Transcriber's Notes:
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(Harvard University)
THE HOUSE OF
THE WHITE SHADOWS
By
B. L. FARJEON
Author of
Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square
Grif, Toilers of Babylon, etc.
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK: 1904
Copyright, 1903, by
New Amsterdam Book Co.
The House of the White Shadows.
BENJAMIN LEOPOLD FARJEON
We regret to learn that since this book was sent to press in thiscountry, its gifted author has passed away in London at the ripe ageof 70 years. It seems appropriate and indeed necessary to preface "TheHouse of the White Shadows," on its appearance in America, with abrief account of Mr. Farjeon's life and literary career. Consideringhis popularity it is astonishing how very little is generally knownregarding this author's personality. The ordinary reference books, ifnot altogether silent respecting him, have but a line or two, givingthe date of his birth with perhaps a list of two or three of hisprincipal novels. It is sincerely to be hoped that a competentbiography will ultimately appear, affording to his very many admirerssome satisfactory account of a man who has given the world more thantwenty-five remarkable works of fiction.
Mr. Farjeon was an Englishman, having been born in London in 1833. Atan early age he went to Australia and from thence to New Zealand. Itwould be exceedingly interesting to learn how he employed himself inthose colonies. We know that he engaged in a journalistic venture inDunedin, but how long it continued or how he fed his intellectual lifeduring the years which intervened, until he published his first novelin London, we know little or nothing. At all events he returned homeand launched his first literary venture in London in 1870. It wascalled "Grif, a Story of Australian Life." This story proved to beeminently successful, and probably determined its author's futurecareer. He produced "Joshua Marvel" in 1871; "London's Heart" in 1873;"Jessie Trim" in 1874, and a long list of powerful novels ending with"Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square," published only two or three yearsago. Some of these works, like "Blade o' Grass," "Bread and Cheese andKisses," "Great Porter Square," etc., have been very popular both inEngland and the United States, passing through many editions.
Mr. Farjeon's style is remarkable for its vivid realism. The London"Athenæum" in a long and appreciative review styles him "a master ofrealistic fiction." On account of his sentiment and minutecharacterization he is regarded as a follower of the method ofDickens. No writer since that master can picture like Farjeon thetouching and pathetic type of innocent childhood, pure in spite ofmiserable and squalid surroundings. He can paint, too, a scene ofsombre horror so vividly that even Dickens himself could scarcelyemulate