The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 13, 1904, Page 15

HEARN'S BooK About Japan pt at ‘Inter- osthumous 66 . late Lafcadio rves to be ranked most noteworthy ; tons of the year. Here- r has devoted twe eristics e or f the same and a nifestation fh the art, elig social phenomena of the had established n matters Japa- rks on the land um, in the writing » strip aside all nd idyllic and of the Japanes tly upon scien- He has produced as a le what is probably c appreciation of f the Mikado's attempted by an yet ach to the very and character ed for eighteen ath was calcu- give his estimate of easure of authority. ject of the Mikado ment of Eng- erial ver- a Japanese es- s previou Hearn mate of of Japan's pirits, he t an active part v and artistic activities of < rly as it was pos- » West to do he be- spir thought Japanese. eve, then, that re have a his opportu- ittle the veil of custom mystery nstrate how diffi- an birth to ting Japa- r Hearn sets forth at the the total he psychological the Occidental and the Ori- r The whole of the Japa- says the forms having ith Western psy g elopment; the expression of t ght becomes regulated and the £ emotion inhibited in ways astound.” f the Japanese mind in n is, thinks Hearn, the impulses of religion. of India with their natives of China, pos- € dous conservatism philosophy, the whole psy- of Japanese character is deter- of the two great s creeds that have been oper- and kingdom since the Despite the suddenly lization hin the of the and accord- wor these influences are old expression of he hor believes stery of Japanese trace the spiritual In Shintoism and f his k the force great religious e thought of th to a right in- racter of the dead yields to it inished. From \cestors sprung ¢ s the strongest gious philosophies recognized,” writes eligion is more sin- r uching than this regards the v a part of i needing still ‘ respect of their K Originating in when fear was s »ve—when the wish to ols ats he departed must } spired by dread € the cult at "last de- 1 affection; s the writer's ading influence f 8 y u and thought. The early feudal division into family groups sprang directly from the hierarch classification of divinities; wh conception of family rela- an outcome of the recogni- of the seniority of ancestors; the cipline of the race was self-imposed der the dictates of Shinto beliefs; the social laws and amenities of polite intercourse were developed from severe religious mandates. To the ethical and sociological influences of Shinto was added the esthétic leaven of Buddhism. When this philosophy found its way from C a to Japan in its very early histo: it lightened the stern austerity of the primintive belief with gentler precepts leading to a worship of the beautiful in life. Architecture, painting, sculpture, en- graving, landscape gardening, even, all followed in the train of the new teaching. With careful modifications the Chinese religious polity was graft- ed v the older social structure un- til, as Hearn avers, “‘the marks of the welding, the lines of the juncture, al- me totally disappeared.” In t ing the effect had upon the Japanese people by the sudden of a Western civilization up- firmly rooted base of tradition, Hearn has fears for Japan's future. A break with ancient ethical.custom will be fraught with disaster, for upon that is the nationality of modern Japan established. Because from her accepted traditions Japan cannot as- the great welght of modern i dustrialism without a turning aw from old ideals, the author belleves that in making such assumption she has encountered dangers whose menace yet hangs heavy. The writer closes his book with a as- sumpti 1 th sum bitter fling at the arrogance of the Christianizing propa a as it is now being pushed in Japan. A sudden break on the part of the whole pec ple from the t ional scheme of af- cestor worship is, according to Héarp, something beyond possibility. Here is the writer's opinion baldly put: “Perhaps this book, in spite of many shortcomings, will not fail to convince some thoughtful persons that the constitution of Far Eastern so- clety presents insuperable obstacles to the propaganda of Western religion, ag hitherto conducted; that these ob- les now demand, more than at any previous epoch, the most careful and humane consideration, and that the further needless maintenance. of an uncompromising attitude toward them can result in nothing but evil.” (The Macmillan Company, New York; price $2.) STRENG' ENGTH In Herrick’s Novel INCE the late Frank Norris in- 8 troduced the vogue of the novel of business with his posthumous story, “The Pit,” there have been many writers who have essayed