The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 18, 1904, Page 13

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. wW. RITCHIE PARHKER Up to Standard c M. P. J » has sc gled himself from ve to the read- the Eithe; forgotten affairs of too press T calm istinctly se stirring Cana- ar reste his but it not s good, halts October there appeared life and g out the novel of in this ng & € lishment lie the A Ladder of 1y between heroine in to the story some pr ment of a prosy devoted to t ponder- fool and >where and K »adding. Angele atiful Huguenot Bar- with of events g place of nes her lover Foret, of Protes- whose arm troke from the pal argely efused. mother of this young he gallant and to the court of sue for clemency the wrath of erone and pre- goes likewise the thful though re- court of the and counter- ut the steps of the so long the ring to his fall, udden liking for 1 excuse for plot- Of course, all ester’s schemes come Angele and Michel are roy=] sanction, only to be rted by y the plague, seven story is given over to a izabeth and of her grace- er. This, though in- beside the point in of the plot. Elizabeth be more the woman than in many of the incidents the Queen grouped about her, this conception be- r unusual and not without its nt of interest. Curious is it, how- Parker should elect to fiy in tradition and speak of the w hatr.” By far the most 1§ Rozel and his faithful Buonespolr, claim that dis- tinction. the great concelt and the boundiess good fellowship of this petty seigneur of Jersey Isle, Queen’s butler by right tance and possessor of the perquage by royal patent, Sir Gil- bert hes drawn a character whim- sically of Slenkiewicz's Zagloba. Like the genial Polish blow- hard, Rozel is ever ready to charm the reader by his naive expressions of self- assurance and his fulminations against all that oppose his will. In Buonespoir the author has created a good foil to the drolleries of Rozel. Also he has made 2 figure unigue in fiction—a ggud pirate. To teke exception to a feature in the piot on the sc of taste—why need a lementary chapter tell of the sad and the grief of rs after their train of culminated in a happy title we are led to a ladder of swords leads to the final culmination of happiness. When the top perilous ascent is permit- e feet of hero and heroine, is of the story accomplished? n of a cloud of heavy gloom the plot and dulling to of satisfaction te development of the onable taste. New York; illus- price $1 50.) TRAGEDY LacKin g€ in Spirit I N his “Tr nd Isolde” Louis K. Anspacher has attempted a classic T built upon a theme alized by epic verse and e labor, a great de- gree scholarly perception and at times a t ° poetical temperament are exhibited his work, put the whole much of the lamp to war- £ to else but mediocrity. 1eity of thought and movement ough clouded by a too evi- ving to the line of dogmatic spirit and verse form. wing too rigorously the clas- ut By ROBEFRT .l§&§ - 1 », sic Greek idea of the three unities, An- spacher has produced something cu- riously perfect as to fundamentals, but lacking almost altogether in verve, in true dramatic richness of motive. The unity action he has to secure by putting all preceding events into the mouths of his characters, thus making of the third act a dreary barren of di- alogue, where the Greek chorus would d of this element as pre- he unities of time and of place he has preserved with scru- pulous fidelity. With this done, how- ever, Anspacher has marred, rather than made his tragedy. In attributing the fail of Tristan's knightly honor to a love powder rather than to the force of fierce passion it- self, the author weakens the strength of his tragic uplift by making the hu- min element subservient to the deus ex machina—and rather a lame god et that. Palliation though this may bring for the sin of the lovers, it les- sens the dramatic force o the tragedy by much. Again a weakness exhibited in the culmination of King Mark's chaln of varying sentiment in the plot. 1 loved ye both so much I could have found & joy in yielding up My queen to one to whom she had been given By higher hand than mine could oversway. This certainly goes beyond forgive- ness; it is a strong symptom of i firmity of character, at variance with the delineation Anspacner would con- vey. Despite his carefully studied—and in many places carefully imitated—verse of 3 form, Anspacher is gurity of the vio- lation of not a few canons governing metrical construction. Is it not Pope in his essay on criticism who inveighs so strongly against the dodecasyllabic line in blank verse—a thing recognized as a crudity even without his author- ity? Yet there are many such lines in . Anspacher’s poem. The following example serves to illustrate the added fault of coincidence between syllabic and metric division of words: T wished for death; Islonged and prayed for death; I was in love with death and tried to woo ber soft., Yet despite these and other faulty constructions and heaviness of verse, “Tristan and Isolde” contalns lines that ring true with poetic