The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 3, 1904, Page 6

. THE SAN \FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. « Alternate Sex”’ .§tudv”¢'n Natures s uttered to a pub- 1 has appreciatively lis- than a half- to the same volce are le book oddly wors for more N ernate Sex,” by Cl Leland, who, after ing bundred books and turn- g uch of o r excellent us the fin translation he language, doing much our store z to other better by mak- em of blameless ast year when he 1 s more than art, enrichir re, and, add ife a p left u: Land of life he a man, death, come to whi e and will- the rvant, ome of aful other worl of the loser, even though while divinely tr it must to earthly ear be unc i obscure— the g which stands . symbol of the surety be- ed w ¥ p. So of the thec ! this posthumous work er if it 1s ome «f h we can without express it ich never can be as alte an and An limited mes woman. mind and spirit tk inn 0SL lementing helping as a wood in the wide-awake, e working day, but comes erie, dream, vision, brown action when the wished-for des his own mental compui- then she brings {airy-like ggestions, whole books of old me es with her spirit finger pointing to very place, basketfuls of flower s out of which his organizing lordship may build bouquets, the miss ing links long sought invention and, in fact, supplies all the gold dust of thought and deed which he coins to cur 1, sh away hides 5 study, ab: thought e but the This Le- dea must be a new phase of the viebliche, and, if so, it is getting closer t8 the soul of us than as conceived of before , as for the founda of fact which be lays for his speculative su- perstructure, it synoptically some what thus: There is for every diff sical form a corresponding men- as we note the womanly form nine mental characteris- tics to match, and so of the man. the variations more or less marked from the distinct sexual types, as in the woman who approaches man in her physical eppearance—tenser muscles and rougher build and sterner face and harder volce—we find along with it more of the mind, the will, the tastes &and pursuits of @ man. So if the man is physically divergent from full manly type toward the feminine, his mind will correspond to it. But there are in all normal men and wemen certain physi- cal rudiments which belong, in their full development, exclusively to the other sex. These almost seem evidenc- ing a distant epicene ancestry. So the most manly men and the most woman- ly women have mingled in their mental make-up much of the characteristics of the opposite sex. . Next Leland makes us consider the now generally accepted working hy- pothesis that we have another self within us, sometimes called the sub- liminal, or subconscious self. In his study of this Inner Me he finds that in man it has all the peculiar charhicter- istics which prove it undoubtedly femi- nine in its nature; and from what women have endeavored to explain to him he thinks their subliminal seif is masculine. Having investigated the result of his conviction of the truth of this theory, he proceeds to point out the uses of it, and the further use of all of us knowing it s6 that we may consciously enjoy and get good working resuits from it. So there are chapters on dreams 2nd hypnotism, and imagination, and entering into harmony, and mutual in- fluence, which are fine, pot merely as poetic fancy, but as ways and means of utilizirig our alternate sex. Over it all plays the dancing light of genius’ lais- sez aller and abandon, natural to one who has studied lovingly fairy lgre arfd poetic legend, the fitful light tHat sug- on ing In ts niore truth than logic can prove. ‘He who has drunk deep of this fairy fountain can never wholly lose the in- toxication.” . Fo; e he gives us chapters on the immortality of the soul and the exist- ence of God. Each he makes doubly int i brightly elu then linking it alte last his ect he touches esting ts ipl chain of So h ting in chap- peculiar i his reasons for f: what his exnerienc truth—he hi d with profit to al, femir in God,” he tells tion to the wisdom of ecipient.” T linked with our knowledge of Lelard's life, reminds us of Lady Henry Somerset" if Ged was and thou shait is.” “The soul,” ected by its beli pointed rinks he within. *“Be- in propor- When Lela writes iration and th habit of consci nate sex, he gi s not nd i um. at as something of both, and tha might have far of both by developing the Power Within. “The end it all being she more that your Imagination will be