintance of an honest real estate man who helped him to buy a good farm and to understand the 91

intricacies of a country vendue or auction; he made the acquaintance of

a crusty old produce merchant who could aid him in discovering the best

ways to market his crops. With his neighbors’ aid, Durham was able to

divert the energies of his thieving neighbors into profitable channels.

In recommending country life, Roe did not say there were no bad

influences—only that country people were "usually separated by wide

spaces from evil association."18

Other hazards typical in rural areas were often used in Roe's novels. In From Jest to Earnest, being caught on an ice floe in the

Hudson River provided an occasion for the young minister to show his bravery and, thus, to impress the pagan woman who was inclined to believe a minister less than a man. In the same novel, Lottie and

Frank were caught in a blizzard, a situation which led her to reveal her awful jest (an intention to make him believe her Christian and fall in love with her) and to become earnest about her belief in God and her love for Frank.

The situation of a runaway horse in this same novel provided another instance in which Frank showed his strength and courage. The runaway horse ploy was a popular one, used twice in A Face Illumined and in a spectacular train-horse chase in A Young Girl’s Wooing. In both novels, the emergency showed the heroes the depth of their love for the heroines when they realized the possibility of the nearness of their loss. The first runaway in A Face Illumined pointed out, to Ida

Mayhew, her shallowness and deceit in letting Van Berg describe to others her reaction as heroic. In reality, she had responded lika a 92

hysterical child. Her conversion to true womanhood was signaled by her

willingness to admit the hoax to her friends. In A Young Girl’s Wooing,

Madge Alden gave the first hint of her new health and competence when

she rescued a drowning child. A near-drowning of the Durham’s youngest

child served to cement the family’s relationships to their neighbors,

in Driven Back to Eden. The near-tragedy of a rattlesnake bite in

Nature * s Serial Story served to reveal to the main characters that Burt

really loved Gertrude and not Amy. Home fires and forest fires were

used in several novels, Opening A Chestnut Burr, A Day of Fate,

Nature's Serial Story, and Driven Back to Eden, as active agents in the

plot development. Again, as in his use of the real holocausts, Roe

gave major emphasis to human reactions to the emergencies. His focus

was upon heroism in the face of danger and the ability to rebuild upon

the ruins in a way which showed man’s ability to make the best of the

tragedy.

Sometimes, country customs formed the basis for situations in

Roe’s novels. In From Jest to Earnest, for example, exposition of the

society ball is much more complete than that of the donation party.

Roe’s audience must either have needed or have preferred to have more

information about high society life than about low. Often, Roe’s

emphasis was on the falseness and depravity of high society. Particu­

larly when he drew upon the situations caused by drunkenness did his bias toward more homely folk reveal itself. Although Roe was permis­

sive to the point of allowing the consumption of an occasional glass of homemade wine and of allowing his characters to appreciate a good cup 93

of coffee in his novels, his drinking scenes show his temperance

sentiments. The situations in which drinking occurred were always used

to foreshadow danger or defeat for the characters involved; drinkers

died of heart attacks, lost the heroine’s love, or disgraced themselves

in business unless they were reformed by the Christian heroines. Roe’s

women, no matter what their potential fate, never drank except at meals

For a woman, even association with a man who drank was sufficient to blacken her reputation. If, as suggested by several of Roe’s critics,

Roe was sensational in his situations, it was in those which dealt with

drunkenness. Apparently, the readers of Roe’s novels shared his strong

feelings in this matter. The amount of extra description in these

scenes of high society shows an interest and a lack of common knowledge of this area of American life. In no other place is Roe's kinship with his audience so apparent as when he so unskillfully delineated situa­ tions dealing with the upper classes. As Roe said, he shared the attitudes of his audience; neither could have been members of the upper classes in American society.

These situations, as used by E. P. Roe, reveal the attitudes, values, and concerns of the audience for which he wrote. It was an audience eager for information about current and historical events, an audience more interested in the human aspects of a situation than in its historical or political implications. The people in this audience were, even though they actually lived in the city as well as the country, "believers" in the superiority of the country over the city.

They were acquainted with the commonplace emergencies of their 94 environment; the runaway horse, the unseen rattlesnake lurking in the grass, the possibility of drowning, the dangers of the railroad train.

Members of the middle class, they shared a concern for society's larger problems and a curiosity about parts of society of which they were not a part. They were convinced that their God was a loving, caring savior who used his efforts to supplement rather than to replace their own hard work. Their belief in self-reliance was supplemented by a trust in God’s personal help. Making a living and succeeding in their social world were concerns equal to winning a mate and gaining spiritual ease in their lives after death. By including enough of both the spiritual and temporal in the situations of his novels, E. P. Roe was successful in meeting the needs of this audience. 95

FOOTNOTES

^The exception to his use of this device is in the children's story, Driven Back to Eden. Roe was warned by his editors to keep romantic love out of such stories.

2Works, V, 2.

3Ibid., 14.

4Ibid., 15.

5Ibid., 16.

6Ibid., 19-20.

7Ibid., 353.

8Ibid., 354.

9Works, X, 73.

10Ibid., 78.

11Works, V, 389.

12Ibid., 349.

13Works, XV, 347-48

14Ibid., 349.

15Ibid., 410-11.

18"Review: The Earth Trembled," Atlantic, XLVIII (Dec. 1881), 286.

17Works, XIII, 213-14.

18Works, XVIII, 193. CHAPTER IV

ROE’S BEST-SELLING FORMULA: THE CHARACTERS

In a magazine article written near the end of his lifetime, Roe discussed the reasons for a novel’s having a "long life." Considering the explanation of a novel’s lengthy popularity, Roe placed much emphasis on its characters. He said that in order to produce the element of life in the novel, "the writer may have acquired a profound, accurate knowledge of human nature and its varied manifestations; he may have studied nature so carefully as never to have even a flower bloom out of season on his page; he may even have added fine literary skill in the delineation of scenes, events, and the children of his fancy; yet if he does his work in a cold, unsympathetic spirit, he may fail utterly in breathing into his story the breath of life." Roe believed that the writer’s attitude as he wrote would be discernible to the reader: "The people are quick to detect whether a story comes from a cynic or from a sympathetic fellow mortal. They may see themselves in the mirror of life placed before them, but if they are conscious meantime of cold, satirical eyes regarding them unfeelingly, they are resentful at the attitude of the writer."1

Roe’s object, then, was to show the people of his society in the "mirror of life" of the novel, but in a sympathetic manner. He believed the author must do several things to create characters which would satisfy this goal: "One of the first essentials is the habit of

96 97

close, accurate observation. We must learn to describe life and nature

as they exist, not as we imagine them. . . . The reader meets people

daily, and is fairly acquainted with their mental and moral proportions,

and so readily detects when they are out of drawing. When the writer

evokes impossible or distorted people from his imagination, they rarely

take a strong hold upon us. The observation which reports mere exter­

nals necessarily gives descriptions of superficial interest. The eye

of the novelist must penetrate conventionalities and discern the inner

life and motives." The author’s temperament should be such that he

could "keep his mind like a sensitive plate in a camera, so as to be

ready for impressions of all kinds." Roe said that the writer must use

his powers of observation and his powers of sympathy but must then

"endow this shadowy creation of his brain with a heart and soul of its

own." The characters must have lives of their own. Their actions must

develop according to their individuality and must not be imposed upon

them by the author. There must be an organic development of character.2

These statements, without the evidence of the actual execution

of his theory, would tend to place Roe in the company of the American

Realists. Henry James, in the "Preface" to The Portrait of a Lady, had

said nearly the same things which Roe said. James said there was a

"perfect dependence of the ’moral’ sense of a work of art on the amount

of felt life concerned in producing it." And, he added, "The question

comes back thus, obviously, to the kind and the degree of the artist’s prime sensibility, which is the soil out of which his subject springs."3

Using the image of a House of Fiction with many vantage points, from 98

which the "human scene" or subject might be viewed to produce the shape

taken in the novel, James said that the guide which determined the

selection and the literary form was the "watcher . . . the conscious­

ness of the artist."1* In speaking of the organic development of his

characters, James said, "I seem to have waked up one morning in posses­

sion of them [the characters] ... I recognized them, I knew them,

... It was as if they had simply, by an impulse of their own,

floated into my ken, and all in response to my primary question: ’Well,

what will she [Isabel Archer] do?' Their answer seemed to be that if I

would trust them they would show me; on which, with an urgent appeal to

them to make it at least as interesting as they could, I trusted them."5

In truth, however, Roe still worked in a style of characteriza­

tion which more closely resembled the older generation of writers than

the new wave of innovators. For purposes of study, the characters of E.

P. Roe are more useful than those of the writers who are more accept­

able for their literary value. The idealization and stereotypes which

are prominent in Roe's characterizations serve better to show the

attitudes, values, prejudices, and concerns of his readers than do the

individualized, minutely detailed renditions of the Realists. Roe drew

his portraits of the people of his era in the broad outlines necessary

for his readers’ understanding in order to create a vehicle for

delivery of his message of true manhood and true womanhood, to furnish

interest to his stories, and to relay information to his audience. His

descriptions ranged from high society to low; he described the society

Belle and the Bon Vivant, the Solid Yeomanry, the Immigrant Servant 99

Class, and the Black citizenry. He devised Dickensian Grotesques to add interest and to teach lessons as well. Through analysis of the stereotypes which become apparent in Roe’s characters, it is possible to achieve a clear concept of the values of his audience. Good and bad are identified very certainly; although in the process of growth, many seemingly bad characters may become good. The idea of the possibility of conversion was important to Roe’s Christian point-of-view. The ideals for which the characters strove typified the ideals of Roe's readers. The attitudes of the idealized characters were the attitudes with which the audience identified. The problems of individual choice which faced these characters were those of the American of this era.

H. H. Boyeson, writing in 1887, affirmed the traditional idea that women constituted the novelist's chief audience and that a "popu­ lar novel is a novel which pleases them."6 In his belief that this naive audience required a conservative and idealistic approach to the novel, Boyeson called the young American girl "the Iron Madonna who strangles in her fond embrace the American novelist."7 E. P. Roe, himself conservative and in close agreement with the ideals of his audience, thrived in this "fond embrace." In Roe's novels, the "Iron

Madonna" was fully described in all the stages of her development, as

Young Girl, Wife, and Mother, and in all aspects of her social and moral status. The ideal of the Christian woman of the era emerges in the great variety of these portraits. Whatever her age or social status, the True Lady served as the chief messenger of God to mankind; she was the embodiment of grace, sympathy, and heroic strength who 100

served as inspiration to her era.

The Young Girl appeared extensively as a character of Roe's

novels. As chief heroine of the love story, she appeared as the

society Belle or as the Dutiful Daughter. If she were a Belle, she had

to resolve the conflicts of allegiance to a false standard. If she were a Daughter, she had to satisfy her duty to her parents as well as

to her own wishes and principles. Minor characters appeared as reli­

gious or social workers, as teachers, or as shop-girls. Although these girls were placed in a variety of situations, the ideal of the charac­

ter of the Young Girl can be seen through a few typical portraits.

Roe’s middle-class, conservative bias is clearly shown in his treatment of the society Belle, who was able to achieve success and conform to the ideal of young womanhood only after deserting the false standards of high society. The irreligious frivolity of this social class was not compatible with true womanhood. Ida Mayhew, of A Face

Illumined, is the most fully developed example of this idea. Ida was a young girl who lived superficially, content to bask in the compliments of her spoiled, dissipated beaus, unaware of the serious business problems of her father, uninvolved in the life of her family or her society, unaware of the existence of God. Ida had the "features of an angel and the face of a fool";8 her voice "suggested an instrument tuned to a false key and consequently discordant with all true and womanly harmonies."8 Ida was content in her situation until she was prodded by Van Berg to examine her life. One character, commenting on

Ida’s problem, said that "’Beauty without mind is like salad without 101

dressing.’"10 Ida’s faulty personality had its roots in her early

education: "She had been a wayward child, more neglected than petted

and had naturally developed a passion for having her own will, right or wrong. . . . her extraordinary dower of beauty threatened to be a fatal

one. . . . She had received in childhood but little of the praise which love prompts, the tender, indulgent idolatry, which, although dangerous to one’s best development, sometimes softens and humanizes, instead of rendering selfish and arrogant."11

Her parents’ early neglect of her personality and education had produced a young woman whose "heart and moral nature were almost equally undeveloped. . . . She had feminine qualities and vices, but not a woman’s soul."12 Through a series of embarrassing incidents concerned with her drunken suitor and through her comparisons of herself with

Jennie Burton, a plain young woman with high Christian ideals, Ida learned of her superficiality. Realizing at the same time that she loved Van Berg and the hopelessness of that love, Ida reached the brink of suicide, an alternative made palatable to her through her novel­ reading. A "chance" encounter with an old Christian gentleman saved

Ida from self-destruction.

In this new life, Ida was able to meet the ideals of womanhood necessary to be a true mate for Van Berg. She began by reading the encyclopedia in order to improve her mind. The enormity of the task so discouraged Ida that she gratefully received the advice of her father that "'A man that keeps his senses welcomes truthfulness—a high, delicate sense of honor—above all things in a woman for it gives him a 102

sense of security and rest. By truthfulness I do not mean indiscreet

blurting out of things that good taste would leave unsaid, but a

clear-eyed integrity that hides no guile. . . . the chief need of his

life is a home lighted and warmed by an unwavering love.’"13 Having

gained all these qualities of truth and honor through her acquaintance with Christianity, Ida was transformed into the ideal woman: She was

loved by children and old people. She could give her sympathetic love

and understanding to her father and save him from alcoholic ruin. She

could help Jennie and Van Berg to discover a personal savior to replace

the cold God of their theology. Her voice was changed from its former discordancy; she was able to "furnish a little home music to friends, not critics."14 With a soul as well as beauty, Ida was able to provide the home which Van Berg so desired. Only after deserting her former life of "froth,"15 her former role of Belle, was Ida able to achieve this position.

Other Belles, such as Lottie Marsden in From Jest to Earnest, who were successful in their transformation to true womanhood had to have a similar experience. Lottie had to forsake her life of comfort to become the wife of a missionary on the western frontiers of Michigan.

It is true that some young girls in high society were not Belles and could represent true womanhood. Alice Wetheridge, in Without a. Home, had high social status but devoted her life to social work. Alice

Martell, a Christian girl who used her influence to rescue a young lawyer from the evils of wine, is another society woman who represented the greatest potential of the lady with rank and wealth. A society 103

girl whose financial circumstances changed so that she was no longer a

part of that group, Mildred Jocelyn, described that part of her life by

saying, "’Fashionable society seems to me like the sea, as restless and

unreasoning, always on the go, and yet never going anywhere.'"15 It is

clear that Roe’s ideal of womanhood included not only Christian princi­

ples but, also, a sense of purpose and of mission in the earthly sphere.

Once the woman achieved Christianity, she was bound to accomplish some

earthly task with her new strength.

All Belles, however, did not experience this transformation.

Some, such as Stella Wildmere, in A Young Girl's Wooing, were able to

"come to terms" with life and achieve less than ideal marriages.

Stella, who had fragile beauty and a polished social competence, was

not able to furnish the heart's nourishment necessary to become the mate of a true man. She was, however, able to become a satisfactory wife to a moderately wealthy, middle-aged businessman who would settle

for a worldly woman who had been chastened by her experiences. As the

daughter of a Wall Street speculator, Stella personified the female

speculator on the Great Marriage Market. Roe said, "One would almost imagine that she had never had a childhod or a girlhood but was rather a direct creation of metropolitan society."17 Because she had never learned to be a Christian, her sympathy was limited and her true woman­ liness would never develop.

Other Belles, such as Julia Ashburton Saville, in Near to

Nature's Heart, were never to be salvaged for a useful life. Theron's wife, who prevented his marriage to Vera, was a very handsome, dark 104 woman who grew up as the spoiled daughter of wealth and high society.

She had a "viewless, subtle spirit which dwelt within the beauty, and which would prove to the sorrow of all concerned, the spirit of a

Tartar."18 Although beautiful, she would never have furnished a home or peace for her husband. In her portrait, Roe drew together the physical traits of the bad woman: "Her black eyes were too near together, and emitted scintillations rather than the pure, steady light of a womanly nature. . . . Her forehead was none too low, but it was narrow. The development of her lower face was full; not too much so, perhaps for sensuous beauty, but to a close observer it would suggest the trait of stubbornness, and the possibility that passion might triumph over all restraint. . . . She was as lithe and supple as a leopard, as well as feline in many of her qualities."19 The suspicions aroused by her physical qualities were proved by Julia’s life. She took a lover; together, they plotted to kill Theron. Thinking he was dead, the two conspirators were married. Following the disclosure of

Theron’s recovery and of their plot, Julia ran off with her lover only to be soon discarded by him. When she returned to New York, her family sent her out into a blizzard with the admonition never to return to their respectable hearth. It was a measure of Theron’s manhood that he took her into his home and nursed her until she died of consumption.

Julia’s perfidy and coolness, her refusal to give him a real home, served to show Theron the truth of Vera and led him to discover that,

"’only the places which contain those whom we love can be homes.’"20

Julia, who served selfish passion before God and man, was not able to 105

grow into a woman of principle who could change from a Belle to a true woman.

It required all the reinforcement given by these Christian principles and all the support of a personal savior for the dutiful daughters to meet the tests provided by Roe. It was not uncommon for a heroine to face a dilemma because her devotion to God, to her parents, and to her own sense of right were in conflict. In his resolution of these dilemmas, Roe showed that the true woman who was secure in her knowledge of God could trust her sense of right without any worry about its conflict with her duty to her parents or society. When the Chris­ tian basis was firmly established, the individual choice was the best.

The ideal for the young, Christian, American girl was sturdy independence.

