The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 29, 1903, Page 7

THE SUNDAY CALL. 7 Lord n’s First Work. - ) the short space of five k London has leapt A< forefront of American and by the ever-in- ¥ of his retain the position be has attained. *“A Little © bis Oakland home, by one thusiasts, has already and the book people » grasp any bit of in- ation about this virile young Cali- nia writer. With this article The places before the reading public the first time a resume of the very st writings of Jack London—of Jack London the poverty-stricken student and budding soclalist; not of London the author of three and four edition novels. books new london has been called the Ameri- can Kipling. His blunt, man's strength has even be said to have inged Rudyar wself. With- tatements e said, how- London’s out sev- to assume a effort of appeared the Oak- Aegis of the date of 1885 It was entitled Incident of the Seal- d was made the school periodical »ol-boy editor s boy’'s article was this. eading article of the the er t sch , unfrequented re practically rd of; unknown ¥ by that great e people, by writer of to be a gathered in he merits of In the Aegis there appeared uld not down piece—"Frisco K couch: f the hobo. Through gue of “Frisco Kid” there le little story of ion in the city who y with tramps and his death while still of their s before Josiah Flynt had s tramp stories. “Frisco Kid"” ew vein so far as the lim- typical high school boy's carried him. This oung London, with its r a terra incognita, its fanc: dic n and clear-cut pathos, so differe om the usual waterfall a “sad story,” broke down all and London was tacitly ac- knowledged the star writer of the school A strange fellow was that young tramp—for tramp he had also been before he came to the high school. With his sallent jaw sticking out over & gray sweater, his rumpled hair and gray eyes, sparkling sometimes almost to savagery, he was not a fellow to in- vite & confidence from the younger boys, his schoolmates, and consequent- 1y he was locked upon with a respectful awe by his associates. Some even called him an anarchist; this because he used to go down to the City Hall Square on Baturday nights and harangue the leboring men and loafers upon the tenets of socialism. In fact London could not refrain from volcing his sentiments on that question to his schoolmates. In the Aegis of March 1, ‘85, there appeared under his name a remarkable screed entitled imism, Optimism and Patriot- a weird combination of abstrac- ns indeed ein I hear the reader ask, “Who ists?’ " wvoclferates the in his plea; and he an- are the pulsating life 1ation, its flesh, bones and They are those who know not t that they know not. They favlt (and rightly so) nditions. They are pes- f they had the brains of t d sustain, renovate with healthy stimulus the of the nation. While wish- ey ignorantly destroy. alists and labor t masses which component parts e of humanity ted observers notice of and class- terror.’ * E that this remarkable by London served only to callow intellects of its high s and confirm their sus- anarchical tendencies. ¥ 1 a= his arguments might have s a strength to that lit- ich in the light of later -an be considered as the inted the wind. single occasion, how- ich London sought to lead t out of the wilderness. s publication was much 1ed, being a little Japanese er the caption, “Sakaicho, nd Hakadaki,” a simple lit- little story sudden das! sinews and kr conter W T P As Hona tle thing, pitched in a minor chord. Then f ed “A Night's Swim in Yeddo Be the recountal of a rollick- ing lark on the part of the author while with his ship in Japanese waters. ‘A sea sketch called *“The Run Across,” and another “Frisco Kid” story, meither of extraordinary merit, next appeared in the Aegis. These were followed by two stories. written just before London left high school for a brief six months at the university snd then Alaska. “Who Belleves in Ghosts” and “One More Unfortunate” were the titles of these two storfes, the best of his high school writings and very strong indications of t was to come when the frozen morth had ~—J added the drop which crystallized the latent elements of the young story tell- er into the well rounded novelist. “One More Unfortunate” was not a school- Loy effort; it was the first story of Jack London, the man and the artist. st el A Veiled Polemic. R. HERBERT M. HOPKINS, D erstwhile imstructor of Latin st the University of California and recently budding novelist. lzys him- self open to the charge of vindie- tiveness by his latest book, “The Torch.