The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 15, 1903, Page 6

THE SUNDAY CALL. John Phoenix Appears in New Garb Papers LS an to attract uni Californians with the of new sank into until its ers, to us rendered »se of time and strength hrown into a ludicrous proportion through e of the mirthful “John the fact that the book was fifty years ago and that its ref- were in the main local, one is y the perennial quality of its Some jokes grow old and faded mpressed humor. COZZGET D ALPLETON ~A~o CO. with the years, some lose their point by the change of customs or the trend of popular thought, but the wit of *“‘Phoe- fresh after its years of ude as it was on the day when it om the pages of the inky old newspap: He has burlesqued even the medium for the expression of is own wit — the penny-a-liner —as fruitful a source of caricature in our own day as ives us exaggerated literary He distorts the ism and the dry entific bodies In a man- y rippling and fresh ng of our modern hu- nixiana” is not llke anything else in American humor. It has not the coars: ness and horse play of “Artemus Ward it depends not upon down East dialect and seedy grammar for its charm as did “Eli Perkins; 1t does not carry a polit- ical sting as do the writings of *“Petro- leum V. Nasby,” or the classic “Bigelow Papers” of Lowell. Though not of the grade of Mark Twain's immortal wri ings, the papers of “John Phoenix” have the same stamp. They depend upon que and exaggeration for their mirthful qualities. Like Twain's fun, the laugh In “Phoenixiana” is a frankly KA l\p‘g'/‘:// Z hearty one and has no trace of sneer. The author is caught in his most prank- ful mood in the opening skit of the vol- ume, which purports to be the report of Professor John Phoenix upon the recon- noissance of the possibilities of a raliroad route from San Francisco to Mission Do- lores. This uproarious plece of humor detailing the movements of a surveying party which marches down Kearny street as if traversing a Siberlan wilderness is not exceeded by anything In American humor. One feels like lying down and taking a roll when he reads of the ef- forts of Dr. Heavysterne to compute the time of day by watching the transit of the sun across the five bars of a grid- fron. Or again the reader goes off into floods of tears when *“John Phoenix” gravely reports upon the soundings of the Kearny street mud in bad weather. With “Phoenix’ installed as the editor of an imaginary San Diego Herald, the reader is treated to a burlesque on stren- uous journalism_of the old school very much like Mark Twaln’s inimitable sketch of “Journalism in Tennessee.” The old reader of “Phoenixiana” will tell you that the persistence of the jovial army lleu- tenant in dubbing the city of the south “Sandyago” won him some bitter ene- mies. Perchance some of the encounters Hopkinson Smith Once More Gives Us Colonel Carter T is usually considered a dangerous ] thing for an author to revive a char- acter or write a sequel. Too ofteh the demand of the book readers prompts the writer to undo all of his former success by making a character “bleed to death,” as some critic charac- terized the fate of Barrie’s boy hero in “Tommy and Grizel.” But F. Hopkinson Smith has given us that rare old Colonel Carter again and he is thrice welcome. “Colonel Carter's Christmas” is but a little story, one of the first of the sea- son's Christmas books; but it is dainty with all of the skill that 1s Hop- Carter is undeniably the best creations. Nobody else Nelson Page could draw g sketch of the rare old fer, penurious in the evil days which have come upon him since the war of unbending honor and yet so full of genial kindliness and the courtly grace of the old school. Like Page, Smith writes of a type fast fading before the advance of time and circumstance, but he fixes him as a permanent figure in American fiction, lovable ang dear to the hearts of the reader as old Colonel New- come In his latest story about the old Vir- ginian the author has adopted the trick of contrast to throw his character into the light. Opposed to the simple gener- osity and almost childlike Ingenuousness of Colonel Carter is the carefully drawn portrait of Mr. Kiutchem, the money blinded, sordid old New York stock gam- bler. Throughout the greater length of the tale these two characters are brought into rp clash. By the grasping, intol- erant nature of the one, the fiery, in- domitable gpirit of the other is thrown into the fore. But a Christmas story must not be