exalted and improved, and greater union establishéa between it and your Judsment (Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York; price $1.) ——— A Crowded Novel Is “The Crossing” INSTON CHURH of historic LIJ all eise c in his wor Indeed this character- istic sets him off from the rest of his school the by of its presence. Othe write for us such tales are in main cont with letting down an historical d curtain, more or I accurately ed, behind the set scene of the there leaving it - present indics what they Bets this drop curtain of allegorical fmport and the characters who work the plot before it there is absolutely no unity of connection; the story, in so far_as it is a story alone, might be set with a brick wall for background and lose nothing. Churchill’s novels, builded on histor- ical bases, are inextricably woven with the -background of fact &0 that both move toward the denouement as one. The history is the story. In “Richard Carvel” this was evidenced; *“The Crisis” ablded by the same standard; “The Crossing,” Churchill's last ro- mance upon an epoch in American his- tory, accentuates this feature to a greater degree than did the other two. To ablde by the facts of history closely, to read Into its eignificance all that therein resides and from this to call imagination into play for the rounding and finishing of what is in itself strik- ing romance—this is to be rarely con- scientious in the production of the his- torical novel. But right here let an exception to the grand scheme of “The Crossing” be taken. There is too much of it. In seeking to turn to the uses of fiction the great elemental manifestations born of a phenomenon of history that had its action over the whole heart of a continent the author has allowed his faithfulness to history to carry him beyond the bounds $f artistic propriety. The great movement of the peoples that resulted in the upbuilding of an empire in the Mississippl Valley is a theme large enough for a trilogy of romances, but cannot be pressed into the limits of one volume, even though that volume be a large one, without a sacrifice to the standards of story writing. Had Churchill confined “The Crossing” to the heroic epic of Ken- tucky’s winning alone he would have had material enough for the novel; when he must neceds add to this the 1 i dignity as ion that theirs t—an historical novel. een Ay, Mr}ffl f N\ \/ devious record of the separatist move- ment in the £ intrigue with the § ds final Louisiana purchase he 1 just the sum of these additions unity 1d definite- irpose in his story. By far the most interesting part of tale—and it all interesting if con- d by lengths and sections—is that 11 ook I, Borderland.” He Churchill giv us the high he- reic measu primitive fight for existence avid Ritehie, a remarkably ourcef: ad and essed of more the family licum of intel left to e the world upon h of hi th and soon as- his independ by running from hi relatives in ton to join r with the noving wood rangers. With ney, a backwoodsman, and . Polly Ann, voung David 1 heips to set stakes comers in “the dark nd.” Churchill’s narra- ng with action. Georg man W won the strugsgling ng role. Under him t Kaskaskia and com nes among th th for Middl nie Davy ma est colo- Vincenne on, British < out of the Ohlo Valley and the stemming tide of Indian hordes turned bac If on the rest of the book were as full of dent and big with the e of movement winning of Ken- would be truly a mon- ent. But the subse- ent experiences of David Ritchie, the 8 Louis and New iod of the Gen- eral Wilkinson treasons are colorless in contrast. One feature of p “The Crossing’ the picture of George Rogers Clark. As there have been at- tempts, both in history and fiction, to young interest in rub the tarnish off the characters of Benedict Arnold dnd Aaron Burr, so Churchill elevates this man, whose later years were cr ed with dis- grace, ! logy vaid him in his h of Kentucky’'s in- na ‘hievements in the fancy crucial nd condoning his subsequent lap om grace on the score of a re- public’s ingratitude and the treachery of 'strong drigk, the author makes of Clark a gallant figure, though a tragic one. As a postscript we might express the wish that should Mr. Churchill contem- plate an epic of the “spread-eagle” pe- riod in our history—logically the next to be exploited—he will produce the same In a trilogy at least. It is certain that he lacks not the power to do so. It would be unfortunate were he to produce another crowded novel lke “The Crossing.” (The