The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 20, 1904, Page 6

THE YOKE. Tale From VExodus have Leen nificant saeep end splen- ained ess of the novel of t plagues the F timely will to th What is rate the contrac re as she is normally concile the ence and allows the first- n even unto h's palace. ut the love of gyptian nobleman urt of Pharaoh, raelite slave in asaarah. Kenkenes, instinct far in advance wishes to break away grotesque ritualistic sculpture pt and carve out his own concep- 1 of the human form as it really ex- le doing this secretly he uses for his model, his affection for ng with every beautiful line < out of the rough stone. her str Judaic faith in Joathing for idolators, spurns »n at first, until the base op- pres ourtier of Pharaoh forces her to seek the protection of the young Egyptian. The scene shifts to the regal cities of Thebes and Memphis, where .\llfifltp[ah,‘ the Pharaoh, and his courtiers are be- ginning to be disturbed by reports of ong the Israclites under the hip of the Prince Mesu (Moses). Very skiilfully the author throws over the whole court the nameless dread and uncertainty caused by the terrible warnipgs of this Mesu, all the while keeping the great lawgiver in the back- ground. Follow the plugues, each with its terrible phenomena graphically de- & Kenkenes, his faith in the of Egypt flown, casts Lis lot with the of his loved one and sees Pharaoh’s firsi-born smitten at the first Passover and the army of Egypt swal- n the Red Sea. he Yoke"” is a pow- Despite the fact that its ) is considerably by nd the usual of the novel of to-day, the move- ment in it rarely slackens. The inci- dents of the various plagues, power- fully pictured, and the final passage over ¥pt of the angel of death make a clim of remarkable strength. The vivid descriptions of palace life and guarry pit which fill the book, though they may not be as correct as those of the Egyptologist and novelist, Georg are nevertheless effective. The picture of the water carnival the e at Memphis is as perfect 2s any bit of descriptive writing in re- cent fietion. (Bobbs-Merrill Company. lis; price $1 50.) MRS. COTES Jtory of Canada. FUR its breadth of canvass, minute- uess of detail and careful, in- tensive study of character “The Imperialist,” Mrs. Everard Cotes’ new novel, seems a second “Felix Holt.” Like George Eliot, Mrs. Cotes has blocked out a remarkably large fleld r story, yet filled it in with such v of line and sympathy for light and shade that the whole Onished pro- duct represents true art and infinite labor. In truth if the author has failed et all in this work of hers it is just in this very particular; for the aver- age reader of fiction whose sated taste tistic bis afiect ) € risings sed. people loved In it erful Ebers, Indianapo- THE SAN "FRY action and more ac- ticn, Mr delicate steel etching of quiet provincial life will have littie appeal. The reader who subsists upon Zenda storl Graustark and Haddon Hall romances will not abide “The Ini- perialist.” Mrs. Cotes’ latest work of fiction zims to do for a raw little town in Ontario what Margaret Deland has wrought for that rare old Chester—tuv sroject upon the screen of a simple plot a delicately lined picture of the folk who find their lives encom- ssed by the narrow limits of a pro- vincial and who are into the primitive as- neighbors and townspeople. of the town worthies, the editor, dominie of the church, the pros- d-headed merchant, are s their views upon the general with the quaint pro- that theirs. The is ain community brought thereby ation of b o and ha 0 exy worid in vincialism is ouglr their a ve spectacies 3 ug world, but a comfortable one withal At the outset of the story the réader fnto the home of th canny, od-fearing peoj everyth but their faith, in d meeting life th a b wise saw Mother Murchison, who 1s at vne minute worried over her tomat. ot -chow and at amott wonderin Dr. Drummond gpts the mater: the tar mo s come to bovk for many , the father, out of Scotland to bsolute Zollvere impatu- at in th it Wit hims; himse Canadian Hous end der and nd politics Though Mrs n exhaustive 1 ports @ o build up the argument must be e not to be s not much. nust have de excursion into governme th and likeness in Wallinghan down to the real That lies solel portraits Mrs. Cotes d lay the strong willed cher old Cove almost who swert jot of abeol mond may interpr anter’s s is a new tion. Dr. 1 r whose charac the pulpit permit of a ation b een litt liberal V8 Adve Sund. e mystic and the dreamer, and again motherly, quaint Mrs. Murchison—these Yypes, dalicately drawn, shaded artistically with a deft sy ri rathetic touch, make “The Impe- t” what it is: a quiet. quaint stury in gray tones. (D. Appleton & Co. trated; price $1 50.) W A UILLAGE Of J'weefr Memories. APLESS every New York: illus- city dwellers, whose sense has long since been dulled by the roar and the rush of the daily Tound; for whom the flow- ers bloom only in, florists’ winddws and the birds exist in netted cages at the park alone—for these has **The Day Before Yesterday” been written. Those who have been caught in the great wheel of the everyday, whirling, whirling month in and month out over the same round of life, whose limits are the dull, hard pales of necessity— would such as those pause for one minute to catch a sweet glimpse of childhood’s long ago, let them read this little book by Sara A. Shafer. The cable cars and the clectric signs, the typewriter's click and the telephone's buzz will all melt away under the charm of this little picture of the hnickerbocker and gingham frock days in the village away back Rast somewhere. It is to the village of Day Before Yesterday that the author draws you back to the little hamlet in Indiana, Wisconsin or Illinols where “‘wide and cool lay the streets, shadowed from end to end by rows of sugar maples,” and “green billows of waving corn, yellow shoals of bending wheat, gray-green drifts of foaming oats and crimson Udes of rippling clover flared into the very edge of the addition.” It Is of the sweet town of the thirty years gone, the town whereln you learned to grow up with the meadow flowers and the red squirrels in the beeches of the common, that Sara Shafer writes. Uer characters are the good aunts and grandfathers who took Rachel or Dick to the circus, the boy with the limpy leg, who carried the millk, and the three old malds down by the creek. To read of them is to bring back in a fash your village of yesterday, your aunts and grandfathers who used to take you, a kinky-headed kid, to the circus and to church in the carryall which emelt of leather. All of the old worthies of the village that you remember are in the village of Day Before Yesterday. There Is the man who ran the carpenter shop, wh used to give you shavings for “tails' if you were a boy, or curls if you wore frocks. Then there was the old judge who got & wooden leg in the war and the “funny old woman.” In the book she happens to be “the little German- French woman, whom they all called ‘srossmutter.’ In her garden, besides o ROY AL seen in his works. | | | frec wir of the mountains, their vastness and the indefinable maj action almost involuntary. How prc purses who take up literature as a pastime. published novel, “Stone of Destiny,’ is the wife of the niillionaire, Mackay, as president of the Commercial Cable and | formerly Miss Duer of the well-known New York family of that name. ROAD TO LITERATURE IS & RIGHT BROAD HIGHIDAY AMLIN GARLAND, the first and perhaps the strongest of the new ers of the West, is an ardent lover of the mountains, as any of his readers may know. Since he has associated himself with the West in his life as well as his ner of recreation from the ardors of writing is to take his pack horse and hie himself to ! snowy fastness of the Rockies. This i$ a rare combination of business and pleasure, to i thus at the first hand and consequently the reflection of these influences in a book is an | able are Mr. Garland’s junkets into the wilds has to be Katherine Duér Mackay has set the highest mark for those extefprising ladies of large She has gone at the thing seriously, for her first 3 Clarence H. Mackay, w went into second edition two days after publication. She ho succeeded his father, the late John W. iegraph Company. ool oi fiction writ- books his chief man- the for the of their presence all come JULE Slackay was < the flowers and the vegetables, were good-smelling herbs of many strange kinds. She always carried a bit folded in with her best handkerchief inside her hymn book when she went to church.” The author has chosen to view the village through childish eyes, just as you viewed it many years ago. Rachel, the doctor’s daughter, and her brothers and sister are the little ones whose joys and eorrows are carried through the cycle of the seasons. Nothing could be so delightfully true to recol- lection as the incident of Rachel’s en- counter with the three Miss Tucker girls, nor could.anything call up such a reminiscent smile as the faithful recountal of the “tablos,” wherein the Children of Israel walked through the Red Sea of a folded horse blanket. These little Incidents are all told with a simplicity which is captivating. The charm of the story hardly excels the charm of Its diction. (The Macmillan Company, New York; price, $1 50.) REUVIEWS Of Other Books. N 1889, before the present wholesome revival of the love of out-of-door living and country life