The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 2, 1904, Page 5

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. A Parinership and its Result Douglas MacGill, a frailty gy uctant way - to y with true with Sir trenchant of rare un- ad asked the he was blessed rge circle of relatives. Upon the contrary he naively after a pro- two or three question 1 McAulay) of the red man of ties, whose utter we see the teady and nevitable snare Not bad at terizes the American girl om his view; at the end it is the old This personage is e Stewart with a less than Mrs. Wiggins’ own. lack of exaggerat in this char- acter sketch is not s~ manifest in Mary Findlater's MacGill; caricature comes v to characterization in her work, ugh there are many deft sort” ¥ ¢ Master’s Diolin Tunes a Romance Book” sparkled with fir e creator of these book content to rema I of for A novel i a theme too poetic the musician’s heart m sorrow and bitter strife ¢ be attuned to a master of the depths of e the genius of t e theme of Allegorical al emplification of the the transcendental to it the re of fiction is the plot woven for fict thor about the strugg icians to attain the heig In each instance ow that comes to pur ssion. But in these things does the fail of being a good novel: The sh sufficient gr lure of man in the story and she exaggerat the fa the love yung the effe s of the blasted affe n and his sweeth imagine a yo ed love le is hard to wr impas: der the rose while he shows ext fference to the object of his af- ions in every-day Intercourse. Equally fanciful is it to conceive of an individual, disappointed in his youth- ful love for a fair one, carving out a stone cross in a lonely dell of the woods and visiting it regularly for twenty-five years with tears and la- mentations. Nor, incidentally, is It a usual thing for an aged gentlemanv‘of seventy-five summers to make sudden declaration of love to a faded German lady of uncertain age, merely that he may help a friend achieve his happi- ness thereby. A poor story, filled with beautiful conceits. Had the author incorporated the incident of the unique affection be- tween Aunt Peace, the sweet, arist cratic old spinster, and lovable old Dr. Br erhoff into a short sketch the sult would have been beydnd cavil. Perfectly has she given us the atmos- phere of quiet dignity and cheerful old age which envelops the silver haired mistress of the ancient Field house of East Lancaster; with the suggestive strokes of a charcoal sketch does she outline the wholesome, old-time phil- osophy of her existence. Then the Wednesday night calls of the doctor, the little comedy of the cakes and the port wine at the end of each visit and the old lady’s stout assertion that he is a good man, “though he has no so- cial position”"—these things make this sccondary plot of the story the one of the most beauty. In these words does Myrtle Reed make Aunt Peace review her life: “When a little pleasure has flashed for a moment against the dark I have ade that jewel mine. I have hun- dreds of them, from the time when my baby fingers clasped my first rose, to the night you and Lynn came to bring more sunshine into my old life. I call it my necklace of perfect joy. When the world goes wrong I have oniy to close member all the links in t with gems, some large 1 11 beautiful with ever fades. It is e when I go. My tay behind, joy will s to the end, when re unclasped.” 1 a sound- tle Reed indulges. nagery and A City’s Songs by Local Bard ywever, he ) scheme 1ings to in in “Songs rying call A delicate little conception, with the simple movement carrying the se of the words with it. Something deeper lies in two poems addressed to the poet’s personal friend and fellow singer, the late Richard Realf. In the second of these, “The Higher Praise.” Sutherland has given vaice to an old thought with impres- sive soberness. e green there lay ks the deathless bay, art was great; from o'er the sea rept gently up to me : “Unloved of all save therland has full measure of it of song as all of his versas show. With imagination * quickened into more freedom and originality of metaphor than he has possession of, the singer should not be lacking “the deat ay” of a local awarding at least. (James H. Barry, 429 Montgomery street, San Francisco; price $1.) Little Comedies HE homely things, the affairs of of Commonplaces 1 the every day—the writer who can take these from out the do- main of the obvious and give them to us fresh with a new light has achieved much. For, after all, it is one of our human contradictions that we are prone to leap from the dizzy heights of imagination, of sp<culation and glaring romance back to the good old humdrum of the daily round with an appreciation made all the fresher from our excursion. Were such not the case Lamb's gentle essay on “Blue China,” even old Cowper’'s “Ode to a Sofa,” would have gone begging and threadbare of any saving