unpleasant and from the battle of the stock exchange Hopkinson Smith there- fore shifts the last chapters of his little tale to the interior of Colonel Carter's modest yet cheery little abiding place in the great metropolis. is st bis best and his rare good heart permits of his receiving as a Christmas guest the man whom he had formerly sworn to call out on the field of honor. Rarely has any author given a scene s0 simple and yet so delicate in its sig- nificance as that of the lighting of the Christmas candles. To read this is to hope that there are a few Colonel Car- ters in rea! life whose sterling hearts beat for all that is true and noble in what too often seems a sordid world. (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. IMestrated in color by Yohn. Price $150.) Southern Here the colonel. Bowery Boy Tells the Story of His Regeneration w KILDARE, ex-pugilist, ex- O “bouncer” for Bowery dives and emancipated street brat, has writ- ten a story in My Mamie Rose” which is well worth the reading. It has a unique place in bookdom In that it is the only true picture of the life of the other half in New York, for it is written by one who was of the other half. The author has only to review his own life in the slums of the metropolis and thus uncon- sciously give a picture of correctness of detail which cannot be caught by those who go down into the tenements, strive earnestly though they may. My Mamie Rose” is not a novel. Itis the straightforward story of the regen- eration of Owen Kildare, who, at the age of 3, could not write his name nor read anything besides the black headlines of the papers he had once peddied; who had fought forty-round ‘“goes” with hood- jums in the back rooms of Bowery sa- Joons; who had been a ‘“steerer” for con- fidence men and divekeepers. It is a work of heartfelt appreciation dedicated to the woman who had used her influence in drawing the Bowery tough into higher and sweeter planes of life and setting bim upon a career of probity and useful- ness. Kildfire thus defines the purpose of his book: *“To tell the plain truth about men and things as I saw them in the homes of the tenements; to show that often their hearts hunger more than their stomachs.” With this end in view Kil- dare proceeds to give his reader an un- varnished picture of life in the East Side —brutal even at times, but terribly con- vincing. How the street walf has to fight for his crust; how the hoodlum has to “graft” for his dally potions of beer, the grimness and sordidness of it all is told In a style to which the author had to school himself when a man almost in middle life. The author tells with touching grate- fulness of his meeting with the little col- lege settlement school teacher, who was to be the instrument of his regeneration, of the healthful Influence which she ex- erted over him and finally of the primer lessons which he learned at her direction. The story of the death of the woman who had led him up from the tenements and who was within a week of her end to be his wife, Kildare tells with a sentiment which falls from the pen of an ex-prize fighter with a sweetness little short of the marvelous. “My Mamie Rose” is a strong book. Owen Kildare is a very strong man. To him and to his book much praise is due. (Baker & Taylor Company, New York; illustrated. Price, $150.) Briefer Notices of Publications Just From Press TRANGE it is that in the revival of J the romantic in story telling which had its inception with Weyman's first works, the new school did not as a rule go as far back into the days of chiv- alry as Sir Walter Scott, their great pre- cursor. We have had stories of Cavaller and Roundhead galore, tales of Richelieu and the Bourbons and colonial plots ad nauseam, uut Into the days of Ivanhoe our modern romanticisis have rarely apped. “Uther and Ingraine,” a novel by Wa ' ck Deeping, has supplied the va- canc) Taking the period of the great wars with the Saxons, before King Arthur's time even, Mr. Deeping has projected & etirring story against the background of rapine and conquest. The hero of the novel, “Uther,” a dim, semi-historical, semi-mythological personage of the sto- ried valor of a Beowulf, is displayed by the author as a figure of striking person- aiity, endowed with a heroic sense of patriotic obligation to his folk. The her- oine Is an impassioned and beautiful crea- ture, half wild, yet wholly womanly. The story of her battle against the tragic temperament which she has is stirringly told, Movement there is