The variety of these combinations provided many of the compli­ cations in the love stories, as has been previously discussed in

Chapter III. Vera Wellingly, in Near to Nature's Heart, was firm in her rightful sense of duty to God, her mother, and herself until Theron

Saville’s love and his urgings of French Rationalist philosophy nearly convinced her that her need was at variance with her sense of duty to

God. Although a renewal of her faith in God, through the intervention of General Washington's religious counsel, saved her from this error, the story was not concluded until all doubt of harmony was resolved by the death of her lover's wife. Thus, Vera was able to satisfy all claims to her conscience and still find earthly happiness in her love for Theron. In The Earth Trembled, Ella Bodine and Mara Wallingford 106

found that allegiance to God’s principles and to their own sense of

right was identical. The conflict was the result of their concern for

the demands of parents whose principles required that the girls violate

their sense of right. The resolution occurred when the parents

realized their error. Christine Ludolph, in Barriers Burned Away, and

Edith Allen, in What Can She Do?, were the victims of parents who

presented plans for their futures which corresponded neither to their

own desires nor to God’s principles. After Christine became a Chris­

tian, she was able to see how her desires and God’s were identical and

it is clear that, even had her father lived, she would have asserted

her independence to pursue the course which she knew was right. Edith,

too, had to become a Christian to reinforce her practical ideas of

right which were so in variance with the plans of her socially ambi­

tious mother. Edith’s younger sister, Zell, in her head-strong way,

resisted her mother's plans and Edith's advice and relied entirely on

the advice of her own mistaken individuality. Her youth ended in ruin when she turned to prostitution in order to survive after her desertion by the rake with whom she had eloped. She was, however, able to find

consolation in God's love, under Edith’s care, after her youth and beauty were gone and before she died of tuberculosis.

Roe's most complete portrait of the ideal Young American Girl was Madge Alden in A Young Girl's Wooing. Although Madge’s story had no conversion to faith in God because it was obvious she had always had a strong religious background, her conversion was to health. Madge decided, without consultation with anyone, to rebuild her life in order 107

to win the love of Graydon Muir. Her dedication to her goal shows her

independent spirit. She trained her mind as well as her body so that

she became an intelligent companion for her man. She learned to swim

and to ride horses; she was able to hike many miles without weariness;

she chose clothing that fit her personality and was not merely the mode

of fashion; she was a friend to young and old, rich and poor, high and

humble. She trained her voice to be able to sing hymns and home music

as well as simple classical tunes. She used her money to save her brother-in-law from financial ruin and yet displayed' such good business

sense as to make a profit from the venture. In all her actions, Roe said, Madge "did not believe her motive, her purpose, to be unwomanly.

Should the opportunity offer, she did not intend to win Graydon by angling for him, by arts, blandishments, or one unmaidenly advance.

She should try to be so admirable that he must admire her, so true he could trust her, and so fascinating that he would woo her."21 The happy ending for Madge, the ideal resolution to her story, was her marriage. As Roe said, "To furnish home music, to shine in the light of her own hearth, had been the dream of her ambitions and to the man she had won she made that hearth the centre of the gentle force which controlled and blessed his life."22

The transition from girlhood to wifehood and motherhood was the ultimate desire of Roe’s women characters. Only one, Jennie Burton, a

New England college professor bound to a dead lover, chose a single life in preference to matrimony. Childless elderly ladies, such as Mrs.

Mayburn in His Sombre Rivals, were never fulfilled but needed to mother 108

the children of others. Mrs. Maybum’s comment is typical: "’The

mother in my heart has never been content.'"23

Roe portrayed the Wife and Mother, as he did the Young Girl, in

the different strata of society, as good and bad, and conceived a

portrait of what a perfect mother and wife should be. Society Mothers

were, in general, like Mrs. Allen of What Can She Do?, ambitious for

wealth and position and unaware of the possible consequences for their

children. A notable exception is Mrs. Hart, who was presented as a

direct contrast to Mrs. Allen. Indulgent to their children to avoid

the necessity of making intelligent but unpleasant decisions, these

Mothers, like Mrs. Haldane in A Knight of the Nineteenth Century, were

unworthy of the name of Mother because of the damage they did to their

children. Unthinking in their treatment of their husbands, these women

were bad Wives who contributed to their husbands’ failures and early

deaths because of the uncomfortable homes and unwise diets they

furnished to them. Unless there was some intervention early in the

marriage, these women were often widows, a fate they richly deserved

because of their uncaring attitudes toward their husbands.

Roe’s contempt for bad Wives and Mothers was not only directed

to the society matron. He portrayed slovenly, ignorant, often drunken

Mothers of the lower classes, also. Mrs. Lumley in Nature’s Serial

Story was such a woman—she drank, she didn’t keep her house properly,

she didn’t care for her baby, she didn’t inspire her husband to his best efforts. Mrs. Mumpson in He Fell in Love with His Wife, a woman who deserved her widowhood, turned her daughter, Jane, into a sneaking, 109

sly shadow of the American Girl. Deceit and sloth contributed to Mrs.

Mumpson's fate—life in the poor house where even the dregs of humanity

found her too mean to associate with.

In An Original Belle, the widowed Mrs. Merwyn’s fanatical devo­

tion to the southern cause crippled her son's manhood. Roe often por­

trayed such fanaticism in southern mothers or guardians. Fanny Jocelyn,

in Without a Home, was a southern woman who was feminine, unconcerned

with business, whose typically "warm Southern blood"21+ caused her to

react to her daughter’s desperate attempts to support the family with

the warning, "’My dear little girl, don’t get bold and unwomanly. We

had all better starve than come to that.'"25 Her dependence on her

husband was so complete and her strength so slight that she simply died

herself when her husband committed suicide.

In contrast to these portraits of bad Wives and Mothers, Roe

presented many idealized characterizations of perfection in womanhood.

Probably the two closest to his heart were those he drew in Nature's

Serial Story, that story of domestic tranquility which corresponded

closely to his own family. The middle-aged Wife and Mother, Maggie

Clifford, was a "'house-mother,' as the Germans phrase it. Every line

of her good, but rather care-worn face bespoke an anxious solicitude about everything and everybody except herself. . . . [She had] the

'Martha' spirit, and 'was careful about many things'; but her slight

tendency to worry saved others a world of worriment, for she was the household providence. . . . She was as essential to her husband as the oxygen in the air, and he knew it, although demonstrating his knowledge 110

rather quietly, perhaps. But she understood him, and enjoyed a little

secret exultation over the strong man's almost ludicrous helplessness

and desolation [when she was absent for a few days.] She surrounded

the old people [her mother- and father-in-law] with a perpetual

Indian-summer haze of kindliness which vanished all hard, bleak

outlines from their late autumnal life. In brief, she was what God and

nature designed woman to be—the gracious, pervading spirit, that

filled the roomy house with comfort and rest."26 The matriarch of the

household was the elderly Mrs. Clifford, an invalid who loved nature

and dominated her family through their love for her: "Her weakness was

more potent than strength would have been in maintaining her ascen­

dance."27 In her cheerful presence, her family bloomed like her rose

garden, and her illness was never allowed to shadow the family life.

"There were lines of suffering on her thin, white face, and her hair,

once black, was silvered; but it would seem that, in the dark, lustrous eyes of the patient woman, courage and hope had been kindled, rather

than quenched, by pain."28

As Roe drew these portraits of independent, loving Christian women, always, in the background, he kept his definition of "lady," a definition which had no reference to social status or wealth. As he said, "There is both a natural and a conventional grace and the true lady learns to blend the one with the other so as to make a charming manner essentially her own—a manner which makes a woman a lady the world over."28 Although she might be tall and gray-eyed and lovely, she might just as well have been rather plain; she always had rosy Ill

cheeks which bespoke both good health and maidenly modesty. She feared

little for her personal safety, worried much over her men when they

faced danger, and "fled before that which a true woman fears more than

an army—the appearance of evil."30 A southern girl said that she

remembered her mamma saying '"that women learn more through their hearts than their heads,’"31 while a northern girl said, "’There are moments when a woman feels and knows what is right, while a man with his cast-iron rules would ruin everything.’"32 A woman's intelligence should be different from a man's, a supplementary force rather than an equal kind of knowledge.

This ideal woman, the True Lady of Roe's era, then, was not an equal with man, although she exerted a powerful influence over him.

Superior to him in sympathy and intuition, she could contribute to his success or destroy his manhood. Yet, she was dependent on him for his superior knowledge of the world and his physical strength. Keenly aware of women's power, Roe was a strong advocate of separation of their spheres of influence. Although he created women characters who were successful as nurses, truck farmers, and social workers, there is no doubt that he believed their ultimate destiny was marriage and their only true fulfillment, motherhood. None of his women preferred a career to love, and none continued a career after marriage. In an age when the women's rights movement was strong, this seems a very conser­ vative attitude; but close examination of most of the women who were involved in the movement would show that, while asking for the vote, they were not asking to be freed from motherhood or even to be allowed 112

to pursue careers, to any great extent, until after the First World War.

The temperance movement furnished more impetus to women’s suffrage than

any desire for equal rights, and the temperance movement was clearly of

Roe’s era and met with his sympathies.

If a woman of this era was to have any effect in the wider world of business and the professions, she had to accomplish this

through the men in her life. Serving as inspiration and comforter, the women in Roe’s novels did have an influence on their men. These male

characters faced many of the same problems that the women did. They had to choose between forms of duty; they had to reach out for a personal savior; they had to win their mates. In addition, they had to achieve success in the wider spheres of business, the arts, and war.

As did knights of old, the men in Roe’s novels had to pass through trials and tests to become the ideals to which their women could give their troth.

The Young American Man might have had to fall from high social position to disgrace in order to find Christ and achieve success through his selfless devotion to duty. This was the position of Egbert

Haldane. Or, he might, as Dennis Fleet did, have had to work his way from poverty and humble status to recognition as an artist with the aid of his personal savior. He might have had to recognize his true worth as a member of the Solid Yeomanry in order to achieve financial success, as did Arden Lacey and Roger Atwood. He might have had to recover from personal disillusionment and business failure, as did Walter Gregory, to recover his rightful position in society. He might have had to 113

conquer ill health to become a crusading editor, as did Richard Morton.

Perhaps, like Harold Van Berg, he had to conquer his scientific curio­

sity to discover a greater faith in humanity. If his destiny included war service, he had to survive bravely and to ennoble his deeds with an ideal of service to a cause greater than himself in order to be suit­ able for the great women who had inspired them.

As was true for these women, certain characteristics were typical of the young man who achieved success in Roe's novels. He was a Christian, or he became a Christian. His God was a personal savior who answered his prayers for help. He worked very hard to achieve his success; chopping wood or shoveling snow were not too menial tasks for the sincere young man to undertake. Before he could be completely successful, he had to gain an ideal of selflessness. He honored women highly, even the particular women who may have been the cause of his downfall.

A True Gentleman, like a True Lady, knew no distinctions of social rank or wealth. It was possible to be an ideal man and yet not be a rich man. In an age in which the "rags to riches" idea of the

Horatio Alger stories and the real-life successes of men like Andrew

Carnegie were well known and accepted as possibilities for all who chose to work for their goals, Roe's ideas were easily those of many of his readers. For example, in Barriers Burned Away, Roe showed that

Dennis Fleet knew that he was entitled to be treated as a gentleman because he was a true man, even though he was poor. With these expec­ tations, Dennis went to a society home to aid Christine in preparing a 114

tableau. However, he was not even introduced to the young ladies whom

he was to help. Susie Winthrop and Miss Brown were involved in dis- * cussing his "gentlemanliness." To Susie, Dennis appeared a gentleman

who "’must have seen better days.’" Miss Brown was firm in her convic­

tion that "’such [gentlemen] men don't sweep stores. He may have

passed current in some country village, but that is not our set. ’"

Christine settled the question for them by saying, "’So far as I have

any means of judging, he is a refined, educated man, and I have learned

from papa that his motive in sweeping the store is the support of his

mother and sisters—certainly a very worthy one. To your question,

Susie, I answer unhesitatingly that in accordance with your American

principles and professions he is a gentleman, and you ought to treat

him as such.’” She added, however, that Americans did not always act

consistently with their principles as did the Europeans who settled the

questions on the basis of birth and rank for certain definition of a

person's position in society.33 Thus, Roe showed that Americans

believed in an ideal of the Gentleman which did not call for him to

have riches. It was unlikely, however, that the ideal man in Roe's novels would remain poor for long, unless he was a minister.

Just as the true lady was joined by the true gentleman in Roe's

gallery of Christian nobility for democratic Americans, the Belle had her counterpart among the male characters. Called variously a Bon

Vivant or a Connoisseur, these "elegant manikins"34 faded in brilliance beside true men. Roe did not lavish the loving care which he gave to the transformation of the Belles upon the reformation of the male 115

characters but usually ushered them into the wings in disgrace. For

example, Sibley, in A Face Illumined, was a Bon Vivant, a suitor who

was welcomed by Ida Mayhew before she met Van Berg, the true man. When

Sibley looked at Ida, his eyes "seemed like two livid coals . . . [and]

suggested those of some animal of prey that is possessed only with the

wolfish desire to devour, caring for the victim only as it may gratify

the ravenous appetite."35 When Ida realized the difference between Van

Berg and Sibley, she tried desperately to explain this difference to

her socially ambitious mother. She agreed with her cousin, Ik Stanton, who said, "’There is just the difference between the Sibleys and the

Van Bergs that there is between a drop curtain at a theatre and one of

Bierstadt’s oil paintings. There is more paint and surface in the

former, but truth and genius in the latter.’"36 Even in their homes,

the difference could be seen. Mr. Sibley’s house was a series of

"’showrooms . . . stuffed and crowded with costly and incongruous trumpery.’" In the home of Van Berg’s parents could be seen "'evidence of mind and taste, instead of mere money.’"37 Sibley’s wealth and family position could not excuse his "wolfish" treatment of Ida nor his disgraceful drunkenness. He was not only immoral; he was vulgar. The charge of vulgarity was a heavy one with Roe. Good taste could compen­ sate for wealth and education in this new Christian nobility of Roe’s.

Vulgarity could never be accepted.

Julian De Forest, in From Jest to Earnest, was more of a

Connoisseur than a Bon Vivant. He was accused of superficiality, but never of vulgarity, except when he drank too much. Even then, his 116

manners were better than Sibley’s. A rich man, De Forest had wealth

and position to offer Lottie Marsden, and even she did not know how she

could forego her pleasant life in society to become the wife of a missionary such as Frank Hemstead. Her friend revealed the problem when she said, "’Why, Lottie, none of our set ever married a home missionary.’"38 It took their accident in the snow storm to show

Lottie the comparative worth of Frank and Julian. Julian couldn’t even light the matches, he was so nervous. Lottie and Frank, though, were brave and able to secure safety for the entire group. Julian could not even maintain the night watch as directed, but fell asleep from drink­ ing too much brandy. In addition, he snored most unromantically! A man made for high society, warmth, lights, wine, and frivolity, Julian could never be worthy of a true woman such as Lottie had become. Her change and his lack of change served to show the extraordinary gap between the Connoisseur and the True Lady.

Sibley and De Forest were undesirable and unpleasant; but, because they were also cowards and not interested in single-minded pursuit of the women who scorned them, they were not dangerous. A rake like Van Dam in What Can She Do?, was, however, a Villain who could have been cast in the melodramas of the nineteenth-century stage. An experienced man of the world, Van Dam lured the young Zell from her mother’s protection by promises of a secret marriage. Once Zell was dependent upon him, he refused to marry her and kept her as his mis­ tress . An evil man, Van Dam lived a life of dissipation and lechery and did his best to draw Zell into this earthly Hell. Before this 117

could happen, Zell contracted smallpox and he sent her to the pest

house. He received his punishment when his friends abandoned him and

sent him to the same place when he, too, succumbed to the disease.

Zell recovered to die later of tuberculosis, an affliction visited upon

her during her tenure on the streets of the city. But Zell had time to

be converted to Christianity. Her death was blessed by God’s sweetness,

and his was cursed by Satan’s stench.

In many cases, Roe's Villains were so one-dimensional that

their names were enough to describe their totality: Mr. Hard, a vil­

lage merchant who demanded prompt payment when he heard of the Allen

family's financial failure; Mr. Keen, an unsympathetic lawyer; Harker,

Van Wink, and Ketcham, confidence men; Mr. Crowl, an elderly suitor with a mortgage to foreclose; Mr. Goulden, a wealthy, middle-aged suitor who deserted a girl when her money was lost; Mr. Wildmere, a speculator; Mr. Arnault, a Wall Street gambler who was treacherous.

Occasionally, though, a Bon Vivant was transformed as was the

Belle. The change became possible when the man fell deeply in love with a Christian woman who cared enough to offer her sympathetic aid.

Ik Stanton, a cousin of Ida Mayhew, was so thoroughly salvaged by his adoration of Jennie Burton that he dedicated his entire life to her service. Although she would never marry him or anyone, his selfless devotion to her was sufficient to force him to remain near as her protector and advisor. His increase in personal worth because of this experience led to a successful law practice and high political office.

Egbert Haldane was typical of the young men who became True 118

Gentlemen in Roe’s novels. A Knight of the Nineteenth Century, the

story of Haldane, was one of four novels in which the male character was the chief focus. The heroes of the other three novels, His Sombre

Rivals, Barriers Burned Away, and A Day of Fate, were much like Haldane

in their final form, although their trials and their successes were

different. Haldane was a spoiled youth, the product of a socially ambitious, indulgent mother who had been widowed while he was still a child. After having disgraced himself in their small country village by thoughtless, selfish acts, Haldane was sent to the city to work for

Mr. Arnot, the husband of Mrs. Haldane's oldest friend. Haldane con­ tinued his drinking and gambling until his dissipation led him into the trap where he lost his employer’s money. Only the intervention of Mrs.

Arnot kept him from a long imprisonment. After several vain attempts to reform his life, Haldane was finally able to begin his rise to success when he promised to be Mrs. Arnot's True Knight and to accept her instruction in the Christian faith. With the help of a savior who became his true friend as Mrs. Arnot had promised, Haldane began his rise to a position which would make him a suitable mate for her niece,

Laura. He had to understand the frailties of his mother whose neglect had led to his disgrace before society and to give her his sympathy and love. By hard work, he earned his employer's respect and received a degree to practice as a doctor of medicine—he would never be brilliant but would be a useful servant of God in this capacity. He served God, also, as a Bible school teacher in the prisons and missions of the city.

He offered his life in Mrs. Arnot’s service by caring for her friends 119

during a Yellow Fever epidemic in a southern city. By his heroism in

the Civil War, he earned rapid promotion to a two-star general. When

he returned to Mrs. Arnot and Laura, he had gained their respect, the

world’s honor, and a self-concept which rendered him worthy of the

prize he had sought—the love of his mother and his future wife. He

was a True Knight in the highest sense, an appropriate monument to his

God and to his earthly "angel," Mrs. Arnot. The ideal of the true

Christian gentleman, as portrayed in Roe’s characters, was to give

selfless service to God, to achieve worldly success and to maintain

reverence for women.