grace. Here are some coming very near to perfec- tion of concept: Joy is & bubble blown of vanity, That bursts when hands that clutch to reach 1t touch Its fragile shimmering. It can live Only by being high beyond our grasp; Man is the Teantalus that yearns to it. (Brentano’s, New York.) READ’S ‘Novel of Hentucky OPXE READ holds a unique place in American fiction. Though he confesses t0 no style and even writes stuff at times that is ungram- matical to a degree, he is a born story-teller, and his books are house- hold furnishings to certain classes— classes for whom Churchill, Tarking- ton and Howells, for example, have no appeal. As with Archibald Claver- ing Gunter, the tale’s the thing for Bead; style to the wind. So in “Turk,” Yhe Southern novelist's latest book, we mav look for a good story, frankly and openly unpolished in the telling. “Turk” is a good story. Here the author has drawn for us a picture of the Kentucky of antebellum days that was not 211 biue-grass lawns and horseflesh. He touches not all upon the time-honored Kentucky planter, a2 smiling, genial aristocrat, whose type has been set for us in a dozen novels of the times; but rather to the Jife of the small farmer class, the tillers of the soil, dves Read call at- tention in this book. He outlines the life of hard, rasping toil, of harsh physical and moral conditions. His hero is one who has to push himself by hard battling from the place of a bonded servant up to independent re- spectabilit; It is the sermon of work that is preached: Because he was “runtish” and gen- erously befreckled, Turkey Egg and finally Turk was the cognomen sad- dled upon the little waif, orphaned by bloody feud, whose fortunes make material for the story. Turk becomes bound out to a small farmer and by new home most of the scene of s subsequent life is compassed. The master is a strange man—half zealot and half pessimist—a one-time col- lege professor, whose knowledge has curdled within him and turned itselt to gall and bitter hatred. A hard taskmaster is this man and a stern disciplinarian, but Turk soon learns that under the outer rind of surliness lies a Mature of sterling worth. So when the young servant makes him- self valuable in his master’'s eyes there is no dearth of opportunity for ad- vancement in the varying fortunes offered by the land and the times. From setting out tobacco Turk grad- uates into a mule driver and later to a lieutenant of a herder, a mate of river boats, and, finally, a soldier in the Confederate forc The while he has been a sufferer from the winged glances of Nan, his master’s daughter, she taunting him beyond a:l endurance with her seemingly spiteful enmity. But, as the reader easily guesses, this is only girl's play and everything smiles on Turk in the end when he comes home from imprisonment in a Federal keep to find opportunity lying within reach of his hand in the new South. As a reflection of life and manners in the Kentucky of the fifties Read's book has its chiet charm. The family eir- cle of the professor is admirably drawn, sufliciently clear in outline to be taken as typical. The philosophy of Old Champ, the trapper, as well as some of the burning homilies of the abolitionist preacher, reflect in large measure Read’s own views of life as freely expressed in all of his previous novels. These preachments are solid with a homely expresion of truth and love of honest virtues. ‘Wherein Opie Read's novels fall of being standard fiction is readily de- monstrable, with a feature in “Turk” to bear on the case in point. Alon near the end of the story Read make his hero become the legatee of a miser, who confides in him the secret of his wealth. In a graveyard, buried under six feet of earth, will Turk find—not a corpse, but a box full of gold—gleam- ing, glittering gold! Let him but dig that up and he will be wealthy for life. Now this rank intrusion of the cheap- ly sensational into a story that has to deal with sectional color is indicative of Read's lack of taste, if not clear evi- dence of his pandering to the tastes of his clientele. They lke that kind or incident, and because of that, Read's books. Even had Read the polished literary grace of a Henry James the intrusion of an element of the 10-20- and-30-cent melodrama such as this negatives all claims to a place higher than that he is content to hold. (Laird & Lee, Chicago; illustrated; price, $1 25.) STILL Searching for Truth 'CORDING to his printed and copyrighted word, one George Otis Draper is “Still on the Search.” So important for the welfare of mankind does Mr. Draper deem this state of he- ing that he uses the terse announce- ment as the title for his book of travel and philosophic misceiiany just pup- lished. But the general reader shouid .not have an instant’s hesitation, according to the writer's evident belief, in plac- ing the motive and inspiration of this present volume. For did not George Otis Draper deliver himse!f not long since of the beok, ‘‘Searching for Truth”? How, then, couid there come any doubt to the casual citizen who seeg “Still