this type of fiction with more or less suc- cess. Stories of the street, the ‘ex- change, railroad peols and cotton cor- ners have caught a ready hold on the interest of readers. Among those who have been most successful in this endeavor at an in- terpretation of the soclological and moral effects of the present day trade strife is Robert Herrick, whose books, The Web of Life,” “The Real World” and “The Gospel of Freedom,” notably, have all been aimed at a study of modern life under the industrial condi- tions obtaining. His last story, “The Common Lot,” is distinctly his best. It is among the best of this kind writ- ten The Common Lot” narrates the story of a young Chicago architect’s obsession to the power of greed and the lures 8f social ostentation. It is a en, culd study of the blighting in- ences of the insane struggle after the world’s goods in which the half of :n of business are absorbed. The > plot is done with nothing forced or te hurry on a on a denoue- o natural ms the succession ps by which the man in the story siip his hold upon integrity and ®0 sequentiai the incident his down- ward ar r that one reading must paugse to reflect that here is life photo- graphed in high light—a literary nega- tive untened and untouched. Jackson Hart is a vig us and am- bitious young man, who has returned from a course in the Beaux Arts to begin the exercise of his profession in Chicago, confident that the wealthy uncle ubon whose bounty he had been educated would leave him an inheri- tance sufficient to insure speedy pros- perity. The will of the dead uncie awards the young architect only a nominal sum and, disgruntied, he im- mediately determines to win to opu- lence by the lines of least resistance. The favor of a wealthy woman here and the exertion of influence there serve to set Hart's feet upon the rvad to success and quickly he marries. But his pleu'ures are the pleasures of the rich, his aspirations are those of the gilded few. Finding his income in- sufficient for his growing needs, the architect enters upon a shady contract - with @ builder and makes a ‘“deal” which will net him thousands. Still soclal needs press and again a “deal.” Blinded by the glitter of success, Hart becomes oblivious to the love of home and of honor. Piling dollar upon dol- lar, he mounts up the dizzy ladder of aspiration until the tragic destruction THE S e V. Rtz o Rl AN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL: =3 7 o HAuthor oF b Coramzonr Joom - -~ by fire of one of his shoddy hotels He knows, he feels always the unsub- brings tc him realization of the thing that he has done. Then out of terrible remorse and dejection the broken man is led back to right living and doing by the hand of his wife, once neglected. A grim picture of Chicago manners and Chicago morals is this that Her- rick gives. The atmosphere of the whole story is that of the unscrupulous, unquestioning rich. The ‘successful and “successful women” that move through its pages are those counting results only and taking no thought of means. The character of Mrs. Phillips, a woman compounded of vulgar ostentation and transplanted French morals, is forbidding but ad- mirably well done. Her world of cyni- cal self-gratification and supreme self- ishness is not pleasant to look upon as He k depicts it Mrs. Phillips* daughter, Venetia, a young woman who would like to be a “sport” and “a good fellow,” is another strongly drawn character. In her the author has em- bodied the familiar attributes of that class of society that depends upon new and untoward amusement to sate its jaded taste A strong, unvarnished tale of city life is this; a ‘tale which catches the epic significance of the din of dollars which sounds to the exclusion of every softer strain in our present day ex- istence. (The Macmillan Company, New York; price $150.) A WORLD Of Gray Shadows BOOK of remarkable and daring imagination is Evelyn Underhill's “The Gray World.” Aside from the recently published cryptic story “They” by Rudyard Kipling I can recall no work of fiction that is such a tangible picture of matters beyond our sensing, so vivid and so real an impression of the unreal. In undertaking the task of turning meta- physics into the channels of story telling Miss Underhill shows herself to be possessed of bold ingenuity. By her actual depiction of the misty penumbra of the spirit world, conceived to be fringed about our visible sphere of actualities, she has revealed an im- aginative quality far beyond the ordin- ary. Transcendentalism, always an element difficult of adequate handling either in exalted verse or the theses of philosophers, is herein clothed with such striking