Macmillan Company, New York; {llustrated in color; price $1 50.) Maeterlinck Has Many Happy Moods HERE is a charm about Maeter- linck the essayist, as about Mae- terlinck the dramatist, which de- fles exact definition. It is the spirit in his writings; yes. It is also an atmosphere, a fine literary delicacy of thought and imagery which breathes from the pages of his works something felt, not seen. There are some who find in the refined essence of the Belglan's thought & trace of the “precleux,” of the finical even, in what seems to them strained affectation. Perhaps they may with some justice hang this ob- jection upon some of the intricacies of Maeterlinck’s plays, but in the sober reading of his essays no such charge can be advanced. “The Double Gar- den,” the latest collection of the writ- er’'s vagrant leaves on philosophy and the beauties of nature, must only strengthen the faith of all devoted Maeterlinckians—if that generic desig- nation may be tolerated—and surely must add many to the fold of the faith- ful who find in the Belgian an apostle of the beautiful. ‘Why this sheaf of essays, which have been brought together for republishing e from a score of magazin shouid be called “The Deuble Garden” is as dark 2 mystery as the most erudite Brown- ing interpreter could crave. Perhaps the craze that has overtaken the Eng- agazine world for naming publi- s by cabalistic signs, such as “T. P.’s,”” has moved Maeterlinck to chris- ten his last volume with a name whose significance is known only to himself. However that may be, and whether this i Jouble Garden" or a “Single Grass Plot,” the siXieen essays, ‘some speculative, some quaintly scientific, are delightful reading. The one richest in thought and filled with the highest optimism for us of the present moment is that en- titled “The Leaf of Olive.” Itis n- hing less than the spiritual welfare of the human racs which Maeterlinck under- takes to instruct in the present essay. What is the result for us of the human family that in this enlightened age we are enabled to read the werld through the eyes of science rather than through the clouded glasses of philosophic and religious speculation? If we have left behind us a cycle of intense religious enthusiasm and are advancing into an age of coldly critical, skeptically inves- tigating materialism, is there taken from us all mor: y, all spirituality? Are we beccmne soulless mites resi- dent in space incommensurable? No, says Maeterlinck. We who cling not so teraciously to ti iri 1 have, to support u now the ec tant prescnc? of the real, made manifest, made tan- gible yearly by the stri of sci The cults of philosoph of religion, forced the mind in its conception of the infinitude of time and space and the mystery of the universe to feed upon itself, to support itself entirely upon its ewn breath. “To-day the universe itself is begining to penetrate into the conception which we form of it. * * * Until now we had been prosing with the aid of our infirm logic on our idle investigation on the subject of the rid- dle; to-day issving from our toe inward abode, we are trying to enter into re- lations with the riddle itself.” From this the author makes the deduction that, living In a universe daily becoming more tangible, and con- sequently more broad, our morality must of a surety broaden with the horizon, “If our happiness,” says he, “depends upon our conception of the universe, that is, in a great measure, because our morality depends upon it. And our morality depends much less upon the nature than upon the size of the conception. We should be better, nobler, more moral in the midst of a universe proved to be without morality, but conceived on an infinite scale, than in & universe which attained the per- fection of the human ideal, but which appeared to us circumscribed and de- void of mystery.” Quite of the same spirit 9t daring op- timism {s the author's essay on"“Sin- cerity,” wherein he takes the very broad ground that are we but sincere with ourselves in recognizing in our own vices, faults and passions things that constitute our primitive vital force and are instinctive in us, we may take the high vantage ground of an interest- ed spectator of the workings of these very human failings. This faculty of observation must in itself come only after we have attained a’force of in- tellect sufficiently powerful; with the possession of that rarefled degree of in- telligence we can control these vagrant creatures of our lower nature at will, A rather