The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 19, 1904, Page 5

NEW DEPARTURE in History of America O trace t £ the J he history of the peoples rican continent, and ereof from Darien settlements activities of the indeed, a task ortions the ot of and world e alik North America, Professor Guy Hopkins and aims to do. Ir ntributed by any well-known writers ts of American history, and ng plan commensurate de e of the subject, t nificance ers ar f historica 1 edited by Johns sitles es contributior st f America Heretofore it has as & matter of re- the patriotiem the our people that no comprehen- th con- hat have been f the New not refiect end sadly re subject, criticiem cannot be expected wenty writers ana- f advisers, pruned by red ) an ar- t herence, will pos- unbroken narrative force 3 Rome.” What the work wi ¢o wever, of which the first four v ¢ noy published give promise whole finished series, is to pre- slete historical conception of of the North American con- rm. The four vol- ished are “"Discovery ns in the His- es, lonization of the id “The Colonization of tl L We shall confine t nitive fc & umes for n e in & subsequent Alfred Brittain, author of Spanis nquest of Mexico,” Voyages in the Fifteenth C The Exploration of North- erica nas fallen the task of & the e of Lee's a.” Commencing with a a f the ological dis- s America by Phoenicians, eks, the Norse and the Irish eastern side and the fabled golians from the far Pa- nds, Dr. Brittain follows the a enticated pecords of the Colum- and post-Columbian explosers to the last voyage of Henry Hud- ot th a supplemental chapter upon of exploration hinging upon ¢ search for the northwest passage. epe & somewhat from the accept- method of historical writing, the r has introduced wherever pos- inal documents and .tran- ser first sources, sometimes in their irety. In narrating the inci- dents surrounding the discoveries and voyages Columbus, he has repro- d in full Las Casas’' journal of the al's voyages In which are set down the daily log entries. The letters of Vespucc! and the defense of Colum- bus’ right to honor for discovery writ- ten by Las Casas serve the author in elucidating the tangied controversy settled about the head of the map maker. Again In the chapters devoted to French exploration Dr. Brittain has punctuated his narrative with extracts from Cartier, Joliet, Marquette and La Salle’s own accounts. In a work of this nature, which does not aim at be- ing & minute study, but which is forced by the scope of the subject into very broad and general lines, the apt incorporation of original sources into the narrative such as the author of the present volume has made makes for a spirit of suthenticity which commands the confidence of the reader. Quite the most interesting if not the most valuable portion of the book is that dealing with ante-Columbian dis- coveries. Recognizing the true point of deperture for an adeguate survey of the general movement of the restless peregrination that characterized the sawakening from the Renalssance, Dr. Brittain has thrown his narrative back to the beginnings of geographic sci- ence. He recalls the fact that the Carthaginians ventured through sthe Pillars of Hercules and down the West African coast. That the Moors settled the Azores centuries before Columbus salled the unknown seas is established by the remains of their architecture found there; could the myth of the seven wonderful cities of Cibola have been founded upon the actual experi- ences of one of these Moorish sailors, blown beyond the Azores to the Bra- sib s I en of zilian coast? The apocryphal legend of a certain Irishman, Ari Marson of Limerick, who found a “White Man's e West, the story of the e who discovered a fabled of the Venetian brothers 1 their crossing of the At- are all interesting read- not worthy of a histori- cording to the writer. does he pin much faith on the claim of Norse priority in the discov- ery of America. “We may still retain every whit our admiration for the unsurpassed achievement of the Genoese ecays the author. The chapters dealing with Spanish ex- ploretions in Florida znd Mexico and the uthwest denote an especially cer- tain grasp of the author wupon this phase of the subject. The obscure op- erations of Gordilla’'s expedition to North Carolina, of the ill-fated Narvaez in the Southwest and De Aylion along the gulf are set forth clearly and con- cisely. With Cortez in Mexico and the kugntly De Soto on the Mississippi the writer leaves the epoch of Spanish con- quest to review the tide of French ex- ploration which swept through the up- per half of the continent. The work dene by Verrazano in opening up the whole north to French colonization is outlined, both by extracts from the log of the navigator and by the very com- prehensive summary of the author. Follow, of course, the explorations ot Champiain, of Joliet, Marquette and La Salle. In the discussion of -the con- flicting claims of the French and Eng- lish exploration and subsequent coloni- zation the writer brings to bear on the subject the light of maritime conditions then existing, and the