The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 17, 1904, Page 7

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL Three Western Stories of Some Merit. first question asked by the purchaser of a new ere is the plot laid ¥s the a 2n so highly spe have the Southern re and g feature of our f the novel there re and more the great Bret Harte's ie typical red shirt and buckskin ry of the West languished n the last year or two the 1 of the buoyant 1tain has again become m! t notes in our lighter literature. Perhaps it was Owen er who set In fashion the new Western t might have been or Alfred Henry thete have ries of the trans- have been rep- t effort in the there are which tern fleld. W character though three are all foun wh ngth note whi e whe & Co., Boston; ‘To-morrow's of California It es upon an as- e Octopus.” held swe. This lety, with nd its close- , has now en- y the great lded existence. Miss woven a story out wreads which reflecty of th fe that was ackays, the Floods and heve Wk or opens her story with a e Utah desert. wo wives is tiess plains of nia when a death g sudden- Then the ebled wife with air of fresh of the Utah desert a handsome woman and n her own resources by the ose who had reared her. The arns that one of the of the crested society the father who had d her mother for a back in her infancy. This t forms the r ainspring Mariposa, the big- oded C:lifornia girl i1 independence a-plenty, tly drawn. Mies Bonner heroine the spirit of an Ama- She creates a character, uncon- epirited, engaging, naive. The wing about Mariposa is that she to rule her author rather than rected by her. s Mariposa, Miss Bonner has an opportunity to sketch character in Essex, the literary dilettante and lib- ertine; Mrs. Willers, the frowzy news- paper woman, and the whole fund of the Garcia household. But the author has erred upon the side of aliowing too free 2 play to her desire for character delineation. She is prolix in several places; she has crowded her book MISS MARIE MANNING AUTHOR OF, JUDITH OF THE PLAINS " Teor people who are not necessary to machinery of the plot; there are a few unnecessary scenes in which wuse- less figures have their say. s Bonner's book divides the at- on equally between incident and aracter delineation. There is enough the former to balance the latter fea- The story Is well sustained. Again, it is a good book. (Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapo- lis; price $150.) Character drawing is pre-eminently Miss Manning’s forte. In her “Judith f the Plain the ch: ne would serve to make a book with- the assistance of the ad of romance which binds them a plot. book is a cowboy ta great air and boundle West. The life upon the big Wy- ng cattle range perhaps, drawn with too high a coloring, but it is ef- ective. or finds a place here and there Manning’s story. Leander Dax, aten hus ng pathetic figu stern canvas. Mrs. t, with her aphorisms from “The Book of Hiram,” is another quaint touch. But Judith is the personage par excellence—Judith. the haif-breed girl with the half-wild, untrammeled nature and the stoic cour- age. Thig is a great piece of character limning, this Judith. (Harper & Bros, New York; price $1 50.) Costumes of @ncestors Is Her Theme. OW one, Thomas Carlyl ould have broken forth into ponderous thunderings and rocked the world of letters with wrathy fulmina- tions had he been spared to s the dayg when a work in two bulk volumes would be brought forth 1 on the sub- ject of clothes it for Alice Morse Ear choleric philoso- that pher of cloth her “Two Centy America” may apj unmerciful a per ascetic “Sartor” ust and that of Costume in ar un iled by so For what says the Neither in tailoring nor in legis- lating does man pr d by mere acci- dent, but the hand is ever guided on by mysterious operations of the mind. In all his Modes and habilatory endeavors an Architectural 1dea will bz found lurking. ®* * * Whether he flow gracefully out in folded mantles based on light sandals; tower-up in high head-gear, from amid pe spangles and bell-girdles; swell out in starched ruffs, buckram stdffings and monstrous tuberosities; or girth himself into sep- arate sections and front the world an Agglomeration of four limbs—will de- pend on the nature of such Architect- ural Idea.” , When such classic irony as this “towers up”’ in grim warning against the foibles of habiliments Alice Morge Earle has bravery of no mean measure to claim authorship of a work upon human husks. The sartorial antiquary is a new fig- ure in the modern order of things book- ish. Away back in the eighteenth cen- tury such old grubbers as Stubbs and Malcolm wrote dissertations upon th¢ history of knee breeches and the treat- ent of the human hair—possibly be- e they had nothing else to do; but it is a question if the modern reader needs 1200 pages of illustrated text upon crinolines and night rails to add to his happiness in life. “Two Centuries of Costume” would be an invaluable aid to Charles Major or Mary Johnston in the preparation of a new historical nowvel; they could be correct in their clothing of another Dorothy Vernon or an Audrey. Beyond that it must be said that the book will have little more appeal to popular fancy than a spin- ning wheel which “came over in the