grace these this,” R R ROBERT W RrrcHIE In lighter veln is surveyed the well- known day “when everything goes wrong.” “The Spirit of Christmas” is a familiar theme, toucned with sprightly whimsicality. In “Types of Childhood” the writer heaps blessings on smeary hapnd and jam-daubed face. The cycle of childhood fs complete. Thoroughly delightful are Marion ‘Washburne's essays on little common- places. Written with sympathetic and lovingly intimate touch, her pictures of home and child life are homely little camebs of domest! Had she only QN OF THE AU TR OF" LI To a book of little essays of life, then, such W burn has r “Everyday ural anticipa- The pleas- is there for the Marion F 1ght for u 1 * we turn in sfying plea full measure :w bachelors will find anything in- g in Marion W burn's book: will the self-styled bachelor ma the ordinary stock read out of it appeal direct. For e ever y s tell of a The a nights over or “The Tran " will r's joys and reader who “Rulers of gression .of his eye ng the sew s canton- ue of*Helen »al box: but e or Helen a realm en- s” brings the eet familiarity. the comedies tragedies of ions. at of a bittc ce of close 12 author wr nursery and of the kitchen. e writes f hose who know by heart 'Gene Field’s “Pitty- Pat and Tippv-Toe.” “I wonder why children wake so early in the morning queries the author her first essay. Why is it that when elders are trying to get the last wink youngsters come clamoring and clambering into the darkened chamber at peep o’ day? Read. of the every morning’s comedy that ensues and laugh in ready recognition of its familiar features. Jamie says “mad” if you won't accord sleepy kiss; young Willle makes a tent of his bedclothes and refuses to allow the growling wild animal en- sconsed therein to be dressed. Cook stayed out all night and the kitchen stove glowers in forbidding coldness. A hasty breakfast gulped and you must write an excuse to the teacher for this one or find the jacket and hat for that—but enough; how many know the scene? But then at night, when the rebellious little souls are stilled to the approach of sleep and prayer time comes: “The children must stop their play- they must speak to God a little; ey must resign their sover- eign wills. With what jaunty irrele- vance it is done! Was there ever a more spirited surrender? They swag- ger in the very face of divinity, and speak thelr prayers with lips full of un- daunted curves. The solemn words of the set supplications are broken with irresponsible giggles. Yet there is a reverence in the very midst of this seeming irreverence. There is a touch- ing certainty that the Heavenly Father will not be offended—that he will hear and understand.” The meaning of home—a theme old but always fresh—is interpreted anew by the author. How our little efforts at adornment, how our instinct of associa- tion serve to surround our abiding places with the atmosphere distinct in its essence, compelling in its power; how the ties of the old home of child- hood pull against the new bonds of the new home; how the daily round ever has home in the prospective of en- deavors. This is ground oft plowed, but again gone over in happy review. ommitted two or three nature rhapso- dies, which sound as if they had been prepared for reading before a woman's club, her book could be. commended without reser tion. (Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago; il- lustrated.) A Precious Gem in a Wine Bottle camphor-wood . MYSTERIOUS box is received by post. In it is the followi ortment of rub- bish: A chip of marble, a bit of cork, a diminutive br. tube, a withered tu- lip flower, a splinter of green glass, ten cloves and eighteen hemp seeds. From this Harvey Crook, amateur detective and diamond hunter, deduces the fol- lowing message: ‘“Give up that won- derful diamond, the Green Eye of Goo- na, which you found in a bottle of To- kay, on the 18th of the month. 'You make the transfer at the Marble Arch station of the London under- ground railroad. Failure to follow these explicit directions will result in a gory death for you.” Now, this is only one of the incidents- in Arthur Morrison’s story of mys- tery, “The Green Diamond.” but cer- tainly the imagination that is able to conjure up such a riddle as the foregoing deserves a reading for its startling figments. It may be improbable that a young Eng- lishman could possibly solve the rebus of an Indian sign-message such as this; it may be impossible that any right-minded Indian could exvect other than a member of his race to de- cirher his blind communjcation; but the reader does not pause to consider these things as he hurries along with the author on the trail of the great green diamond, stolen from the Rajah of Goona. It is at the great Durbar at Delhi that the bold theft of this, the most wonderful of all gems, is made. To fa- cilitate its speedy removal from the tu- multuous scene of