™ For through the medizm of a novel Dr. Hopkins has manifestly en- deavored to “get back at” President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the State Uni- versity for the real or fancied wrong which he suffered at that gentleman's hands while & member of the teaching staff at Berkeley. An out and‘out polemic upon the state of things as they are, or as Dr. Hopkins sees them at Berkeley, would not have found a publisher, but glazed over under the guise of a novel, Dr. Hopkins has suc- ceeded in getting his opinions into print. Much as we may take exception to the author’s display of bad taste, it must be admitted that lg: has written a college story which ill be widely read. For he strikes an entirely new note in that class of fiction, in that he deals with the faculty side of the col- egiate world and shows us that there s much more to the college professor's life than what is displayed in his class- rooms. His story deals with the “in- side” of college politics and will be of interest to college men of California, especially on account of the thinly dis- ed recountal of some recent hap- penings, both at the University of Cali- fornia and Stanford. cene of Hopkins' novel is laid at university situated . at Argos,” whose colors are green and gold, and whose college vell is not un- familiar to football enthusiasts ‘who witness the games out on Richmond Field. The story opens with the re- tirement of an old prestdent and the coming from the East of one, Babing- ton, to take up the reins of govern- mept. With the advent of mew blood there is a general upheaval among the somewhat antiquated members of the teaching force and many bitter jeal- ousies and heart-burnings are the re- sult. The new sident’s vigorous meas- ures cause much internal dissension that finally something very like the un- fortunate Ross incident at Stanford en- sues and there is a general crash, fol- lowed by an intense gloom. The rather lame and halting thread of romance which is woven about a beautiful wi dow of the college community hardly serves to illumine the grand wreck which signalizes the ending of the tale. Were one to take the story at its worth without reading between the lines, the undeniable references to facts which the author would have his reader be- lieve to be extant in the college across the bay, “The Torch" could be consid- ered a good story. It has a strong swing to it and some well-worked situ- ations. It veveals a litt'le-known phase of ademic life in a convincing man- ner. But friends of the “University of Ar- gos” will scarcely be convinced that the torch laid to that fruitful tree in so certain a destruction as Dr. Hopkins to se=. In that one great family er in Berkeley there may be rules for its discipline which are beyond the ken of the erstwhile instructor of Latin. (Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianap- olis; price $1 25.) Champions Pioneers. R. EMERSON HOUGH, roman- ticist, can find no comfort in these days of trusts and steel kings and sighs for the times when men trekked through the wilderness of the Ohio Valley upon a dally diet of pounded corn and dried venison. Amer- fcan chivalry, American bravery has sped for the author of “The Mississippi Bubble,” and naught remains but the glutton feast of a gorged nation. In “The Way to the West” this teller of romances lifts up his voice in a glorifi- cation of that departed type of the American, the frontier nation builder of the West. Nor does anybody begrudge the long- haired backwoodsman of a century ago one iota of praise; in fact, we of the age of submarine boats and nascent airships have too soon forgotten the sturdy men, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who, through bloody sweat, upbuilt the nation which now fosters us. Theirs was a work herculean, imperishable. To them is due all honor from the Americans of a twentieth century world power. But need Mr. Hough bewall the fact so bit- terly that the spirit of our ancestors is to-day exemplified in a form which is world reaching? If our grundfathers fought and conquered the stubborn forces of one river valley, is there any shame to us that with the same spirit diverted into different channels and aided by more modern conditions we Americans of to-day are pushing for- ward the boundary of a world’s trade? Despite his lament upon the passing of the frontiersmen, Mr. Hough has done hig idols a great service in put- ting their history before another gener- ation in a popular form. The Daniel Boone of Abbott's old histories is not going to be known to-day. The story of the Western course of empire which necessitates from three to five volumes in the telling is not going to find general current in these busy times. The authior of “The Way to the West” has wigely recognized