effect of rivalry in trade relations upon the efforts of »oth nations With a sum s+ of all the efforts pent toward the discovery of a north- t passage and of the consequent overies in the Northwest by Van- couver and Cook, the author bri to a close a work deserving of much com- mendation. Despite the gcope of his tesk, Dr. Brittain has written a history which is, above all else, clear and suc- cinct—that is high praise for any his- tory. “The Indians in Histori Times,"” as the title of this voiume suggests, begins with the story of the red men at the time of the aniard's fi coming to the West dies. In geo- graphical scope it treats of the tribes occupying North and Central America and the Antilles. It is a sufficient guarantee of the unquestionable au- thoritatiy > to Yind value—among othe of the account of Central American Indi the Indians of Canada 1y the Indians with reference to their past, their systems of governm their tribal characteristics and t until wi arts apd industries, has n in & recent time eived the attention which the importance of the t demands. Tke presence of the has been regarded rather in f a very irksome incumbrance than as 2 motive { general historical in- terest. Yet, altogether apart from the sclentific side, the story of the Ameri- can aborigines has an important bear- ing on almost every phase of American history. 1f one would rightly appre- ciate and understand the course of American history, one must know something more than the mere rela- tions of the red men and the whites when in actual contact, either peaceful or hostiles; their influence on the his- tory of North America is by no means confined to such immediate relations. The author in the present volume has had this in view in dealing with the subject. With the coming of the white man began the struggle for mastery, hence the narrative is necessarily a relation of this struggle; but it is much more than this—it is a history of the Indians, their tribal organiza- tions, their habits and customs, their intertribal policies and enmities, their relative stages of culture and their mi- gration, the effects of all which are found in the America of to-day, and all which have been considered in the present volume in such proportions as to afford a general exposition of critical and precise value, An ample narrative is given of the conflicts of the pioneer Spaniards who invaded the domain of the Indians in Mexico, Florida and the South; of the French and English in their respect- ive spheres of Influence; of the end- less Intrigues between the Eurdpeans and the Indians in the course of the long and bitter struggles for political and commercial advantage on the part of the rival European colonists and settlers and of the red men's long protracted contest with the settlers and colonists. Indian diplomacy and savagery in all their degrees of bar- barity are told in this volume, and the various agreements and concessions that have gradually shorn the Indian of his empire and placed him in a po- sition of guardianship. A valuable fea- ture is that which treats of the Indian ethnologically, and of his mfluence on civilization, as well as that which sets forth the policy of the United States Government toward the indigenous population. The author has furnished tables of linguistic familles, which, with the maps prepared to be used with them, will prove of great service to the read- er. In addition are a list of Indlan reservationg and a chronological table, both of which will be valuable to stu- dents and general readers alike. (George Barrie & Sons, Philadelphia; {llustrated; price, $6 per volume; price to be advanced to §7 50 after first edi- tion.) MISS SMITH of Singular Habits VERY bright little story and A one made to amuse strictly is Mrs. Florence Morse Kingsley's “The Singular Miss Smith.” Singular indeed is Miss Anne Smith, the heiress with the sociological bee in her turban, and as long as she confines herself to & close investigation of the relation of women toAhe evolution of the Cosmos her singularity is altogether charming by its odd contrariness; but when her creator’ makes the philanthropic Anne fall desperately in love with a Harvard professor, disguised for the nonce as an iron molder and possessed of red hair and weak eyes, the reader suffers a distinct disappointment. Had Mrs. Kingsley only allowed herself the boon of disregarding, for once at least, the popular demand for a “love element” in anything between covers, she would have produced a story more satisfac- tory to most readers. Anne Smith, twenty-seven, plain of THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. ZELIZRBE ] AUTHEOR O, NORII “— mental activitles and uncomfortably wealthy, is struck with a bril- liant inspiration while listening to & learned discussion of the Otonological Club upon the utter immobility of *brute atoms” in the soclal order of things; she determines upon becoming a brute atom in the incarnate form of a servant girl, thereby learning at first kand the “why and the whichness” of all this high flown theorizing. So she arrays herself in a $9 3§ ready made