the crime one of the thieves secretes the priceless stone in one of the dozen magnums of imperial tokay and ships it thus to Enzland under the care of a friend. By a griev- ous mistake the bottles are auctioned off at Southamptom and scattered to the four parts of the British Isles. One of these precious magnums contains a king's ransom and of course the tale hangs breathlessly upon the details of the frantic search for the right one, both by the robbers and by the unsus- pecting individual who was made the innocent tool of the thieves at first, but who later awoke to a realization of the stake in the game. A double murder, sudden assassination and a suicide blot the course of the diamond's pere- grinations and after all it still remains hidden in some secret corner of Lon- don, with the lips of its latest owner sealed ih death. Mr. Morrison is a good story teller, readers of “The Red Triangle” will unanimously affirm. “The Green Dia- mond” is a good story and well told. But why does the hero assume such an attitude of strict righteousness at the end of the tale when the hunted dia- mond thief - “fers to take him in on the deal? He has known all the time who g was responsible for the disappearance from India of the diamond and he has been frantically hunting for it himself without ever giving the police a2 hint of his knowledge. But whys and where detective story. (L. C. Page Co., price $1 50.) A Book:Reader’s “Bones Warious” there—one Boston; i[&xs::‘a!el. 'MPRESSIONS Quarterly in its last Iissue is a little magazine whol good. Of impressiohs, concept and delicately deed, a satisfying ga delica’ ng. Herein Adeline Knapp continues hér vigpettes on “Upland Pastures” w test against the af ions that afflict the confessed nature student of to-d Her “Nature and the Human Spi rebukes those who go to read into the wonders of creation all of the co tions of unconsé¢ious self-importa: stujtifying the deep lessons of woodlands by their o ug concs! Charles Keeler co h a terse pro- by which set society may dwindle and bécome, as. nothi the majestic presence of solitude wood or ocean depths—truly a ¢ grace to those who chafe u pretensions of dowagers.a s In .his appreciation of. William Ke George Wharton James gives us a pe: ; of the painter through of interview, causing the subject is sketch to reveal himself out of h Two critical reviews of recent publicati verses round out the September issue of Impressions Quarterly to rich completa- ness. diu of h ‘The Hayfleld Mower and Sct Progress” ritten by one of these consummate egotists, such as Fra El- bertus Hubbard, who believes that when he opens his mouth no dog should In the present instance the cre- be bark. ator of the “Mower” cannot well displeased if the dog barks, for I not the occasional wit and flash of ept- gram that mark Hubbard's oracular utterances, and without that ' saving grace all of these iconoclastic asser- i of the ego in pamphlet form are as ‘sounding brass. “The Mower” -is printed in the shape of the bound vol- ume of a country journal, and takes for its literary form—or lack of the same— the typjcal rural journalism. Under the guise of news articles the writer takes opportunity for expressing his own views on ethics, religion, political econ- omy, society and what not, with results that are not at all amusing and scarce- 1y elevating either to the moral or the artistic sense. He deserves to beé com- mended, however, upon his frank fore- word, in which he. expresses himself as satisfied that his book was ‘worthy of publication. It good to see one cer- tain of his own abllity. (Published by the author, anonymous- postoffice box 1765, Boston.) is William C. Spragus, the editor of the “American Boy,” seems to have joined the ranks of the juvenile writ- ers with flattering success. - His lat- est book for boys, “The Boy. Courier of Napoleon,” is a rattling good .story for the youngster. -In it he'has woven his -material about the court.of' the First Consul and the incidents sur< rounding the Louisiana Purchase, gtv- ing his reader a fairly accurate con- ception of the stirring events of the early Napoleonic regime and the life of Old New Orleans of the.French occupation. Of course the. boy hero becomes the favorite attendant of Na- poleon and later figures in the up- rising of Santo Domingo and . the scenes attending ' the transfer of Louisiana to-the United States. Boys will not be disappointed . in-.Mr. Sprague’s book. (Lee & Shepard, Boston; illustrat- ed; price $1 50.) Charles G. D. Roberts; whose -ani- mal stories have become quite as much the accepted standard of .such style of fictien as those of. Thompson Seton himself, has had republished in book form two of his tales which ap- peared in Outing two years back, “The Haunter of the Pine Gloom” and “The Watchers of the Campfire.” Though these two little books have been fitted out with large print and attractive il- lustrations