these facts and set forth a narrative which claims more for the mode of the telling than for the multiplicity and chronological correct- néss of the facts recounted. “1 shall ask my readers,” says the duthor in his introduction, “to consider the movements of the American popu- lation as grouped under four great epochs. There was a time when the Western-bound men were crossing the Alleghanies; a time when they crossed the Mississippi; a time when they crossed the Rocky Mountains. Now they cross the Pacific Ocean.” The first three of these ingenlously divided epochs are made the subjects of Hough's book. The causes prompting each succeeding migratory period are detailed and the results of each conclu- sively summed up. So rapidly has one event followed an- T~ » other in our national history, with such remarkable strides has the upbuilding of the Middle West and the Pacific Slope been accomplished, that to read of the Indian fights and flatboat voy- ages of a brief seventy-five years ago seems like the perusal of a romance. With true instinct, Hough has caught the romantic features of the story and made them salient. He gives us flesh and hlood pictures of Daniel Boone. Davy Crockett, Kit Carson and other stalwarts of the old days of sweat and iron. The tragedy of the Santa Fe and Oregon trails is shown to-us in all its grim reality. The free, springing life of the prairie men is pictured with con- vincing reality. % A comparison between Roosevelt's “Winning of the West” and Hough's work upon the same subject would seem natural and yet it is impractic- able, TRoosevelt's book is a history, Hough's is a sketch about history. What the author-President has -done with painstaking fidelity, ‘the latter writer has skipped lightly over, taking merely the superficial aspects of the subject which appeal to_ a romancer. Hough’s book is good reading; Roose- velt’s is good reading and good history. (Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianap- olis; illuetrated; price $1 25.) Stories Worth While. N these days of the mushroom growth of writers and the. tons of books which pass current as fiction it is a rare and a precious boon to read a story in some new vein. The authors of such stories are few and far be- tween, but such a one is T. Jenkins Hains, whose book, “The Strife of the Sea,” has just been published. “Oh, another sea story!" groans the bookbuyer as he wearily scans the titles of the season’s latest output. But buy it, my gentle bibliolater, and you Will be rewarded an hundred fold. This is not a tale of bucko mates and" foretopgallants’ls—Clark Russell has only to write one more of those to damn the brand completely; but it is a collection of tales of the things which live on or in the waters under the earth. Hains has hereby done for the pelican, the ray and the shark what Seton Thompson—or Thompson Seton— did for the four-footed things upon the earth. With this reservation: that there are none of those nice little cambric tea stories about Mamma Bunny and Baby Cottontail in this book; these are tales of that struggle for existence which goes on beneath the water, where parent forsakes child and brother eats brother. The quality possessed by Hains' writ- ing does not come from dilettante fish- ing trips or a season’s vacation on the Florida Keys, but from intimate famil- tarity with every one of the complex characteristics of the sea and sea life gained from long residence thereon, both as officer of an ocean greyhound and master of a private yacht. Long com- munion with the sea fowls and the finny creatures has given the author a strong sympathy for them which finds adequate expression in the stories which he writes. (Baker & Taylor . Company, York; illustrated; price $1 50.) Two Timely Books. WO remarkably good books on foreign lands are “The Handbook of Modern Japan” by Ernest W. Clement and “Around the Carribean and Across the Panama” by Francis C. Nicholas, Ph. D. In view of the strained Far Eastern question and the remarkably sudden appearance of the republic of Panama upon the world's theater, both books happen to be sin- gularly timely. With the knowledge gained first hand through fifteen years' continued resi- dence in the Mikado’s empire, Pro- fessor Clement is pre-eminently the man best fitted to write authoritatively upon Japan, its resources and achieve- New ZrrERARY FEDITO. . te Authors and fheir BERTW. . J &/ = \\ ments. We have had tourists’ glimpées of Japanese temples/ and dilettante musings upon Japanese life, bat never 8o complete a textbook of Japan as it really is as that which Clement pre- sents to us. He is a conscientious student, who has sifted his facts thoroughly and presented