The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 11, 1900, Page 12

“ r Vincennes el that best ' cking Tales” THOMPSON in *“Alice has written a one who enjoyed Fenimore Cooper’s cannot fail to ank favorably ns” or “The to the other well-known . a hand £ e f P e e patriptism rv page. 1t rings girl, w i be t for b ¢ Beve ¥ w the lead he cause of 1ib- strongly here al capture of f Hamiltor is the duel sen Hamilton and eret is a genial, whose past is but never told re as the guard- aught her how to ed in days for him His skill with the rapier gives ' t position in life, and uses his sword tricks is a revelation to reader. Father ne of the most lovable charac- book. He combines all the gentleness and goodness of the sant with t rength, upon occasion, soldier. st climax of all is the rais- American flag—the flag that from the British and that had en away to finally crown the the Americans. Here it is that meet again for the first time witer escaping many dangers. Beverley sces as @ vision the woman he loves and 1 scene priest story w he tried vers whom he had thought dead. The vision, however, soon turns into a reality, for she rushes into his arms and kisses him despite the presence of the whole army. “The flag went up at old Vincennes, never to come down again, and when it reached its place at the top of the staff Bev nd Alice stood side by side looking at it, while the sun broke through the clc and flashed on its shining folds ar love bashed glorified the two strong yo! faces.” Here is the place where nineteen out of twenty of our modern historical novel writeré would end the story. Mr. Thomp- son, however, glves three chapters more in which he draws in all the loose threads little ¢ child arge the is its ful rding schools being father tour to ing its speech. ted in the and ssion of sym- 1 s e child appears P 1 looks up with won- € veler is stru of American language ble railroad ac- ireds of passengers i Among these is the wh to ieap from the s arm pter 1s al- snjoyahle place in ithor gives ng on ali the people ngled, at ir ed wood iron and cr 1o seek her rays to heave s in the fire wt wered; of the cold- calmly sketches with phases of racking the shock of t s speech, and al- understands Eng- not talk exc ungarian. s the Hungar nd his charge are met by Mr. Dumany the father of d, a man sup to be an Amer- nd so rich as to be called the “Silver The Hungarian is forced to take abode with Dumany, for the latter will not hear of the preserver of his child going elsewhere than to his home. The traveler is struck by the meeting of the mother and the little child, who is now returned to her not only safe from a great danger but with speech restored. Instead of being delighted to see it, as one would naturally suppose, she greets it coldly. At first he thinks that the child cannot be her own, but the resemblance is too striking to admit of doubt. Other incidents occur to point to a mys- Jery. The wife of Dumany is addressed by the servants as ‘‘Countess,” which strikes him as 0dd in the case of the wife of the “Silver King.” Moreover, he is sent for by Mrs. Dumany and obliged to relate to her every frightful detail of the catastrophe, while the poor woman writhes in agony at the recital. To the the ch R Hungarian she seems to work herself into a religious frenzy bordering on madness, and he is further mystified by her ex- claiming: “This child of sin and misfortune? Why, it was because he was on that train that all those pure and good people had to die! Oh, accursed was the hour of his birth! No, no; he is not accursed. I—I, his moth- er, that gave birth to him, I am gullty; He is innocent; he could not help it. Oh, mea culpa! mea culpa! The Dumanys give an immense sum to be distributed among the sufferers from the disaster and to be used in saying masses, In bidding Dumany good night, the traveler to his further astonishment is ad- dressed by the latter in good Hungarian and learns that the “Silvery King” is in reality a Dr. Dumany Kornel and a fel- low countryman Consumed with curiosity, he asks that he may be told how it is that “the Right Hon. Dumany Kornel has been metamor- phosed into Cornelius Dumany, the “Silver King,' the South Amerloan nabob, the ador of the Bourse, husband of a itiful countess and father of five chil- dren, within such a short period.” Du- many to the rescuer of his child can hard- ly refuse the request, and the rest of the romance is taken up with a recital of the circumstances which led up to such