on the Search” on the near- est book stall? A glimpse at the titie of this, the second literary prodigy, must instantly recall its precurser ang its well known author, George Otis Draper. That an admiring clientele may not be denied the baon of a closer acquaintance with the writer of these two dissertations upon life and things he has very genercusly supplied his portrait for the frontispiece of the lat- ter work. We. reproduce it- upon this page, for to comment upon the mater- fal without featuring the likeness of the creator would be doing an unjust- ness, not so much to Mr. Draper as to our readers. “The author,” according to a frank foreword, “is perfectly aware of the fact that the class which sympathizes with his writing is rather limited; but he would rather interest the minority than appeal to the preseut taste of the majority.” We have here, then, a book which is in a class by liiself, a sphere removed from the banalities of our de- cadent literature. The author does a service to the critic in thus defining in advance the high ground of excel- lence that ‘his book commands. No critic can dispute him. His work is far beyond the ken of the common reader. A sort of a Fra Elbertus errant, a wandering ‘Bilioustine,” is George Otis Draper. With his trenchant wit at pcise and his keen analytic mind quiv- ering in the leash of firm restraint, this gentleman satirist betakes himse'f through the purlieus of Europs with “Still on the Search” (for truth) writ large upon his banner, Others have produced books of travel which are only twice told tales. e—G. O. D. writes one in which, for a change, we look at the world as it really is. ““The manner and method (of the writing) are confessedly erratic and unconven- tional. The point of view may be in- dividual—it is surely inGependent.” At once the rollicking, Roycroftering spirit of East Aurora must out. “It is folly to assume that the world, as a whole, is honest, just, pure, courag- eous or trustworthy, when we well know that it is not. Even the mythi- cal innocence of the young person must face the truth in time.” ‘This reflection is in protest against the proprieties that prevent the full description of an Andalusian dance. Again sounds the maul of the icono- clast: “And with all the races and colors and types around the globe the children seem ever the same. Their laughter has the same note from pole to pole and follows the sun in its daily shining. What is it, then, that makes the smile turn sullen as the years pass? ‘What but the d-ubt and worry incited by false notions of duty, devotion and dread?” ““Oh, dear, don’t lét us moralize over Paris,” exclaims George Otis Draper in true broadness of moral judgment. Then he proceeds to expatiate upon the degeneracy of that portion of mankind that goes to Paris expecting to find it the wickedest city of the world. In art as in life we must approach truth unclothed frankly, naturally, else are we of the degenerate. “Because true art and degeneracy often inhabit the same localities, some amateur philoso- phers endeavor to connect the two,” he warns. Thus, did only precious space per- mit, might we continue our humble en- deavor at elucidating the thoughts of George Otis Draper—thoughts “‘confess- edly erratic and unconventional,” but “surely independent.” Some there may be who will say that if he persist in his search after truth the record of such striving had best be left in the form of a privat® memoir, locked In a bank vault, but these will be of that benighted majority to whose taste the e GrzBrzmz o R, A THOR oF s [5;&95/1’ Sworns Cz AUTHoxR OF S T TAAP LA O LITE SOFZEC.Y, writings of George Otis have, as he himself says, no appeal. (Peter Eckier, New York; illustrated by the author; price $1 50.) BOOKS Reviewed in Brief E claim of the publishers that The Historians’ History of the ‘World,” forthcoming in twenty-five volumes, 1s‘the most monumental liter- ary landmark of the generation would seem tobe well foundedafterareading of the prospectus issued. The work, which 1s brought out in this country by the Outlook Company and in England by the History Association, is indeed a re- markable affair since it incorporates in its entirety excerpts from the works of over two thousand historians of all ages and all lands, and links together into an encyclopedic whole the record of man’s activities from Genesis down lofilc nresent day. e forthcoming work is the outcome of a movement inaugurated six years ago by Henry Smith Williams, LL.D., the English authority upon the art of history writing, and a coterie of well- versed students of history of Oxford and Cambridge. Out of the History Association which was formed by them there was evolved the idea of collecting into a carefully edited work of cyclo- pedic proportions a consecutive history of the 'World, which should embody the writings of all authorities, both contemporary and modern. This idea, fully developed in the completed plan of the publication, introduces a new idea in history writing since it at- tempts nothing less than the whole story of