The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-14 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Kathie Brande. A Fire-side History of a Quiet
Life. By Holm° Lee, author of " Thorney
Hall," " Gilbert Massenger," Rse. 2 vols.
Smith and Elder.
This forms an addition to those tales by the
same author which have attracted admiration,
alike from the interest that dwells in their details
as from the superior style that characterises their
pages. They turn aside from the glitter of gaiety,
and the common-place careers of the work-day
world, to the contemplation of the inner life, the
world within. Kathie Braude, in her quiet exist-
ence, possessed the germs of the great and good
in her character, which developed themselves as
circumstances of importance occurred. It is not
probable that all will coincide with the reason
which induced her to sacrifice her plans and yield
up her hopes of happiness ; bat the cause which
made her act is not so much to be considered as
the spirit that prompted the resolve, and the
courage that animated her to the completion of the
task. The motto of her life is thus described—" Say
to all manner of happiness, I can do without thee ;
with self-renunciation life begins." It was this
feeling that inspired Kathie, andshe was satisfied
in the relief her mother experienced in having her
to fall back upon in the dreary hour of trial. As
for the object attained, it is to he questioned if her
brother at all deserved such treatment ; and, in-
deed, if it was not an unwise thing to allow him to
rely on home assistance, instead of being made
to bear the consequences of his own ill-doings. Re
expressed no gratitude for the great sacrifice, and
after a time actually deserted his home. The
childhood of Kathie Brande was a gloomy
one ; she was delicate, and, being the eldest,
cares and duties naturally devolved upon
her. She lived another life in the dream-
land of her own young fancies, wherein she saw
pibtured, as many an enthusiast before, the bright
and beautiful of the ideal. These golden visions
did not, as is too often the case, unfit her for the
stern realities of later years. She carried with her
their light and lustre engraven on her mind, and,
impressed on her heart, they beautified the common
way of daily life, they brightened the dark gloom
of human suffering, with a ray of morethan earthly
glory, while faint and shadowy in the distance at
first, but growing more defined as the darkness be-
came visible, the bow of promise overspread her
path. The murmurs of the far-off years of fancy
died away, but in the stead of hope came faith,
and she cherished the thought that she laid down
the lesser for thegreater. While the young around
her revelled ii their spring of love, and shone in the
bloom of their beauty, she was pining away in soli-
tude and suffering. Yet the reaping promised to
those who sow in tears must surely be for such as
dedicate their spirits in theirfreshness to the shrine
of duty, and Kathie Braude was of these. The
fireside history of a quiet life was not sheltered
from storms ; only it was hidden from public gaze.
With her overtasked mother, who sinks early
nuder the burdens imposed, her volatile sister
Isabel who ruined her own happiness, her un-
worthy brother Stephen, the heroine had enough to
bear. She gave up her peculiar plans, but she
could not iii her own immediate domestic circle
find an equivalent in realised hopes. It required
the prospect of a brighter day than had ever
dawned even in the splendour of early imaginings
to soothe' her mind, when her dearly cherished
parent had departed, one loved sister—gone away
to trouble of the most painful kind, and the other
also far from her. Then the care she had
taken while they were with her, to shield
them from suffering was all that was left to
light the waste •aud solitude of memory. Felix
Mayne is hardly, with all his merits, suited
kir one so gentle and unselfish as Kathie.
He was too vehement and fierce, too self-reliant
and positive. He could not appreciate the depth
of her nature. If mistaken in the working-out of
some of her problems a existen e, she was always
faithful, sincere, and upright. If Felix Mayne
had been as humble-minded, there would not have
been so many trials for them to endure. It is not
easy for the reach'. to forgive his supplanting by a
stranger a being like Kathie ; and his tardy recog-
nition of her merits at last is not the devoted and
life-long attachment that she deserved. It is sad
co dwell on many of the pasiages of the lonely life
here recorded. We must die alone, is a common,
fate ; but it was the dooni of Kathie Brande to
live alone. In childhood, youth, and middle life,
it seemed the same ; none would enter into the
cares and trials, the joys and sorrows, of the me-
lancholy being. If she was not of them in the stir
of life, however, she felt herself of service ; and a
peace beyond happiness, which the smiles and
frowns of a transitory world neither bestows nor
reinoves, set its seal on the work of the mourner.
There aro varieties of character to be met with in
the course of this narrative, and for the most pert
they are well delineated. Reginald Pomp° is a
likely in Atance of what a selfish avid cruel disposi-
tion may become, when indulged to the uttermost.
Isabel affords an example of wayward and wilful
folly. The description of Felix Mayne is a truth-
ful one ; and many minor persons are life-like.