them in a thoroughly readable mafiner. Not only does the author give the history of the Japgpese race, their probable origin, devefopment and racial characteristics, but he deals at length with the gradual awakening of the na- tion into a modern world power, and the changes which have been wrought by the influences of the Occldental na- tions. The character of the constitu- tional imperialism of the government, the nature of the laws, the scope of the educational system of the empire are thoroughly expounded. Maps and a comprehensive appendix round the work out into something which every up-to-date man should keep at his elbow when he i{s reading the news- papers howadays. ‘‘Around the Caribbean and Across Panama” is of a different character from Clement’s book on Japan. It is a lively account of many journeys in and about the West Indies and over the isthmus. There are some hereto- fore unexplored nooks in Central America_uncovered to the eyes of the reader. Native customs and native in- dustries are detailed with a faithful- ness that would almost preclude the necessity of a jaunt thither by some globe-trotter who had yet to see some new thing. In a chapter devoted to the present state of the Panama canal, Dr. Nichol- as gives some very interesting facts. He condemns the Nicaraguan route as being wholly impracticable on account of the uncertain ebb and flow of water in the Nicaraguan lake due to the tropical downpours. ¢ (Handbook of Modern Japan, A. C. McClurg & Co.. Chicago; illustrated. Around the Caribbean, H. M. Caldwell Company, Boston; illustrated; price $2.) o 2t T December Magazines HE Christmas Century has the ninth of Timothy Cole’s wood en- gravings of old Spanish mas- ters, very appropriately a detall from “The Adoration of the Shep- herds,” by Murlllo. The original is in the museum at Seville. Andre Saglio tells about “The Bigoudines,” a little known and peculiar people among the Bretons. The Bigoudines may be found only an hour's journey from Quimper, the modernized chief town of Finisterre; but their dress suggests the Eskimos and Chinese, their faces are strongly Mongolian in type, and in lan- guage, customs and belief theéy seem to have no relation with the rest of France. M. Saglio’s article is the fruit of several vears' comparative research. Especially timely is the discussion in the Christmas Century by Dr. James M. Buckley of “Fanaticism in the Unit- ed States.” The author of “Faith Heal- ing, Christian Science and Kindred Phe- nomena” takes for his text a recent statement by a cosmopolite of wide fame, that the United States is a “hot- bed of fanaticism.” Dr. Buckley's artl- cle touches upon the ida Commun- ity, Spiritualism, Mormonism, Dowle and his teachings, Christian Sclence and some phases of labor organization. Fanaticism, according to Dr. Buckley, is one of the trinity of dangers threat- ening our republic. John Fox Jr., whose novel, “The Lit- tle Shepherd,” has been such a great success, has contributed a Christmas story to the December Scribner's with the curifous title “Christmas Night With Satan"—Satan being a dog of great in- telligence, and very ugly. Henry Van Dyke’s best poem is also published in Scribper’s. It is an *“Ode to Music,” a long poem filled with charming lyrics. which show Dr. Van Dyke's mastery of the technic of verse. Py =, Color printing s snown in its highest t in the Christmas Scrib- 48 a cover by J. G. Som- mer; fece by Maxfleld Par- rish; eight pages by Jessie Willcox Smith; a ches by Penfleld; decorati ofla.hl! b‘y‘g;:nn—nll faithfully re] ced In their original brilliant Mark Twain’s story In the Christmas number of Harper's ine lay In his. mind twenty years before he wrote it, and when he finally set it down on paper the words came without a break, nor did he change 2 syllable of It after 1t was written. With one exception, he says, this {s the only story he was ever able to write in this way, as usually he has to work hard over his short storfes, X The story “My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collle, but I am a Presbyterian.” The development of the story holds surprises for the reader. There are twenty-two sumpiuous pages of color-work in the Christmas Harper's, comprmn, Howard Pyle's medleval pictures for Olivia Howard Dunbar's article on “Peire Vidal" a humorific troubadour of the twelfth cen- tury; Andre Castaigne’s modern French pictures, Elizabeth Shippen Green's ex- quisite child plctures accompanying some clever verse by Josephine Preston Peabody, W. T. Smedley’s dog pictures for Mark Twain’s story, and a drawing by Henry Hutt. It is the most luxuri- ous and satisfying number of Harper's ever produced. Bliss Carman, the