had been born, Philip G. Hubert, a New York newspaper man, tried the experiment of cutting loose from the drudgery of city life and living “next to nature.” S0 he put his modified Rousseauism into actual practice by going to live in a modest little home on Long Island, ralsing his own vegetables, dredging his oysters from the Sound and trusting to nature, like the fowls of the air and the beasts of the fleld. Such a success did he make of it that he published a book of his éxperiences, “Liberty and Living.” The present craze for nature books has made Hubert's work one of timely interest, and his publishers have therefore brought out a new edition. Mr. Hubert's thesis is a good one— theoretically; it is ‘‘that thousands of people pay too much for their money, and that % is possible to make a small income go much farther in the pur- chase of peace, culture, sunshine and happiness than is commonly thought possible.” In pursuance of this theory he would have every man who has any kind of income at all withdraw himself to the seclusion of the “pascua rura,’” there to till the soil, read the good book and breathe in new life from the free air. The sprightly account of Mr. Hu- bert’s experiment is calculated to make the reader agree with' Voltaire's “Can- dide” that the summation of all earthly joys lies in tending one's garden, but it is doubtful whether every one would have the author’s success at this being a Huron Red Indian. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.) “The Defense of the Castle,” the lat- est book of Tudor Jenks, is a boy's story and distinctly a good one. It is a tale of adventure, pure and simple, with castle walls, portcullls, dungeon and all the accessories of a medieval romance liberally interlarded. Of hand to hand grapples there are a plenty; of deep mysteries and daring strategles enough to keep any full-blooded young- ster out of bed long past curfew. Be- sides the idol, Tobin Hood, later made Earl of Huntington, Roger Bacon, the monk made famous by his liberties with the devil's nose is made to play exciting parts in the unfolding of the story. By his liberal use of gunpow- der and the clever application of the magic lantern—not invented, by the — way, until many centuries after Monk Bacon’s time—the wily recluse brings havoc to the forces of the craven be- siegers and the castle with its precious feminine occupants is saved from utter destruction. Mr. Jenks takes liberties with historical chronology, but then Sir ‘Walter Scott was the first offender on that score, and Mr. Jenks can be par- doned since, like his honored predeces- sor, he can make a good story withal. (The Mershon Cempany, Rahway, N. J.; ilustrated; price $1 25.) Pearl Ulllla Davis, aged 18, as the title page solemnly asserts, and shown by the photographic frontispiece to be a very pretty girl, has felt called upon to rush into print with a novel—called so under protest—entitled “Ignorance Unveiled.” The call was nearly akin to that of Joan of Arc's as the preface declares, “Night after night I have lain awake, battling with the restless longing to unburden the expressions that came to me. Voices seemed to soar aloft, urging me on, on, until I found no rest. Mystic forces seemed to gather in my mind and to chain me to a Purpose, which would not leave me. I fought hard to suppress the beckon- ing, but a Mighty Hand seemed to clutch my knowledge facuities into ut- terance; words and voices thrilled my heart and mind until 1 was powerless to resist; I was bound to the Cross, and I had to open my soul. And even as I wrote, those mystic voices grew louder, and one, clear toned and sweet, whispered to me.” After reading the first chapter of this divinely inspired tale built on a risque theme cne is tempted to regret that Pearl Ulilla’s age prevents her from being spanked and sent to bed without her supper. (The Broadway Publishing Company, New York; price $1) " dice! PASSING Notes g_{li Gossip. N the March number of The Critle Yome Noguchl, Joaquin Miller’s pro- tege, writes of the rise of the novel in Japan. He says: “Up to 18% novel-writing was not looked upon as a respectable profession. The public would not permit it to be calied gentleman's work. It was re- garded as an unpardonable diversion of unworthy prodigies. The authors were accused of being a demoralizing influence. However, the fault may be with them, since they Indulged, often provokingly, in the depiction of the \ower class of women. The geisha was thelr favorite heroine. I am told that Ogal Morl was often warned by his surgeon general (Ogal was a higher army doctor) that he would shorten his dignity by his novel-publication. There is no place like the Japanese army where even an {ll-fitting dignity s