fanciful conception is this of Maeterlinck’s and one not calculated to receive ready reception at the hands of our moralists. In lighter vein Maeterlinck returns to his favorite subjects—the flowers, the bees, dogs and their attributes of irtelligence and loving kindness. * Wrath of the Bee” dwells upon the seeming anomalies In the social order of the honey gathere News of Spring,” “Field Flowers,” ‘Chrysan- themum: these reflect the poetry in the soui of the e “Our Friend, the Dog,” is delightf the peculiarly de y e fts philosophy by-the auth the world through the eyes of that faithful beast—the *‘one mal alone, among all that breathes upon the earth, who has suceceeded in breaking through the prophetic circle, in escaping from If to come bounding toward us, def- initely to cross the enormous zone of arkness, ice and silence that isolates each category of existence in nature’s unintelligible nlan.” This volume must not be laid aside without a word of tribute tc M. Tei- xera de Mattos, who has served as its translator. Though one cannot but feel that, like all translati from that perfect language, the French, some of the delicate shades of meaning are lost in our heavier English words, it is to the high credit of M. de Mattos thaf the text he has given us musical, smooth flowing and bright with much of the fine distinction of phraseology that the original must possess. (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York; price $1 40.) illy, humorous in iven to s view of At SREOR Fire o/ Passion ARKABLY powerful novel and one distinctive for its bold excursion without the frontier of every-day fiction Margaret Herton Potter’s “The Flame Gatherers.” From the very fact that it delves deep- Iy into the hidden depths of Oriental uysticism and philosophic conjecture, Miss Potter’s storv clothes itself with the charm of Its strength lies in the vivid portrayal of a story, dramatic as it is unhackneyed, and in the living, glowing picture of the riot- ous magnificence of ‘he works of na- ture and of man in India. Such imag- ination as the author has called to her aid in recreating the life of the proud Hindoo peoples of centuries gone and in depicting the very essence of thelr florid religious faiths places her in the front rank of imaginative writers of the day. The underlying motif of Miss Pot- ter’'s story is the reincarnation of souls—not a new theme in fiction, to be sure, but treated in “The Flame Gatherers” in an entirely untried fash- fon. In handling this delicate prin- ciple, made all the more dangerous by the pretensions and the mummery of charlatanism in our day, the author has approached her task from the un- reserved standpoint of Hindoo faith. So well has she thrown herself into the mystic speculation of the Oriental philosophies that the development of her plot with its hinge on soul trans- ference seems to come as from an In- dian mind itself. There is nothing oc- cidental, nothing that seems to come of forced endeavor after a new thought, Reading “The Flame Gatherers” one is Jnade to feel the reality of it all; at the end of the book the question arises naturally in the reader’s mind: “Re- incarnation—well, why not?” But this underiying current of the story does not begin to pe made mani- fest until the end is nearly reached. The first half of the book is occupied by a tale, complete in itself—a tale throbbing with human passions and flaming desires. Ailowing her pen to trace the reds and golds of ancient Indian magnificence, the author Kesi- tates not to paint also the ruby glow of the love passion as it burns in the land of auick summer. “Flesh Fire” lhe‘calll the first book in her story and’ flesh fire it is throughout from the. time when the young captive Prince cf Asra is brought to the palace of the Rajah until he and the beautiful Ahalya explate their sin in the dark is novel book goes farther, including the arms of those whose ancesters came from % h criptions Continental Europe. The descr P the data, carefully of the arms and T o collated and verified, have been inser ed only when actual history has clear- Jy shown the family to be entitied to the distinction, and in no case has any compensation, direct or indirect, been accepted for their publication. ; (Fox, Duffield & C ew York; price $3.) “The Evolution of Climates,” by Marsden Manson, the local authority upon climatolegy,” is a monograph re- printed from the American Geologist and revised and amplified by the au- thor for general reading. The mono- graph has chiefly to do with the au- thor’s theory tc account for the gla- clal epochs and the change in the source of the earth’'s heat that has taken place since that geological period. His hypothesis that the zonal climates came as the result of a gradual as- sumption of the power of earth warm- ing by the sun after our planet had itself cooled to a low temperature, Is well advanced and, to the jayman, for- tifled with seemingly admissible truths. These are thimgs, though, for scientists to decide, and are away over the heads of we grubbers and earth- lings. (Marsden Manson, San Francisco.) Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett has returned to York from North Carolina. Her next story, “The Closed Room,” will be published in the August McClure's. For it Jessie Wilcox Smith has prepared the illustrations, with which Mrs. Burnett, who has just seen them, expresses herself as much pleased. In writing her approval she says: ‘“Miss Smith has conveyed ex- actly ‘the impression I sought to give: 1 love this little story, and the pictures make it all as sweetly real as I dreamed it in the writing. waters of the sacred river. Narmada. The second bouk, “‘Soul Fire,” follows— a tragic epic of the soul torture en- dured by the unfortunate whose spirit Ty > e -5 is the dual reincarnation of the two Magazme Notes--- sinful spirits liberated by Narmada e flood. All mental agony, all mortifica- July Monthlles tion of .the soul is -this second book. b - Oman, the mystic, the hermit, seeking the light from Vishnu, from Buddha, from out his own heart on the moun- HOMAS N doubtedly knows the LSON PAGE, who un- South as n tpp—the tragedy of his striving is thoroughly as any living man, a tremendous one. will write ip the July Secrib- Over al! the story hangs the cloudy per's on “The Disfranchisement of veil_of the occult, the inexplicable— the Negro,” which has been true reflection of the transcendentalism hrought about by the so-cailed of the Indian philésophy. This at- - ather clauses.” Mr Page mosp! mysterious as it 1S to us of peljeves that “this disfranchisement the West who have only stray wisps of a5 a measure of high necessity” and knowledge concerning the hidden se- that “it removes for the time being the crets of Brahma, gives to “The Flame ( hjef cause of bitterness, from which Gatherers” a potent fascination. the negro is a greater sufferer than the (The Macmillan Company, NeW ywpjte” He also advances an argu- York; price $1 50.) ment to prove that it would be a mis- 275 ] take to reduce the representation of the South in Congress by reason of Random JOttings these amendments. Another feature of on Other Books 3uy scribners, and one calculated to b e of particular interest to Californi- ans, will be an article by W. S. Har- wood uvon the marvelous achievements of “Wizard” Luther Burbank, the hor- ticulturist of Santa Rosa. John Bassett Moore contributes te the July number of Harper's Magazine a valuable article following up the sub- Jects of his papers on American di- delightfully covered by Mrs. Austin’s piomacy, entitled “Freedom of the “Land of Little Rain,” Mr. Burdick 2P- Seas.” It deals in a mest interesting proaches with an eye more scientific way with the troubles of the young and less trained to the hidden secret® republic with the piratical Barbary of the deserts, such as can come only powers—the empire of Morocco and the to one of the long acquaintanceship regencies of Tunis, Tripoli.and Algiers that is the California writer’s. Lauda- _at a time when their corsairs were ble though the attempt of Mr. Burdick roaming the high seas, taking tribute is, throughout his book it becomes from powerful nations and defying the manifest that his information must world. And this not very much over have been gathered hurriedly and in a hundred years ago! Mr. Moors re- HE MYSTIC MID-KEGION,” by Arthur J. Burdick, has to do with the exploitation of the many marvels of nature ex- isting in the great desert re- gions of Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. This field, so 66 the short space of one summer’s trip, lates, among other ~~onts, how the for upon many subjects, notably that valiant Americans, with an infant of the desert Indians, his book is no- navy, and with other International ticeably lacking. To the Moqui tribe, complications pressing them, won their notable for their snake dance, he pays struggle against the pirates. There are not the honor of a mention; the Nava- nipe capital short stories in the July joes, considered to