In his novels, Roe also presented men in the roles of Husband and Father. Always, their chief role was that of Businessman, Soldier,

Artist, Minister, or Farmer. Unlike women, whose central functions were domestic, the men were identified more closely with their public than with their private roles. Mr. Arnot, for example, was so mechani­ cal and so perfect a piece of businesslike machinery that he failed to fulfill his function as Husband for his symbolically childless wife.

Mr. Allen and Mr. Jocelyn, unsuccessful as businessmen, left their families nearly helpless to face the trials of life. Mr. Ludolph, whose daughter was meant to be sacrificed to his worldly ambitions, was a bad Father. A noteworthy exception to this practice was Mr. Vosburgh in An Original Belle. Although a brilliant businessman and a courage­ ous Union spy, as Marion’s father he achieved his greatest success. He was responsible for her high standards for men’s conduct and served as her protector when her mother urged social ambition as her first 120

concern. Although he was a stolid German and a practical businessman,

the idealist side of his heritage allowed Mr. Vosburgh to sympathize

with and improve the womanly qualities of his daughter.

Roe’s most idealized portraits of men as Husband and Father

were devised for Nature's Serial Story. As noted previously, Roe used

his family as inspiration for these characters. Leonard, Maggie's

husband, was a silent man who was the "strong stay and staff" of the

family.39 The elder Mr. Clifford was a robust man at eighty, who still

took an active part in the decision-making process of the family farm

operations. He displayed his tenderness in his care for his invalid

wife and the young children. Definitely less well developed than their

female counterparts, these men exemplified the ideals of Christianity

and selflessness discussed earlier.

In his portrayals of men in their public roles, Roe showed how

experience in the arenas being newly entered in the nineteenth century

by men who were in the Yeoman class of an earlier period formed men

eligible for Christian knighthood. Just as the young man, Egbert

Haldane, entered true manhood through selflessness and hard work, these

other male characters showed their qualifications for their roles in

molding their country's destiny. The types developed by Roe included

the Artist, the Minister, the Farmer, and the Businessman. The worldly

goal for these men was not immense wealth. It was to achieve an honest,

individual success which contributed to society. The middle-class bias was here, as elsewhere, evident.

Harold Van Berg, in A Face Illumined, was an artist who had 121

"inherited large wealth, and yet had formed habits of careful industry."

He did not wish to stand upon his father’s considerable reputation but

"on the ground of what he was and could do himself." He possessed

"decided talent, if not genius. But his artistic gift accorded with

his character, and was controlled by judgment, correct taste, and

intellectuality rather than by strong and erratic impulses. His aims

were definite and decided rather than vague and diffusive."0 Not

misled by vanity, Van Berg was a careful craftsman who strove for more

than "merely exact proportions" in his portraits. He insisted that the

"controlling trait or traits of the spirit within must shine through."111

It was this artist’s discrimination which led to his desire to alter

the spirit within Ida Mayhew so that it would agree with her outward beauty. Fittingly, it was the portrait of the transformed Ida which became his masterwork. Such exemplary spiritual portraits, which proclaimed his Christian ideals, were his contribution to his society.

Frank Hemstead, in From Jest to Earnest, served to show the ideal for the Christian minister in Roe’s society. As discussed earlier, Frank had to learn about the needs of real people like the pagan Lottie, before he could formulate sermons which would serve to deliver his message of Christian salvation and earthly happiness.

Frank was well educated in seminary studies but needed to learn about the real world. As his cousin, Addie Marchmont said, "’Frank ... is a singularly unsuspicious mortal. Even as a boy his head was always in the clouds. He has not seen much society save that of his mother and an old-maid sister. Moreover, he is so dreadfully pious, and life 122

with him is such a solemn thing.’"1*2 When he had seen society, as

represented by the Marchmont family and their guests, Frank was

enlightened. But he did not forsake his old ideals; he changed the

socialites’ frivolity into meaningful pleasures. A brave man with

great physical strength, Frank provided his friends with new attitudes

toward ministers. He, with Lottie’s help, was able to fulfill a self­

less ministry in the missionary outposts of Michigan. Roe’s reader

knew that Frank Hemstead's kind of pastor would be practical; he would

not allow his parishioners to intimidate him into forsaking his princi­

ples to get a few paltry dollars to feed his starving family, as the

county parson in their village had done. The minister would stand as a

True Gentleman worthy of community recognition. His solemn side would

be leavened by his loyal wife, and, although he would never be wealthy,

he would be successful in his ministry to the poor, the weak, and the

forlorn. He would expect the best salary his congregation was able to

give him, and he would be satisfied when he received this. He and

Lottie trained diligently for the rigors of their missionary work. Roe

showed that their efforts were rewarded handsomely: They became the

"chief social, refining, and Christianizing influences of a growing

Western town. They have the confidence and sympathy of the entire community, and are people of such force that they make themselves felt in every department of life. They are shaping and ennobling many characters ."1*3

Although the Solid Yeoman Farmer had long been a standard ideal of American Society, the farmer which Roe showed as ideal was a 123

businessman farmer who coped with a larger world than had his ancestors

A man like Robert Durham, in Driven Back to Eden, was concerned with

reaping a living from his land in order to sustain his family just as

his forefathers had been. In addition, however, he was ready to move

into the world of the entrepreneur, to move into commercial ventures

which would add to his wealth. His fruit crops were his means to do

this. As Durham moved into his new world, he made acquaintance with

the people who could aid him in his endeavors. No longer was the ideal

to be self-contained, to avoid the wider world beyond the family farm.

The proprietors of a larger farm, like the Cliffords in Nature's Serial

Story, were quick to adapt the new methods of scientific farming to

this same end. All Roe's farmers subscribed to agricultural journals

for similar reasons. Webb Clifford, the middle son, even wrote a paper

for such a publication to tell others about his discoveries. The

Cliffords, Durham, and other farmers exemplify the Christian ideal of

the True Gentleman. The major aim of Roe's characterizations of the

farmer seems to have been to show that the man of the soil had a mind

and soul which he cultivated as arduously as the farm over which he

toiled so many hours. Roe's farmers were as shrewd in a bargain as any

city man; they were apt to be, however, more honest and straightforward

than their counterparts in the world of the Wall Street businessman.

In A Young Girl* s Wooing, Roe devised several characters to

show the ideal of the Christian Businessman who acted in the city’s

arena. Henry Muir, Madge's brother-in-law, was scrupulously honest in his dealings on Wall Street. He was so meticulous in his care of 124

Madge’s estate that he would not use her funds to save himself from

certain ruin. On the other hand, Mr. Wildmere speculated so exten­

sively that he was ready to sacrifice his daughter’s happiness in life

to save his shaky investments. Working with Mr. Arnault, he plotted to ruin the Muirs for his personal gain. A seemingly heartless man, Mr.

Wildmere, through his lack of sensitivity, served to emphasize Henry

Muir’s fine qualities of sympathy, qualities which were so strong that he was able to penetrate the secret of Madge’s heart even before his wife could do so. At the conclusion of the novel, however, it became clear that Arnault was the real villain and Mr. Wildmere only his tool.

Wildmere, because of his weakness and lack of skill, had allowed the pressures of his ambitious wife to destroy his human sympathy. Reduced to poverty, he was able to regain his manhood and insist on different home arrangements. This change in their lives allowed Stella to appre­ ciate the marriage which was possible to her, and with his son-in-law’s aid, Wildmere was able to earn an honest living. Arnault’s reward, like Van Dam’s, was given by a greater power than man’s. He turned from his pursuit of Stella’s hand to the "pursuit of gold, but it had lost its brightness forever.”" A cold, heartless man, Arnault had destroyed forever his one chance for happiness with Stella by his cruel machinations in the potentially evil world of business.

Roe often showed the Street of the Businessman as dangerous to the integrity of his characters. Mr. Mayhew, Ida’s father, was reduced to weekend alcoholism by its tensions. Mr. Allen and Mr. Hart, in What

Can She Do?, were killed by apoplectic attacks after failures of their 125

investments. The business depressions of the era were clearly in the

background of Roe’s stories, and he showed the need for Christian

character to survive these disasters which were well known to his

audience. An honest man like Henry Muir could survive with the aid of

a sensible, sympathetic wife. The others could not. Unscrupulous men

like Arnault and Uriah Fox could also survive; however, their rewards

were never the ones they wished. Thus, their earthly riches were

worthless.

A vast throng of ethnic portrayals and Dickensian caricatures

joined the typical native Americans in Roe's novels. His attitudes

toward the immigrant groups and toward the Blacks were surely accept­

able to his audience because they were so easily used without apology

for their crudeness or explanation of their function. Dealing in broad stereotypes, Roe was able to use a German (the immigrant group which had been in America the longest) as a good or bad character depending upon whether he emphasized the idealistic or the ambitious,

Prussian aspect of the character. Mr. Ludolph and Mr. Vosburgh are examples of this use of stereotype. Germans were also portrayed as eccentric artists or scientists. The Irish were usually shown as improvident, often as intemperate in their drinking habits, many times as thieves and cheats, and always as members of the Servant class. An exception is one Irishman, Barney Ghegan, in An Original Belle, who was able to become a policeman in New York City with the aid of his former employer. Even in his story of the Revolutionary War, Roe did not include the American Indian in his characterizations. 126

Although Roe often used Blacks as comic relief in the typical

fashion of his age, several Black characters were developed as central

intelligences to expose the truth in the novel. Aun’ Sheba, in The

Earth Trembled, was the wise matriarch of her own family. Her practi­

cal approach to earning a living saved her "white family" from poverty.

Her blunt statements and expert manipulation were important to the

resolution of the story. She often spoke the truth before it was

evident to any other character in the story. Chunk, a dwarf of strong

stature and wily mind, was able to save his northern friend by out­ witting his southern masters in Miss Lou. His girlfriend, Zany, joined him in displaying an intelligence superior to the white folk who had control over them. In Near to Nature's Heart, Gula, an African prin­ cess, had supernatural powers; her son, Tascar, provided for the family after Mr. Wellingly’s breakdown. With Pompey, a real historical figure,

Tascar devised a plan to infiltrate the British fort by selling fruit to the soldiers. Hannibal, the loyal servant of the Allen family, showed the purity of his black heart as he performed as the sole rational support of Edith in her struggle to maintain the family. This character is most puzzling because, while Roe showed Hannibal's nobil­ ity and acceptance as a Christian by God, he allowed Hannibal to steal to aid the family. The Allen family would not have violated their principles to steal. Roe, thus, postulated some sort of different standard for Black and white Christians. Ironically, considering his liberal intentions, Roe's treatment of Blacks as well as his treatment 127

of women, advanced for his day, would be considered hopelessly bigoted

by today’s standards.

The Dickensian Grotesques were identified by their quaint ways,

their dialect, and in general, their crotchetiness. Bill Cronk, a

crude westerner with a heart of gold, despite his tendency to swear and

drink too much, appeared in Barriers Burned Away to give practical

advice to Dennis. Jeremiah Growther, an old man whose greatest sin was

swearing, saved Haldane’s sanity by giving him a home and wood to chop

in A Knight of the Nineteenth Century. Usually, these gruff old men

discovered that their search for Christianity could be rewarded, and

the reader often was aware that their offers of practical help to the downtrodden were nearer to Christian principles than the actions of professed Christians. Auntie hammer, the quaint, fat, country lady with the enormous appetite in From Jest to Earnest was "more than a duchess ... a woman."5 Uriah Fox, whose name and character were borrowed directly from Dickens' Uriah Heep, was one of the few charac­ ters in this category who was not a good man. He plotted to gain the love of Edith Allen, in What Can She Do?, by blackmailing her father.

Although unsuccessful in his efforts to win Edith, he ruined her father, indirectly caused his death, and bought the family home with his ill- gotten gains.

Many more examples of Roe’s Grotesques, of his ethnic, or of his male and female characters could be cited. In the seventeen novels,

Roe created over two hundred eighty characters who are important enough to be necessary to any complete description of the stories. This 128 compilation of the stereotypes which is presented to explain the ideals of the period has barely touched the surface of the teeming life with which Roe populated his fictional communities. Because the ideal of the True Lady extended equally to the shop girl, the country wife, and the society girl, it is not necessary to review each character indivi­ dually. Similarly, the True Knight was the same whatever his station in life. Roe’s "mirror of life" held up to his audience the picture of themselves they wished to see: they could visualize themselves as members of a democratic Christian nobility who, unlike their Old World ancestors to whom titles were given or from whom they were withheld, had earned the title of knight or lady. In his exposure of the problems of high society and of the city, Roe furnished his readers significant areas in which they might expend their Christian endeavors. He directed their "noblesse oblige" to the unassimilated immigrants, to the new Black citizens, and to the sinners and unredeemed. 129

FOOTNOTES

1E. P. Roe, "The Element of Life in Fiction," Forum, V (April 1888), 233.

2Ibid., 230-32.

3Henry James, The Art of the Novel, with Intr. by R. P. Blackmur (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1962), p. 45.

4Ibid., p. 46.

5Ibid., p. 53.

6Hjalmer Hjorth Boyeson, "Why We Have No Great Novelists," Forum, II (Dec. 1887), 616.

7Ibid., 619.

8A Face Illumined, Works, XII, 23.

9Ibid., 30.

10Ibid., 114.

nIbid., 303.

12Ibid., 304.

13Ibid., 534-35.

14Ibid., 564.

15Ibid., 66. This reference is made by Ida's father.

18Without a Home, Works, II, 15.

17A Young Girl's Wooing, Works, XVI, 27.

18Near to Nature's Heart, Works, VIII, 44.

19Ibid., 45.

20Ibid., 234.

2 3Works, XVI, 66.

22Ibid., 480. 130

23His Sombre Rivals, Works, XIII, 99.

2Works, II, 129.

25Ibid., 177.

26Nature's Serial Story, Works, I, 6.

27Ibid.

28Ibid., 5.

28He Fell in Love with His Wife, Works, XIX, 227.

30Works, VIII, 65.

31Works, XIII, 331.

32Works, XVI, 368.

33Barriers Burned Away, Works, V, 147-48.

"Works, VII, 18.

35Works, XII, 186.

36Ibid., 264.

37Ibid., 265.

38From Jest to Earnest, Works, VII, 413.

3 8Works, 1, 6.

"Works, XII, 14-15.

1+1 Ibid., 16.

"Works, VII, 11.

"ibid. , 432-33.

"Works, XVI, 482.

"Works, VII, 100. CHAPTER V

ROE’S BEST-SELLING FORMULA: THE MESSAGE

For E. P. Roe, the spiritual and temporal aspects of man’s world could never be separated. Thus, in his novelistic ministry, he

formed sermons for life which included elements of both aspects. The

situations and characters which formed his stories were chosen for the purpose of delivering his message to his audience. Through the novels, he told them of a God who was a personal savior; he explained what life

in the future world would be. In his commentary, he delineated the mission of the church, the use of the Bible, and the possibilities for

Christian instruction open to ministers and laymen. In his discourses on nature, he showed how nature revealed God to men. He explained how nature could also serve man in his daily endeavors to achieve susten­ ance. He discussed other problems of worldly existence and offered guidance for their solution. Ranging from suggestions about finding a mate and establishing a home to solutions for larger societal problems,

Roe reached into nearly every facet of his readers’ lives with his instructive messages.

Since Roe has been known in this century primarily as a reli­ gious novelist, this part of his work has received some attention from scholars in this field. Elmer F. Suderman considered two of Roe’s novels in his study of "Religion in the American Novel, 1870-1900." In explaining the significance of religious writing in this period,

131 132

Suderman said that the "challenges" of this period were the greatest

ever faced by the Christian church in America. These unsettling

elements were four: "new developments in science, Biblical higher

criticism, the study of comparative religions, and the new ways of life

in urban centers."1 Although the problems raised by science were real,

most religious novelists didn’t even discuss them because the "evidence

of God’s existence was so obvious as to preclude the necessity."2

Explaining what God was to the writers of the religious novels, Suder­ man said that "He transcends the universe, but He is not indifferent to

or completely separate from the world. . . . the God of these novelists

is the God of orthodox Evangelical American protestantism but without

Calvinistic overtones."3 Perhaps even more than others, Roe insisted upon the divinity of Christ.4 In the late nineteenth century, novel­ ists such as Roe separated "theology" from "religion" and, thus, solved the problem of inconsistencies shown in studies of comparative religion or Biblical texts. "Theology," according to Suderman, "was defined as being concerned with the existence and the nature of God and his relations to man, the religion . . . was defined as being concerned with the feeling and conduct of man toward God and toward his fellow man." "Theology," was "narrow, inflated, intolerant, and cruel."

"Religion," the choice of the novelists, was shown as "tranquil, sympathetic and benevolent."5 The novelists used the Bible as the

"ultimate authority in matters of faith ... to substantiate the promise of heaven."6 Roe, like others during this period, was condemna­ tory of the "stultifying effect of narrow creeds on the church and its 133

members."7 Conversion on the deathbed, but more often through the

efforts of a good woman, was a popular topic in these novels, but the

city revivals of T. D. Moody were ignored.8 Love became holy and the

"petticoat preacher" was the chief promulgator of the message of God's

powers to save.3 During this period, the emphasis for Christian social

work was on individual rather than group effort—the remedy was to

effect change in society by making changes in the individual.10 Suder-

man concluded that Roe and his peers "were practical in the sense that

they were this-worldly rather than other-worldly and ethical rather

than theological . . . concerned with life here and with what religion

had to say about this life."11

Consideration of all of Roe’s novels confirms Suderman's

analysis, which was based on only two of the earliest works. Roe’s

basic religious ideas remained the same from first to last and were in

harmony with other religious novelists of the period. Roe dispensed

with the theories of the theologians in his first novel, Barriers

Burned Away, and did not consider them again. Christine Ludolph,

before her conversion was "’worse than a pagan’" because she did not

believe in any creed but only in "’Art, music, fame, power.’" Another

young lady stated that her creed was "’Keep in the fashion.’" Susie

Winthrop, a descendant of New England Calvinism, was charged with wanting "’hair-splitting in regard to the high doctrines—clear, brilliant arguments, cutting like sharp, merciless steel into the beliefs of other denominations.’"12 With Dennis’ guidance, Susie

learned the difference between high theological assumptions and true 134

religion. He asked her, "’How many hungry people have you fed? How

many strangers (I do not mean distinguished ones from abroad) have you

taken in and comforted? How many of the naked have you clothed? And

how long is your list of the sick and imprisoned that you have visited, my luxurious little lady?’"13 Acting upon her new awareness, Susie became an active worker for charity and a Sunday school teacher. Roe’s message was clear: Theology was only for senseless debate and, thus,

it was meaningless. Religion was an active out-pouring of the individ­ ual’s Christian spirit in concern for other people; it was a part of

this world and relevant to life. Thus, Roe’s ideas were clearly in conformance with the Social Gospel of the late nineteenth century.

