But American facilities for reading and for learning all that has been said by the wiser minds and more brilliant wits of other times is bound to change all that, and probably within the lifetime of the present generation. Besides from the incidents, peculiarities and necessities of our own national life, our literature is now extending into all fields heretofore monopolized by the wiser minds of the old world. American essays, poems and novels are now frequently reprinted in Europe and translated into many languages. Many American novels may now be found in several of the older languages of Europe, and the popular author of the present day does not consider his work done until he has sent copies of his original manuscript to at least two European publishers. The French _Revue des Deux Mondes_, which is supposed to be the most fastidious of foreign publications in its selection of material, has given a great deal of space to American novelists and poets, and again and again English novelists have complained that some upstart American was crowding their books off of the railway station news-stands. Emerson’s essays, Longfellow’s poems, and Howell’s novels may be found in any bookstore in England, and it is not hard to find them on the continent. There are half a dozen different editions of Poe’s poems in the French language alone. American historical works not entirely on American topics may be found in several European languages, and are held in high esteem by foreign historians. One historical work published in the United States two or three years ago has already been translated into every language of Northern Europe. How many more there may be deponent knoweth not. All this is cheering, not only to national pride, but because there are features in American literature which are superior to those of any older nation. This is noticeably true of our fiction, in which there are elements of cheerfulness, hope and humor, which are almost entirely lacking in the light literature, so-called, of other countries. When one speaks of a foreign novel from any press but that of Great Britain the supposition naturally is that it relates entirely to the closer relations of the sexes; that the end of it will not be entirely pleasing; and that, however strong its plot and diction, it will not be what is called “entirely proper,”--it will not be a book which one can safely take home without reading and leave on the table of his sitting-room for wife, children and visitors to pick up at random.