be the most ad- Iarper's, besides Mrs. Humphry anc: £ all the Southwest native VW .ard’s serial. They were written by TAUCED SUSIY gy SN Warwick Deeping, Alice Brown, Ge tribes, are lkew{se slighted. lett Burgess, Elizabeth Jordan, Macc For his dereliction in this respect, garet Cameron, Emery Pottle, Rosina however, the author makes partial Hubley Emmet, May Harris and Se- amends by giving a vivid picture of Well Ford, and vary from the medieval Death Valley, the volcanoes and the fOmance through every degree of mod- rest of that fantastic land of horror in ernity down to the latest kind of hu- morous story. the lower corner of ou His an- In its American Artists’ Serles The ccdotes concerning this of stalk- Century announces for its July issue & ing death are grim enough. “The Mys- reproduction of Samuel Isham's “A Fairy Tale.” Mr. Isham Is a native of New York and a graduate from Yale College. He has studied widely, both in this country and abrdad, and has exhibited in both the “old” and “new” salons and fn many exhibitions In this country. He is an assoclate of the Na- Rarely is it given to/the reader of llonal Academy of Design and a mem- many books the high pfvilege of tak- D5 ® the Society of American Artists, and was, it will be remembered, a ing to his heart suclh a fweet story as member of the art jury of the Pan- “My Li'l Angelo,” by Anna Yeaman American Exposition. “The Magna Condict. This is a tale which wins by Charta of Japan,” a happily timely fts very simplicity. In recording the :’“'P""b""l'a be d‘»“K"““@d ";(!h! i“’y C‘B; y ury by aron entaro aneko, one o! manner in which _(hl sturdy little the four authors of the Japanese con- “Dago child” won his/way into the gtitution. Baron Kaneko is a Harvard heart of Mrs. Clocket! and brought A. B. and doctor of laws. He Is a sunshine to the whole /Clockett house- m?mb;r of Japan's House tor Peers and thor has mingled humor Was formerly Minister of State for :;3’ ;::h;: i just the restrained e Sl Commerce. e is fn measure that delighis without the ornc''Ga NOW as the envoy of the Jap- anes¢ Emperor. semblance of a strivink after effect. AS There are two complete fovels, and we laugh with “An-jefer” when he en- the first installment of a new serial in deavors ‘to wash the baby chick white ::E‘ Julry"l:"uplular .\h;\gazine. The au- board, " . thors o s interesting trio are Fran- on the scrubbing bo 50 with Mrs. .0 Lynde, whose book, “The Grafters,” Clockett, bending over the little white 1y gttracting so much attention in thi face of “An-jeller” near to death, we - Presidential year; Louis Joseph Van breathe the trembling prayer: *“Al- ome of the most prnm!uin: of tcheo' mighty God, spare tBis thy little Dago Younger set ¢f American authors, and tic Mid-Region” gives a cursory view of our desert region, but in nowise a complete one. (G. P. Putnam’s Son$ New York; {llustrated by photograp¥s; price $2.) ! child, and T'll try to be a better mother filch“d Marsh, an English writer of ote. , In addition there are numerous short staries. embracing a variety of subjects, and also seven little storfes of the stage by famous actors and ac- tresses. (Street & 8 York; As was declared by a recent news ar- 10 cents.) i e ticle in The Call, the publication of “William Keith” fs to be the next “rozler's General Armory,” a blue Subject in a series o€ appreciations by book of American genealogy, has %'r:‘(";i:sk“harton James appearing in caused a pretty stir among the pur- Pnsl Em’:': kQu(-_;t;rlty (S:n( Francisco, ple-blooded of the exclusive set in the —. - ollowed by I “John Muir,” that in the J East—by its omisslons. Some of those of the magazine being "Inu“{szo?:r,n:e“" whose wealth Is measured by“the mil- Miss Coolbrith was an interesting fig- lions are notable by the absence of :re in the literary affairs of the early their names in this modern record of Yirie "onoLforNia—a friend of Bret heraldry and the hive of the haut ton i s _Warren Stoddard and Joaquin Miller, and this is consequently buzzing merrily. reminiscence “uv::::erot:lt ':':,:; lar. The plan of the Work resembles in th.\nendlv BOSSID not generally kno main that of Burke’s General Armory, AAnomer serial in Impressions I‘:n.by in England, except that the latter in- "'”‘.}""'fngw. “Nature and the Hu. cludes only the arms of persons of Pirit.” of which two papers have thus fa; R British ancestry, Whereas the American ture™ .;;""’..N;‘{;:é‘!“;ncl:e::r&:?m. —to my own children. Amen.” (D. Appleton & Co,, New York; fron- tispiece; price $1