a re- markable condition of affairs. As I have d before, the interest and mystery are sustained until the very end of the book. It Is the story of a young man, duped, fooled and tricked until he be- comes hardened to the world, plunged to the depths of despair and all but a sui- cide; of 2 woman decelved and bet d and then led to play an ignoble part d the man to whom she is wedded. not mince matters in his ind the book is probably not one that would be selected as the best read- ing for young people; but as a vivid re- cital of human frailties and' passions, as a striking pen p! ure of remarkable per- sonalities for evil and for good, it stands unique among the literature of to-da (Published by Doubleday & McClure Com- pany, New York. Price $125.) B. G. LATHROP. Tommy and Grizel. An author takes the risk of his life when he writes a sequel to a popular book. A few years ago J. M. Barrie pro- duced “Sentimental Tommy" and the re- sult was that he and his publishers pock- eted thousands, while library patrons stood in line. Everybody knew that 1t must have a sequel, it was incomplete; but Barrie worshipers were wise enough to dread his downfall “Tommy and Grizel” has appeared at last, and the day of judgment is at hand. The tragic element is strong throughout the book, and yet it is not all tragedy. 1t is made up of the lights and shades of life and the ending is neither “happy”’ THE SUNDAY OALL. nor ‘“unhappy’”’ any more than the ending of the averags life story is. Grizel holds the reader’s sympathy from first to last. Tommy is a psychological study, a being to the charitable more to be pitled than to be blamed; to the less charitable, a cad unredeemed until the story’s eieventh hour. Grizel, with her beauty, her strength, her devotion, s the central interest of the book and no one can fol- low her through all her struggles without loving her. Barrie has sustained the dig- nity of her figure to the end. The stern- ness with which she sets herself stand- ards and adheres to them is Puritanical; her ardor is Southern. And yet she is always consistent, always understandable, in spite of her conflicting natures. Tommy lives ever in the world of sen~ timentalism. ~ Robertson must ‘have known a Tommy when he wrote: “Senti- mentalism is that state In which a man speaks deep and true things, not because he feels them strongly, but because he perceives that they are beautiful and that it is ‘touching and fine to say them— things which he fain would feel and fancies that he does feel.” Flashes of Barrie's inimitgble humor gleam through the pages, which are, for the most part, depressing, foreboding. The story of the old lady who traveled by rafl to Thrums all for the sake of resenting Tommy with a hen, and finally und him and made her presentation in the midst of aparty—it is a story that only Barrfe could have touched with the humor that is pathos and the pathos that is humor. His laughs and tears overlap in the same old way. It is hardly likely that the book will be as popular as its forerunner. It is more serious, for one thing; it is more sub- Jective, and above all, it is a sequel. Reading the sequel of a book you have enjoyed is like golng back to the old place where _you have had a good time. - You never have it again. (Published by Scrib- ner’s Sons. Price, $150.) S o Alphonse Daudet. Those who have read Alphonse Daudet Co-ymsurgl‘flm Cras. SCRIBNERS SONS only as the auther of “Sappho” snould learn to know him better. They should meet him as a humorist and read of “Tar- tarin of Tarascon” and “‘Tartarin on the Alps.” - Having once formed the acquaint- ance of that most delightful character of fiction, the heroic Tartarin, they cannot fail to finish the trilogy by reading “Port- Tarascon.” Tartarin is a composite of Don Quixote and S8ancho Panza, but prob- ably all the more interesting on that ac- count. “Tartarin of Tarascon’ was published in 1872 and has held its great populanity to the present day. It is difficult to declde which is the more meritorious or amus- ing, this first volume or the account of that gentleman's further _adventures among the Alps. The third book on the same subject, under the title ‘“Port-Taras- con,” was written later when the ravages of constant i1l health were bound to af- fect the pen of Daudet. It is difficult for a man to write at all when suffering as he did, much less to continue the humor- ous vein of two successes. The publishers, Little, Brown & Co. of Boston, have just brought out a new