What is the author's style in The Sheriff's Children by Charles W. Chesnutt?

The point of view in "The Sheriff's Children" shifts several times. At the beginning of the story, the tale is told from an omniscient point of view; the narrator's voice is that of an editorial commentator, someone who understands the county, its history, and its inhabitants. Early on, the narrator is even self-referential: "At the period of which I write, no railroad had come to Troy." The omniscient point of view is maintained through the first two-thirds of the story. The narrator makes decisions of what details to include and which are "immaterial to this narrative."