The first step toward religion, according to Roe, was to achieve conversion to a personal faith. Egbert Haldane, in A Knight of the Nineteenth Century, was led to this point by Mrs. Arnot. Ida

Mayhew, in A Face Illumined, was given her first impetus by her contact with an elderly gentleman who lived close to nature. Both individuals were desperate from their efforts to cope with living. Walter Gregory, in Opening a Chestnut Burr, learned of Annie Walton's faith in God; his love for her and his remembrance of his mother’s faith furnished an impulse to follow their example. Christine Ludolph, in Barriers Burned

Away, was led to God by her love for Dennis Fleet. Grace and Alford

Graham, fighting His Sombre Rivals, grief and death, were brought to the experience by their desolation over the death of their baby, for whom they could not accept the finality of death. Throughout the novels, Roe showed that the conversion was necessary and that earthly 135

guidance was usually the reason for an individual’s beginning his

journey to salvation through a Christian life.

Determination of a need for salvation was not sufficient for

true faith, however. The next step was to study the Bible, declared by

Roe in Near to Nature's Heart to be the greatest book for human

instruction. Added to this careful study was the need for observation of God’s work in nature to discover the reality of his presence. Then, like Ida Mayhew and even black Hannibal, in What Can She Do?, the individual had to discover for himself, with the aid of earnest prayer, that God loved him regardless of his sinfulness or his black heart.

This God was ready to forgive human error and to love the most insig­ nificant of his creatures. At this stage of development, the searcher for faith could be aided by humans, nature, the Bible, and prayer, but the burden of his effort toward Christian understanding rested upon him as an individual.

Although most of Roe’s emphasis was upon conversion for life, he did not discount the deathbed conversion. Mr. Fleet, in Barriers

Burned Away, experienced this phenomenon. Fleet's experience was used by Roe to furnish a picture of Heaven to his readers. In this after­ life, lover was to be united with lover, the face of Jesus was to be clearly visible, and eternal peace was to be gained. This concept was repeated many times in the seventeen novels. The person whose conver­ sion was for life had, however, to pass beyond simple personal convic­ tion to selfless, Christian service. Egbert Haldane proved his com­ plete dedication by his sacrifices during the Yellow Fever epidemic, by 136

his contribution of his talents as a doctor of medicine, and by his

devotion to convicts and poor people as a teacher in the mission

schools. Ida Mayhew proved her selflessness by her devotion to her

family and her instruction of Jennie Burton, Harold Van Berg, and Ik

Stanton about a personal Savior who would replace their icy, impersonal

God of Calvinistic theology.

The rewards possible to the Christian were indeed rich. Once

the relationship to God was established, whether by conversion or by

lifelong belief, the individual had in God a confidant, a friend, and a

comforter. In this relationship, there was no problem so small or so

large that God could not solve or would not heed when approached by the

individual in earnest prayer. By letting her mother return as her

guardian angel, God answered Vera Wellingly's prayers for help in her

dilemma whether to choose a life of sin with Theron or a loveless life

alone. When Dennis Fleet could not find any work in the city, he

prayed to God for help. He had realized, through reading the Bible,

that "’God seems to care as much for the well-being and happiness of

his children here as He will when He has us all about Him in the home

above. I’ve been blind for twenty-one years to one of the grandest

truths of this Book.'" As he fully realized the implications of this

discovery, "he exclaimed joyously, 'Take heart, Dennis Fleet: God is

on your side in the struggle for an honest success in this life as

truly as in your fight against sin and the devil.'"11* The next morning,

Dennis got the job which led to his eventual success. Always, God was waiting to support the person who came to him for aid. 137

In his discussion of religion, Roe not only presented a plan

for personal salvation but also formulated a picture of what the

mission of the church should be. The city church, as in Barriers

Burned Away, was shown in A Knight of the Nineteenth Century as an

inhospitable place. Egbert, in his search for faith, decided to visit

Mrs. Arnot’s place of worship. The deacon coldly placed him in a pew

at the back of the sanctuary, and the worshippers ignored him or turned

away from him. Mrs. Arnot, a large contributor, disguised herself to

test Egbert’s report, and discovered that she, too, was similarly

treated in her humble clothing. Roe's scorn for such behavior was

shown by his reference to this place as a "sacred refrigerator."15 Mrs.

Arnot, of course, used her power to see that the conditions were

corrected. Roe described the church as an "elegant and eminently

respectable place, upholstered and decorated with faultless taste," but

there were scarcely any worshippers and no "hint of publicans and

sinners" even in the faultless music and carefully prepared sermon which seemed to be a "performance" rather than an authentic worship

service.16 This kind of church was like that of the Allen family, a

church for people who attended services because it was the "thing to do"

rather than from a sincere desire to show reverence to God.

In contrast to this false place of worship, Roe showed the rural church, in Driven Back to Eden, where the Durham family worshipped.

The "glad spirit of Spring" was in the minister's sermon. The newcomers

"were not treated as strangers and intruders, but welcomed and shown to a pew" so they were able to "feel at home." They were "kept awake and 138

given much to think about." After Sunday school, they all "went home,

feeling that life, both here and hereafter, was something to be thank­

ful for."17 In A Day of Fate, Richard Morton, a fugitive from the city,

wandered into a Quaker meeting-house and in his ignorance of their

customs, sat on the women’s side. One of the Friends explained the

problem and asked him to sit with the men, but did so with such cordial­

ity and kindness that Morton did not resent the action. The others did

not stare at his discomfiture but were so quiet that Morton was

impressed with their behavior as a contrast to the curious and ill-

mannered Christians of his acquaintance in the "fashionable" churches

of the city. This small church seemed to Morton "the very haven of

rest and peace"18 and exactly suited his needs. It was in a rural

parish that Frank Hemstead first understood, with Lottie’s help, that a

sermon should be personal and applicable to life rather than like the

cold message of theological dicta about which he had learned in his

seminary studies. It is clear that Roe proposed a church in which the

example of God, the savior who wept in sympathy for human error and

trials, would be followed. In his society, he saw this example best

followed in the rural churches.

Roe did not believe the church’s mission could be completed inside the four walls of the sacred building, however. He strongly supported the Sunday school and the mission school. Several of his heroic characters chose to work in these areas. The biggest problem, as he explained it, which faced the city church was its refusal to acknowledge its duty to the thousands of suffering people who could 139

never cross its thresholds because of the coldness of its atmosphere,

its sermons, and its members. As in Without a. Home and What Can She

Do?, wealthy young women dared to break away to do social work in the

slums, but generally the establishment failed to take notice of the

social problems outside its doors. By presenting the individual

response to this challenge as heroic devotion to Christian duty, Roe

showed his readers that they, too, should be concerned to extend their

efforts in these areas. Here, again, Roe showed his adherence to the

Social Gospel as well as to the institutionalized church.

The Christian, searching for guidance and denied the help of a

friendly church, had still another place to go besides the Bible—to

nature. To the seventeenth-century Calvinists, nature was a source of

God’s revelation. By the eighteenth century, the Deists and rational­

ists were looking to nature for reassurance of the continued function­

ing of a machinelike God. In Roe's time, the ordinary man was, like his seventeenth-century ancestors, looking to nature as a revelation of

God, but under the conditions imposed by the newly-popularized science

of Darwin. A second use of nature, which was shown even more strongly

than usual in the novels of this author-horticulturist, was to aid man in becoming successful on earth.

In Nature’s Serial Story, Roe used the earth’s calendar of growth to coincide with the growth of two young people toward their love, showing all life as cyclical. Amy had to mature, as the plants did, to the point of adult love and responsibility. Using a scientific farmer, Webb, Roe showed how the intimate knowledge of nature and the 140

newly-discovered data of the scholars could combine to produce a

greater harvest of success for the family farm. He showed how the

sharpened powers of observation bred by the scientific method could

result in even greater understanding of God’s message in nature. The

minister, Rev. Barkdale, preached an Easter sermon in which he said,

"’The God we worship ... is the God of life, of nature. ... We can

employ this power and make it ours. . . . All the skill and science in

the world could not create a field of waving grain, nor all the art one

of these flowers. How immensely the power of God supplements the labor

of man in those things which minister chiefly to his lower nature! Can

you believe he will put forth so much energy that the grain may mature

and the flower bloom, and yet not exert far greater power that man

himself may develop according to the capacities of his being?’" He

added that all of God’s power was awaiting man's impulse to "’intelli­

gently avail'" himself of that strength and aid.18

An even more practical discussion of the ways in which nature

can aid man is in the children's novel, Driven Back to Eden. The

problems faced by the Durham family were caused by life in the crowded

city. Durham could scarcely support his large family on his small

salary; he did not see any possibility for advancement. The children were becoming unruly and reckless of parental authority under the

influence of the city children. Bobsey ran away often, and the traffic

and other horrors of the city lay in wait for him. Winnie was reading

the cheap picture journals so offensive to decent folk, and she was

sneaking away to do it. Mrs. Durham was becoming thin and strained by 141

the conditions under which she had to raise her family. Roe showed how

this city family, by utilizing the bounty of nature and the strength of

each family member, could achieve a satisfactory living in the country.

In this novel, Roe explained how to grow, market, store, and use nature’s products. He also gave information on how to live with

country neighbors, how to build barns, how to arrange kitchens, and how

to plan a holiday at Coney Island. He repeated the advice of this

story in a popular non-fiction book, The Home Acre, in which he gave directions for the development of a self-sustaining homestead. Behind all the practical advice in the novels and even in his horticulture books, however, is a view of nature as God's revelation and bounty which coincides perfectly with the idealized view of nature in the earlier novel, Near to Nature1s Heart. In this story, Vera was the feminine personification of nature and her triumph over the evil of

Theron’s eighteenth-century philosophy was the triumph of the God of

Nature over man’s philosophies.

Roe’s religious messages make it obvious that, for Roe, there was never a separation of the spiritual and temporal aspects of life.

They served to complement each other, and neither could be complete without the other. Thus, Roe's religious message always included reference to earthly success and practical applications. Similarly, his advice for daily living always had reference to a spiritual impulse.

Just as the "Spirit of Conversion" hovered over the religious and practical aspects of Roe’s novels the "Spirit of Self-Improvement" hovered over both the areas of the work. 142

In the area of practical affairs, Roe’s advice to his readers

was almost unlimited in scope. If a young girl wished to woo a husband,

if a matron wished to gain her husband's love, if a woman wished to

know how to decorate her parlor for beauty or her kitchen for warmth

and efficiency, Roe’s novels furnished suggestions of how to do these

things. If a young man desired success in business, the arts, the

Christian ministry, or farming, he could discover the principles and methods which he needed in these novels. Roe's commentaries on social problems of drug addiction, prostitution, slavery, on art, on education, and on the temperance issues clearly exposed a set of values and attitudes by which his readers could confirm and test their individual positions toward these popular concerns. Clearly shown in his advice was a preference for rural, middle-class society and a belief in the efficacy of individual effort and the centrality of the home and family in the Christian life. Indeed, the importance of the family was behind the thrust of the love story which formed the major situation and plot of the novels. Neither passion nor sexual satisfaction was the goal of marriage. The point of courtship was to produce a happy home in which to continue the growth of Christian society. For this reason, the marriage could not be consummated without the approval of the parents and the community, without the conversion of the partners, and without a basis of financial security.

The major force of Roe’s temporal message to his women readers was in this area of forming a perfect marriage and family. First, they had to know how to find and win a husband. Although all the novels 143

covered this problem thoroughly, the best example is in A Young Girl's

Wooing, the novel in which Madge Alden set out deliberately to gain the

love of Graydon Muir. Madge, as previously noted, "did not intend to

win Graydon by angling for him, by art, blandishments, or one unmaiden-

ly advance."20 Madge decided instead to reform herself into the kind

of woman who could be worthy of a man like Graydon. Her first move was

to rebuild her body and her mind. She went to California where the

climate would be beneficial to her health. While there, she instituted

a program of physical and mental training which resulted in great

improvements. She learned to swim and to ride; in the process, she so

improved her physical strength that she was able to become a better

singer under the tutelage of an eminent voice teacher. Her learned

hosts helped her to design a program of studies which enabled her to

become a well-informed person. Roe pointed out that "almost any girl

can win health, and therefore more or less beauty, if she has the

sense and will to make the effort."21 It was not necessary that Madge

be superior in any of her skills nor extraordinarily beautiful. She

had only to be modestly competent. Thus, the program which Roe formu­

lated was probably within the scope of any of his readers.

When Madge had accomplished this reformation, she returned to

the east to test her ability by entering the arena against a beautiful

society Belle to whom Graydon had made a tentative marriage proposal.

She did not make a direct bid for Graydon's love in competition with

Stella, however. She was content merely to exact from Graydon a promise that he would no longer think of her as a sister and then to 144

proceed to live in such a way that he must compare her with Stella in a

way which was bound to be in Madge's favor. She saved a child from

drowning, was tireless and cheerful on mountain hikes and horseback

rides, was lovingly effective in her care of her young niece and

nephews, was faultlessly proper in her reactions to Stella, and was

fearlessly resourceful in saving the Muir family from financial ruin.

Stella’s selfish cruelty to Madge and her indifference to and neglect

of her own family served to show the admirable qualities of Madge in a

better light because Madge did not herself insist on her superiority.

Knowing that love was a "’woman's life, and all that makes a true

woman's life,'"22 Madge had set out to win her man—and she was success­

ful. "Womanly to her finger-tips, . . . acting with the aggressive

decision of a man,"23 Madge formed a plan of action which Roe's readers

could have followed.

Once the marriage was satisfactorily achieved, however, the women had other areas in which they needed expertise. There was much advice for the married woman, also, in Roe's novels. Mrs. Durham, in

Driven Back to Eden, was a typical homemaker and, because she had to establish a new household, her experience served as a good example of

Roe's ideas. When she moved from the city, Mrs. Durham knew it was foolish to bring much of her heavy furniture; she preferred to buy the used pieces of solid country furniture left in the house. She wisely brought her iron cooking stove from the city on the steamboat. She chose a large, sunny room for her kitchen because she was her own cook, although she would have been as considerate of a servant if her station 145

had been such as to allow her to have had one. In her close economy,

Mrs. Durham still found it necessary to have an Irish woman to do her

laundry. She cut down her household drudgery by preparing one-dish

meals and eliminating costly and non-nutritious fancy deserts, substi­

tuting wholesome fruits in their place. She was understanding of the

family’s financial situation, happy to live in the roomy, old-fashioned

farmhouse, and did not insist upon a new house when a new barn was

badly needed for the success of the farm operations. She worked side-

by-side with her husband in the strawberry patch during the harvest

season. Mr. Durham, appreciative of her devotion, had the deed to the

house made out to his wife and often helped with the children during

his slack time. He arranged family outings to repay everyone for their

hard work. Sometimes the pleasure was a swim in the meadow pond; once

it was a trip on the riverboat to Coney Island. Mrs. Durham, as well

as her husband, was her children's teacher. Until they reached twelve,

their education was supervised by their parents. Unlike the small

children in most of Roe’s novels (in which they rarely play a signifi­

cant part), the Durham children were well disciplined, also. Mrs.

Durham used, what were for that time, modern tactics in lieu of old-

fashioned whippings. The child who couldn't behave as was necessary

for the situation might have been tied into a chair or sent to bed with

only bread and water for supper.

In contrast to the middle-class domesticity and modern ideas

for homemaking and child-rearing shown by the Durham family, Roe presented scenes from upper-class households to prove the positive 146

point by the negative one. The Allen home, although elegant and costly, was not happy because there was no love and interdependence within the

group. When the money was lost, the family was lost until Edith

reformed it in the fashion of the rural community to which they moved.

Mary Muir, although she provided a calm, secure, untroubled home to

shelter her husband from the terrors of Wall Street, lacked the femin­

ine intuition which would have enabled her to share her husband’s whole life. Mrs. Jocelyn, in Without a Home, had neither the expertise nor

the resourcefulness to provide a home when she lost her husband’s support.

In addition to major concepts of this sort, Roe's books con­ tained many practical "hints for homemakers": To make a good cup of coffee, break one egg into the pot along with the coffee. To improve a small, dreary set of rooms, make gingham curtains and put geraniums on the window sills. A young girl's room may be beautified by wreathing the pictures in dried ferns and autumn leaves. Fashion should be adapted to individual style. A carefully casual stack of folios of home music adds grace to the parlor. A pipe from the kitchen stove can provide warmth to a second-story bedroom. The best dessert and a treat for an invalid is a dish of fresh strawberries with heavy cream. A rose is a more beautiful decoration for hair or sash than the costliest jewel. A spray of spring apple blossoms adds extra flavor to a simple meal of bread and vegetables.

However, in his attention to the needs of his female readers,

Roe did not overlook his male audience. Assuming that their major need 147

was for information about success in the public realm, he did not

neglect to give them advice. First of all, after having achieved the

proper Christian basis of character, the young man had to realize the

value of hard work. All his male characters worked as diligently as

did Dennis Fleet, who began by shoveling snow from sidewalks, took a

place as janitor, worked up to clerk and eventually to assistant

manager of the Art Palace, while studying the painter's craft so that

he could become a famous artist. Harold Van Berg, a wealthy man,

practiced his craft diligently to reach perfection as an artist.

Egbert Haldane, who had lost his right to his wealth, found chopping

wood therapeutic as he worked to achieve wholeness of spirit. Wealth

was no excuse for not working. The men who did not achieve, such as

the Bon Vivant and the Connoisseur, were never successful in Roe's

novels even though they had plenty of money. For some men, like Frank

Hemstead the minister who was to become a missionary, success was not

measured by financial security. Achievement of a standard of service

and integrity was as important to the male characters as was the

accumulation of riches. Mr. Arnault, in A Young Girl's Wooing, was a villain and an undesirable addition to society, even though he had

gathered a fortune from his speculations on Wall Street. Roe, thus, reinforced the beliefs of his audience in the almost-Christian virtue of Hard Work.