li- brary edition of the novels, romances and memoirs of Alphonse Daudet, of which “Tartarin of Tarascon” and “Tartarin on the Alps” form one volume and “Port- Tarascon” together with “Studles and Landscapes” go to make up a second. These books ase very handsomely bound, typographically perfect and illustrated with photogravure frontispleces from ple- tures by French artists. They are from ranslations by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, which is ample guarantee that the work has been well done. Excellent oductions are glven in each volume by W. P. Trent. (Price $1 50 per volume.) = Through the Year With Birds and Foets. This anthology by Mlss Willams forms a splendid collection of the best American poems relating to birds, classified accord- ing to the seasons of the year, and sub- divided by months, eacn division having an fllustrated title page showing some of the birds appropriate to the time of year indicated. Twelve fine half-tones of our best known birds, one for each month, add richness alue to the work. ore th ¥ birds are here celebrated in song. not a large number, of course, but it includes many with which the reading community In general has little or acquaintance. Most of our best knowi. American authors are represented in these y poems of bird life. The book will taus appeal equally to lovers of birds ana of the best works of our great 3 ty-nine of our poets are represented and 242 poems or extracts of ems given, the whole making a book of Every ature of the work Is d attractive, and the year will no more acceptable high-class gift book. (Published by Lee & Shepard, Bos- ton. Py Aguinaldo’s Hostage. Mr. Hancack, war correspondent, known as a writer for Frank Leslie's Weekly and other leading publications, has made of experiences in the Phillppine Isianc a most entertaining story of the war with the Filipino viewed mainly from their own lines, thus differ ing from any other buok that has been written. Dick Carson, a most winsome hero, Is brought into captivity by a vil- lain as a penalty for his uprightness. He is saved from death by Aguinaldo for possible use as a hostage, and made use- ful as an attendant by a Filipino surgeon. The fortunes of the Filiptno armies is told as no one could tell it who had not beea there, and the eventful escape of Dick Carson forms a thrilling story that con- veys much general information, along with the intense interest it arouses. (Pub- lished by Lee & Shepard, Boston. Price $1 25). s —_—— Piracy of Russian Publishers. American authors are hopelessly ex- posed to the piracy of Russian publishers. An interesting example of the pillage which constantly goes on is the fact that the life of ‘““Alexander the Great,” by President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the University of California, which was pub- lished as a serial in the Century and then brought out in book form by the Putnams, is now being reproduced in Russia in the Neva, a magazine published in St. Pe- tersburg. The Castaigne drawings are printed with the text. G. H. Putnam, who knows more about copyright law than any other American, in a recent letter to President Wheeler explains the difficulty of securing protection against Russian piracy as follows “Russia has thus far kept herself out- eide of internationai copyright conven- tions. There is no treaty or convention arrangement United State; between Rus and the Russia has also refused to become a party to the convention of Berne. If Russia had acepted the obliga- tions of the convention of Berne Amerl- can hooks would be protected in Russia through an English copyright. At pres- ent, there is no means of preventing un- authorized R an editions. The books sold by Russian booksellers are, in fact, in very large part piratical editions of French and German works. We have, therefore, on record a very long serfes of cases of Russian i.terary appropriations.’” oo b sl A Furnace of Earth. Hallle Erminie Rives has launched upon a suffering public the very latest of her best hysterical gurgle—"A Furnace of Earth.” Tt is not a book that any re spectable family will give houseroom. al- though from its very absurdity and com- ing as it does from the pen of the cousin of Amelia Rives, it will receive sufficient newspaper attention to make a financial success. It is a shame th: such maudlin attempts at realism, the war of the spir- ftual and the sensuous, should be given sufficient encouragement to warrant pub- lications of this kind. There Is