suit, writes her own reecommendations and hies forth to join the great army of master mechanics of the kitchen. Annie Smith, the “$12 raw” kind of servant, furnishes to Anne Smith, the scciological observer, enough material for a year's course of lectures before the Otonological Club From infinite drudgery in the kitchen of Mrs. de Puy- ster-Jones—called Jones simply on wash days—the singular Anne drifts to a delightful little dove cote of two new- ly wed, thence to the soapy-greasy scullery of a fifth-rate boarding-house. Her adventures in all of these places are breezily refreshing in the telling. But the iron molder, Willyum Brown, spolls the latter half of the tale. Why Anne Smith, who is twenty-seven and practical to the limit of being ‘sin- gular,” should stand in the rainy wet and give over to strangely girlish shivers of puppy-dog love passes com- prehension, When she reaches the high- ly dramatic determination to part with all her wealth and follow only Willyum the reader is certain that Anne has been reading Ouida with true servant girl pertipacity. Miss Smith in love ceases to be singular and with that interesting; she is sadly commonplace. (The Macmillan Company, New York; {llustrated; price $1 25.) s sty el UNGENTLE GOSSIP Concerning the Kaiser HOW royalty looks to the gossipy and evidently unloving soul of a dy holding the position of Dame du Palais may be got at by skimming the pages of two volum very much scandal spiced, which have been done by Henry W. Fischer from the papers and diaries of Ursula Countess von Ep- pinghoven, who was the said Dame du Palals to the German Empress during the decade 1888 to 1898. To say “to skim” is better than to say “to read,” for the reason that there 1s too much of it and because there are places where, when the mind becomes by re- peated experience prognostic of what the woman is going to tell next, it is more puritanical to skip the page and try the Dame du Palais on another story which seems less condemnabie and perilous with risk. The criticisms of the Countess are, in a way, clever, and some of her sal- lies are almost made brilliant by the bitterness of that ten years' bondage in the house she hated of the *“all highest,” majestic, but, to her, im- mensely little Hohenzollerns. Some of the more innocent of her storles are laughably amusing, and while we must half suspect the scandal as being part- ly spite-inspired, yet as there may be a large measure of general truth in the revelations given and the “proper study of mankind being man,” it may add to our stock of useful knowleage to see how very human even majesty is, and its hauteur but a mask to hide the same foibles which afflict the men feature, remarkably independent as toffand women of lesser light. — ‘ol Rgn s xorr THE CRIPTC. To the spirits of radical republican- ism and democracy, who condemn all the assumptions of royalty and imperialism as absurd and rapidly sinking out of date, this placing in the pillory of Willlam II, who ie the most Imperatively dogmatic presumer of the divine right of kings, will be pleasing. To many more con- servative the show-up of his methods of molding his people into submission to militarism will make the war lord almost seem silly; and granting that ‘Willlam 1s of much more real majesty than this picture of him presents, yet to patricians, real and pretended, every- where, even to the Kaiser himself, It might be a half hour's amusing to get this glimpse of how one looks to one's lackeys. To be truly imperial one should have either very true intuitions or else a perspicacity extraordinary enough to supply all the awarenesses which the silence of intuition leaves lacking. Thus orly can they know thoroughly the hu- man tools which they must use in mak- ing the mighty moves on the chess board of history such as are by destiny given unto the initlation of imperial hands. What shall we think of an Em- peror or an Empress who for ten years barbored as close courtier in theif household one who was not much more than a spy—critically, coldly, contemp- tuous of their every word and act. If it tailed so far here, we might almost fear that perchance some day perspi- cacity would err irretrievably in the gelection of a chancellor, or intuition deceive disastrously in the sending out, or the welcome In, of some Embassador bearing responsibilities of exquisite del- fcacy or import beyond a century's remedy if they went awr It is to be noted that with all the scandals and imsinuations of scandals there is no breath against the m- press, but neverthel her unlo 4 courtier shows her dislike and gives us mainly a picture of jealousy and haut- eur; and the laugh provoking account of the Empress’ mother’s mental errations is a cruel kind or cleve 8. The whole two volumes of matter is mainly gossip of the feminine kind —about baby births, boudoir in moth- princes pinched to pun by er’s tight lacing and such; toilét sets, sheets flirtation ebullition of ‘petty temper, jealousies, photog consequent wom Lady, little insolencés and r spyings, ‘and, mixed with much cent mirth, an 1 too pervad of spit-spat, back-up