Robert Morton, the editor of a city newspaper in A Day of Fate, is the best example of a man who achieved success in the public arena, and he never became rich. Morton took full advantage of the same 148

things that Madge Alden did: Honesty, hard work, opportunity, and his

own talents. In a statement prophetic of the muck-rakers, Roe said,

"The editor has exceptional opportunities, and might be the knight-

errant of our age. If in earnest, and on the right side, he can forge a weapon of public opinion that few evils could resist. He is in just

the position to discover these dragons and drive them from their hiding- places. "" As Morton found, and as most of Roe’s characters found,

this combination produced personal satisfaction, public acclaim, and usually wealth. If not wealth, it provided a comfortable livelihood, if the money was properly used.

Small hints for daily behavior were furnished for men, also: A man should aid his wife in heavy tasks such as carrying water or churning. A man should surprise his wife by adding flowers to the family garden lists. He should adopt accounting systems for household budgets. He should be able to sing home songs and should lead the family devotions. The family provider should use moderation in eating and drinking so as to protect his family. He should insure his life and his buildings. These hints sound suspiciously like ones which wives would like their husbands to have, a factor for Roe’s novels’ popularity among the women, perhaps.

One thing which Roe included in his suggestions for conduct for both men and women was advice on how to handle a drunken man. There was no question in Roe’s novels of the scorn in which he held the intemperate, even though nowhere in his novels does he achieve the pot-boiler effects of his temperance pamphlet, "Gentle Woman Roused." 149

Usually, the drinker suffered social ostracism and this was sufficient

punishment. Exclusion from the community was equal to exclusion from

all good things of life. It was impossible for a man to have a com­

plete existence without home, family, and the respect of his society,

in Roe's value system. His behavior, though, reflected upon the women

with whom he had contact and caused damage to their reputations. In

serious cases, their lives may have been endangered. The drinker was a

member of the upper or the lower classes, often a city dweller, rather

than of the rural middle-class, another example of Roe’s preference for

this segment of society. Some examples show how this effect was

achieved and to indicate Roe's attitudes. Sibley, in A Face Illumined,

was a wealthy young man, foolish and indulgent, a clothes horse instead

of a man, who followed Ida Mayhew to the quiet resort hotel and so

disgraced himself by drinking too much that he was asked to leave. He

almost ruined Ida's chance to marry Van Berg. Ida's father spent his

weekends in drinking to forget his family's neglect and to ease the

tensions of Wall Street warfare. His actions, too, were detrimental to

Ida as she tried to change her life, but her change in turn precipi­

tated her father's and he was able to give up his bad habit. Julian

De Forest, a society fop in From Jest to Earnest, drank too much at a ball. When Lottie had to smuggle him out of the party and into the home of their hosts, she was so disgusted she no longer considered him worthy of even the slight attention she had previously awarded him.

The Irish servants in Roe's novels were always intemperate. Mrs.

Wiggins, a servant in He Fell in Love With His Wife, could not desert 150

her alcoholic desires even for the good home offered to her by Holcroft

In The Earth Trembled and Barriers Burned Away, drunkenness was the

last resort of the terrified, weak members of the immigrant and Black

groups, as well as of the high society weaklings.

Intemperance was only one of the social evils of his day about

which Roe spoke courageously. In What Can She Do?, the younger Allen

daughter, Zell, became a prostitute as her only means of support after

she had been deserted by her lover. But it was not only her lover who had mistreated her. Her parents were also guilty because they had not

given her a proper education so she could be self-supporting if it were necessary. This book’s dedication says: "If I were to dedicate this book it would be to those girls who resolve that they will not play the poor role of Micawber, their only chance for life being that some one will ’turn up’ whom they may burden with their helpless weight."25

Particularly in this novel and in Without a Home, Roe presented the dilemma of the woman who does not have a father, brother, or husband to care for her. He spoke out strongly against the practices of the shop keepers who kept girls on their feet for twelve or more hours a day.

He asked for rooms in which they could rest, facilities for the prepara­ tion of hot meals, and a pay scale which would allow them to be self- supporting. Through his characters’ trials, he showed that the only persons who could afford to work in the city’s shops were girls who lived with their families in the slums. A country girl, such as Rose

Lacey, had to return to her rural home or turn to the higher paid trade of prostitution to escape starvation unless she happened to be 151

fortunate enough to reach the Home for Girls or a similar social agency.

Such aid was too little and too scarce. Of course, Roe's major charac­

ters were able to find alternatives through the aid of their expert

resourcefulness and a benefactor, but he included enough problems of

this sort in his minor characters’ lives to show their pervasiveness

and to ensure his audiences' awareness of the conditions.

Besides asking for reforms in the shopkeepers’ practices, Roe

suggested other alternatives. The one least desirable and impossible

for city girls, was to keep the farmers’ daughters in the safety of

their rural homes. The other was for even rich fathers to educate

their daughters in a practical way. The Hart family, upper-class city

dwellers, resolved the problem in the latter fashion in What Can She Do?

Both the daughters had learned how to earn a living. Anne played the

piano, but she had studied it as a science so that she could teach it

as well as enjoy it. Ella approached painting and drawing with the

same intentions. Both girls had learned the arts of millinery, hair­

dressing, dressmaking, cooking, baking, preserving, housekeeping, marketing, and household bookkeeping. Often Roe’s characters, even

though not driven to prostitution or crime because of their inadequate

education, lamented the lack of practicality in their backgrounds.

Dennis Fleet, who had several years at college, was still not suited to any occupation. Egbert Haldane’s education had been supervised by an indulgent mother and was so slipshod as to give him no help whatsoever in the business world. Most of Roe's upper-class women characters lacked basic knowledge of housekeeping skills and were suited only to 152

manage servants rather than to work. Often, they were unable even to

manage the household staff. Although Roe was asking for improvement in

women’s education, he was not advocating that women desert their usual

occupation as wife and mother to become professional women. Showing a

male attitude toward the "Blue Stocking," Roe had Van Berg deliver this

comment, in A Face Illumined, about New England female colleges: "'a

place where they give a razor-like edge to the wits of Yankee women,

already too sharp, and develop in attenuated maidens the hatchet faces

of their sires.’"26 To balance this opinion, though, Roe developed a

counter-statement from Jennie, a professor at this college: "'I do

labor for my own livelihood and it is a source of deepest satisfaction

to me that I can live from my own work and not from gifts.'"27 Jennie

is a good character and her views may be taken as close to Roe's, so

that when she denies being a women's rights advocate, there is no question of Roe's agreement with that position.28 Thus, in a time of women's rights agitation, Roe clearly accepted the idea that a woman should have a degree of independence through a practical education. He did not however advocate any kind of action toward educational reform by the society as a whole. The education of a woman was her family's responsibility. He did not ask for reorganization of the educational system. Nor did he in any way advocate acceptance of the Suffrage

Movement.

Another social evil, as Roe saw it, was swearing. Although today it seems this would have been a minor issue, it was evidently a matter of both religious and social offense for a man to curse. 153

Several of Roe's Grotesques, the good men with strange habits, shared

this problem. When Lou shed her gentle influence over the wounded

soldiers, they made a vow never to swear again in her presence. This

was a difficult battle for these battle-hardened northern soldiers, "a

fight with inveterate habit, an effort to change vernacular, almost as

difficult as the learning of a new language. . ... The pledge was soon

known as ’A Northern Tribute to a Southern Girl.’ It was entered into

with enthusiasm and kept with a pathetic effort which many will not

understand."29 It is obvious that, to Roe's generation, cursing before

ladies was a mark of supreme disrespect. It is also clear that most

men found this gesture of deference to the tastes of women a difficult

one to make.

Of the many things which would amaze Roe's generation should

they return to visit the modern world, the change in attitudes toward

language might produce the greatest shock. Men smoking would not

offend them, because as Roe explained, a pipe or a cigar was usual for men. Old country women like Mrs. Wiggins smoked pipes. Young and

middle-aged women of high, middle, or low classes did not smoke. Roe believed that a glass of home-made fruit wine was all right for anyone, despite his temperance sentiments. Many people in the late nineteenth century believed that coffee was a dangerous stimulant, but Roe was a strong booster for a good cup of coffee.

A social problem which it seems surprising to find included in novels written after the Civil War was slavery. Admittedly, the historical novel had to include the institution as a part of the 154

authentic background, but E. P. Roe spoke of slavery in his Revolution­

ary War novel as well as in his Civil War novels. The issue must still

have been of concern to his audience. The wounds of the war had not

healed by the end of Roe’s lifetime, and his prefatory comments to

these novels always expressed the hope that the novels could bring the

two regions closer together. However, in Gula's description of her

life as a slave, Roe was inflammatory, and traditional, in his treat­

ment. Gula was whipped and ran away; she was never mentally sound

after she had left Africa. In Miss Lou, Roe again used the traditional

"scare story" about Blacks in slavery—the threatened insurrection

against the white master—and the whipping of the beloved mammy. The

other stories of the Civil War either originated in the north, where

slavery did not exist, or took place directly after the war. It is

obvious that Roe was too close, as was his audience, to the abolition­

ist sentiment and the fact of slavery to provide any kind of balanced account of this facet of American life. He did provide reinforcement of the ideas first popularized by Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom, that story of slavery which was popular in tent shows and book sales long after E. P. Roe had died.

The most impressive statement on social evils made by Roe concerns a dilemma which is of greater concern today than any of the others with which he dealt. Although the problems of the cities are much the same as those he discussed and are far from being solved, the drug problem looms as one of the most vital of the modern age. Roe said in the "Preface" to Without a Home, "I am sure I am right in 155

fearing that in the morphia hunger and consumption one of the greatest

evils of the future is looming darkly above the horizon of society.

Warnings against this poison of body and soul cannot be too solemn or

too strong."30 In the novel, Martin Jocelyn became addicted to mor­ phine, tried to addict his wife, lost his money, and finally shot himself. It is a lurid story of helpless dependence. Roe's knowledge of the drug was sufficient that he did not blame Mr. Jocelyn for a lack of moral strength because of his inability to break the drug habit. In this instance and in others, Roe showed his liberal spirit and his modernity. He did not cling to the conservative beliefs when they no longer fit his knowledge of reality.

In this, and in other ways, although the novels may appear old-fashioned, the modern reader must respect E. P. Roe's intentions.

He meant for his novels to be "distinctly religious" because "the student of life finds religion more inextricably interwoven with human experience than infidelity.” He aimed to reach the "multitudes of men and women who are carrying burdens of which they cannot or do not choose to speak" with a "story which incites to patience, charity, aspiration, brave effort in behalf of ourselves or others."31 His popularity must certify that he reached millions with his advice for action in the spiritual and temporal realms of human existence. It must also attest to the idea that these messages were those which most clearly identified with their needs and values. Roe explained his ability to reach all the classes of his society by saying that his audience was the average American: "I happen to feel and think very 156

much as the average American feels and thinks."32 In fact, this

audience was greater in its scope than Roe at first expected. In the

more expensive editions, his novels reached the great middle class of

farmers and small businessmen; but they, also, reached the shop-girl

and mill-boy, the prisoner, and the poor of the lower classes when they became available in public libraries and cheap editions on newsstands

in railway stations and general stores. The novels made Roe's messages

of "patience, charity, aspiration [and] brave effort" available to all classes of society. 157

FOOTNOTES

1Elmer F. Suderman, "Religion in the American Novel, 1870- 1900," unpub. Diss , Univ. of Kansas, 1961, p. 6.

2Ibid., p. 23.

3Ibid., p. 55.

^Ibid., p. 63.

5Ibid., p. 86.

6Ibid., p. 99.

7Ibid., p. 175.

8Ibid., p. 179.

9Ibid., p. 199.

10Ibid., p. 223.

"ibid., p. 288.

"Barriers Burned Away, Works, V, 154.

13Ibid., 156.

"ibid., 53.

"A Knight of the Nineteenth Century, Works, III, 319.

16Ibid., 326-27.

"Driven Back to Eden, Works, XVII, 155-56.

18A Day of Fate, Works, XIV, 22.

"Nature's Serial Story, Works, I, 197-98.

20A Young Girl's Wooing, Works, XVI, 66.

21Ibid., 78.

22Ibid., 447.

23Ibid., 73. 158

2‘♦Works, XIV, 416.

25What Can She Do?, Works, X, i.

26A Face Illunmied, Works, XII, 84.

27Ibid., 124.

28Ibid., 129-30.

28Mlss Lou, Works, IX, 235.

"Without a_ Home, Works, XX, vii.

31E. P. Roe, "The Element of Life in Fiction," Forum, V (April 1888), 235.

32Quoted by H. H. Boyeson, "American Literary Criticism and Its Value," Forum, XV (June 1893), 461. CHAPTER VI

CHANGING REFLECTIONS IN THE "MIRROR OF LIFE"

Publication data show that Roe’s novels were issued in large numbers until 1914. In 1893, a count was made in public libraries to determine popularity of books on their shelves. Roe’s novels figured prominently on these lists. The librarians also listed the most popular authors in an order of preference. This popularity poll ranked

E. P. Roe fourth in a distinguished company. Only Charles Dickens,

Louisa May Alcott and Walter Scott were more popular. The others (in order of preference) in the top categories were J. Fenimore Cooper,

George Eliot, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendall Holmes, W. M.

Thackeray, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mrs. Burnett, and Mark Twain.1 The formula used by E. P. Roe continued to be acceptable to readers for several generations. His novels fulfilled his expectations for the

"living novel." As he said, "Critics cannot kill it [the living novel] any more than they can slay the thousands to whom it appeals. They may sneer at book and reader, but both survive. They may dismiss it as appealing to an inferior class; but the maid reads it in the kitchen, the mistress in the parlor, and the master puts it in his pocket when starting on a journey." Regardless of their literary value, Roe’s novels had an importance for his audience, for their "circle of friends." Roe found it incongruous that in the journals of a democra­ tic society, "the people [were] accorded so much intelligence on the

159 160

political page, and almost denied its possession in the literary

columns; yet the people and time go on setting values all the same."2

During this period, until the beginning of the First World War,

other novelists achieved a popularity which demonstrates the continua­

tion of the values shown in Roe’s novels. The two novelists most often connected with Roe are Charles M. Sheldon and Harold Bell Wright. A book which is considered the all-time Best Seller, whose sales were exceeded only by the Bible and Shakespeare, was written by the first of these men. Charles M. Sheldon's In His Steps was written in 1897 as a series of Sunday evening sermons. Although the inspiration for this novel was probably Robert Elsmere, written by Mrs. Humphrey Ward in

1888,3 rather than Roe's work, Sheldon's serialized sermons demon­ strated a minister's concern for earthly good works much as Roe's novels did. Sheldon posed the question to his readers, "What would

Jesus do?" His vignettes of modern life demonstrated the ways in which

Christian belief could be translated into useful action. He put his own beliefs into practice by editing a Christian newspaper in which he refused to take advertisements for liquor or shoddy products. He stressed the good news of human life rather than the sensational and tragic. For the short period of its publication, the newspaper was a great success. According to James D. Hart, the so-called "religious novels" of the Gilded Age, such as In His Steps, were not exclusively religious, but all had a theme similar to that which has been so apparent in this study of Roe's novels: "In one way or another, they 161

dealt with the proper relation between Christianity and the social

issues of the day."1*

Another novelist, with similar concerns, who may have been more

directly influenced by Roe, is Harold Bell Wright. Between 1903 and

1919, Wright wrote five Best-selling novels and three Better-selling

novels.5 Mott noted similarities in Roe’s and Wright’s backgrounds:

their humble birth, their poor education, their dedication to the ministry of an "orthodox" faith. Their work, too, according to Mott, was similar: "Both were strongly didactic and religious in their writing, and both knew how to tell a story that would interest multi­ tudes of middle-class readers."6 A biography of Wright shows how similar the representation of the experiences of his life was to that given by Roe’s biographers. It shows, too, how his plan of work corresponded to Sheldon’s and Roe’s.

Wright was born in Rome, New York, a few miles from Roe’s birthplace, on May 4, 1872, several months before Roe published his first novel.7 As a boy, Wright and his mother were partners in a "rare intimacy," although she died when he was just ten years old. For friend and teacher, Wright had Nature: "Exuberant Nature and ebullient boy loved each other from the first." Wright was a student at Hiram

College in Ohio, but eye trouble interrupted his education. He found renewed health through the vigorous outdoor exercise of a river trip.

Having decided early, during his boyhood in Grafton, Ohio, to be a dedicated Christian, Wright preached his first sermon during this trip which had ended in the Ozarks of southwest Missouri. This sermon led 162

to his being offered a pastorate in Pierce City, Missouri. He chose

the ministry as the way by which he could help the most people.

Although he continued his ministry in Pittsburg, Kansas, he began to

write That Printer of Udell1s to read to his congregation on Sunday

evenings. Although he was a busy public speaker and civic leader, he

continued his writing even when he went to a larger congregation at

Kansas City. His health again became frail and he wrote The Shepherd

of the Hills as a test of his ability to reach the "hearts of men and

women" and to decide "whether he would teach the precepts of the Man of

Galilee by voice or pen." Hoping to improve his health, Wright

accepted a pastorate at Redlands, California. He soon resigned to

devote his life to writing stories which were based on real life and

his personal experience. His novels used the locales of the Ozarks and

the southwestern United States with which he was familiar. His books

were called great "sermons" for his time and he emphasized "clean

living and thinking." His books were promoted by excellent advertising

campaigns of an "educational character." Three novels were made into

plays, and The Eyes of the World became a motion picture. Described as

an unpretentious man, Wright was known as "companionable, loving and

loyal to his friends." He chose "his pen rather than his pulpit," an

action which "was in every way consistent with his teaching that every man's ministry is that work through which he can accomplish the

greatest good."8

The personal qualities which had endeared E. P. Roe to his

first audience were of importance to the readers who made Wright a 163 popular success, the second and third generation of Roe’s audience. It was still important that the author be a "good man." Devotion to his mother and intimacy with nature were of greater importance than a broad education. The status of having been a Christian minister added credence to his message. In his novels, as well as in his biographical sketch, Wright showed similarities to Roe. Wright always had a strong element of mystery, a love story, a religious and a temporal message, situations and locales drawn from real life, and idealized characters which exemplified the best of human kind. The positive rural virtues, the work ethic, individualism, the Social Gospel, and Christian princi­ ples were the great values in Wright's work, as they were in Roe's. It is clear that the audience at the end of the era shared many ideas of the readers at its beginning. A greater emphasis was put on Christian action in this world—a trend obvious in Roe's work. Optimism was the general attitude. Americans of the middle and lower classes still happily agreed with Pippa, that God was in his heaven and all was right with the world.