to the story, ro- mance and action, too, but without any sacrifice to the dramatic iInterest 6f the tale there is a subtle, poetic effect which brings to mind that other strong tale of chivalry, “The Forest Lovers.” The novel has a refreshing note of the wild and primitive in I* which comes as a pleasant relief to the monotony of“court furbelows and colonial Indian fights which has been these many seasons oppressing us. (The Outlook Company, New York; il- lustrated; price $1 50.) “Ten Thousana a Year,” the ever popu- lar novel which our fathers read and which we have read upon the advice of our fathers, has come out in a new dress and makes a new bid for popularity. - rus Townsend Brady, the prolific’ writer of good storles, has recognized In the old tale matter as well suited to present day needs as it was fifty years ago, and has abridged and raised Dr. Samuel Warren's book under the name of “Tittlebat Tit- mouse.” To the text have been added so many illustrations from the pencil of Will Crawford that the good old story which made its first appearance in Blackwood's Magazine in 1839 will hardly know itself in this its twentleth century reincarna- tion. In an Introduction Mr. Brady thus glves his reasons for giving the old story a new dress and his appreciation of the good points in the rare old tale: “I first read ‘Ten Thousand a Year’ in —r S K4 3 \/‘l»‘ ’."’ 2 9 of “John Phoenix,” the editor, had more foundation {n fact than would appear at first sight. In fact, the story is current that young Lieutenant Derby came near court-mar- tial as the result of his irrepressible hu- mor. As the tale goes, when Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War he sent to the engineers of the army in California for suggestions as to the most feasible method of transporting artillery over the mountains. The hare brained “John Phoe- nix’” forwarded to the fiery Southern Sec- retary a very grave suggestion, illus- trated by charts, which urged that each private should be provided with a leather geat to his trousers having a hook at- tachment, so that in emergencies the com- mon fighting man could be harnessed to the cannons. Derby escaped with nothing more than a severe reprimand, however, and lived to do eftective service in engineering work on the coast of Florida before his death in 1861. But his lighthouses cannot be etter than his book. Completely regar- Luhed in a modern dress and furbished up by clever drawings by Kemble, “Phoe- nixiana’ enters the modern book mart as a new book. (D. Appleton & Co., New York. Illus- trated by Kemble. Price $2.) AR IO S my early youth,” says Brady. “The im- pression it made upon me was a lasting one; and when I happened to re-read it last year I found that the pleasure it had glven me before was enhanced by a sec- ond perusal. Yet there were so many parts of the story which added little to the interest, in fact which detracted from it. It was loaded with detall and clogged with sentiment; its course was halted by legal disquisitions and moral reflections which spun it out to an lnlennlnlh.le length. It seemed to me that it would be a more readable book and therefore much more likely to regain a wide circu- lation among readers of the present if it were stripped of its verblage and re- duced to something like reasonable lim- its.” y (Funk & Wagnalls, New York; llustrat- ed. Price, $150.) In “The Backgrounds of Literature™ the latest work to come from the pen of Hamilton Wright Mabie, is at the same time a noteworthy contribution to American criticism and a beautful addi- tion to any library shelf. The work con- -tains a serfes of chapters upon Words- worth, Scott, Irving, Walt Whitman and others in which Mr. Mabie endeavors to follow out In these specific instances the esthetic law of the effect of environment upon art. He shows how the beautiful lake country of Westmoreland colored the genlous of Wordsworth; how Scott drank in his poetry from the hills and glades of Abbotsford. What were the Highlands to Washington Irving and the hills of Massachusetts to Emerson are the questions which Mabie has set him- self to expound in this series of literary studies. The book is beautifully printed at the De Vinne press and contains some excel- lently finished {llustrations of typlical scenes about the homes of the authors discussed. (The Outlook Company, New York; il- lustrated. Price, $2.) Stewart Edward White's new book, “The Forest, a series of chapters on life In the woods in which fact and fic- tion have been