Mayflower.” At first jump Mrs. Earle wishes to combat the fallacy entertained about the somberness of our Puritan fore- fathers’ dress. Though their worthy pastors condemned colors as one of the sing of the flesh, the flocks were wont to stray, according to the author. She says: “When I think of my sturdy Puritan forbears in the summer planting of Sa- lem and of Boston, I see them in ‘hon- est russet kersey,’ gay, too, with the bright stamell red of their waistcoats and the grain red linings of mandil- lions; scarlet capped are they and en- livened with many a great scarlet hooded cloak. “The Puritan church, indeed, preach- ¢d simplicity of dress; but the church attendants never followed that preach- ing. Even in the inirst years the set- tlers paid close attemtion to their at- tire, to its richness, its modishness, oF wemcee % amos acter sketches slender —a story of s plains of B and watched narrowly the attire of their nelghbors, not only from a dis- tinct liking for dress, but from a care- ful regard of social distinctions and from a regard for the propridties ang relations of life.” From the quaint old requisitions upon English drapers and haberdash- ers Mrs. Earle draws her fund of In- formation concerning the ’garb of Miles_Standish, Penelope Winslow or the Reverend Cotton Mather. We read of jerkins, pattens and collars in Massachusetts Colony and slashed doublets, periwigs and flounces down among the Virginian cavaliers. of the shock which wigs gave the good brethren of its cloth anfong the Puri- tans, Mrs. Earle writes with amusing f T imax of wig-hating,” says she, “was reached by one who has been styled ‘The Last of the Puritans’ —Judge Samuel Sewall of Boston. Constant references in his diary show how his hatred influenced his daily life. He despised wigs so long and so deeply, he thought and talked and prayed upon them until they became to him of undue importance; they be- me godless emblems of iniquity; an untenable snare and peril.” Poor Sewall; when he wished to marry a third time the lady in question made it a sine qua non that he wear a great flowing peruke. Of the attempted classic outline of raiment for the fair ones during the Empire period Mrs. Earle writes with didactic energy. That the fad for classie, clinging draperies in vogue just a hundred vears ago swung nearly to the limit of an Eden simplicity is reflected in the well-known portrait of Madame Recamier. Mrs. Earle thinks that our great-grandmothemss were im- modest. After carrying her clothes history up to the end of the first decade of the last century Mrs. Earle leaves kanga- roo waists and straight fronts for fu- ture antiquarians to expatiate upon. The worth of her work she bases upon the argument that to know history well one must know costume. “Nor could any one write upon dress with diserimination and balance unless he know thoroughly the dress of all coun- tries_and likewise the history of all countries.” (The Macmillan Company, New_York; {llustrated; prige $5,) A Franz Josef, Keystone of Empire. MPEROR FRANZ JOSEF of EAultnu is undoubtediy a wonder- ful man and a noble character in the history of the last fifty years. in Europe. He is & man who has faced and conquered more difficulties of state than any monarch who has held sway since Napoleon. His unvarying sweetness of nature and remarkable fortitude under crushing tragedies have marked him as a man among men to whom all honor is due. A somewhat florid glorification of old Emperor Franz and the divine heritage of the house of Hapsburg, under the title of “A Keystone of Empire,” has come from the pen of an anonymous inti- mate of the Emperor and a member of his court. The publishers do not have to admit that she is a woman; that fact is patent In every line of the work. The fair unknown who has raised this monument of full blown worship to the idol of Austrian rovalists has cast her bjography into a style almost approaching the form of the novel. The crucial events in the Emperor's life Vil PAYNE, AUTHOR OF ~rMR SALT ! LK 5 form the climactic crescendoe of her story. Real scenes and incidents which had the element of the dramatic in them areé by the author magnified to full novel importance. Long conversa- tions and even brilllant repartee are supplied where the presence of such would be effective. It is as if the au- thor were behind the imperial throne of the dual monarchy with & phono- graph redord, It cannot be gainsaid, however, that this method of writing btygnphy has its advantages; it is, above; all else, more readable, even though less -credi- ble than the accepted form of memoirs. Possibly. too, for such' blind worship as this titled (for such she must be) lady has indulged in the more romantic form is the only ope. Thus she re- gards her completed task: “It is a very thankless task, a weary undertaking, to tell the true history of ‘a romantic life. For there are many who invariably conclude that one is dis- regarding truth for effect—which is hu- miliating indeed; and, therefore, too often, alas, the scribe—like the artist, who does nbt dare, when setting his palette, to approach the glorious color- ing of nature, the dazzling gold of an Oriental sunset, or the flaming lines of tropical blossoms—hesitates to relate the real, the