editor of The Liter- ary World, besides his regyjar essay, will contribute a Christmas poem to the Pecember number of that publication. In this number, much increased in size with a three-color cover design, there will be a special article on the season's /gift books, and also an article devoted to the best new books for children. “The Editor” and his friends will dis- cuss, in the “Editor’s Club,” a regular department now in The Literary World, various ways of spending Christmas. Important books of a serious nature, 8 ductién by Edmund Clarence Stsdman. This important book contains many per- sonal anecdotes of Poe, Thackéray, Haw- thorne and others, whom Mr. Stoddard knew. It may be said to offer in a sense a literary history of our country for more than & generation. Mr. Stoddard's recol- lections go back to the time of Poe, with whom he had some curious experiences. In response to the suggestions of friends of Mr. Stoddard and bibliophiles, the publishers have made a large paper edition, limited to two hundred copies, Which contains reproductions of rare por- traits, letters and manuscripts from the collection presented to the Authors’ Club. The regular edition of the book has & atriking portrait of Mr. Stoddard for the frontispiece and a few other {llustrations. ‘The. it volumes of “The Contempo- rary of Letters Series,” of McClure, %‘I‘l‘l’h k‘/Ct;.. :uh.hh will be edited by nwi Bradley, pubi; !m month. The parpose ;g t:: series is to give brief estimates of writers of our own time, or of writers whose in- fluence {s a contemporary power. The books are as complete as possible under the circumstance, from the biographical side, and from the critical side, aim to #ive an understanding and estimate of the writer's work, They stand, as it were, as & summing up, In mors authoritative form of newspaper and magazine articles which can, by their nature, be only fragmentary, and are fre- quently distorted. The volumes to appear this month are “Bret Harte,” by H. W. Boynton, editor of the Riverside “Pope,” which Is the first American estimate of this American author; and “Walter Pa- ter,” by Ferris Greenslet, which is the first connected life of the greatest Eng- lsh stylist. Carlyle seems to be still among the prophets unhonored among thelr own folk. Here is a passage from Mr. J. M. oan’s very interesting book, “The Car- Iyle Country,” just published. “No monument, no statue of Carlyle as yet has been erected at Ecclefechan or anywhere in his much loved Annandale. In the window of one of the cottages In the village the sign appears of ‘The Re- sartus Reading-room. This is all. A small, badly lighted apartment containing a few newspapers, a bagatelle board in a smaller room behind, and a neglected li- brary above a rickety stair—this Is the ‘Resartus Reading-room'! A complets edition of Carlyle’s books, which the Ii- Lrary at one time possessed, has now wholly 'disappeared.” I asked an obliging peasant in one of the lanes If he had read Thomas Carlyle's works. ‘No,’ he replied, well as the best of the new fiction, Will “*they're no’ easy to get haud o' here- be reviewed, and the regular features of “The Book Market” and ‘“News and Notes” will put readers in touch with what is going on in the book world. “A Girl of To-day” is the title of the novelette in Ainslee's for December. It is a story of the New York “400,” with plenty of action, a good dash of drama., written in a charming style. Its author is Elizabeth Duer. A thorough- ly characteristic story is “A Suburban Christmas,” and the fact that Charles Battell Loomis is the author is a guar- antee that it is amusing. Ralph Henry Barbour has an attractive love story, with a Christmas setting, in *1 Find the Princess.” Josephine Dixon, whose clever novelette, entitled “Money and Matrimony,” will be remembered by Alnslee’s readers, contributes a South- ern love story, entitled ‘‘Midwinter Madness.” A diverting and instructive essay is *The Art of Entertaining,” by Mary Stewart Cutting. Ellen Thorney- croft Fowler contributes a humorous short story under the title of “Mrs. Fitzjohn's Enemy.” “The Defect in Felix” is a Christmas love story of the Bohemian set of New York, by Kate Jordan, whose novelette, “Time, the Co- median,” created a sensation in the March Ainslee’s. Jack London, author of “The Call of the Wild," has a short story, also of the Klondlke, the title of whieh, “Too Much Gold,” is suggestive of some scenes in the book. The December Delineator represents the high-water mark of beauty and utility, and possibly of circulation also, in a woman’'s magazine, having a first edition of more than a million copies. Among the notable contributors are: Richard Le