un Some cullings from th sip show the possibilit power to Influence gr instance, the fall of the the White renges, inno- f patticoat ) For t Bismarck from favor at the German court and per consequence from the dominant position In European and world's af- fairs, according to the Countess’ ob- servations frcm inside, may have been due to the Emperor's mother. True, the Iron Chancellor was tottering to his fall for other reasons, but when he reached out his aging hand for a final brace and expected to find it in the English born Empress Frederick, she, from a Victorian love of virtue, re- fused to be the imperial prop. Among her motives was that Bismarck's son was the intimate friend of her son, the young Emperor, and the ladies of the court congidered as licentious in a way they disliked this scion of the great diplomat, and so fearing the evil in- fluence of the association she was glad to see father and son driven from court. ‘“Down goes the mantle and the prince he follows.” One of the amusing stories in the voluminous collection comes in when telling of those strict enforcements against lese majeste, which strike Americans as so tryannically absurd. ‘We are told 'that there is a region within the empire where with impun- ity the Emperor may be lampooned despite of lese majeste. The why of ZLIE INE sonzzrs SOpY A2 A it is.thus: During the reign of the old Emperor Willlam the petty poten- tate of this immune region, one Hein- rich XXII, married left-handedly a queen of the circus saw dust. A story anent thelr nuptial joys got away throughout the German empire. It was somewhat lese majeste to Heinrich. William let it go—perhaps because he thought it was too good to suppress. It was just one of those litttle things too bad to tell and too good to let get lost. So it happens that the descend- ants of Heinrich stand on the dignity of their revenge, and lese majeste against the Hohenzollerns is let go un- punished if published in their demesne. Another d story is something of a study in eriminology. It's anent the anonym tters which pester the court with efforts to spoil, domestic happiness. One is evidently from a very bad, a very mad and a very jeal- ous jad Writing nccessively peror- ating letters, she ‘finally reaches this superlative pitch of and vitu- peration and accu the Empress of this old, ¢!d eri u are conspir- e ycur husband.” It ing to monopol is probably true that to “the other woman” nothin n earth can seem more m v d than for a wife to consp to mongpo! ner husband. (Fischer Foreign Letters, Inc., Pub- lishe: York.) —o- LORD BYRON Lives Again in Novel P on can ap- fuil-armed HEN a writer of fi a hero with romance, a from the brain of Ze there ains lit- tle for invention to ccomplish in the matter of g added glitter to the ¢ “The Castawa has sousht to In her t weave a roman IE CRIARAT” George Gordon, Lord Byron, as a cen- tral figure. Truly she could desire for a novel no more full-blown embodiment of all that is romantic and bizarre in the humdrum annals of life than this enigmatic and erratic poet and poseur of a past century. To add anything of fantasy to the accepted biographies of Lord Byron, even under the license of fiction, would be but to paint the lily. Byron, the wailing Childe Harold of the Alps, the impetuous Don Juan of Albania, is a figure startling enough for any story teller’s fancy. The first impression one gains from “The Castaway” Is that its author has pictured Lord Byron as he thought himself to be—for Byron's conception of himself was ever a ready mirror be- fore his eyes. Throughout the story the young poet with the alabaster brow and the flaring shirt collar is quite the child of divine inspiration and tragic sorrows that mourns his fate from Alpine crag ip “Childe Har- 0ld” or flaunts his fine, devii-may-care wickedness from the stanzas of “Don Juan.” The creator, or better, the re- flector of this George Gordon into fle- tion takes her subject on faith, enters fully into his exalted frenzies of diablerie and his abysmal depths of woe with true self centered indulgence that was the Byron’s of real life. Some- times she is wcent to become a trifle hysterical in fhe more climacteric pas- sages of the hero's progress through this valg of tears, but then, we must reflect that that .oo is only keeping close to the subject of this fictional portrait_sketch. Miss Rives has’‘adhered very closely to the bicgraphers in her story, depart- ing only when an incident in the life of her hero presents dramatic possi- bilities or when. the unity of her plot demands_a foreshortening of the real record. With young Gordon in Greece, still smarting from the attacks of the “Scotch Reviewers” and writing the winged lines of “The Isles of Greece,” Miss Rives opens her story. Then London and the triumph that came with the publication of the first part of “Childe Harold. dan, tottering to his dc Brummel, John Hobhouse, Lady Caro Lamb and Jane the idol of Drury Lane, the narrative of of social triumph, h riage and final Then the story the poet's companior his laison with Jane Clairmont and his final great love for Teresa, Countess