llve, the palpitating, or even the more simple touching inci- dents which go.to make up the exis- tences of royal personages.” Would it be unfair to say that this excerpt from \Madame Incognita's work serves the double purpose of re- vealing both her thought and her liter- ary style? The author devotes the first part of her work to a very searching study of the roval mother of Emperér Franz, Archduchess Sophia$ This remarkable woman, who was really a second Marla Theresa, wins a larg® share of the writer's admiration, for she was all statecraft to the tips of her royal fin- gers and a good mother, though cast in the Spartan mold. The biographer even evolves a highly dramatic dia- logue between Sophia and her imperial father-in-law when the former wished to unseat the doddering old monarch and place her “Franzi” on the back of the double eagle. Madame, the titled unknown, betrays her politics when she deals with the revolution of 1848, None but a mon- archist and an aristocrat could detail the causes of the uprisings which sim- ultaneously shook all the despots of . Europe in that momentous year in the hit-or-miss fashion which is hers. She merely says that all the rustics and the students in Austria and Hungary were bitten of a sudden by that insidl- ous pest, Liberty, and thereupon rose up against the throne endowed by the divine right’ of rulers with lute power. But revolution unseated the old Emperor and with the accession of Franz Josef & new era opened for Aus- tria. “Will the world ever quite realize,” queries the author, “what a task lay before the young monarch, as on De- cember 3 he awoke to the realization that he, and he alone, was now re- sponsible for the pacification of a coun-- try more than twice the size of Great Britain, a larger than France, and “for the prosperity of some thirty mil- lions of human beings, belonging to seventeen or eighteen different nation- alities?”’ Truly the world has hardly realized what a labor it has been for brave old Franz Josef to keep stable JULIAN Ha AW THoRNE O is the tottering "arch of that Hapsburg dominion. Much of the material about the un- bappy Elizabeth which the author has used in her former book, “The Martyr- dom of an Empress,” is here repro- duced In the accounts of some of the Emperor's crushing tragedies. Few of the tales of royal unhappiness can com- pare with this pitiful story, touchingly told, of the married infelicity of Franz Jesef and his geptle wife. Then fol- lowed the shocking fate in Mexico of Maximilfan, the Emperor's fa-orite brothér: the death of his mother, the falling away one by, one of his old trie..ds, .until_the 0ld monarch is left now a soll and a sorrowed man upon ‘@ tott g throne. This part of the author's narrative through its sincerity and sweet note of sym- pathy redeems the somewhat grandiose verblage of the earlier pages. (Harper & Bros., New York; trated; price $2 25.) llus- Professor James Tells of the Indians. HE Indians of thé Painted Desert Region,” by George Wharton James, is one of the most inter- esting and Instructive works published on the manners, habits and history of the aboriginal inhabi- tants of the desert reglons. It will ap- peal to all who také an interest in eth- nological studies, and who are desirous of knowing about the wonderful people who dwell close to us, whose customs, dress and modes of living are as prim- itive as were those of the ancient Britons when the Roman generals first led their victorious troops against them. James is one of the leading students of these people. He has studied them closely and constantly during the past twenty years, has lived among them, has been initiated into all their mystic secret organizations and has enjoyed their confidence and respect to an ex- tent quite unapproached by any other writer. - Numerous other books have been published treating of various phases of the Indlans' lives; but thelr contents to & considerable extent are based on the accounts of various trav- elers. James' book {sr :thoritative and is based almost entirely upon his own observations and researches. According to James, the name ®BI Pintado Desierto” was bestowed on the region by the Spanish Conquistadores under Coronado and Tobar, in 1540, dur- ing their search for the rich gold and silver mines that the Mexican Indians had led them to belleve existed near the seven mythical citles of Cibola. The name was suggested to them by the clear atmosphere, bright sunlight and magnificent luminous displays wit- nessed during the rising and setting of the sun. The region has never been clearly defined; but James takes it to include all the desert lands of New Mexico, Arizona, Eastern California, Utah, Colorado and Nevada—a great stretch of country that may be said to run from Mexico right up north to- ward Idaho. James divides the Indians into four closely allled classes—the Hopls, Nava- hoes, Wallapais and Havasupais. They dwell in small villages perched upon al- most inaccessible heights in the desert plateaus; there appears to be lttle doubt that they chose these elevated positions for purposes of protection from the onslgughts of their foes. Their hunting grounds, flelds ard gardens are far away in the valleys. Only one or two narrow and almost inaccessible tralls lead