combined with a literary art and knowledge of men and nature which will appeal to all men and women and boys and girls who love outdoor life and well told storles of adventures., The author writes from the depths of many years of experience in woods life. The thread on which the chapters of the book are strung is the story of thousand- mile canoe trip through the wilds of Northern Michigan and Canada. In ad- dition to stories of experiences and ad- ventures on the “long trall” there are practical instructions in _woodcraft, eketches of the habitants and woods In- dians of the Canadian provinces, and genial philosophizing on many of the phases of life in the great woods. The titles of some of the chapters will indi- cate the great variety in the author's treatment of the subject: “The Science of Going Light,” “On Lylng Awake at Night,” “On Open Water Canoe Travel- ing,” “On Fles,” *“The Catching of a Certaln Fish.” “The Forest” is beauti- fully illustrated with a number of full page drawings, one of which is in color, and decorations by Thomas Fogarty, a personal friend of the author and his companion on the trip in question—who has in fact collaborated with Mr. White in the production of a notable illustrated volume. (The Outlook Company, New York; fl- lustrated. Price, $180.) In view of the probable consideration of the question of financial legislation by Congress this year, special interest will attach to Mr. Wilbur Aldrich’s new book, Money* and Credit,” published by The Grafton Press. This is a simple but sci- entific work dealing with the principles and history of money and showing the development of the rise and the nature of, credit. The laws of the subject are deduced from thelr historical sources, one by one, In order to establish clearly thelr truth and the whole is done with a terse- ness and lucidity of style that add a striking merit. For the student, the man of affairs, the banker and the legislator, &s well as for the average reader who de- sires to gain a knowledge of the underly: ing principles of banking and subjects lied thereto, ““Money and Credit” is one of the best works thus far published. As a treatise on the subject of credit alone, it Is the most valuable work of its kind In the English language. Mr. Aldrich has written what he has to say so simply and clearly that it is easily within the comprehension of any one, whether versed in monetary lore or not. The work, which has recently been revised to bring It thoroughly up to the needs and conditions of to-day, has al- ready evoked words of approval from members of the finance committee of Congress and from leading financlal Journals. The lucidity of the exposition and the soundness of the argument, to- gether with the simplicity of treatment, should recommend this book to all think- ing persons, directly or indirectly inter- ested In the economic aspects of finance. (Grafton Press, New York.) “Pa Gladden” is a story of a simple man told in a simple style by Elizabeth Cherry Waltz. Very like *“Eben Hol- den” in places, reminding one at times of “David Harum,” this recountal of the simple life of a plain old man yet has something new and refreshing in it. It breathes of the sweet, God fearing life of the country, far removed from the crash and brassiness of the great citles. Only a slender thread of plot runs through the book, ifust enough upon which)ta hang the character delineation of Pa Gladden. We are shown the sim- ple generosity and kindliness of the child- 1 old man d his wi toward all. a’'s” harness never galls his horses, nor s his door closed to the homeless. Mingled with his homely humor and sim- ple sentiment there is a nalve belief in the supernatural which casts over the character the quaint light of old time su- perstition. “This a queer old world,” says Pa Gladden, “but God made a few of the folks in it.” The world and the Almighty are the two mainsprings of the old gen- tleman's life. The world for the good that he can do in it and the .umighty n whose trnst he does it. (The Century Company, New York. Price $150.) Some Side Lights Upon What the Writers Are Doing Among the Putnams' fall publications a particularly interesting work is “The Life of Voitaire,” by 8. G. Tallentyre, whose brilliant study, “The Women of the Sa- was received a few years ago with the greatest favor. . Especlally with read- ers of the younger generation, Voltaire is becoming more and more to be merely a name. This book, written in a bright, telling style, portrays the character