New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-28
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
,o,,r prrpNT NOVELS.


-,,r ,rrprs nv Mrs ALEXANDER, author CO.. OF i nn
'hy wna,ns OF, etc Leisure Hour series ion'' Pr
sas' Henry Holt Co. 400
HER PICTURE. No Name Series lom0' pp N-''
r.|I.uAssEE GIRL. Round Robin Series. lemo'
m SIS. J. II. 0sgood 4 Co. ,r,,,o,,,
John FAX AND MAMELoN; or The s1u'1 ismo pp
The shadow. BY ALBION W: IoOh"hh' ~ ~
900 Fords, Howard Hubert $40
Tn snite of a prosaic style and serene inoino'-
10 ~ 40, Ms Alexander. moro than any other
.,oaorr novelist. manages to sufiuse the Or
binary life of the drawing-room WIN 'no
cantivating glamour of romance. Her cn'i-
oeters arc not unusual, her lncideh'S "o
COMMONPLACE, hut she brings TO her WIN
n freshness of sentiment and sympatheuc 'ou0
that warm and brighten into poetry even 'hc oio''
moss If a Iodginr-housc dinner. She knows how 10
paint the ideality of young affection az sue w.
nos.,on Of n clean manhood and that mixture VI
ZIG hnos. and vanity which with the thorough
man Of the world passes for love. Her eh'lao ,
oro always snbtly defined in their own conversation
ond action. motives become apparent an"
,ho drama of love develops az III
octpal life without any long paragraphs VI
PSYCHOLOGICAL description. This quick moVe'hcn'
,ivcs to her work livelincss and vividnes' "ni'n
make il irresistiblv attractive.
Mrs. Alexander has special talent for drawing
to,L sensitive honest-heared girl, practlcal 10 al
astonishing degree and vet capable OF ideal passio
in short fascinating woman. Grace fIerc' INC
heroine of her new novel, is cn'lao"
Wholesome and pure as mountain pIee"o' n,9"'
natural and bright a rose in June. ihou9h no'
,.or forts are engaging. she is no impossible mai
dom and the course of her life is nOwise strained
Mrs Alexander essays what for less sympathetic
writer would he a dangerous experiment-she makes
Grace fall in love twice. But il must be acknowl-
edged that the experiment is successful ana
that the contrast between the imaginative
affection of the very young girl ana tne
warming. passionate love that comes 10 her
later is managed with remarkable deNteriiy'
Graces handsome, worldly cousin hrst Wills
The girls alteration and feels to the 1uli us VIII
some CHARM But she is portionless and has Dur
den Of improvident relations, and Max, whose pru-
dence equals his appreciation, withdraws mmseii'
and in time Of need shows her hardly knslnah
kindness. The wound to Grace's heart ana ner
nride is Deep but is not long III healing. her
nature is not TO grieve when IL mas Iell ooi'-
tempt. Though her young eyes are thus harShiy
opened to the ways of wOrdlness she hcrSeh Is 100
,rue to lose her faith The predestined mate pres
only appears. and time avenges Maxs desertlon by
nrovino 10 HIM that he cannot forget the bewltch-
inc Irish Girl. When at last love drives INN 10
oicr her everything he finds that her heart has gone
from him forever.
Grace's family is sketched with deft hand-her
silly loving querulous mother her spoiled infant OF
n sister her brother, idle vain and wholly without
moral and intellectual backbone-all are 1nsheu
portrats Not the least attractive part OF inc DOCK
ia that dealing with German life and character. III
recalls both in style and spirit the best Work OF ta
keen observer and clever writer, Baroness laut-
phGus.
"Her Picture" although appearing under the I'M
rrint of an American publisher concerns itSeH
wholly with foreign society and is the work OF an
nlien. woman of title. This, too is tie story OF
practical beauty who fOrgetS the falsy OF her hrSt
love in the devotion of a manler man. Everybody
i'm the book moves in the social seventh heaven and
wears dresses from Worth or coats from Poole
the talk is sprightly, the vlany polite The hero
ines first love is q curled darling of the hayward
sor her last love successful artist OF the proper
est antecedents A spiteful little English woman
who lies like AutOycus is drawn with ALVEY Skill
That her character is growing to be conventional
one with woman novelists does not make this par
ticular specimen less interesting. The book is Ike
the sparkle Of champagne-evanescent but good
while it lasts
In"A Tallahassee Cir" an anonymous American
attempts to tell love-stOry with some dlscnTslVe
notes on Southern society after the war. The cher
characters are vague, the atmosphere unreal, Tie
Mot naught, the style sometimes very pdC ; UuO
with all this there are several neat delineaons OF
Southern types and occasional bits OF description
that co far TO redeem the faults OF the
book. Tho heroine is beyond the wont
of women inconsequent and incomprehensible
Her languid fancy attracts her in the same degree
md at the same time to each of her three suitors
but she has apparently, nothing that answers to
heart and when she drifts into marriage with one
Of them it Is hard to understand why the others
should rend themselves and curse Fate. " lalla-
hassee Girl" belongs TO the sort OF book called
clever (Which oyerburdened word implies
credi.able but not memorable performance.
Judge Tourgee in the two stories included in his
new volume suggests, curiously enough the manner
of the Southern novel-wnters before the war. Or
the two John Fax" is the most careful and re-
strained in treatment. OF Mameon" it must be
said that the machinery of the story spos it ire
trievably 1t is in photographed form, and the
bad taste which makes theheroine relate to group
of watering place acquaintance the romantic Sc
orots of her courtship and marriage and the most
intimate woes of her home sets the readers teeth
on edge 1t would be impossible to excuse this IN
actual life and il is uncomfortable in story. 1t
strikes at the outset false note and nothing can
rive harmony TO those that follow.