Although avant-garde thinkers agreed, many years earlier, with

Frederick Jackson Turner's thesis which was first read at the Chicago

World's Fair in 1893, it was not until after the First World War that popular literature began to reflect the changes in American life which

Turner’s statement about the closing of the frontier had forecast. As

America moved from a predominantly rural, isolated country to an industrialized world power, its people discovered that opportunities for personal advancement and control over one's own destiny were being 164

limited by human forces which could not be controlled. The "safety

valve" of "pushing on" to avoid these problems did not any longer exist

Hart said that the "changes in interest and values” which became

apparent in popular fiction were finally caused by the war. The

idealism of Woodrow Wilson, the idealism of past generations, was lost and, in its place, "skepticism was growing in America." Other reasons

for this change were the growing use of the automobile, the movies, and the radio.9 As a matter of fact, people were reading less because the popular mode had changed along with the values and attitudes of this new generation of readers.

Although the mode had changed, and was even further modified by the introduction of television after the Second World War, there was still a large popular audience for books which attained recognition by the Literary Guild or the Book-of-the-Month Club and were then published and distributed in large quantities in the paperback format.

Often, a movie dramatization spurred sales of the novel, in a reversal of the earlier situation, when the titles Barriers Burned Away or The

Eyes of the World were sufficient attraction to ensure an audience for the movie. Probably the best current example of this phenomenon is

Love Story, a screen play made into a novel which became a Best-Seller.

Although the classic writers of the twenties and thirties, Lewis,

Fitzgerald, and Hemingway were perhaps skeptics, they were not so popular in terms of Best-Sellers as were the affirmative, idealistic writers such as Pearl Buck, Lloyd C. Douglas, Margaret Mitchell, and 165

James Hilton.10 The elements of Roe’s appeal to his audience had not

been obliterated; they had only been altered.

The extent of the differences and similarities between Roe's

audience, that of the period between the wars, and the modern audience

can be illustrated by looking more closely at several currently popular

novels which are updated versions of the kind Roe wrote. These are the

novels which the truck driver reads before settling down for several

hours of rest in preparation for the long work journey along the

asphalt pavement which leads to his destination. They are read by the

suburban housewife after their authors appear on Johnny Carson's TV

show or after they are mentioned by the women lounging at the country

club swimming pool. They are read by the blue-collar factory workers

and the white-collar executives of the factories. They travel in the

pockets of accountants and small businessmen to be read on busses,

commuter trains, or airplanes. At lunch-times, bevies of secretaries and file clerks, young and middle-aged, share portions of these novels

or discuss the characters and the plot. Because the novels are often romans jl clef, even the Jet Set, the Beautiful People of high society, read these novels to be aware of who or what is featured in the latest expose of their lives. Beauticians and their customers from "Kenneth's" to "Edie Adams' Cut'n'Curl" find common conversational ground in these novels. Thus, clearly, the popular audience of today in many respects is like the shop-girls, factory workers, mistress, maid, and master who read Roe's novels.

Just as there are some similarities in the audiences, there are 166

also some similarities in the novels. The modern novels center upon

sensational situations; they use homely situations; they preach

morality; they contain hints for the readers’ spiritual and temporal

guidance; they present stereotypical characters. The difference is not

in the formula or in its elements. The difference is in the set of

values and attitudes which are being reflected in the modern "mirror of

life." Whether this change was produced by skepticism and a loss of

idealism after the First World War as suggested by Hart, or by an

increased tempo of life caused by the pressures of living in a technoc­

racy as postulated by Alvin Toffler in Future Shock, is a matter of

speculation and certainly of interest to future scholars of popular culture.

From today’s vantage point, only the description of the differ­ ences is possible. This description should begin, to be consistent with the earlier analysis, with the author of the modern popular novel.

In Roe's era, it was important that the author be a "good man," of which a minister was a supreme example. Irving Wallace and Fletcher

Knebel, are, so far as their audience is concerned, simply authors.

They do not profess to be ministers who preach sermons, and the greatest demand made on them as people is that they be witty and urbane guests of the talk show hosts in order to promote their books. Hailey, for instance, is a naturalized Canadian citizen who lives in seclusion in the Bahamas. Their publishers’ blurbs, the only information most readers have of them, list their supreme "story-telling" abilities rather than their personal qualifications. Like the average man of 167

today, the author is known less as an individual than as the purveyor

of a product for sale. Thus, in the modern era, the individual "good

man" has been replaced by a "story-teller," a man who is a careful

researcher and has a talent for facile description and florid prose.

Another point of contrast—one which shows a change in conven­

tion as well as in disposition and also shows the changes in the

distance between the novelist and his audience—is the modern writer’s

use of Dedications and Prefaces to establish intimacy with their

readers. Roe often dedicated his novels and always did so in a personal way. Nature's Serial Story, for example, was "Affectionately Dedicated

to my Wife" as was Opening 11 Chestnut Burr. His first novel was

"Reverently Dedicated to the Memory of my Mother"; Miss Lou and Driven

Back to Eden were "lovingly dedicated" to his daughters, Lou and

Johnnie respectively. From Jest to Earnest was "dedicated in fraternal affection to the friend of my youth and maturer years—the Rev. A. Moss

Merwin, who, with every avenue of earthly ambition open to him at home, and with every motive urged upon him to remain at home, has been for years, and is now, a faithful missionary in a foreign land." On the other hand, Hailey does not dedicate his novels. Knebel’s dedications are simply a name with no indication of reason or relationship.

Wallace comes closer to Roe in his dedication of The Prize : "To my

Parents Bessie and Alex Wallace." Similarly, The Word is "For Sylvia with Love." Roe’s readers were always greeted by a "Preface" in which he explained his purpose in writing, his methods of research and his personal satisfaction in serving them in their searches for happiness 168

and salvation. The "lesson" of the novel was clearly expressed. Often,

Roe would add that, the critics notwithstanding, millions of readers

had loved his novels. The modern novelists do not write "Prefaces." A

curt, legalistic reminder that "All characters in this book are ficti­

tious, and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coinciden­

tal" takes its place. Wallace, again an exception, provides an "After­

word" to The Prize, in which he delineates the years of research put

into its execution. He does not, however, describe any purpose or message behind his writing. Usually, the modern author chooses to

allow his novel to talk for him and is not concerned to explain his meaning to his audience in any other way. Just as Roe was affected by

the Realist school of fiction and criticism, so, no doubt, is the modern author affected by the tenets of the "New Critics," that the

story should be complete in itself, that only the "poem qua poem" is to be considered as important. Thus, the conventions of Roe’s era—those conventions which served to tie the author as an individual to his readers as individuals—have become outmoded and have been almost entirely discarded.

Modern authors utilize the sensational and homely aspects of their readers’ lives as central situations in their novels, as did Roe.

The situations which are chosen show the increase in the scope and the differences in the kind of experiences in which today's audiences are involved. Roe's usually chose to use great natural disasters such as the earthquake in South Carolina or the Chicago fire. He also used a

Yellow Fever epidemic and the New York Draft Riots. Almost all 169

situations in modern novels are caused by the manipulations of groups

of powerful men. In Hailey’s Wheels, it is the automobile corporations

which manipulate the world of the novel. The cover blurb states that

"The American Automobile Industry becomes Hailey's microcosm of

humanity," and "Wheels explodes with the passions of men and women

caught up in the world's fiercest power game!" In Hotel, Hailey chose

the hotel industry for his central situation. Knebel chose the military-political-social power groups to furnish his central situa­

tions and conflicts. In Trespass, the Black militants confront the political and social Establishment over property rights. Dark Horse is a confrontation of the rich and poor in a struggle for the office of the presidency. In The Prize, the stories of six Nobel prize winners are told against a backdrop of international political intrigue. The

Word's central situation is the creation of a new Gospel by an inter­ national group of publishers and scientists. Thus, the source of the sensational situation has become the malevolent forces of well-organized political and industrial machines.

In Roe's use of the sensational situations, he always emphasized the human powers of strength and endurance during the trial. In modern novels, these qualities of mankind are equally stressed. The strongest of the characters survive: In Hotel, Keycase Milne, the clever thief;

Peter McDermott, the brilliant hotel executive; Christine Francis, the young woman who had survived family tragedy and had become stronger for her experience; Dodo, the mistress whose love for Curtis O'Keefe made her stronger than her rivals; the Duchess of Croyden, whose coldness 170

and remoteness from love gave her strength. In Wheels, all the main

characters were strong enough to adjust to the needs of the crisis.

Only Rollie Knight, handicapped by his cultural and environmental disadvantages, was devoured by the machinery of the situation. A Black man who had a chance to escape from the ghetto boundaries through the auto industries' Minorities Hiring Plan, Rollie was unable to cope with the temptation of his new life. He was entangled in the numbers and heroin rackets, and ended a victim of a gang slaying. The pattern is similar in the novels of Knebel and Wallace. The major difference between Roe's novels and the modern novels is not the emphasis on human powers of strength and endurance in the situation. It is this: For

Roe's readers, survival and, thus, success would have been possible only for noble characters, motivated by love of God and man. Today's readers can accept as a fact of life that a thief like Keycase or a cruel woman like the Duchess can succeed as well as a brilliant man of adaptable integrity like Peter or a loving woman like Dodo.

The homely situations of daily life also are used by the modern popular novelists. The automobile has taken the place of the horse, for example. In Dark Horse, Knebel's central character, Eddie Quinn, is a commissioner of New Jersey's turnpike system. He was born in his parents' automobile at the place where Exit 9 of the turnpike is today; he is often referred to as a man of the highways; his political career as a dark horse candidate was nearly halted by an auto accident near

Exit 9. Behind the power of the giant industry in Wheels is the national passion for automobiles. Current modes of transportation 171

furnish complications in all of these novels—auto-racing, hit-run

murder, missed airplanes, trains and busses, the intimacy of shipboard

accommodation. The technology of telephone, telegraph, and wire

tapping is a commonplace occurrence which complicates plots and adds

interest. Such things as prostitution and drug usage, which were

sensational situations in Roe’s novels, are homely incidents in the

modern novels. The everyday customs, such as the vendue or the dona­

tion party, of Roe’s novels are paralleled by the cocktail party and

the car pool in the modern novels.

The changes in homely situations reflect those of the worlds in

which these writers lived rather than show a difference in emphasis or

in the importance of everyday life. Modern novelists describe the

social conventions and furnish information on acceptable behavior in as

great a detail as did Roe. For example, Wallace’s characters, all

aiming at trim, youthful figures, never eat dessert. Knebel’s husbands

and wives quarrel in psychologically acceptable patterns designed for

constructive solutions. The etiquette of hospital and funeral behavior

is exemplified by Wallace in The Word. In Hotel, the tipping of

waiters and bell-boys is explained so that the reader knows how to

avoid the pitfalls of their confidence schemes; Erica Adams’ routine of

exercises, used to maintain her excellent physical condition, is

detailed for Hailey's readers. In all the modern novels, advice is

given on explicit sexual techniques and practices.

Another situation, the love story which was central to Roe's novels, is a part of the modern novel, also. Instead of being the 172

focus of these novels, however, it is an embellishment. Plots are

arranged upon a framework of social situations rather than upon the

quest for a successful marriage. Success for the character in today’s

popular novel is based upon his control of the forces manipulating his

life rather than upon his achievement of a good marriage. Although

romantic love as a convention is not discarded, the emphasis in the

love story is upon the establishment of a satisfactory sexual relation­

ship, rather than upon achieving a marriage which is necessary to

provide the security of the individual and his society. Although the

hero, who is the main character in contrast to Roe's usual emphasis on

the heroine, usually has some kind of lover by the end of the novel, it

is not his major accomplishment. Steven Randall, in The Word, will

probably marry his Italian mistress, but his greatest achievement is

his decision to fight the international publishing cartel by joining

the Raker Institute, a group of Ralph Nader-like investigators. At the

end of Dark Horse, it is doubtful if Eddie Quinn will marry his

mistress, Congresswoman Kate Witherspoon, but it is certain he will be

more successful in his political contest for governor than in his race

for the presidency. Brett De Losanto and Barbara Zaleski, the young

radicals in Wheels, will probably never marry but will continue their very satisfactory love relationship as they continue their joint

efforts to combat social evils.

These changes in emphasis from the heroine to the hero, from marriage to sexual relationships reveal major differences between Roe's novels and today's. The "fond embrace of the Iron Madonna" has been 173

broken. This change is reflected in the attitudes toward women shown

by the stereotypical female characters. Older women may retain some of

the authority vested in them by Roe. For example, Hailey shows that

the wife of the elderly Board Chairman of General Motors serves as his

conscience; Randall’s mother, the wife of a small town minister, main­

tains a spiritual dominance over her family in their home. Younger, married women, however, do not influence their husbands to any extent and are certainly not "Marthas" or spiritual guides. Erica Adams, the second wife of an auto executive, is a sexually frustrated, neglected, spoiled woman who turns from unsuccessful love affairs to kleptomania in her desperate struggle for significance in her life. Her problem is solved by her discovery that she and her husband will soon have a child which will provide her temporary shelter in the traditional role of

Mother. The Nobel prize winning scientist, Denise Marceau, is devas­ tated by her husband’s love affair with a Balenciaga model. She seduces a young Swedish scientist in order to trap her husband into recognition that their work as a team is more important than his passionate attachment to the younger woman. Kate Witherspoon, lost in an unhappy marriage to a Texas oil magnate, finds temporary personal fulfillment in her political activities and sexual satisfaction with

Eddie Quinn.

The young girls in these novels were either totally liberated sexually or were celibates who suffered greatly from sexual frustration.

Leah Decker, sister-in-law of Andrew Craig in The Prize, was a frustrated woman. Trying to take the place of her dead sister, she 174

dedicated her life to keeping Craig drunk and ineffective by building

on his guilt over the death of her sister. When threatened by Craig’s

adjustment to living, Leah crawled into his bed and offered her body as

a sacrifice to maintain her hold on him. Lilly Hellqvist, a Swedish

girl who gives her body to Craig with great compassion, is a direct

contrast to Leah. She has a child by her first lover, takes men into her bed because of her own sexual needs, and will not marry until she

finds a man whose love is as important to her as his sexual attraction.

Dodo, the mistress of Curtis O’Keefe in Hotel, is a good-hearted,

loving girl who accepts his favors and is willing to be discarded at his whim. (O’Keefe, however, realizes her worth and decides to marry her.)

This picture of today’s woman, almost powerless and frustrated in a world where the important things in life belong to the realm of men, is in direct contrast to the portraits of Roe's women. Although women during the earlier era lacked political equality and rarely moved beyond the spiritual and domestic sphere, they were revered and respected for the gentle influence they exerted in this arena, that part of life which Roe showed was the most important area of human activity, that part in which individuals found their greatest satisfac­ tion. According to the evidence of these modern novels, only the public realm is of significance.

The traits most desirable for Roe's heroes were integrity, willingness to work diligently, and faith in God. The modern novelists seem to agree with these ideas, with some alterations. A successful 175

man must have an integrity adaptable to the needs of the situation,

work hard within the Establishment, and have faith in his personal

ideals. Where he cannot meet the first two conditions, he has to

direct all his efforts toward maintaining the last. This, generally,

is the central dilemma of today’s popular novel—how can the hero

maintain his ideals against the continual buffeting of his integrity by

the alien forces of the Establishment? In Trespass, the hero, Tim

Crawford, is caught between the old White Establishment, which he

rejects as dull, and the new Black Establishment, of which he is

terrified. He resolves the conflict, through the use of reason, on the

basis of his idealistic belief in the value of mankind. He pays his

debt to the Blacks and affirms his admiration of Black militant leader

Ginny Jones, who had once been his lover, by giving $500,000 to estab­ lish an educational foundation for Blacks. Peter McDermott, in Hotel,

faces the loss of his really big chance to run the St. Gregory if he insists on allowing Blacks to register there. Acting upon his ideals and a sense of guilt because of his previous retreat from the issue, he chooses to take a stand for equality. Fortunately, the Establishment, a crusty old millionaire raised in the era of individualism and self- reliance, agrees with him and he achieves his success. Unlike Albert

Wells, the self-made man of Hotel, most older men in these novels find themselves helpless anachronisms. Fifty-year-old Curtis O’Keefe is an excellent example of a man caught between two eras. Brought up in the discipline of hard work, with a strong belief in the power of prayer to aid his efforts, O’Keefe is a sensualist who uses people unmercifully 176

for his own ends. His daily twenty-minute prayer is devoutly directed

to telling God how He can help Curtis get control over the St. Gregory

Hotel. When his efforts fail, O'Keefe loses faith in God's power. A

heart-felt prayer, for Dodo's recovery from the brain injury she

suffered in the elevator accident, is answered; O'Keefe realizes one

cannot pray for personal success.

The Duke and Duchess in Hotel are representatives of British

nobility. They show the hauteur and disregard for the rights of others

often associated with the upper classes, although it is suggested that

the Duke has suffered from the coldness of his wife rather than from an

innate flaw. The middle-class bias of today's popular novel is as

apparent as it was in Roe’s era. The rich are always pitted against

the poor, a theme which formed the basis for the political campaign in

Dark Horse. The under-privileged are fighting the over-privileged in

Trespass. The Establishment is battled by the individual in The Word.

The message of the modern novels is devoted to delivering an

expose of the abuses forced upon society by the Establishment. Wheels

tells about the shoddy practices of the assembly lines in Detroit and

the operations of the Mafia. Hotel shows the behind-the-scenes corrup­

tion and political maneuvering of the hospitality industry. The Prize discloses the political machinations behind the Nobel prize awards.

The Word demonstrates that the power and greed of international businessmen are so great that they are able to perjure the truths of even the Bible. Dark Horse provides an inside look at a political campaign, showing the immorality of the nations' leaders and the 177 grossness of its candidates. In Trespass, the foolish sentimentality of the whole world is displayed beside the vacillating inefficiencies of the American government. Like Roe, the authors have carefully researched their subjects and have included so many real details of time, place, and persons that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Unlike Roe, the writers of these exposes do not provide satisfactory solutions to these problems. Roe’s characters were able to transform their worlds. The world of the modern novel has been little affected by the actions of its characters.