The interest does not depend on the characters or
eveats so much as on the toL• of the composition.
Without being dreary, it is re* retire ; not sombre,
it is thoughtful ; while dwelling on the refined
and elevated, it acknowledges the power of the
simple and the meek ; and even when pervaded
by the lofty spirit of heroism, it does
not treat of such as pertain only to a few,
hut brings down its blessed influence to bear on
dsily life. It is not reserved only for the far off
and unfamiliar, who shine in bright but unattain-
able splendour, to illumine history, or adorn
biography, but shown forth as less known, but
more worth knowing when it seeks the approval of
leaven through the blaze of no earthly triumph,
and counts its glory and its crown to he " Unseen
by man, but marked of God," the angel visitant at
the fireside of home. In no part of the book is
faintheartedness, repining, or despair excused, far
less encouraged or glossed over. The stern laws
of rectitude, the uncomprothising rules of justice,
are clearly defined, and carried out, in the working
of their sublime and immutable decree. In pic-
turing the mind tortured with doubts, it is thus
expressed, " Our Work is eternal, what we do,
and how we do it, we must carry whither we shall
cm, to our shame and confusion, or to our honour.
We may be impatient for results, but if we can lay
it to our conscience that we have striven our best,
there need be no harassing fear that we have sown
our e
around with salt instead of grain ; if we do
not harvest it God's angels will, and we shall find
it safely garnered up against our day of account.
Do thou thy work ; leave its results to Time."
Kathie Braude, the fireside history of a quiet life,
has a claim on the regard of all who appreciate the
excellent, and acknowledge the .superior in the
pages of fiction. The reader is presented with the
result of fins taste and extended knowledge, con-
veyed throuh the medium of records, that, though
humble, sometimes approach the sublime in the
majesty of truth, and are adorned by the beauty of
the lowly and the meek. The pure in heart, the
exalted in spirit, are chronicled in the annals be-
fore us, and a source of interest, independent of an
exciting narrative, or a wonderful hero, or heroine,
exists vital and for ever in the work impressed by
such an influence. Its merit rests on no baseless
fabric, its attraction dwells in no evanescent charm,
but the strongholds of right are its mighty secu-
rity, and the superscription of virtue its unfading
ornament.

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.—LIVERPO 0/4
Thursday.—The engineer of the Magnetic Telegraph
Company, C. T. Bright, Esq., received this afternooe
a telegraphic communication from the Secretary of the
Atlantic Telegraph Company, announcing that the Eng.
lish Government had stated their intention of guaran.
to the
teeing to the latter company an equivalent of about 4
per cent. per annum on their capital when the line is
belonging
ton,
completed.
Mr.,R. W. Crawford and Mr. Edmund Round have
made a proposal to the General Screw Company for the
formation of a European and American steam-ship com.
puny,
Generalto Screwtake the
proprietary eight
to be paid for in shares. The capital of the company is
lar
3;e5:1721301.h:01er
to be 400,0001. in 251. shares, thus leaving 26,9774, for
working expenses. The lines to be occupied are between
Bremen and New York, between Havre and New York,
and between Hamburg, Brazil, and the River plate,
with Southampton as the port of call. Messrs. Croskey
have offered to undertake the entire agency on condition
of receiving nothing for ftheir services until the share-
holders get a clear 6 per cent., after which they would
divide surplus profits. The plan is said to have met
with the complete approval of the General Sorew
di.
rectors, and the decision of the shareholders ' • individually
is now called for.

Tfis ACCIDENT AT THE BRYN MALLY MINE.—WREX-
HAM, Nov. 12.—The adjourned inquest on the bodies of
the 13 persons who lost their lives by the inundation of
this wine was resumed to day, at the Turf Tavern, before
Mr. B. Thelwail, coroner for the Wrexham division of
the county of Denbigh. Mr. Dickinson, of Manchester,
the Government inspector, and the manager of the col-
liery, were again present t 3 watch the proceedings. A
plan of the Old Ford works was first produced, and then
one ct the proprietors, Mr. T. Clayton, gave evidence,
stating that up to the time when the accident occurred.
he had never received directly or indirectly any infor-
mation which led him to think that the least danger
existed of an influx of water into the mine. Another
e
witness examined was Mr. Samuel Jones, mining
.agent
of the Brymbo Company, "who had resided
hinav
more than 50 years. He said he
hothought
the 14 yards' "fault" which existed thee d
in the win of coauitritl
Theinquiry was proceeding
coming into the working&
at post hour.
on the north side sufficient to keep back the water from