Gallienne, with a delicate romance, “A Wedding Ring in the Gar- den,” containing lyrics in the author’s best vein; W. A. Frazer, with an Indian tale, “The Net of Leo”; Albert Bigelow Paine, with a delightful sketch founded on the foibles of the coflector; Harriett Prescott Spofford, with a love story of unusual interest; Andrew Lang, with'a clever travesty on the usual fairy tale; and Gustav Kobbe, with an interesting paper describing the life of Mme. Emma Eames, in her Itallan home, with her portrait in colors. The Overland Monthly continues to improve with every issue. The new management is bringing it up to an equal standard with the best there is in the East in the magazine line. “The Cruise of the Bogota,” in the Christmas number, should interest all those who have followed the trend of events in Panama, as the author, Ar- thur H. Dutton, has thrown the lime- light of critical judgment on the new- est republic. “La Noche Buena' describes a Mexi- can Christmas festival, and the quaint description translated from Juan de Dios Peza will be enjoyed by all lovers of unbounded faith and simple adher- ence to religious customs. There is a tragic story, with an ele- ment of humor, called the “Caliposa Christmas Goose,” by Henry M. Hoyt, which makes good reading. “Through the Heart of the Sierras” is of the mountains and of railroad de- velopment in California, and the author, 8. S. Boynton, shows a rare facflity in word painting. Ella M. Sexton writes of “The Nymph of Lotta’s Fountain.” This is a Christmas love story. Echoes of Bookdom. HE sale of novels is sald to be nota- bly diminishing in France, and a journalist has collected the views of the leading French publishers upon the subjec(.‘ The publishers agree as to the fact but differ as to the reason to be assigned for it. The market suffers, we are assured, “1. Because thers are too many novels, and competing authors cut one another’s throats. 3 3, ‘Becausg translations of the works of Tbsen, Tolstoy and Kipling are, for the moment, more popular in France than the home made article. “3. Because the French newspapers do not as a rule review novels, but only print those thinly disguised advertise- ments called ‘reclames.’ " An interesting feature of the “slump™ is the fact t the novels most affected by it are those usually. and not alto- gether unreasonably, considered “im- proper.” A survey. however casual, of the booksellers’ windows suggests that in their case the first reason is the one that can be most plausibly invoked. Messrs A. 8. Barnes & Co. are y:'nd‘:.no- lishing *Recollections, - erary,” by Richard Henry Stoddard (ed- ited by Ripley, Hitchcock), with an intro- abouts.” " Burns, according to the same authori- ty, has been much more fortunate. “In Ayrshire, indeed anywhere In Scotland, everybody sings ‘Bonnie Doon’ or recites ‘Tam O’'Shanter, or quotes eépigrams from the prose ‘Letters,’ but in Annan- dale no bookseller could afford to ‘stock’ even a sixpenny edition of ‘Sartor.” " Says the literary critic of the London Westminster Review: “It is surely the ultimate act of hero worship to christen a soclety after one's hero, unless. as perchance in the case of Robert Browning, the society were to be mistaken for a veiled protest agaipst the obscure in language, the cryptic in pur- pose. Ome after another these socleties named after great men come and go. Burns perhaps holds his disciples to- gether more successfully than the rest, but we note that the English Goethe So- clety continues to flourish. It can legiti- mately boast of a mem! of nearly 200 disciples, of an income of something like £70 per annum and of a perennial need for its services, in view of the ten- cy among the. thoughtless to neglect the works of ‘the Master who Sleeps at Welmar." " ‘Willlam R. Lighton, author of a strong new novel, “The Ultimate Moment,” which the Harpers are publishing, is a Pennsylvanian, born in Willlamsport, ‘whose parents went westward when he ‘was a mere boy. Consequently he knows the West intimately, and has written about it thoroughly in articles and in short stories, of which, as to the earlier ones, he say, “I have them yet, and look them over now and then when I think my spirit needs chastening.” After an education chiefly at home, Mr. Lighton studied law, and was admitted to the bar. “T don't know why I did it,” he sald re- cently. “Six months of practice gave me to understand distinctly that lawing was not for me. But there was a vast fund of ‘material’ in law office and courtroom. and at every chance I tried to get this material into shape on paper. I drifted around over the Far West for a time, In Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona and Call- fornia. One winter I tried teaching school in the heart of the New Mexican desert, a hundred miles back from nowhere. But 1 found that school teaching demanded genius, and quit it. Then I spent five or six years in court reporting, enjoying it immensely—not for the work itself, but for the matchless opportunity it gave for studying men and affalrs.” A direct re- sult of this experience is shown in Mr. Lighton’s virlle and sympathetic por- trayal of the lawyer In “The Ultimate Moment.” The novel appeared serially in Harper's Bazar. Aquila Kempster, author of the new novel of Hindu mysticism and romance, “The Mark,” was a deserter from an Eng- 1ish salling ship In Indian waters, where the doctors had sent him as a youngster for his health. He lived seven years In the native India of ‘Kipling, having among his acquaintances as friend and confldant a native Prince of royal blood. The novel 1s full of the glamour and fascination of the East and deals convincingly with matters that Western minds pronounce impossible. It was one of 587 unsolicited manuscripts received this season at the office of his publishers, Doubleday, Page & Co. and the first they accepted as worthy of every effort a publisher can give for the success of a first' novel by a new weiter—though there is not a semblance in his style to the work of a beginner. Professor Edward A. Steiner, whose book, “Tolstoy the Man,” is to be one of the fall books of The Outlook Company, spent last winter in Russia, much of which time he spent with Count Tolstoy and his family. Writing of the present appearance of Tolstoy, Professor Steiner says: “He is so thin that his features stand out with unusual sharpness. The eyes are still searching but show the effect of much suffering. and a vefl like the shadow of a passing cloud hangs over them. His voice, too, has grown weak and his hand clasp is like the touch of gloved ‘fingers, without warmth or strength: but the greeting is not less cordial than ever. Now, struggling with approaching death, he is fastening upon paper memories and impressions of by- gone years, and when every moment Is precious he yet denies himself to no one and does not stint the time which he gives to his friends. It is such a large welcome as only & large soul can give one. It is in striking contrast to the welcome which one receives from every other member of his household.” There is no doubt that a good drama- tization of a novel increases the popular- ity of the book; but a bad dramatization & contrary effect. Hence, much risk in putting novels on stage, only -to-the theatrical involved, but to the novelist him- and publishers. “Ben-Hur"" striking instance of the play further- the sales of & book which is still, class of best-selling sales of “Lady Rose’s Daughter” are yet on the increase by reason of the drama- tization now being acted with Fay Davis as “Julle Le Breton.” But thers have been several instances where poor plays have cast a damper upon the books from which they were made. Perhaps, from the standpoint of practical results, Justin Huntly McCarthy's method is the best— to make the play first, and the novel later, as he formerly did In the case of “If I Were King,” and has now done with “The Proud Prince,” in which Mr. Soth- ern is starring. The novel of the name, however, was not published by the Harp- ers until October 23, several weeks later than the play, and is illustrated from photographs of scenes from the latter. If under these conditions the play had falled, it is safe to say that the novel would still have had a good fighting chance for suc- cess as fiction. As is already known, the play is a complete success. The Literary Digest gives Information of a trust which has recently been formed in Germany by the retail book sellers. The agitation against it has assumed na- tional proportions. Professor Karl Buch- er, rector of the University of Leipsic, has written a book on the subject, la which he says: “The book dealers’ ring is a danger ta the sclentific attainments of Germaay, whose annual literary output is more than that of England, France and Amer- fca combined, Not only have the cost of books been enormously increased, so that prices sre even higher than in England, but the publisher's share of the profits has been cut down to a minimum, and the bonorarfum paid to the author has beenm correspondingly reduced. All special re- ductions to libraries have been stop ped, and by a singular arrange< ment ferelgners can buy German books at frém 15 to 25 per cent less than the Germans can, and the general cost of books has increased from 10 to 50 per cent, As a conseguence, the authors of Ger« many have organized an