human endeavor, viewed in its totality. To bridge over the gaps left inter- posed between the narratives of the selected historians and to round the whole into something approaching un- ity Henry Smith Willlams, the editor in chief of “The Historians’ History,” has associated with himself a staff of thirty odd European and American historlans of note, whose tadk it has been to serve as complilers, editors and, in-some cases, translators of the great mass of material gathered together for incorporation in the work. When we consider that the various tongues ren- ‘dered into the English range from the anclent Assyrian to the present-day Japanese, we may comprehend the diffi- culties attending the production of a library such as this. This cyclopedic method of attack upon stupendous subjects of history seems to be growing in popularity, Only recently we have had the oppor- tunity of reviewing the first four vol- umes of twenty on the history of North America. Readers everywhere will probably await the scheduled appear- ance of the first eighteen of this new series with no little interest. R Those who have followed with gen- uine delight “The Real Diary of a Real Boy” in recent numbers of the Saturday “Evening Post will doubtless have no fault to find with the author, Henry A. Shute, in that he has yielded to temptation and produced a “sequil” to the same. Usually successful writ- ers who follow up the popular fancy with sequels to the work that has caught the reading eye make signal failures of their attempt; in the pres- ent instance the “real boy” is no less real than he was to his many admirers of the original diary. For Plupy Shute the days continue CECE OZZS DA uniformly “brite and fair” and life runs on in the same crooked channels of boy's fun and boy's troubles. He tells us of the periodic scraps with the “stewdcats,” of the “fites” at school and the lickings at home with the same sweet candor as of yore. In the present collection of memoirs Plupy has the scarlet fever, gets vaccinated and licks Ti Crummet, all of which is highly interesting reading in the rich vernacular of the writer. Mr. Shute has made a decided hit in his chosen field. (The Everett Press, Boston.) It is distinctly amusing to read a Baedeker to America, for we are eager to see what the distinguished inter- national cicerone has selected as in- teresting about us. The third revised edition of that well informed German gentleman's handbook appears in a fat pocket volume of 650 odd pages, crammed to the covers with abbrevi- ated information. San Francisco and vicinity comes in for a good share of space, indicative through its very min- uteness of detail of the prominence our city holds in the itinerary of globe trotters. It is mystifying, however, to read that a side trip to San Bruno will be rewarded by a beautiful view. Can this be the hog ranches or the dairies? (Imported by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York; price $3 60.) Scribners also import Baedeker’'s Italy in one volume. This handbook, compiled from the three previous vol- umes on northern, central and south- ern Italy, is designed for the use of travelers who are forced to compress their tour into five or six weeks, and is therefore devoted largely to the most important points of interest. The book sells at $2 40. A. J. Bledsoe's book, “Business Law for Business Men,” has come to its third edition owing to the demand its practical quality " has created. Mr. Bledsoe’s book is designed, not to help 2 business man out of a legal compli- cation, but to prevent his getting into one. To that end the State statutes on contracts, sales, notes, mortgages, etc. —in short all of the legal phases of dally business transactions—are placed for ready reference in this handy volume. Mr. Bledsge’s book should reduce lawyers’ fees if ‘/taken in time.” (Published by the author, Ukiah; price $3 75.) NOTES on Things Literary OUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA for September is, as usual, a large and sumptuous magjzine, superbly il- lustrated throughout. Beginning with “Flowers by the Ten Thousand,” telling how they may be planted for decorative effect on your coun- try place at very little expense. and “Winning the Golf Championship,” by Walter J. Travis, the main articles deal with widely varying subjects, touching upon all sides of work and pleasure under the open sky. Among other important articles “The Russian ‘Wolfhound™” deals with the training of this aristocrat of the dog family as a hunter and a companion; “The Train- ing of a Two-Minute Trotter” discloses some reasons back of the success of the racer that has never been beaten. In Ainslee’'s magazine for Septem- ber is the first installment of a novel by Agnes and Egerton Castle, “The 13 Heart of Lady Ann novelet for the mon er's Tutor,” by Caroline Duer. Mar- garet Sutton Briscoe contributes a story entitled “Philanderings.” Humor- ous fiction is represented by stories by Joseph C. Lincoln, who contributes “The Boojoo Man,” and Holman F. Day, whose story, “For the Hand of the