up to their fortified homes. Their chief towns are Walpi, Sichu- mavi, Hano and Oraibi, which are prin- cipally bullt of stones and adobe. The 0r's reflections on first studying villages give a fine, plc- turesque summary of the impressions made upon a visitor, and throw con- siderable light upon the Indians and thelr customs. The author says: “Oh! Y THORNE N"OR o HIS Circ L the pathos, the woe, the untold but clearly written misery of centuries in these cliff-built houses of the mesas, these residences that are fortresses, these steep trail approached and preci- pice protected homes. In a desert land, surrounded by relentless, wary and vigilant foes, ever fighting a hard battle with the adverse conditions of their environment, short of water and firewood, and with food grown in the desert-rescued lands below, where at ang moment the ruthless marauder might appear, there is no wonder that almost every elderly face s seamed and scarred; furrowed deeply with the accumulated centuries of never-ceasing care. Mystery here seems at first ‘o reign supreme. It stands and faces one as a Presence. It hovers and broods and you feel it even in your sleep. The, air is full of it. The very clouds here are mysterious. Who are the: people? Whenge came they? What is their destiny? What fearful battles, race hatreds, devastating wars, led them to make their homes on these In- accessible cliffs The author has found the desert In- dians a quiet, fairly industrious people who are skilled in agricultural and stock-raising pursuits. It will surprise many to learn that for many centuries they have known the benefits of sclen- tific irrigation, and have practiced it extensively. The men and women are expert swimmers and are brought up in the saddle. They very carefully practice physical culture and have wonderful powers of endurance. Every morning at break of day the young men prac- tice running, these exercises amount- ing to a run of from fifteen to twenty miles before breakfast. This will ex- plain how it is that for a dollar trav- elers can employ an Indian to carry letters across the desert a distance of 90 or 100 miles within twenty-four hours. Many of their recorded feats in this respect are almost incredible. The Indians are very superstitious and religious. They are pantheis worshipers and snake dance: have powerful medicine men, also pray- ing wheels like the Burmese and Thi- betans, and they are addicted to the practice of witchcraft and sorcery. In one singular respect they are ahead of us. They recognize women's “rights.” The whole home life of the desert Indians is based upon the rights of women. The women own the houses and property; the wife receives her newly married husband into her own home; the children belong to her clan and take her clan name; any food brought Into the home by the husband at once becomes her property. She is truly queen of her home and, unlike most aborigines, she is in every re- spect placed on equal terms with her husband. Among the arts practiced by the In- dians are weaving, basket making, carving and pottery making. Their blankets are finely made and greatly sought by traders. Their baskets are made from yucca fibers and willow wood. The ornamentation is chiefly in geometrical designs. which are gen- erally symbolical. Their pottery is sim- flarly decorated. All their art works are skillfully and tastefully executed. James has given great attention to the religious mysteries and ceremonies annually practiced by these people. His chapter treating on the dances and per- formances of the snake and antelope priests, which is a fine example of vig- orous word painting, will be found ex- ceedingly entertaining. The author has succeeded In getting into the 268 pages of his book a com- plete storehouse of Indian wonders. He relates the exploits of travelers, stories of Indian battle and hunting scenes and sports. He describes the glorious colored scenes during the ris- ing and setting of the brilliant sun and the awful terrors of the sandstorms that often devastate the region. James adds some of his own and other trav- elers’ hair-breadth escapes from immi- nent peril in a highly dram: manner, that gives an unusual interest to the ‘book. (Little, Brown & Co., Boston; illus- trated; price $1 50.) A Few Current Topics About Writers. HERE has lately been pub- lished in Paris a letter by Balzac relating to his candidature for the Academy, written in 1843. The novelist was disgusted to find that his poverty was proving an ob- stacle in his path, and to his friend. M. de Pougerville, himself an Academi- clan, he wrote: “If fortitude In an up hill struggle, if the independence which refuses to exchange labor for irritat- ing government proteetion, if poverty, constitute an obstacle to my election, then I ought never to offer myself when fortune shall have favored me. It would be as discreditable for me as for the Academy that gold should give a claim higher than that of a life de- voted to literature. * * * You approve, I trust, an attitude dictated by the self-respect Inseparable from one’s own good name.” An interesting comparison between Baldwin Sears’ “The Circle in the Square” and Thomas Nelson Page's “Red Rock” is made by a recent critic, who says: “From its remarkable