n evoke deep
faith only by absolute sincerity and utter clearness in the
presentation of his fable. Unless the reader of "The Brushwood Boy"
and "They" has absolute faith that Mr. Kipling knows the truth of his
themes, the stories are reduced to nonsense; for they present no
evidence (through running parallel to actuality) which proves that the
author _does_ know the truth. Unless the reader has faith that
Stevenson deeply understands the nature of remorse, the conversation
between Markheim and his ghostly visitant becomes incredible and vain.
The author gives himself no opportunity to prove (through analogy with
actual experience) that such a colloquy consistently presents the
inner truth of conscience.

=Advantages of Romance.=--But this great advantage of the realist--that
he supports his theme with evidence--carries with it an attendant
disadvantage. Since he lays his evidence bare before the reader, he
makes it simpler for the reader to detect him in a lie. The romantic
says, "These things are so, because I know they are"; and unless we
reject him at once and in entirety as a colossal liar, we are almost
doomed to take his word in the big moments of his story. But the
realist says, "These things are so, because they are supported by
actual facts similar to the imagined facts in which I clothe them"; and
we may answer at any point in the story, "Not at all! On the very
basis of the facts you show us, we know better than to take your
word." In other words, when the reader disbelieves a romance, he does
so by instinct, without necessarily knowing why; but when he
disbelieves a realistic novel, he does so by logic, with the evidence
before him.

A great romantic, therefore, must have the wisdom that convinces by
its very presence and conquers credence through the reader's
intuition. Who could disbelieve the author of "The Scarlet Letter"? We
do not need to see his evidence in order to know that he knows. A
great realist, on the other hand, while he need not have the
triumphant and engaging mental personality necessary to a great
romantic, must have a thorough and complete equipment of evidence
discerned from observation of the actual. He must have eyes and ears,
though he need not have a soul.

=The Confinement of Realism.=--A novelist of realistic vent is,
therefore, almost doomed to confine his fiction to his own place and
time. In no other period or nation can he be so certain of his
evidence. We know the enorm