substantiality as to be of vital and moving force. The mystic flights of Carlyle’s “Teufelsdrockh” are brought down to the reader’s grasp by embodiment in fact. A little child of the London slums lies dying on a hospital cot. Gradually he feels his feet approaching the brink of the vast beyond, dimmer and more dim becomes the shining brass knob of his bedstead upon which he has concentrated his desperate attention and then—out into the Gray World slips his soul. A terrible, vasty place this, dim, cold, and boundless. Rest- less throngs of shades whirl In mourn- ful processions, searching ever for the blessed boon of reincarnation. The solitude of space terrifies beyond all measure. The ghost of the little slum child by the very strength of its willing forces itself back to earth again and finds fleshly garments. It is as' the son of a middle class merchant that this returned soul lives another existénce. The child is sickly and “queer” according to the opinion of its parents, but in reality upon the mirror of the boy's mind there is ever that misty image of the Gray World whence he has escaped and he is afraid. stantfality of the life he is living. for around him, pressing him on every side, 1is the near frontier of that shadow world which is for him a place of terrors. The ‘boy grows: to be a mygtic, a dreamer. He knows that the world about him is néthing but a cloud resting ever so lightly upon the void; he is impatient with others who can- not realize the thinness of the life shell: he is walking on the film of a bubble with a haunting terror ever at his elbow. Dogged by the shadow of his knowl- edge, the youth sets himself to solve the riddle of existence. What can he do that will best redeem him from the film of the unseen world and establish him firmly in the life of the real? A craft he tries and at first all goes well until a perfunctory love affair breaks in with sordid materialism upon the spirituality of his dreaming soul. Then art offers a fleeting solution of his problem. The sensuous estheticism of religious rituals has its brief ap- peal. But it would be unfair to the reader to tell how, all of these. props failing, the man finally does arrive at the goal of his fondest desires and dis- cevers how best he may ally himself with the life of this world. The last few chapters, narrating this event, are filled with a beautiful philosophy. Restraint tempers Miss Underhill's imaginative force throughout the whole ncvel and in that very essénce lies the secret of her artistry. A econception such as hers in its superficial agpect most naturally prompts a surrender to sensationalism, to the Marie Corelli extravagance of the “Thelma’ order. A man who has come back to life from the spirit world, who knows the stygian bleakness of outer darkmess and feels it almost within finger reach —here s something that even an Ed- gar “Allan Poe would probably have spoiled by grotesqueries. Not so with Miss Underhlll. Her book is not an exposition of the eerie and the horrible, but rather an attempt to vindicate the point of view of the idealist and the mystic. She would refute the material- istic tenets of the realists by glving realism to some of the mystical possi- bilities which form life's background. To this the author herself confesses. This ghe has done in a manner wonder- fully compeliling. (The _ Century York; price $150.) Company, New SIERR Setting for Plot RS. ALICE PRESCOTT SMITH, a well known member of local women's clubdom, is the latest San Francisco writer to be ad- mitted to the sacred fane of the pub- lishers’ approval. Over a year ago her first novel, “The Legatee,” received a notice among book readers not usually accorded to first efforts. It developed out of a new field—the pineries of Wis- consin—a forceful and dramatic story of business affairs and love, unusually well written. Now comes Mrs. Smith's second book, “Off the Highway,” a novel having a familiar California background. “ Nothing pretentious in the matter of plot is attempted In this story. The movement is one of quiet comedy rather than that of strenuous activity and somewhat blatant heroics which marks so many novels of the hour. To make a searching analysis of character under the contrasting environments of city and country and to picture some of the nobler impulses that spring from the topsy-turvydom: of our hurried modern existence. Mrs. Smith has writ- s(© 2 /A \ ( 7 ) K“H; A novel of ten manners it is, delicately done. All of the important characters in the story save two, good old Mr. Caven- “Off the Highway.” dish and his wife, are city people, more or less transplanted to the free air of the country. San Francisco