Widow Judson,” is a sketch of the Down East Yankee. Other stories The complete th is “Her Broth- “Letters of an Outsider,” by Felicia Goddard; “The Winged Harp,” by Kate Masterson: “The Little Blush Rose,” by Bdith McVane, a new writer of great promise: “The Duffer,” by Frank Saville; irs. Lawrence's New Maid,” by Anne O'Hagan, and “The Metamorphosis of Colin,” by Rafael Sabatini. he poetrv is contributed by Arthur Stringer, Robert Loveman. Arthur Ketchum, John Vance Cheney, Theodore Roberts and W. D. Nesbit. The fourth sketch of the series on so- cial life in American cities appears. The September Harper's contains some of the most gotable short stories of the year by writers of established reputation as well as by certain writers whose work deserves attention. There are eight short stories in the number, presenting, together with the installment of Mrs. Humphry Ward's novel, a remarkab variety. Among the contributors of fiction are Justus Miles Forman, Marie Van Vorst, J. Storer Clouston, Muriel C. Dvar, Ed- win Lefevre, Elizabeth Jordan, Alice Brown and Hilda Mabee. new Pearsons Magazine should have especial interest for every Californian this mo..th through its twenty-page il- lustrated article on ._alifornia. Con- tribated by Hamilton Wright, chief of the publication bureau of the California Promotion Committee, the story 4 California t rth has the double merit of rcadablene and authenticity. Besides giving in rapid review the ro- mantic events contributing to the total of our State's history, Mr. Wright's ar- ticle contains an array of solid fac's concerning California as the land opportunity. The work of Mr. Wright should do much for California wherever Pearson’'s Magaszine is read. of Sunset Magazine for September with 1ts warm, rich cover by Maynard Dixon is throughout happy reminiscence the vacation days that are now pass- ing. The leading article. “The Sea of Silence,” by Joaquin Miller, is a finely worded description of that little-known wonder of the West, Crater Lake. ‘““Where the Trout Leaps Quickest,” by W. B. Kollmyer, sounds the praises of the McCloud from the fisherman’s viewpoint. “Hooked Without Bait,"” from the pen of Marguerite Stabler, is a little romance of the Shasta region. Gelett Burgess contributes “Felinda Reads Tom Jones"—a sketch designed to show changing literary fashions and the varying code of conventionality. Altogether Sunset is up to its claims— a typical magazine of the West. of The romance of travel seems to be in vogue. “The Lightning Conductor” took the reader through France, Spain and Italy. In “The Pursuit of Phyl- lis,” by John Harwood Bacon, which Henry Holt & Co. will publish shortly, the many changes of scene in- clude places in England, France, China and Ceylon and there is said to be much humor. The hero, ordered abroad for his health, finds a package of let- ters from a friend af his to an un- known girl and on a whim tries to find the girl Anne Warner, the creator of the in- imitable “Miss Clegg,” is in private life Mrs. Charles Ellls French of St. Paul, Minn. “The Marrying of Susan Clegg,” which appeared in the Century Magazine last November, was her first short story to attract attention. The beok, entitled “Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop,” which will con- tain entirely new material, is an- nounced for publication early in Octo- ber by Messrs. Little, Brown & Co. “Miss Clegg is as notable a creation as Mrs. Wiggs, but as unlike the Lady Beuntiful of the Cabbage Patch as she is unlike any of Miss Wilkins’ New England types,” says Jeannette L. Gil- der in The Critic. Mark Twain has leased a house in New York for several years in one of its old historic neighborhoods. It is sit- uated on lower Fifth avenue, two blocks from Washington square, a region rich in literary and artistic assoclations. It is a tall, high-stooped dweiling, bullt in the older fashion, substantial and com- fortable. Within a few blocks of it is the town house of Richard Watson Gilder, editor of the Century, and near- er still stands Mayor McClellan’s red brick Washington square home, and not far from that the home of Ernest Peixotto, the artist. The neighborhood is quiet and picturesque. Harris Burland, one of the younger English authors, whose novels are achieving popularity, has written a ro- mance entitled “The Princess Thora" which Little, Brown & Co. will publish in this country in the fall. New Books Received A LADDER OF SWORDS—Gilbert Parker; Harper & Bros, New York; fllustrated; price $150. TITIAN—Georg Gronau; Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York; illustrated; price $2. BAEDEKER'S GUIDE TO THE UNITED STATES — Imported by Charles Seribner's Sons, New York; price $3 60. BAEDEKER'S GUIDE TO ITALY— Imported by Charles Scribner’'s Sonms, New York; price §2 40. MACBETH (first folio Shakespeare) —Edited by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke; Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., New York. SHELLEY—The Red Letter Library —H. M. Caldwell Company, Boston; price, cloth, 50 cents; leather, $1.