assoclation, the ‘Akademischer Schutzverein,” with branch associations In every university town of Germany, Austria and German Switzerland, and with headquarters im Leipsic, the purpose of which is to brealk the book ring and to secure reasonabis remuneration for the products of theie pens.” BE. F. Benson, author of “The Relentless City,” is known to some of his friends “Dodo” Benson, because of his first story, ‘“Dodo,” which, although written when he was a young Cambridge gradu- ate, achieved immediate success and made its author famous. In “The: Ree lentless City,” Mr. Benson gives free ex- pression to his opinions of certain phases of city life, using New York as a target for his clever shafts. The author lives up to his convictions and spends most of his time in the quiet cathedral city of Winchester, where he has his own bache- lor establishment and runs things as he likes. His favorite room is no room at all, but half of his little garden, with & roof over it, and the carpet of grass. Here are books and tables and comfort- able chairs, and even electric lights, so that he can live almost every hour in the outdoor air he loves. These are the best conditions for work that I know,” Mr. Benson sald to a friend recently visiting him. “They beat anything that London can give.” Thomas Nelson Page's “Gordon Keith™ séems to have come to stay. It scored 50,000 in July publication. August’ saw the figures 70,000 and September more than 90,000. The publishers now announce 110,000, with November and December still to hear from. New Books Received. ODD CRAFT, W. W. Jacobs; Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York; {llustrated; price $1 50. THE STRIFE OF THE SEA, T, Jenkins Halns; the Baker & Taylor Co, New York; {llustrated; price $1 50. THE THOUGHTLESS THOUGHTS OF CARISABEL, Isa Carrington Ca- bell; Henry Holt & Co.,, New York; price $1 25. THE WAY TO THE WEST, Emerson Hough; Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis; llustrated; price $1 50. ROGER AND ROSE, Katharine Beebe; Saalfield Publishing Co., Akron, Ohio; price $1 00. b THE MARBLE FAUN, “The Unit Books,” Howard W. Bell, New York. LETTERS AND ADDRESSHEHS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, “The Unit Books,” Howard W. Bell, New York. PIONEER SPANIARDS IN NORTH AMERICA, Willlam Henry Johnsong Little, Brown & Co., Boston; illustrats ed; price $1 50. THE COMEDIE OF ERRORS, edited by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. glu:n; Thomas Y. Croweil & Co., New or TOBACCO LEAVES, John Bain Jr.j H. N. Caldwell Co., Boston; price $1 50, SHIPMATES IN SUNSHINE, ‘F. Frankfort Moore; D. Appleton & Co., New York: price $1 50. THE BARONET IN CORDUROY, Albert Lee; D. Appleton & Co.,, New York. 5 GLIMPSES OF TRUTH, Rt. Rev. J. L. Spaulding, Bishop of Peoria; A. C. McClurg & ®o., Chicago; price 80 cents. JOHNNIE, E. O. Laughlin; Bobbs- Merrill Co., Indianapolis; illustrated; price $1 60. ' WHEN MALINDY SINGS, Paul Laurence Dunbar: Dodd, Mead & Co., New York; {llustrated; price $1 50. SONGS FROM THE HEARTS OF ‘WOMEN, Nicholas Smith; A. C. Mec~ Clurg & Co., Chicago. FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC. Arthur Howard Noll; A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago; illustrated. SOME FRUITS OF SOLITUDE, Wil liam Penn; H. M. Caldwell Co., Boston; llustrated. FAMOUS ACTORS AND ACT- RESSES AND THEIR HOMES, Gustav Kobbe; Little, Brown & Co., Boston; {llustrated; orice $3. THE WORTH OF WORDS, Dr. Raley Husted Bell: Hinds & Noble, New York. THE CALL OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, David Starr Jordan, presi- dent of Stanford University; American Unitarian Association, Boston: price 30 cents. THE STORY OF THE CHURCHES ~THE METHODISTS, John Alfred Faulkner; the Baker & Taylor Co.. New York. A HISTORY OF THE GREEN- BACKS, Wesley Clalr Mitchell; Uni- versity of Chicago Press, Chicago; price $4. THIRTY YEARS' WAR ON SIL- VER, A. L. Fitzgerald; Alnsworth & Co., Chicago: price $1 50. JEST NUTS, L. J. Bridgman: H. M. Caldwell & Co., Boston; illustrated: price $1 25. THE SONGS OF THE TREES, Mary Y. Robinson and Josephine Robinson; Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis; il- lustrated. THE ENCHANTED ISLAND OF YEW, S. Frank Badum; Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis: illustrated. HOW TO BEAT THE GAME. Garrett Brown: G. W. Dillingham & Co., New York; illustrated. COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW, issued by the Columbia Law Schoel. RACE IN INDUSTRY, Bureau of Statistics of Labor of Massachusetts, Charles F. Pidgin, editor. CALIFORNIA HYDROGAPHY, Jo- seph Harlow Lippincott, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C.