manners and San Francisco spirit are made to blossom under the radiant sun of the Sierra foothills. From the balmy air of the red gulches the scenes shift to this fog-ridden city and back agaln. The tilling of a prune orchard and the filling of a pulpit in one of the city’'s largest churches share importance equally in the plot's development. And about all of these accessories there is entwined the story of two loves—loves which have the proverbial devious road to traverse before all is happy. The mistake all hangs upon Mr. Drake Wilmot's unfortunate blunder as. te the identity of the sobbing figure he finds hjding beneath the. folds of a long cloak with tartan lining upon the hillside near the Madrono Cross- ing ranch. If it was Marion Whiting, who was thus giving up to grief after meeting with a mysterious stranger, then there is no use for Mr. Wilmot's big brother to continue his persistent sult in that direction. Upon being di- rectly confronted with the question Marion Whiting does the natural fem- inine thing, she equivocates and hides, all unknowingly, the secret of pretty Agatha Cavendish. Agatha, in turn, is hiding a secret from her uncle, the reverend old patriarch of the moun- tain church. Uncle Cavendish himself has a secret. In short, everybody down to Ranger, the phlegmatic steed, seems to be ‘possessed of a secret and things work at sixes and sevens until a bound- ing water butt, plunging down a moun- tain grade'by moonlight, sets the traln for a solution of the whole crux. Ine- briety and insurance play the part of master key to the unlocking of the mystery. 1 A sketchy outline of a sketchy plot, this. The real charm of the story lies in the author’s delineation of her characters. The brothers Wilmot are not remarkable save in the stern de- termination to do or dle which seems to be inbred with equal strength in each. It is upon the two women and the old man of the story that Mrs. Smith expends her best work. Marion and Agatha are distinct types of lov- able womanhood, vigorous in their per- sonalities. They show.aptly the widely divergent attitudes often taken by men and women toward the same phase of human problems. In Stephen Caven- digh, the God-fearing old clergyman, unconscious of self and pledged al- ways to duty where duty calls, Mrs Smith has created a strong character, though one almost idyllic. The lesson this old man teaches in self-efface- ment and stern hewing to the line of righteousness would alone repay a reading of this novel even were there no other attractions. (Houghton, Miflin & Co., price $§1 60.) NOVELS As Thel_é_z_-e Writ HE lady who, under the name of Boston; George Madden Martin, made “Emmy Lou” known to every household that cherishes an abiding love for children, has de- parted somewhat from this strain in her long novel, “The House of Fulfill- ment.” No less than in the little book about a baby girl's heart has Mrs. Martin shown herself in this story to be the master of a delicately sympathetic style and a thorough workman in the field of human emo- tions. Nobody can read of the sweet life of Mary Blair and not feel better for so doing. “The House of Fulfillment” is a love story—not all the love between man and woman, but in equal part an exemplification of the faithful, patient love of a daughter for her in- competent, helpless mother. Mary Alexina, the daughter of a shrewd Vermont Blair, and a mothér who possesses only the ease-loving, spirit- less character of a pampered South- ern gentlewoman, combines .in odd mixture the characteristics of both parents and is a queer little plece at best. . The death of her father and her mother’'s marriage with a dream- ing poet throws little Mary into the household of a bachelor uncle and maiden aunt in Louisville. After vary ing experiences under the influence of these guardians the prim and some- what prudish girl is brought into the whirl of society, where the keeping of a watchful eye upon that irresponsible mother of hers divides attention with a very di- verting love affair of her own. How the girl dominates and even mothers her childlike ‘parent makes in the telling the most attractive portion of the story. So deftly does the author draw her various characters #nd with such seeming naturalness does one incident follow upon another, that the reader finds himself living in the very atmos- phere of the story from cover to cover. “The House of Fulflilment” seems not so much fiction as reality softly idealized. (McClure, Phillips & Co., New York; illustrated; price $1 350.) “Blazed Trail Stories” is the title of a book of Stewart Edward White's fugitive tales of lumber camp and Western reaches that have been