A dilemma has to become apparent to the reader of the modern novels who is searching for the kind of messages found in E. P. Roe's novels. A person who wishes "answers" has to be frustrated as he peruses their pages. The multiplicity of messages no doubt reflects the variations in attitudes and uncertainties of modern life. On one hand, Irving Wallace glorifies the sexual liberation of the young

Swedish girl. On the other, Arthur Hailey derides the sexual promis­ cuity of a young wife as an aberration on a par with kleptomania and expounds on the importance of Barbara Zaleski's virginity when she establishes her semi-permanent relationship with Brett. All authors either ignore or demonstrate the impotence of religion in daily life but insist on the adherence to their heroes to "ideals." The sources of these vague "ideals" are never explained. Older characters show stability and some ability to survive their few remaining years, but there is no reassurance of personal or global stability for the younger generations. Underlying the clear demand for social reform, there is 178

the threat of Black aggression—a threat which often seems to reinforce

old prejudices against Blacks rather than to inspire understanding and

compassion. Certainly, these prejudices and the social paranoia of the

little man concerning manipulation by the Establishment are reinforced

as well as reflected.

As a "mirror of life," today's popular novel shows changes in

American attitudes from those of Roe’s era. The optimistic belief in every individual’s power to succeed has been superseded by a feeling of powerlessness. Only the extraordinary individual succeeds in the pages of modern novels. The value of hard work has been shown as specious.

Only the rich benefactor has remained from the Horatio Alger myth; and he always was the problematic aspect of these stories even in 1870.

Loyalty to the community of mankind and efforts toward social reform are shown as "good," but often ineffectual. Religious hypocrisy is exposed as a complement to society's falseness. The extraordinary individual who succeeds is not always the hero; he may be a thief, an extortionist, or a woman without a heart. The "generation gap" in

American popular literature between Roe's era and today is more properly termed an "abyss."

Today's popular novels, above all else, lack the stability and idealism of Roe's novels. In those well-read, time-worn pages can be found the reflection of an era in which religious enthusiasm and faith offered a stability upon which men and women could build to correct social evil and which they could use to explain the changes brought about by technology and the intrusion of international problems upon 179

their small worlds. From Roe's novels, his female reader learned that

it did not matter if she were a shop-girl or a farmer's daughter. Even

if she were plain, she could achieve a nobility of soul which could

redeem and exalt her outward appearance. It was possible for her to be

as great a Christian Lady as the richest banker's daughter. As a Wife

and Mother, she could realize the highest ideals of a woman. Her

religious values were always certain: God was the loving father; Jesus

was the compassionate representative of the father. While her only

true source of inspiration was God, she could read his message plainly

in the nature which was all around her. She was fulfilled by knowing

that she served as God's earthly instrument to inspire those around her

She could do useful work by extending her sympathetic love and domestic

skills to the poor, the ill, and the sinful of her society. She was

not ashamed to have muscles under her tender flesh and an independent

spirit which permitted her to work for herself and her family. While

she was not militant in her independence, she had great courage to face

the emergencies of her life.

Roe's male reader shared the conviction that God existed. He

knew that his God was a personal savior who might intervene to help with daily trials in the search for earthly success. He knew that he

had almost unlimited opportunities for financial achievement, but that

the most important goal he could reach was to be a true man, a gentle

Christian Knight. He had respect, almost reverence, for his mother and his wife. He had faith that integrity, courage, honesty, strength, and devotion to his work would be sufficient to fulfill him in life. Like 180

his female counterpart, he was confident that these qualities would

enable him to help the unfortunate of his society.

Roe's message was simple. He affirmed the religious and

secular ideals of his audience. He offered instruction for all aspects

of his readers' daily lives. He dramatized the current events of his

world, both the sensational and the homely, so that his readers could

adapt this information to their needs. After he died, he was dubbed

with the knightly title of "A Popular Benefactor" by one critic who did

not award him the laurels of a classic writer. He said that Roe's works rendered a "vast service . . .—the translation into simple

language for a million readers of the first principles of social ethics,

of personal rectitude, of an industrious and innocent life. These they

render into plain words without any harmful influence, and with no alloy but commonplaceness; indeed, commonplaceness is not an alloy, it

is only a dilution. Every manufacturing town is the better, for instance, for having a set of Roe’s novels on the shelves of its public library; they may not be a literary diet so good as Scott or Thackeray, but the advantage is that the factory girls will read Roe, while they leave Thackeray and Scott upon the shelves." The writer said that, although Roe’s style was often "slovenly," he had greater merit in his

"thought and invention." Here, "he was good, pure, simple, and common­ place. . . . Above all, he was American; he always wrote of 'barriers burned away,’ not of barriers recognized as inevitable." He drew life

"as he saw it, with kindly eyes and faithful according to his light

. . .; but they became to the shop-boy or the mill-girl a part of 181

every day; and each of these could go into the factory or the street

and apply them tomorrow. The man who could do this is a public

benefactor, and the nation should mourn his loss."11

The nation did continue to value the society sermons of E. P.

Roe for several generations. At least until the First World War, his novels were read by the American popular audience. His formula, Enough

of Both Worlds, served the needs of this audience for inspiration and affirmation. The elements of this formula, the Situations, the

Characters, and the Messages, served to convey advice and information about the means by which his readers could achieve both Christian salvation and earthly happiness. Religious and optimistic about the future of humanity, Roe was able to offer his readers reassurance about

God and to affirm and to form their loftiest ideals for man’s moral and ethical behavior as well as to suggest means by which they could achieve the ambitions of Progress and Success in the material world.

Through the pages of Roe’s novels still march the stereotyped charac­ ters which reflect the era: The Young American Girls, the Belles, the

Bon Vivants, the Connoisseurs, the Wives, the Mothers, the Solid

Yeomanry, the Immigrant Servant Class, the Grotesques, the Farmers, the

Blacks, the Soldiers, the Artists, the Ministers, the Husbands, the

Fathers, the Villains. In realistic detail, the sensational and homely incidents of the era are depicted. The mysteries and love stories all resolve in a way which assures salvation, success, and happy marriage to the heroes and heroines, who combine to form a democratic, Christian nobility as True Ladies and True Knights. The messages of hope and 182 salvation still beam from these pages. With the First World War, however, the popular audience turned from Roe’s novels. The changes produced by this war demanded different reflections in the "mirror of life" which is found in the popular novel. New readers found Roe's sermonizing dull and his ideas outmoded. The ministry of the popular benefactor called Roe had reached its limits. It had, however, far exceeded his original estimate of the scope of his influence. In 1867,

Roe said he hoped that his church would remain as his monument to the world. In this he was prophetic; the Highland Falls Congregation still worships in the lovely stone building. Roe’s greater monument, though, is the inspiration which his work afforded to many generations of

American men and women. For contemporary scholars of the popular culture, his novels serve to mirror an era long past, vastly different from today, and furnish additional possibilities in their search for information about the history of American society. 183

FOOTNOTES

1Hamilton W. Mabie, "The Most Popular Novels in America," Forum, X (Dec. 1893), 510.

2Edward P. Roe, "The Element of Life in Fiction," Forum, V (April 1888), 236.

3James D. Hart, The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1950), p. 165. Although it seemed probable that Sheldon may have been inspired by E. P. Roe's novels, the curator of the Sheldon Collection at Central Congregational Church, Emma Crabb, said that she had never seen any Roe novels in Sheldon's personal library. Letter, John W. Ripley to Ann Harrold- Doering, Feb. 1971.

^Hart, p. 168.

5Frank Luther Mott, Golden Multitudes: The Story of Best Sellers in the United States (New York: MacMillan Co., 1947), pp. 312- 13, 214-15.

8Ibid., p. 227.

7The biographer did not note these relationships nor did he mention that Wright worked in a drug store at Cornwall when Roe was a well-known local figure.

8Elsbery W. Reynolds, "Harold Bell Wright: A Biography," in Harold Bell Wright, The Re-Creation of Brian Kent (Chicago: The Book Supply Co., 1919), pp. 345-52.

9Hart, pp. 227-28.

10According to Mott's statistics, Lewis, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway did not reach the Best-Sellers lists. Lewis had four Better- Sellers and Hemingway, one. Fitzgerald did not make the lists.

""A Popular Benefactor," Harper's Bazaar, XXI, No. 33 (April 1888), 542. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

184 185

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Mabie, Hamilton W. "The Most Popular Novels in America." Forum, XV (Dec. 1893), 508-16.

"Novel-Reading." Scribner’s, IV (Aug. 1872), 493-94.

Roe, Edward Pyason. "My First Novel." Cosmopolitan, IV (July 1887), 327-29. 189

Roe, Edward Payson. "The Element of Life in Fiction." Forum, V (April 1888), 226-36.

______. "A Native Author Called Roe." Lippincott's, Oct. 1888, 479-97.

Westall, William. "The Profits of Novel Writing." Cosmopolitan, III (March-Aug. 1887), 50-54.

Wilkinson, W. C. "The Bondage of the Pulpit." Scribner's, I (Nov. 1870), 68-78.

C. Letters, Manuscripts, and Miscellaneous

1. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Townsend, 17 July 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edmund Clarence Stedman, 10 May 1888.

2. Boston College Library

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, 27 April 1888.

3. Chicago Historical Society Library

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar L. Wakeman, 23 March 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar L. Wakeman, 4 Dec. 1883.

4. Clifton Waller Barrett Library University of Virginia

E. P.R oe, Highland Falls, to Charles Mumford, 13 May 1871.

E. P.Roe, Highland Falls, to Charles W. Squires, 9 Oct. 1874.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Rev. A. H. Holloway, 27 Feb. 1877.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to A. B. Crandall, 24 May 1878.

E. P.Roe, Cornwall, to A. B. Crandall, 6 June 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Frank S. Wood, 22 April 1879.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Agricultural Editor, New York Tribune, 18 Jan. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Editors, Youth's Companion, 21 Oct. 1884. 190

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. S. McClure, 22 Oct. 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Dr . Hugo Ericksen, 22 Dec. 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. S. McClure, 9 May 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. S. McClure, 27 Aug. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. S. McClure, 7 Sept. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. S. McClure, 22 Sept. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. S. McClure, 11 Nov. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. s. McClure, 2 Dec. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. s. McClure, 10 Dec. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Perry,, Mason & Co., 3 Feb. 1886.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Editor, New York Star, 4 Feb. 1886.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Perry, Mason & Co., 24 April 1886.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to S. s. McClure, 8 Nov. 1886.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, fragment of letter' to unknown person, 6 Jan. 1887.

E. P. Roe, Santa Barbara, to F. B. Wright, 9 Feb. 1887.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Editor, Lippincott's Magazine, 9 April 1888.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edward S. Mead, 19 July 1888.

5. Columbia University Libraries

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Henry Stoddard, 15 May 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, 15 April 1888.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, 27 May 1888.

6. Dartmouth College Libraries

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to William Foyal Clarke, 8 Jan. 1885, Autograph of Nature's Serial Story. 191

7. Duke University Library

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to William Hamilton Hayne, 18 March 1888.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Thomas Nelson Page, 8 June 1888.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Thomas Nelson Page, 21 June 1888.

8. Charles Roberts Autograph Letters Collection, Haverford College Library

E. P. Roe, Orange Co., N.Y., to Charles Mumford, 3 Aug. 1869.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to unknown person, 14 Nov. 1884.

9. Henry E. Huntington Library

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Miss Merrill, 12 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Director, Smithsonian Institute, 11 Dec. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Prof. Baird, 22 Dec. 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Prof. Baird, 7 Jan. 1886.

MSS. An Original Belle. 595 folio leaves with blank verses. Written in two distinct hands around 1880.

10. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Library

a. Gratz Collection

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Carey, 11 Feb. 1880.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to John E. Bowen, 11 Jan. 1888.

b. Dreer Collection

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Johnson, 14 Jan. 1880.

11. Houghton Library, Howard University

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Wm. Dean Howells, 21 April 1888.

12. Library of Congress

Robert Donald, Sand Lake, N.Y., to E. P. Roe, 21 Sept. 1869.

E. P. Roe, Sr., Cornwall, to A. Mearns, Jr., bill for produce, 1 Aug. 1870. 192

E. P. Roe, Sr., Cornwall, to A. Mearns, Jr. , bill for produce [1870].

E. P. Roe, Sr., Cornwall, to A. Mearns, Jr., bill for produce, 26 April 1882.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mrs. Mearns, 16 July 1874.

Anna P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mrs. Mearns, 21 Feb. 1876.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mrs. Mearns, 29 July 1876.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers jBowker, 1876.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 25 July 1877.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 27 Aug. 1877.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 2 Nov. 1877.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 29 Jan. 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 25 April 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 4 Aug. 1879.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 22 Aug. 1879.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 26 Aug. 1879.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 29 Aug. 1879.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Drake, 12 Sept. 1879.

0. 0. Howard to E. P. Roe, 18 Aug. 1881.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 18 Aug. 1881.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 31 Jan. 1882.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 14 Feb. 1882.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 23 Feb. 1882.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 19 April 1882.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 25 April 1882.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 6 Feb. 1883. 193

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 9 Feb. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 22 March 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 27 April 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 1 May 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 1 June 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 3 Sept, 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 15 Sept:. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 8 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 24 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 11 Nov. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 20 Nov. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 11 Dec. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 17 Dec. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 31 Jan. 1884.

Thos. A. Miller, to E. P. Roe, 26 Feb. 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 28 Feb. 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 29 May 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 7 1Oct. 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 6 Feb. 1887.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar Alexander Mearns, 29 Feb. 1888.

E. P. Roe, 56 E. 53rd St., New York City, to Charles M. Webb, 13 June 1888.

13. New York Public Library

a. Miscellaneous Collections

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Publisher, New York Tribune, 31 July 1874. 194

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Editor, New York Tribune, 12 Feb. 1875.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Morse, 6 May 1886.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Edgar T. Gladwin, 9 June 1886.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Parsons, 8 Nov. 1886.

b. Anthony Collection

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Alden, 26 May 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mr. Alden, 5 June 1884.

c. Bryant-Godwin Collection

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to William Cullen Bryant, 18 June 1877.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to William Cullen Bryant, 12 July 1877.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to William Cullen Bryant, 17 June 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Nina Godwin, 17 June 1878.

d. Richard Rogers Bowker Collection

E. P. Roe, Highland Falls, to Mr. Johnson, Publisher of New York Evening Mail, 29 April 1873.

E. P. Roe, Highland Falls, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 4 July 1874.

E. P. Roe, Highland Falls, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 29 Sept. 1874.

E. P. Roe, Highland Falls, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 10 Oct. 1874.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 6 Feb. 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 6 Feb. 1878 [telegram].

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 9 Feb. 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 21 Feb. 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 14 March 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 12 June 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 24 July 1878. 195

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 21 Oct. 1878 [telegram].

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 23 Oct. 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 24 Oct. 1878.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 8 .June 1883 [telegram].

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 10 June 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 15 June 1883 [telegram].

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 9 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 9 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 24 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 27 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Ricahrd Rogers Bowker, 29 Oct. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 5 Dec. 1883.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 2 June 1884.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 1 April 1885.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Richard Rogers Bowker, 4 July 1888.

14. Pierpont Morgan Library

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Henry Chandler Bowen, 28 Dec. 1887.

MSS. 1 page of Nature's Serial Story.

15. Rutherford B. Hayes Library

a. Howells papers

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Wm. Dean Howells, Lynn, Mass., 10 June 1888.

b. Connecticut Miscellaneous papers

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Col. M. E. Stone, ed., Chicago News, 15 May 1886. 196

16. University of California, Los Angeles

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to 0. 0. Hall & Co., Cincinnati, Dec. 1885.,

E. P. Roe, Santa Barbara, to 0. 0. Hall & Co., Cincinnati, 21 March 1887.

17,. Vassar College Library

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mrs. Frances Wood, 4 July 1888.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mrs. Frances Wood, 10 July 1888.

E. P. Roe, Cornwall, to Mrs. Frances Wood, 17 July 1888.

18. Warner House Collection, Constitution Island Association

E. P. Roe, to Susan Dudley Warner, 13 Feb. 1881.

19. Williams College Library

E. P. Roe, to Mark Hopkins, D.D., 6 June 1880.

Receipt for "One Set Horse Equipment Complete," Halls Hill, Virginia, 7 Oct. 1862.

II. Secondary Sources

A. Books

Abbott, Lyman. Birthday Mottoes Selected from the Writings of .E. P^. Roe. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1882.

______. Silhouettes of My Contemporaries. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1922.

Adams, Oscar Fay. A Dictionary of American Authors. 5th ed., rev. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1904.

Allen, Frederick Lewis. The Big Change. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952.

______. Only Yesterday. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1931.

Bode, Carl. The Anatomy of American Popular Culture. Los Angeles: Univi of California Press, 1959. 197

Branch, E. Douglas. The Sentimental Years, 1836-1860. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1934.

Brown, Herbert Ross. The Sentimental Novel in America. New York: Pageant Books, 1959.

Burke, W. J. and Will D. Howe. American Authors and Books. Rev. by Irving Weiss. New York: Crown Publishers, 1962.

Cady, Edwin Harrison. The Gentleman in America: A Literary Study in American Culture. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse Univ. Press, 1949.

Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935.

Fish, Carl Russell. The Rise of the Common Man. New York: MacMillan, 1929.

Fullerton, B. M. Selective Bibliography of American Literature, 1775- 1900. New York: Wm. Farquhar Payson, 1932.

Hart, James D. The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1950.

Kunitz and Haycraft, eds. American Authors, 1600-1900. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1938.

Lynch, Denis Tilden. The Wild Seventies. New York: D. Appleton- Century, 1941.

Minnigerode, Meade. The Fabulous Forties. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1924.

Mott, Frank Luther. Golden Multitudes: The Story of Best Sellers in the United States. New York: MacMillan, 1947.

______. A History of American Magazines. Vol. Ill, 1865-1885. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1967.

______. The Magazine Revolution and Popular Ideas in the Nineties. New York: American Antiquarian Society, 1954.

Mumford, Lewis. The Brown Decades. New York: Dover, 1955.

The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. VII. New York: James T. White Co., 1892.

Nye, Russel. The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts in America. New York: Dial Press, 1971. 198

Papashvily, Helen Waite. All The Happy Endings. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956.

Pattee, Fred Lewis. The Feminine Fifties. New York: D. Appleton- Century, 1940.