on solation In the present work that is not enough of the wicke this ple- ture of “nature as she is” to Induce peo- ple to part with their good money to r an really see for themselves just how f. author may go without having the book unfit to be sent through the mal Pub- lished by The Camelot Compa: New York.) el AR Literary Notes. Impresstons for November, published by Elder & Shepard of San Franc sents an Interesting article, “A Word Provinclalism,” by Willlam Henry Hu son. In addition are given several revi of popular books and subjects. The I let or supplement for this month is an tractive rej n of Matthew A. verses on “Self-depe ws G. P. Putnam’s Sons are publishing the Sagamore edition of the works of ernor Roosevelt meet a popular mand for a good inexpensive editl writings which have secured a place themselves in the permanent literat the country, and which this sess a speclal Interest in the they throw upon the character fons of their energetic and publ hor. The set compr} the moderate cost in paper. current nu t ins ““The Forest Schoolmaster,” novel by Peter Rosegger, which The real feature in the ant tal should, of a se through its rare simplict the fres ness of its appeal readi win a corner the reader’s af! n. At the set cer- tainly, the story s redolent with naturs both inanim and humar it reflects with power and precision the rugged beauty of the Stiermark Alps (where the scene is laid), and makes one eager to piot the fortunes of these simple, sturdy folk, who Indeed ha that hid beauty which the hear things. i o The first copy of the Month Review has just made its appearance s maga- zine Is pubiished in London by Joh ray, while Doubled York are the agents for It is difficult to say an publication than that it comes Murray. That is ample the character of the matter which ! tains. In appearance this maga: passes in its rich simplicity any publica- tion of a similar character in the United States. The paper, ink and type have been so carefully selected that the articl be easily read at arms length and the effect is in no way abnormal cover is simple to plainness, merel title, a crest, and the names of the pu very lack of elaboration, b g stal black rellef with a steel die. As th implies, The Monthly Review Is dev to articles of present Interest, na fmportance, art and literature. zine is sold In Londc 2 this country for f0c Book News for November contains a por- trait and sketeh of Charles Frederic Goss author of “David Corson.” one most popular of contemporar. sketch and port f Nelson I al of *“The Chronic Loafer,” and the auth calendar the name works of some author November. The current mag pithily reviewed. wh T liams makes his gbse: s pa ever concerning ¢ rta bool There are the productions of The new edit tan England wn & (¢ chay Br and ws at time had that that the sy falle teachers with the the trial lage. 1 leaders of Salem Heart™ gratulate Hea a mis from a tender foot b who has throu tne business. When ed, in book form I Wi ow t la nt a my cow Boys in Arizona where I can get it and the you ever come te this part 1 want you visit my ranch I will give you as good a jerky stew side of and a shore enough bed with goose har piller ontoit. as you ever got out Books Received ON ACCOUNT OF SARAH-By Eyre Hus- sey. 1. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. In paper. THE FIRST CAPTURE-By Harry Castle- mon. The Saalfield Publishing Company, New York. 15 PROMETHEUS UNBOUND — By Percy Byssche Shelley. Cassell & Co, New York In paper, 10 MY WINTER GARDEN—By Maurice Thom son. The Century Compamy, New York. §150. THE WINNING OF THE WEST—Part 11— By Theodore Roosevelt. G. P. Putmam Sons, New York. In paper, 2c. THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR—By Captain A. T. Mahan. r Fenmelon Colller & Son, New York THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL—Written and 11 justrated by Katharine Pyle. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $1 JEROES OF OUR REVOLUTION—By T. W. Hall. Frederick A ke~ Company, New York. ¥ MORE BUNNY STORIB>—By John H. Jewett, Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. $1 50 SONG OF A VAGABOND HUNTSMAN—By Charles Lever: pictured by Willlam A. Sher- wood. R. H. Russell, New York THE FOLKS IN FUNNYVILLEPictures R. H. Russell, and verses by F. Opper. York. A ROYAL RHETORICIA New By King James v and 1. Edited with an introduction, by Robert S. Rait. Brentanos, New York. VISITING THE SIN—By Emma Raynet. Small, Maypard & Co., Boston. §i 50,