col- lected from the magazines in which they first saw print. Some of them appeared as far back as 1899, when the author of “Conjuror’s House” and “The Silent Places” was yet a fledgling in the writers’ ranks; it is not a mat- ter of very great difficulty to pick out these early efforts from those of later inspiration. One of these, “The Girl in Red,” occupies the last place in the book—a sure mark of edlitorial diseretion. Had it been left out al- together neither Mr. White nor the reader would have been the loeer. In his tales of the Great West the writer has not such a sure grip upon the atmosphere of his locale as he shows in the stories of the forest lumber camps. With the noteworthy exception of “The Two Cartridges,” which detalls how one Alfred was “a Sheriff first and an Injun-fighter af- terward,” the seven stofies of the West have a more or less amateurish setting of properties. The lumber camp tales, on the other hand, are ex- cellent; they haye a dramatic in- tensity of incident and a vigorous portrayal of character, immensely fascinating both. The story, “The Scaler,” though bloodily grewsome, is powerfully bulit. (McClure, Phillips York; price $k 50.) & Co., New As are all of Max Pemberton's stories, ‘“Beatrice ' of Venice,” his latest, is chock full of color, movement and excitement. This one has to recite the adventures of a certain Comte de Joyeuse, ald de camp to Napoleon in the first Itallan campaign and like- wise successfu] squire of dames in the matter of the beautiful Beatrice. In trying to save her beloved city of the canals from the French the Lady Beatrice becomes involved in all sorts of dark plots and sees very little light breaking in until she meets with the Comte. In order to save the French- man from the wrath of her country- men Beatrice smuggles him into her own house and the plot thickens. What with a flerce duel, which the heroine witnesses in her robe de nuit, a meeting with the Little Corporal himself and a final attack upon her palace in Verona by maddened patriots this young woman has her share of ex- citement in plenty. Does it all end happily >—well really now that would be telling. (Dodd, Mead & Co. {llustrated; price $150.) New York; “The Flight of a Moth,” by Emily Post, is a lively book, full of keen wit- ticisms and not a little genuine satire. Though the author has rather unfor- tunately utilized’ the hackneyed old style of conveying her story through leng and wordy letters, it.must be ad- mitted that very few of this kind of novel surpass “The Flight of a Moth” in sprightliness of style and breezy comment. These letters relate how a certain appeared Ir lished Blossom arture frov nile fictio; intimate sket here in San Having had the mitted into the iny the better Ch there studied z joys and sorrows t the day's ro These she ! and graceful s read the book finished with i (Little, T trated; price $150.) n th savory than even Paul Elder & Co. two handy books compiled by M “101 Beverages” and Just the mere reading c t these little booklets is enough t one belleve that life between-meals or between drinks is naught but a barren desert at best. NewBooKksReceived DOUBLE HA!.\'ESS—Anth:nnyvpe; McClure, Phillips & Co., ew York; price 31 50. IN THE CLOSED ROOM—Frances Hodgson Burnett; McClure, Phillips & Co., New York: illustrated in color;y price $§1 50. CAPTAINS OF THE WORLD—Gwen- dolen Overton; the Macmillan Compaay, New York; price $1 50. ZELDA DAMERON—Meredith Nich- olson; the Bobbs-Merrill Company, In= dianapolis; illustrated; price $1 50. YOUR LOVING NELLY—Mrs. Gore; Funk & Wagnalils Company, York; price $1. MUNCHAUSEN XX—The published by the author, OFF THE HIGHWAY cott Smith; Haughton, Mifflin & Co., Boston; price $§1 50. UPLAND PASTT Knapp; Paul Elder & ( Baron; S — Adeline San Fran- cisco; limited autograph in half- leather, with frontispiece by Keith; price $3. SELECTED POEMS OF HERRICK— Introduction by Alice M I1; H. M. Caldwell Company, New York; The Red Letter Library. POEMS BY WILLIAM COWPER— Introduction by Allce Mey H. M. Caldwell Company, New ¥ Letter Ljbrar: THREE WEEKS IN E V. Higinbotham; Herber Co., Chicago; illustrated OLD LOVE STORIE Richard le Gallienne; the lor Compan New York THE APPRECIATION TURE—Russell Sturgi Taylor Company, N trated; price $1. THE ART OF CARICA] Wright: the Baker & Tayl New York; illustrated; price 31 STORY OF THE CHURCHE EPISCOPALIAN the Baker & Taylor C York: price $1. A QUINTET fle Bignell pany, New York; k WHAT PAUL el ¢ B. Barry; Dana Estes & C ston; il- lustrated; price 50 cents THE MERRYWEATI . Est REN'S ANNUAL d and W. & Co., New {EIR - NEST- 1 Walkker; the Company, New York; American Book Eclectic Series.