"There is so much that
happens," says Bolz in his editorial capacity, "and so tremendously
much that does not happen, that an honest reporter should never be at
a loss for novelties." Playing dominoes with polar bears, teaching
seals the rudiments of journalism, waking up as an owl with tufts of
feathers for ears and a mouse in one's beak, are essentially
Freytagian conceptions; and no one else could so well have expressed
Bolz's indifference to further surprises--they may tell him if they
will that some one has left a hundred millions for the purpose of
painting all negroes white, or of making Africa four-cornered; but he,
Bolz, has reached a state of mind where he will accept as truth
anything and everything.
Freytag's greatest novel, entitled _Soll und Haben_ (the technical
commercial terms for "debit" and "credit"), appeared in 1856. _Dombey
and Son_ by Dickens had been published a few years before and is worth
our attention for a moment because of a similarity of theme in the two
works. In both, the hero is born of the people, but comes in contact
with the aristocracy not altogether to his own advantage; in both,
looming in the background of the story, is the great mercantile house
with its vast and mysterious transactions. The writer of this short
article does not hesitate to place _Debit and Credit_ far ahead of
_Dombey and Son_. That does not mean that there are not single
episodes, and occasionally a character, in _Dombey and Son_ that the
German author could never have achieved.
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