Pearson, Edmund. Queer Books. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1928.

Quinn, Arthur Hobson. American Fiction: An Historical and Critical Survey. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936.

Schlesinger, Arthur M. Learning How to Behave. New York: MacMillan, 1946.

Smith, Henry Nash and William M. Gibson, eds. Mark Twain - Howells Letters, 1872-1910. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1960.

Taylor, John Tinnan. Early Opposition to the English Novel: The Popular Reaction from 1760 to 1830. Morningside Heights, N.Y.: King’s Crown Press, 1943.

Van Doren, Carl. The American Novel 1789-1939. Rev. New York: MacMillan, 1940.

Wagenknecht, Edward Charles. Cavalcade of the American Novel. New York: Holt, 1952.

Walker, Robert H. Life in the Age of Enterprise. New York: Capricorn Books, 1971.

Wasserstrom, William. Heiress of all the Ages: Sex and Sentiment in the Genteel Tradition. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1959.

Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske. Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. 5. New York: D. Appleton, 1888.

Wright, Addie. Guide to Cornwall. [1880].

Zinsser, William K. Pop Goes America. New York: Harper and Row, 1966.

B. Periodicals

1. Reviews

"Barriers Burned Away." Atlantic, L (July 1882), 143. 199

"Barriers Burned Away." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XLVI (March 1873), 615.

"Barriers Burned Away." Scribner's, VI (May 1873), 120.

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Atlantic, LXV (Feb. 1890), 286.

"Culture of Small Fruits." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LIII (June 1876), 149.

"A Day of Fate." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXII (Jan. 1881), 313.

"Detective Novels [The Leavenworth Case]." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LVIII (Dec. 1879), 467.

"The Earth Trembled." Atlantic, LXI (Feb. 1888), 286.

"A Face Illumined." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LVIII (Feb. 1879), 467.

"Far from the Madding Crowd." Atlantic, XLIII (Feb. 1879), 260-62.

"Far from the Madding Crowd." Scribner's, IX (March 1875), 637.

"Far from the Madding Crowd and Lorna Doone." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, L (March 1875), 598.

"Farm Ballads." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XLVII (June 1873), 129- 30.

"His Sombre Rivals." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXVIII (Jan. 1884), 325.

"Harris's Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings." Scribner's, XXI (April 1881), 961.

"Home News." New York Tribune, 15 March 1869, p. 12.

"Home News." New York Tribune, 12 Dec. 1869, p. 8.

"Home News." NewY ork Tribune, 21 Dec. 1869, p. 3.

"The Hoosier Schoolmaster." Atlantic, XXIX (March 1872), 363.

"The Hoosier Schoolmaster." Scribner's, III (March 1872), 638-39.

"'The Hornet's Nest."' Atlantic, LIX (May 1887), 717. 200

"Jules Verne." Scribner's, VIII (Oct. 1874), 761.

"A Knight of the Nineteenth Century." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LVI (Dec. 1877), 148.

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood." Scribner's, I (Dec. 1870), 22.

"Nature's Serial Story." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXX (Jan. 1885), 323-24.

"Near to Nature's Heart." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LIV (Dec. 1876), 149.

"Opening a Chestnut Burr." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, L (Dec. 1874), 139-40.

"An Original Belle." Atlantic, LVI (Dec. 1885), 860.

"The Prince and the Pauper." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXIV (March 1882), 635.

"Roe's 'Success with Small Fruits.'" Scribner's, XX (Sept. 1880), 795.

"Success with Small Fruits." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXI (Aug. 1880), 478.

"A Terrible Temptation." Atlantic, XXVIII (Sept. 1871), 383-84.

"A Terrible Temptation." Scribner's, II (Oct. 1871), 668.

"Tom Sawyer." Atlantic, XXXVII (May 1876), 621-22.

"What Can She Do?" Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XLVIII (Feb. 1874), 449.

"Without a Home." Atlantic, XLVIII (Dec. 1880), 860.

"Without a. Home." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXIV (Jan. 1882), 316.

2. Articles

Abbott, John S. C. "The Military Hospitals at Fortress Monroe." Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XXXVIII (Aug. 1864), 306-22.

Browne, Julius Henri. "The Manuscript Market." Forum, VI (July 1886), 477-85. 201

Calkins, Ernest Elmo. "St. Elmo, or Named for a Best Seller." Saturday Review of Literature, 16 Dec. 1939, pp. 3-4, 14, 16-17.

Campbell, Helen. "A Comfortable House." Cosmopolitan, III (March-Aug. 1887), 195-97.

"The Concerts." Scribner's, III (March 1872), 633-34.

"Culture and Progress at Home." Scribner's, III (Oct. 1872), 668.

Dare, Shirley. "Summer Drinks." Cosmopolitan, III (March-Aug. 1887), 261-63.

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. "General Gossip about Authors." Current Literature, I (July 1888), 14.

James, Carol. "Grandma Lamb's Scrapbook." Cornwall Local, 26 May 1955, n.p.

______. "Grandma Lamb's Scrapbook." Cornwall Local, 25 July 1957, p. 6.

Lillie, Lucy C. "Music-Study." Cosmopolitan, III (March-Aug. 1887), 129-31.

Maurice, Arthur Bartlett. "Best Sellers of Yesterday: IV, E. P. Roe's 'Barriers Burned Away.'" Bookman, XXXIII (May 1911), 247-53.

Oliphant, Margaret W. "Success in Fiction." Forum, VII (May 1889), 314-22.

Payne, Alma J. "The Family in the Utopia of William Dean Howells." The Georgia Review, XV, No. 2 (1961), 217-30.

______. "Howells' American Families - An Economic Mosaic." The Husson Review, Dec. 1969, pp. 20-33.

Reynold, Elsberry W. "Harold Bell Wright: A Biography." The Re-Crea­ tion of Brian Kent by Harold Bell Wright. Chicago: The Book Supply Co., 1919, pp. 345-52.

"West Point." Scribner's, IV (July 1872), 257-84.

C. Unpublished Theses and Dissertations

Babbitt, Katherine M. "E. P. Roe: A Preliminary Check List." Thesis S.U.N.Y. Albany, 1971. 202

Binney, James Albert. "A Study of the Prose and Editorial Work of Josiah Gilbert Holland." Diss. Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1946.

Cawelti, John George. "A History of Self-Made Manhood: The Ideal of the Self-Made Man in Nineteenth Century America." Diss. State Univ. of Iowa, 1960.

Chestnut, John J., Jr. "The Novels of Edward Payson Roe." Thesis Emory Univ., 1947.

Coplan, Ruth Ellen. "A Study of Predominant Themes in Selected Best- Selling American Fiction 1850-1915." Diss. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1966.

Greef, Robert J. "Public Lectures in New York, 1851-1878: A Cultural Index." Diss. Univ. of Chicago, 1941.

Hockey, Dorothy C. "The Good and the Beautiful, A Study of Best Selling Novels in America, 1895-1920." Diss. Western Reserve 1947.

Lane, Spencer Park. "E. P. Roe: A Study of Popular Taste in Nineteenth Century American Fiction." Thesis Univ. of Missouri, 1948.

McCarthy, Stephan A. "America in the Eighteen Eighties: A Bibliogra­ phical Study of Intellectual and Cultural Development." Diss. Univ. of Chicago, 1941.

Nicholl, Gries. "The Christian Social Novel in America, 1865-1918." Diss. Univ. of Minnesota, 1964.

Rundle, Marjorie Ann. "The Concept of the Lady in the American Novel, 1850-1900." Diss. Univ. of Cincinnati, 1956.

Schuster, Richard. "American Civil War Novels to 1880." Diss. Columbia Univ., 1961.

Suderman, Elmer F. "Religion in the American Novel 1870-1900." Diss. Univ. of Kansas, 1961.

Wyman, Margaret. "Women in the American Realistic Novel, 1860-1893: Literary Reflection of Social Fact." Diss. Radcliffe, 1950.

D. Letters and Reports

Auburn Theological Seminary. Biographical Catalogue, 1918, p. 149. 203

Executive Committee Compiler, A Memorial Record of the New York Branch of the JJ. _S. Christian Commission. New York: John A. Gray and Green, 1866, p. 103.

Letter, Dr. Chester A. Bradley, Curator, Fort Monroe Casemate Museum, to Ann Harrold-Doering, 9 July 1969.

Letter, John W. Ripley, Kansas Historical Society, to Ann Harrold- Doering, Feb. 1971.

Letter, William Oman, Vice-President of Dodd, Mead & Co., to Ann Harrold-Doering, 15 April 1971.

Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., New School: Year Page Number 1863 364-66 1864 597 1865 145 1866 371 1867 603 1868 149 1870 345 1871 852 1872 369 1873 840 1874 362 1875 841 1876 389 1877 901 1878 433 1879 934 1881 916

Moss, Lemeul. Annals of the JJ.JJ. Christian Commission. New York: J. D. Lippincott & Co., 1868, p 611

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: George MacNamara, 1881.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: A. V. Haight, 1882.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: A. V. Haight, 1883.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: A. V. Haight, 1884. 204

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: Haight and Dudley, 1885.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: Haight and Dudley, 1886.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: Gibson Bros., 1887.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 Poughkeepsie: Haight and Dudley, 1888.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861 rpt. from "The Williams Weekly," 1889.

Report, Williams College Class of 1861. Nantucket, Mass.: Inquirer and Mirror Press, 1890. APPENDIX

205 206

APPENDIX

The tables in this section are designed to give the reader some

ideas of E. P. Roe's popularity and the audience which he reached.

Within the text, the most pertinent statistics have been cited. A good

bit of widely accepted data about the popular audience of this period

can be found in Carl Bode's study, The Anatomy of American Popular

Culture, as well as in James D. Hart, The Popular Book: A History of

America's Literary Taste, and F. L. Mott, Golden Multitudes: The Story

of Best Sellers in the United States. Beyond such data as available in

these works and in the letters and statements cited within the text,

such economic data as follow may furnish some picture of who may have read Roe's novels.

Table 1 shows the length of time during which Roe's books were continuously published.

Table 2 shows U.S. population and breaks the figure into numbers by sex and place of residence (urban or rural) from 1870-1920.

Table 3 shows the distribution of U.S. workers by occupations from 1870-1920.

Table 4 shows the average annual U.S. earnings, 1890-1920.

Table 5 supplements this with figures for average annual earnings of city dwellers in Massachusetts, 1874-1919.

Table 6 shows the percentage of literacy in the U.S. population,

1870-1920.

Table 7 compares whole prices of basic commodities with the prices of Roe's books, 1870-1920. 207

Table 8 shows prices of Roe’s novels in first and cheap

editions and number of copies printed on first run of the edition.

Table 9 shows prices of Collected Works of E. P. Roe.

Table 10 combines several statistics from earlier tables to

show comparisons which may be used to determine Roe’s audience’s

socio-economic status. Another figure which would extend the audience

greatly in lower and middle classes is the number of people who used

the public library editions at no cost or who read the novels in

periodicals or newspapers. This latter audience is well described in

F. L. Mott's History of American Magazines. Although the figures in

Table 10 are highly conjectural, they seem to show that it would have been possible for anyone to have access to a Roe novel and for many to buy a personal copy. The prices and editions were such as to appeal to a broad range of lower and middle class readers so long as the content equally appealed to them. In most cases, the first few thousand copies would have been for the primarily middle-class audience. Some of the

100,000 cheap editions surely went to readers of a lower class and to farm dwellers. 208

Table 1

*First and Last Dates of Publication for E. P. Roe Books

Date of Publication Title First Last

Barriers Burned Away (16) 1871 1970

What Can She Do? (21) 1873 1912

Opening a Chestnut Burr (25) 1874 1914

From Jest to Earnest (27) 1875 1914

Near to Nature’s Heart (29) 1876 1912

A Knight of the Nineteenth Century (31) 1877 1912

A Face Illumined (32) 1878 1928

A Day of Fate (35) 1880 1912

Without a Home (37) 1881 1912

His Sombre Rivals (38) 1883 1913

A Young Girl's Wooing (40) 1884 1914

Nature's Serial Story (41) 1884 1912

An Original Belle (45) 1885 1928

He Fell in Love with His Wife (47) 1886 1914

The Earth Trembled (49) 1887 1912

Miss Lou (51) 1888 1916

Driven Back to Eden (54) 1885 1912

Play and Profit in My Garden (56) 1873 1912

Success with Small Fruits (57) 1880 1912

The Home Acre (59) 1886 1912

A Manual on the Culture of Small Fruits was superseded by Success with Small Fruits. Short story collections show the same pattern—publica- tion continuing into the 20th century.

*Data from Katherine Babbitt, unpublished M.A. thesis. The number in the parentheses following title indicates reference. 209

Table 2

*U.S. Population by Sex and Place of Residence, 1870-1920 (in thousands)

Rural Rural Year Total** Male Female Urban Non-Farm Farm

1870 39,905 14,494 19,065 9,902 28,656

1880 50,262 25,519 24,637 14,130 36,026

1890 63,056 32,237 30,711 22,106 40,841

1900 76,094 38,816 37,178 30,160 45,835

1910 92,407 47,332 44,640 41,999 49,973 '

1920 106,466 53,900 51,810 54,158 20,159 31,393

*U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, 1960), pp. 7, 9.

**Taken from statistics, p. 7. Total does not agree with totals of separate categories. Some error in compiler’s calculations. 210

Table 3

*0ccupational Areas in United States, 1870-1920 (in thousands)

Year 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920

Total Work Force 12,920 17,390 23,740 29,070 36,730 41,610

Agriculture 6,850 8,610 9,990 10,710 11,340 11,120

Forestry & Fisheries 60 95 180 210 250 280

Mining 180 310 480 760 1,050 1,230

Manufacturing & Hand Trades 2,250 3,170 4,750 6,340 8,230 10,880

Construction 750 830 1,440 1,660 2,300 2,170

Transportation & Public Utilities 640 860 1,530 2,100 3,190 4,190

Trade 3,370 4,060 830 1,220 1,990 2,760 Finance & Real Estate 520 803

Education 190 330 510 650 900 1,170

Other Professions 140 190 350 500 770 1,080

Domestic Service 940 1,080 1,520 1,741 2,150 1,700

Personal Service 250 360 640 970 1,520 1,630

Govt. Not Classi­ fied Elsewhere 100 140 190 30 540 920

Not Allocated 140 195 170 370 600 380

*U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, 1960), p. 74. 211

Table 4

^Average Annual Earnings in United States, 1890-1920

Annual Average Low High Overall Excluding Farm A1i/erage Wage Average Wage Year Earnings Workers Farm Fed. Employee

1890 415 468 233 1,096

1900 438 490 247 1,033

1910 574 630 336 1,108

1920 1,407 1,489 810 1,648

*U. S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, 1960), pp. 91--92. 212

Table 5

*Average Annual Earnings of City Dwellers in Mass., Selected Years 1874-1919

Average Average Allocation Year Income Fuel Cost for Reading

1874-75 763 44 [5.34]

1888-91 573 32 [4.01]

1901 651 35 [4.55]

1917-19 1,505 74 11**

*U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, 1960), pp. 180-81.

**Actual statistic. Those figures in [] are projected from this only as an estimation. There is no pretension of accuracy for these figures. 213

Table 6

*Percentage of Illiterates in U.S. Population 1870-1920

Per cent Per cent of Per cent of Per cent of of Total Native Born Foreign Born Non-White Year Population Population Population Population

1870 20.0 11.5 79.9

1880 17.0 8.7 12.0 70.0

1890 13.3 6.2 13.1 56.8

1900 10.7 4.6 12.9 44.5

1910 7.7 3.0 12.7 30.5

1920 6.0 2.0 13.0 23.0

*u. S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, 1960), p. 214. 214

Table 7

*Price Comparison of Wholesale Prices of Basic Commodities and New Editions of Roe’s Books 1870-1920

1 Yd. 100# Cotton Year # Sugar Wheat Flour Sheeting **Roe’s Books

1870 .135 9.281 .14 1.75 (16)

1880 .099 8.895 .081 1.50/.20 (17,30)

1890 .063 6.039 .067 1.50/.25 (37,42)

1900 .053 ***5.252 ***.083 .50 (19)

1910 .050 4.691 .084 .40/.75/1.25 (27)

1920 .127 11.580 .288 •75 (19)

*U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, 1960), p. 123.

**Babbitt thesis, pages in () following data.

***Estimates based on figures given in statistics. Table 8

^Prices of Roe’s Novels in First and Cheap Editions, with Number Printed on First-Run

First Price Cheap Price Edition First Edition Cheap Novel Date Edition Number Printed Date Edition Number Printed

Barriers Burned Away 1872 1.75 11,000 (16) 1882 .20 100,000 (17)

What Can She Do? 1873 1.50 5,000 (21)

Opening a not Chestnut Burr 1874 1.50 9,000 (23) .25 available (23)

From Jest to not Earnest 1875 1.50 10,000 (26) 1886 .25 available (26)

Near to Nature’s Heart 1876 1.50 12,000 (28)

A Knight of the Nineteenth Century 1877 1.50 15,000 (30)

A Face Illumined 1878 1.50 10,000 (32)

A Day of Fate 1880 1.50 20,000 (34) 2

Without a Home 1881 1.50 20,000 (36) 1885 .25 55,000 (37) 1 5 Table 8 (continued)

First Price Cheap Price Edition First Edition Cheap Novel Date Edition Number Printed Date Edition Number Printed

His Sombre Rivals 1883 1.50 25,000 (38)

A Young Girl's Wooing 1884 1.50 25,000 (40)

Nature’s Serial not not Story 1884 5.00/5.25 available (42) 1886 1.50 available (42)

An Original Belle 1885 1.50 25,000 (44) 1888 .25 100,000 (44)

Driven Back to Eden 1885 1.50 8,000 (53)

He Fell in Love with His Wife 1886 1.50 25,000 (46) 1887 .25 100,000 (46)

Miss Lou 1888 1.50 not available (51)

^Babbitt thesis page numbers in (). 2 1 6 217

Table 9

*Prices of Collected Works of EL .P. Roe

Number of Year Edition Volumes Price

1892 Cornwall 18 $30 (71)

1892 Household 10 $16 (71)

1900 P. F. Collier 19 no price given (72)

1902 P. F. Collier 18 no price given (74)

1905 Hamilton Books 18 no price given (76)

1912 P. F. Collier 18 no price given (76)

*Babbitt thesis page numbers in ()