of Voltaire with truth and sympathy, and should arouse a fresh interest {n the great mind who turned the trend of Europe. The author justly acknowledges the ines- timable services which Voltaire rendered to ths world, services which are often for- gotten by many who think of Voltaire only as the arch-heretic. Novel readers, book reviewers and liter- read and talked about in every large city in the country. Some reviewers have cred- ited the book to Mr. Will Payne, the au- thor of “On the Road to Fortune” and similar stories of Chicago business life. .been born and reared Others imagine it has been written by 1. Willlam Morton Paine, the author of “Little Leaders.” We understand, how- ever, that “The Mills of Man" was really written by Mr. Philip Payne, a Chicago newspaper man, who In this book makes his entrance into fiction. The story shows that Mr. Payne Is inti- mately acquainted with the social and po- litfcal life of the great city and has the power to create characters that live and move and fix themselves in one's mem- ory. The book is particularly strong in characterfzation, which s a genuine blessing in these days of fictional plots and counter plots. The reading public will do well if it distinguishes between the literary work of Mr. Philip Payne, Mr. Will Payne and Mr. William Morton Paine, all of Chicago, and all writing of the life of the city. Adrian Hoffman Joline, author of “The Meditations of an Autograph Collector,” has written another volume of delightful chat about books—of authors, collectors, fine bindings, odd and curious editions of sundry works and many anecdotes—which the Harpers are publishing uniform with the ‘‘Meditations.” The new book is en- titled “The Diversions of a Book Lover.” Mr. Joline is a partner in the New York law firm of Butler, Notman, Joline & Mynderse. Mr. Butler, now dead, was the famous author of “Nothing to Wear.” Mr. Joline is a member of the University, Century, Grolier, Princeton and other clubs and of the American Bar Assocla- tion State Bar Assoclation and New York City Bar Assoclation. He belongs also to the New York, Virginia and New Jer- sey Historical socletie . Wilkins-Freeman, whose Jerome,” and other stories are known far and wide among the best in the language, has had some curious psychological experiences in writing them. For instance, she once wrote a story of a man who sat on the church steps he- cause he had a grievance and was too angry to enter. After it was published the author was informed_to her surprise, that such an incident fad actually qe- curred. Then, again, when Mrs. Wilkins- Freeman wrote “Silence,” which is a story of the Deerfleld massacre, she learned after its appearance that a woman named Silence had actually lived in Deerfleld at the time, and one of her descendants asked Miss Wilkins if the story had been written of her; but the author had known nothing about her. Another still more uncanny example was the following: In “The Little Mald In the Door,” a short story of the Salem witchcraft period, Mrs. ‘Wilkins-Freeman had placed a turn in the road at a certain house described in the story, and afterward discovered that there was a turn in the old road at that identical point. “Napoleon Bonaparte—A History Writ- ten for Boys,' by Willlam C. Sprague, which first appeared in the American Boy, will be published at an early dats by the A. Wessels Company. The author has selected the inciderf®s which attract and Interest boys and history has not been distorted merely to add interest to the narrative. A number of good reprodu tions of famous paintings illustrating N poleon’s career have been inserted, which makes altogether a volume Interesting, instructive and attractive. ) — Nobody thoyght of having an American girl born in Japan and rearing her thers under Japanese conditions until Onoto Watanna did this in her new novel, “The Heart of Hyacinth.” The result is “a fascinating compound of American beauty and Japanese education.” as a New York reviewer describes Hya- cinth. Did the Japanese author be- Heve the crowning glory for an American girl could be acquired through education in the tender and gentie ways of Jap- anese women? Who ever heard of a Jap- afiese woman kowtowing befure her lord and master with a pretty petition to be allowed to vote? Yet If Hyacinth had in Colorado or Wyoming she might have done this, and in that case would she have been such a fascinating compound? What is a “fas- cinating compound” in woman? Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne, the creator of Thompson, whose ‘‘Progress” has amused a good many readers this past summer, has been the subject of a photographic interview in the Londcn Sketch. He stands nearly 6 feet 4, and has been an athléte from his Cambridge days, when he rowed on his collegs eight. From school days he determined to be a writer of stories of travel and adventure, but he worked hard for six years, writing continuously, before he was able to make £50 a year by his pen. Nearly all of time is spent outdoors, between catching his own breakfast In his own trout stream, shooting his own dinner on his own moors, working In his own garden or around his estats, orfgriting stortes with pad and pencil under the trees. But his idea of fun is buffalo bunting In grass twelve feet high, “when the sportsman must shoot to kill or take his chance of & Japld exit to eternity.” Doubleday, Page & Co. are publishin, the second volume in Professor Liddell's large “Elizabethan Shalkespeare,” con- taining “The Tempest,” and also they are issuing the first volume In a low- priced library edition fcr those who do not want to buy the reguiar edition, which Mr. De Vinne declares to be one of the flnest books ever made in America, rivaling William Morris’ Kelmscott Fress issues. The same house has just brought out a small book containing Professor Willlam H. Fleming's third serles on “How to Study Shakespeare,” following the suc- cess of the other series both In the schools and with general readers. Charles Major In his new novel, “A Forest Hearth,” has combined the strong human appeal of such a perfect love story as made his “When Knighthood Was in Flower” so popular, with the at- mosphere of the untainted woods waich holds his boy readers in “The Bears of , Blue River.” The new book is & breezy. vigorous story of outdoor life, the life of the men and women and boys and girls who conquered “the great wilderness’ during the eighteen-thirties. It is plotured with that especially intimate touch possi- ble only when an author's theme lies se close to his heart as those scenes of I~ dian history do to Mr. Major. The first editiom of Mr. John Morley's “Life of Willlam Ewart Gladstone” was sold out before publication, and the seo- ond edition is now ready. Thomas Dixon's “One Woman™ has sold 70,000 in six weeks and “The Leopard’s Spots” {s piling up thousands in the seo~ ond 100,000 New BooksReceived ON THE WE-A TRAIL, Careline Brown; Macmillan Co., New York; Wius- trated; price §1 50. THE FOREST, Stewart Edward White( The Outlook Co., New York; illustratedy price $1 50. TITTLEBAT TITMOUSE, Cyrus Tewn~ send Brady; Funk & Wagnalls, New York; {llustrated; price §1 50. MAMZELLE FIFINE, Eleanor Atkin- son; D, Appleton & Co., New York; - lustrated; price $1 50. THE CHASM, Reginald Wright Kauft- man and Edward Childs Carpenter; D, Appleton & Co., New York; price 1 8. COLONEL CARTER'S CHRISTMAS, F. Hopkinson Smith; Scribners, Now York; fllustrated; price §1 8. MY MAMIE ROSE, Owen Kildare; The Baker & Taylor Co., New York; illus trated; price $1 50. L’THE‘}"{ AND IGRAINE, Warwick Deeping: The Outlook Co., New York; = lustrated; price $1 50. i THE BLACK CHANTER, Nimme Christie; Macmillan Co., New York; price $1 50. MY WONDERFUL VISIT, Eilzadeth Hill; Scribners, New York; ilustrated; price $1 20. THE AWAKENING OF THE DUCH- ESS, Frances Charles; Little, Brown & Co., Boston; illustrated. INDIANS OF THE PAINTED DES- ERT REGION, George Wharton James; Little, Brown & Co., Boston: lil\ls(ra!ed: PHOENIXIANA, John Kendrick Bangs; New York; illus- D. Appleton ;mL - ; price 3 "':':‘E p[r.\'swl-: HISTORY OF THB CARNEGIE STEEL COMPANY, J. }& Bridge; The Book-Lover Press; fllu: 2 00. (':lé"}fgzrx‘zcse'fi) MY SON, G. T. F.; Nuno Licet Press, Philadelphia; price 75 cents. THE BIBLE IN SHAKESPEARE, William Burgess; The Winona Publish- ., Chicago. ln:l()c\l\)l TO STUDY ARCHITECTURE, Russell Sturgis: The Baker & Taylor Co., New York; illustrated; price $1 50. A LIBERAL EDUCATION AND A LIBERAL FAITH, Charles F. Thwing; The Baker & Taylor Co., New York; price $1 00. THE MODERN SPEECH NEW TES- TAMENT, Richard Francis Weymouth; The Baker & Taylor Co., New York; price §1 00. RECIPROCITY, Laughlin & Willls; The Baker & Taylor Co., New York. JOY AND POWER, Henry Van Dyke; Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., New York; price 75 cents. THE OBSERVER, Louis J. Stillman; Whitaker & Ray Co., San Francisco. STATISTICIAN AND ECONOMIST for October; L. P. McCarthy, publisher, Sam Francisco.