necessary. Once for some years Ogal stopped writing, seeing himself in dan- ger of losing his place. What a preju- But happily such a thing couldn’t happen to-day when the invasion of Western thought has cleared it off. Authors have come to command re- speqt. They couldn’t make a Nving by writing only twenty years ago, but to- day they are on the fair road to pros- perity, the public.demand for litera- ture of any sort having tremendously fncreased.” The methods of work of Miss Ellen laggow, the author of “The Deliver- ance,” are extremely interesting. Un- like most successful authors, she has two periods of work during the day. She begins at 11 o’clock in the morning, and works until 2, and then she rests, or walks during the afternoon. After dinner, in the evening, she resumes her work, and works three or four hours. “1 always lo my door when I work,” she savs. “I can’'t work when I realize be interrupted.” London Academy bewails the e illustrated magazines in ints with nerous env to the “fine art and ren of our Amer n Sarah Stilwell, beth Shippen Green, and Jessie Willcox Sinith, and asks why it is that England scems “unable to prodv can gather the best {llust rica. It was inues the gave us Howard Pyle and Ed- as every “Ab- hakespeare’s come- of Har- goes on the Aca gave an to artistic endeavor in the nes both in America ts almost impossible to exaggerate.” The A. Wessels Co; tive preparation for publication in the ; spring a book by Rufus Wilson led “New England in Letters.” Mr. Wilson, who s widely and favorably known through his “Rambles in Col- oniai Byways” and similar works, de- scribes a serles of pilgrimages to all the noteworthy literary landmarks of the New England States, dealing with the work of each author in association with fts background or environment. This method makes his book both a guide for the pilgrim and an illuminat- ing review for the student. The result is said to be a delightful mingling of historic fact and intimate personal im- pression which will give “New England in Letters” a distinctive and welcome place among works of its kind. It will be profusely illustrated with photo- graphs and pen-and-ink sketches. Bram Stoker,. author of “The Jewel of Seven Stars,” which was reviewed in these columns last week, is not In ap- pearance the popular conception of the “literary man.” He is both large and ruddy, and his looks do not belie his reputation as an athlete; for Mr. Stoker was once athletic champion of the Uni- versity of Dublin, where he received his education. Unlike some students, his interest in university life was not monopolized by athletics. He was also president of the Philosophical Soclety and auditor of the Historical Society, taking the latter’s silver medals for history and composition. Mr. Stoker is by profession a barrister. Professor Edward A. Steiner, whe spent much of last year with Count Tolstoy on his estate at Yasnaya Poly- ana, has written “Tolstoy the Man,” which is to bear the imprint of the Out- look Company. Writing of the doctrine of non-resistance to evil followed so consistently by Tolstoy, he says: “It is providential that Tolstoy had the power of fame and the harmless- ness of the non-resistant, for these two facts have saved him from the exile into which have been sent countless numbers who have provoked the au- thorities far less than has he. He lives in open enmity against the Govern- ment, whose power over him he does not acknowledge, whose corruption, cruelty and hypoerisy he has exposed over and over again, and whose abso- lutism he is undermining more than any other person in Russia. Whether he wished to or not, he became the scul of all the opposition, and the dis- satisfied of every class have gathered around his banner, whose reasoning they do not and care not to under- stand. He became without doubt the strongest man in Russia, In spite of his defenseless condition—stronger than the Czar, who lives In dafly terror for his life; stronger than the officials, who, in spite of Cossacks and thewr whips, are making the country ripe for revolution and their own speedy over- throw." For so long & time the “soclety novel” ¢ have in ac- has bad a distinctly metropolitan asso- clation that it is a pleasure to find one with a locale other than New York. The scene of Emma Howard Wight's “The Evolution of Lillan,” the opening novel in Tales From Town Topics for March, is Baltimore. The novel !s, nevertheless, a genuine example of the species, and the flavor of smart soclety is present In abundance. As to its truth thers may be two opinions; doubtless there are those who will hold that it presents an overdrawn picture of the evils that infest soclety, not merely In the South but in every im- portant