Guiccioli, in Venice: finally his heroi sacrifices behalf of revolting Greeks and his death ¢ those very bloodied A imagination ar for the essential dramatic Lord Byrcn's strange life, by the author, have made * a 1 very goad story. interest gains added attraeti from the subject about whom tk is written, (Bobb: apolis 1 figure sordon’s brief period st ne Indian- derrill price $1.) Company, MARGINAL NOTES Upon Light Reading the a pretty feeble e Of course the au their books to b provoking, but then t men both and thor he rococo € stor eed the several individuals who turn relate their tale nbers of of ex insane, for their ; take a more serious turn of merely cozening the puk printing their vaporous into ings. (The Macmillan Company York; price $1 §0.) “The Woman Wins,” a collection of the short storles of Robert Barr that ared In the magasines from ; time during the past six years. gs together the author's scattered t efulness and Lhe for in each rporated here- ins conclusively, without r. Barr's short stories e v r being medels if it can be said that in this difficult and little s has been made suf- ficient advance by any one to set a standard for judgment. Above all else his stortes are notable for their remarkable invention; in none of them is there a hackneyed theme or a shop- worn situation made over intoc new dress. Invention of the high order that can unfold a unique situation and utilize its every suggested feature within the restricted compass of the short story is Indicative of an ad- vanced art and is the sure prerequisite of success in this difficult work. Of the stories collected into the present volume “On the Housetop,” a singular- ly engaging tale of love in the face of danger, serves best af any to lllustrate the distinctive merits of Barr’s style. (Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York; price $1 50.) Miss Elizabeth Robbins, whose por- trait is presented on this page and whosé mnew novel, “The Magnetic North,” will be reviewed in these col- umns next Sunday, is an actress of note as well as a successful author. For twenty years she has been on the stage. She was the first to produce Ibsen's “A Doll's House” In London and since that time she has gained a distinctive triumph in Ibsen roles. e et SCHOOL TEXTS For Use in All Grades. HE American Book Company has Trecenlly put upon the market some valuable texts for the use of grammar and high school grades in the study of literature, history and mathematics. Old standard books, revised and edited for present day use, and newly written works by acknowl- edged authorities comprise this latest addition to the educational literature of the day. Teachers of English who prepare stu- Jdents for the university have found Henry Van Dyke’s Gateway Series of English texts material aids in the work of first criticism of English style. The last of this series to be published, Car- lyle’s “Essay on Burns,” George Eliot's “Silas Marner” and Burke's “Concilia- tion With the Colonies,” follow the standard set by the others. The editing of these volumes is carefully and judi- ciously done, the books being treated as pieces of literature rather than as tramewouks for erudite theories of erit- jcism. The acttial needs and capsvities of the young people who are to read and study them have been borne in mind. The series should be welcomed by all teachers of English literature, for it incorporates the best that ac- knowledged experts can do to make the texts easler to understand, more at- tractive and more profitable to the young reader. The classic “Self-Help” by the late Dr. Samuel Smiles has been edited by Ralph Lytton Bower in a form adapted especially to American read- ers and brought out as part of the eclectic series. In the present edition several passages of a distinctly local and British interest have been omit- ted. Many helpful explanatory notes make the text intelligible to even very young students. An appendix contains brief biographies of most of the im- portant persons mentioned. This Is a book which should be used for sup- plementary reading in every school. Dickens’ “Christmas Stories” are treated similarly by Jane Gordon. “Stories From Life,” by Orison Swett Marden, editor of Success, and “Lives and Stories Worth Remembering.” by Grace Kuffer, are original additions to the eclectic series, designed for pupils of lower grades. New Books Received MY LI'L' ANGELO—Anna Yeaman Condict; D. Appleton & Co., New York; price $1 25. BEING DONE GOOD—Edward B. Lent; Brooklyn Eagle Press, Broeklyn, N. Y. TATTLINGS OF A RETIRED POLI- TICIAN—Forest Crissey: Thompson & Thomas, Chicago; illustrated by Mec- Cutcheon. THE ALTERNATE SEX—Charles Godfrey Leland Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York; price i ELECTRO-DIAGNOSIS AND ELEC- TRO-THERAPEUTICS — Dr. Toby Cohn: Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York: orice $2. THE UPPER WAY—William C. Stiles; Eaton & Mains, New York; price $1. OLD SINS IN NEW CLOTHES- George Clarke Peck; Eaton & Malns, New York; price $l. SIMON PETER, FISHERMAN-By “Thomas”; Eaton & Mains, New York; price 75 cents.