by Bull, evidently for boys’ reading, there is in each a man story well worth the reading. The lynx and the panther, certainly most fearsome beasts to those who have chanced to stumble on them in the forests, are made the subjects of the two sketches, each well told as only the author of “Watchers of the Trail” can téll an animal story. (L. C. Page each 50 cents.) & Co., Boston; price, Read was the author of “Confessions of Marguerite,” which appeared anonymously some eight months ago. The riddle is solved by the appeasrance of a second edition, bearing the author’s name, after these many months have witnessed the usual amount of speculation and vague hints about the conventional literary “lady in black™—hints given out gratuitously by entérprising pub- lishers who scent the value of a liter- ary mystery. Welil, Opie Read's name does not make “Confessions of Mar- guerite” any the better book. As we had occasion to say at the time of the novel's first appearance, this autobio- graphical plaint about the wickedness of Chicago, especially as manifested toward young and defenseless fe- males from Wisconsin, is not a book to set the literary world ablaze. (Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago.) So Opie The American Book Company has brought out in its latest publication of school texts “College Entrance Require- ments in English—1906-1308.” In this volume are gathered five literary works ons and a brace of e examinations in eading un & These. are Burke's h. the - Co - nvenience rents for: o and a lady well hall has mads He lives in with his for lam- om- sted terature and has a remark- of fine -Arablc manu- which makes his little country Mecca of all students of Ori- tion erital literature. Booth Tarkington, the author of “The Two -Vanrevels” and “The Gentleman From Indiana,” has returned to Amer- ica after nearly a year's stay In Bu- rope. He lived in Rome last winter and has been spending most of the spring and summer in Paris. He will live next winter in New York, and expects to spend his time studying phases of po- litical life and continuing the political stories which hs has been writing for McClure's Magazine. The stories will be brought out in book form by Me- Clure-Phillips in the spring of 1904 il Books ggcelved. AT HOME WITH THE JARDINES —Lillian Bell; L. C. Page & Co, Bos- : strated; price $1 50. THE GREEN DIAMOND-—Arthus Morrison; L. C. Page & Co., Boston; il- Iustrated; price $1 50. CATHEDRALS OF SOUTHERN FRANCE—Francis Miltoun; L. C. Page & Co., Boston; illustrated; price §1 60, CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND— Mary J. Tabeér; L. C. Pags & Ca., Bos- ton; {llustrated; price $1 60. AMONG ENGLISH INNS—Josephine Tozier; L. C. Page & Co., Boston; illus trated; price $1 60. THE WATCHERS OF THE CAMP- FIRE—Charles G. D. Roberts; L. C Page & C Boston; illustrated by Bull; price 50c. THE. HAUNTER OF THE PIND GLOOM—Charles G. D. Roberts; L. C. Page & Co., Boston; fllustrated by Bull; price Sie. NITA: THE STORY OF AN IRISH SETTER—Marshall Saunders; - L. -C. Page & Co., Boston; illustrated; price S0e. OUR. LITTLE IRISH COUSIN— Mary Hazelton Wade: L. C. Pige & Co., Boston: illustrated: price Soc. THE AFFAIR AT THE INN—Kate to * Douglas Wiggin and others; Houghton, Mifflin & Co:, Boston; {llustrated; price CONFESSIONS OF -MARGUERITE —First published . anonymousiy—Opie Read; Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago. SONGS OF A CITY—Howard: V: Sutherland; - James -H. Bary, . San Francisco; ‘price $1. JAPAN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY—Com- piled by Haruki Yamawaki; published by the Imperial Japaness Commission’ to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Japanese Pavilion, St Louis. THE MYSTIC SPRING—D. W. Hig- gins; Willlam Briggs, Toronto, Can- ada; {llustrated. AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK Edited by Cyrus “Adler and Henrietta Szold: the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia; illustrated. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRUSTS (popular edition) — John Moody; the Moody Publishing Com- pany, New York: {llustrated by charts, A TRIP WITH MOTHER GOOSE— Avis Prink-Crosby; W. B. Conkey Company, Chicago; illustrated. THE IRISH IN THE RE LUTION AND CIVIL WAR—Dr. J. C. O'Con- neil, privately printed 145 East Coulter street, Germantown, Pa., price, paper, $L. FREE AMERICA—Bolton Hall; L. S. Dickey & Co., Chicago; price, paper, 25 cents. WOMAN'S CLUB DIRECTORY— Mrs. E. J. Foster: privately printed, San Francisco. THE UNIT BOOKS—"Domestic Manners of the American,” Frances M. Trollope; “National Documents,™ “The Study of Words,” Richard French: “Life of Jesus,” Ernmest Renan: pub- lished on the unit system by Howard Wilford Beil, New York. CHILDREN'S GARDENS — Louise Klein Miller: D. Appleton & Co., New York; illustrated. POMES OV THE PEEPUL—An- onymous; T. S. Dennison, Chicage; il- lustrated.