pene- tration and portrayal of feelings and their expression, and from Its strong and sustained grasp, not only of char- acter but of a great problem, ‘The Cir- cle in the Square’ deserves to be con- sidered a legitimate successor to ‘Red Rock’ as a document on the conditions of Southern life.” Robert Dunn, who accompanied the recent expedition up Mount McKinley, comes home with some very interesting anecdotes of the human side of explor- ation. Mr. Dunn {s a popular young Harvard graduate, who has done some striking magazine articles on outdoor life. He is embodying his recent thrill- Ing experiences ip a series of papers which will appear in Outing during the coming year. The first of a series an- nounced for the January Outing will be a stirring narrative of his thrilling experiences recorded in the stress of the moment, portraying the thing as it was, its passions, hopes and fears. The series should be a notable one. Mrs. Katherine Cecil Thurston, au- thor of “The Circle,” whose new novel, “The Masquerader,” begins its first in- stallment In the January number of Harper's Basar, was born in Cork, In the south of Ireland. She was an only child, educated at home and much glven to reading. Strangely enough, In view of the success of her first novel, Mrs. Thurston avers that the thought of writing never came to her unmtil it was suggested by her husband, who is himsel{ an author. Mrs. Thurston re- sides altogether in London, making a pligrimage each year to her own coun- try. It was In the quaint and primitive village of Ardmore, on the south coast of Ireland, that the greater part of “The Masqferader” was written. Several important reviewers of Aquila Kempster's novel, “The Mark,” pub- lished the past month, have taken the author's name to be a pseudonym, which is not the case, for Mr. Kemp- ster is a real newspaper man in New York City. For a “first novel” “The Mark™ is having a wonderful success, not only from the point of view of sales (two large editions were printed before publication), but with unusual reviews In newspapers and magasines as well. During the present year Mr. John Moody, editor of Moody's Manual, has devoted much time to the co: and writing of a book which short- ly be issued for general ciroulation, under the title of “The Truth About the Trusts; a Description and Analy- sis of the American Trust Movement.” The contents of this book are based chiefly on this “Invaluable dats and general information which the author has been s0 carefully during these years. It is to be & volume of over 5§00 pages and is ably the first attempt to presenmt, in uniform and accurats shape, an actual and impartial history of the trust movement, as well as an unbiased and fair treatment of the subject from standpoints of both Wall street th‘s‘ pucbuc in f-n’:{'fl. r. Carman In ‘anu- acy Gumber of the Literaty World Sa4s fault with the publishers for indiscrim- inate issuance of worthless books. He says: “Perhaps one book in a hundred is worth reading. Perhaps one in a thousand is worth preserving. But to the critical mind, with its cultivated taste for the best, there is something discouraging In the complete worthless- mess of the vast majority of current books. Without thought, without style, without a grain of beauty or an lota of sense, they are dumped upon us by the bushel. Nine-tenths of them can serve no purpose but to flatter the perennial vanity of the misguided incompetents who pen them, or to lead their unfortu- nate authors to Impossible hopes of finncial success.” The first novel of the new year, from the press of Doubleday, Page & Co.. will be Miss Ellen Glasgow’s -new ro- mance of the Virginia tobacco fleids, “The Deliverance,” {llustrated in color by Frank Schoonover. January 15 is the date set for publication, and In this apparently “off season” the same house has before issued some of their best novels with unusual success, so they no longer consider it an periment. Last year their first novel, which ap- let.m" on the same date, was “The Frank M. Chapman, who has done more than any other man in the coun- try toward popularizing bird study, has just published “A Color Key to North American Birds,” which is an ingen- fously arran and illustrated bird dictionary thréugh which one may learn a bird’s name with the least pos- sible diffleulty. Among the important announce- ments of spring publications must be reckoned some forthcoming titles in the list of Messrs. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., “A Bachelor in Arcady,” a de- lightful idyllic romance by Halliwell Sutcliffe, author of “Mistress Bar- bara”; “The Life of Dean Farrar,” the authorized biography of this noted theologian and writer, by his son, Reg- inald Farrar: “Ruskin Relics,” a se- ries of important and interesting Rus- kiniana by that author’s friend and of- ficial biographer, W. G. Collingwood; “Minute Marvels of Nature,” by John J. Ward, a thoroughly unique illus- trated work dealing for the first time in a popular way with the marvels of minute life which are revealed only by the microscope, and Shakespeare's “Merchant of Venice,” edited by Char- lotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke, the fourth play of the popular reprints, from the famous First Follo of 1623. will