city. But If the viclous aspects of life are prominent the lesson to be drawn from them is equally so. On this side, indeed, the story is almost too moral. Yet this is a trifiing fault 1! the story is really interesting; and that It is the test of actual reading will fully prove. One of the vital forces In the “prod- lem of the New South” is the attitude of the South itself toward criticism. The South very naturally resents be- ing openly treated as the “sick man of America,” with all kinds of quack medicines being prescribed for ne- gronia, lynchitis and feudism. Much Wwisdom is wasted on the South be- cause this wisdom lacks understanding and arouses only hostility. That the fault does not lie with the South is clearly demonstrated by the spirit of appreciation and responsiveness with which the press of every Southern city is greeting “The Widow in the South™ —a book which criticizes frankly, but also gives credit where credit is due, and does both with a tact and judg- ment that have won the Southern heart. Teresa Dean and her brilllant essays will undoubtedly help the South —but perhaps most of all by showing the North that its duty is merely to help the South work out its own salva~ tion, and to give this help with tact and sympathy The splendid stroke recently deliver- ed by the Japanese in dashing into the harbor of Port Arthur and torpedoing «the Russian battleship calls attention to the central incident in Rev. Cyrus Townsend Brady’s new story, “A Lit- tle Traitor to the South.” But the in- cident described by Mr. Brady was even more daring. It took more cour- age forty years ago to go up to a war- ship in a small torpedo-boat, hold the torpedo up the side of a vessel and pull the string, than to steam into a harber in a thirty-knet craft, launch a torpedo from several hundred yards’ distance and vanish. Marmaduke Pickthall, the author of aid, the Fi * the new novel . reviewed in this paper re- writes of cently, with an Intimacy rar a people he knows attained by a s and evident Pick- to Pick- In its vivid fe it depicts Mr. has been compared < Certainly Mr. Palestine as h Pa Christian. tr plete master of the Arabian lan- and speaks most of the common lects. He has made long journeys through the country with natives as his only friends and prefers to live and eat in the Damascus taverns where only the natives congregate. He is so thoroughly Orientalized that he habit- ually sides with the natives against the foreigners. Mrs. Edith A. Talbot in her “Life of General Samuel Armstrong,” just pub- lished by Doubleday, Page & Co., men- tions an early instance of a discrim~ ination for American goods In the Pa~ cific market. It was in the early mis- sionary days in Hawali, in the church, “On one side,” says the author, “was the King’s pew, with scarlet hangingss the royal family always distinguished themselves by coming In very Ilate, with the loudest of squeaking shoes. The more the shoes squeaked the bet- ter was the wearer pleased, and oftem a man, after walking noisily in, would sit down and pass his shoes through the window for his wife to wear in, thus doubling the family glory. Noow musical shoes were hardly salable.” Professor Frank Moore Colby, whe has been for some time past a regulas contributor to The Bookman, has joined the editorial staff of that maga- zine. Professor Colby has been the managing editor of the New Interna- tional Encyclopedia, which is just be- ing completed. This will be the tenth year of The Bookman, and this acces- sion to the editorial staff, with other contemplated changes, bids fair te make the year a most interesting one in the history of the magazine. NewBooks Received THE AMERICAN PRISONER, Eden Phillpotts; the Macmillan Company, New York; illustrated; price $1 50. THE ADVENTURES OF ELIZA- BETH IN RUGEN, Countess von Ar- nim; the Macmillan Company, New York; price $1 50. THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY, Sara A. Shafer; the Macmillan Com- pany, New York; price $1 50. A CENTURY OF EXPANSION, Wil- lis Fletcher Johnson:.the Macmillan Company, New York; illustrated with maps; price $1 50. LIBERTY AND A LIVING, Phillp G. Hubert; G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York; ill SEEKING THE KINGDOM, Ernest E. Day; the Macmillan Company, New York; price $1 5 STORY OF HIS WORK, Rev. W. S. Rainsford; the Out- look Company, New York; price $1 25. TOLSTOY THE MAN, Edward A. New Steiner; the Outlook Comvany, York; illustrated; price $1 50. RESCUED FROM FIERY DE ‘W. A. Stanger: Laird & Lee, fllustrated; price 75 cents. IGNORANCE UNVEILED, Ulilla Davis; Pearl Broadway Publishing Company, New York; price $l. EUROPE ON $ A DAY, anonymous; the Rolling Stone Club, Medina, N. Y.; ilinstrated; orice 25 cents