The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-21
THE FIELD OF LITERATURE.


OF some very simple folks in the Maryland PEI
ninsula region, whose affairs. in business or
love, cannot in the nature of things assume the
nature of romance. Shadrach MIburn, the &C.
centric possessor of the entaied hat, is de-
scendant of Puritan stock, represented on the
peninsula by poverty stricken families, yellow
from malaria. and in chronic state of despair
Shadrach, however, is above his fellows,
and still manifests traces of the blood from
which he sprang, being scrupulously honest,
though good business and thrifty wthal.
The entailed hat is a preposterous pile
of absurd head architecture, bequeathed
to him by some even more absurd and prepos.
ferrous ancestor. Miss Vesta GUSTS daughter Of
Judge Gusts, is the heroine, in mild way. Her
father, remnant of proud family, and the
moneyed man of the region is possessed of the
spirit of enterprise but endowed with no real
business sagacity. In the course of his opera
lions In making iron from bog ore he becomes
heavily in debt to Milburn of the absurd hat
He has also hypothecated securities in dupi-
cate, which Milburn secures by purchase, the
fact of illegality being known to no one beside
these two. When Milburn reveals his knowl
edge to Gusts tho latter finally asks what Mil
burn expects to keep silence, The Puritan
usuror then blandly asks the hand
of Vesta in marriage The Judge
raves and pleads alternately, but
in vain, and finally leaves the matter in the
hands of his daughter, who, by the way, is very
much younger than Shadrach. The entailed
hat, TO the bewilderment of the town. then
makes its way to Custiss mansion, and,
for the first time, hangs peg in the hall. The
interview between the two, between the bizarre
and blase lover on the one side and the flower of
chivalry on the other, is replete with logic and
argument coolly made by each as marvellous as it
is immaterial The outcome of it is that Vesta.
to save her father from prison and the family
from endless shame, consented TO accept
Shadrach, hat and ALL as her husband 1t is
late on Saturday night, but she aston
ishes her wooer by insisting that
the ceremony shall take place at once,
and the deed is done in accordance with her ex-
pressed wish. AS might be expected, the news
produces storm of gossip and speculation, not
without many scandalous nnunendoes In this
connection the mother of Vesta and Vesta her
self are represented as blandly replying to impu-
dent criticisms, as though the matter were ofthe
most trifng Importance, and the scandal" is
though the question under discussion were the
selection of a new hat This central incident d
the story thus disposed Of there is little remain.
ing except the narration of quite ordinary events
Vesta is a model fe. neither srrong nor weak
The Judge is good natured nobody,
while Milburn, of course develops into the Santa
Claus of the region. There are no features Of
the romance from beginning to end. The incl
dents are commonplace the characters are tame,
and the plot quite simple Tho marvel is that a
man of Townsend's acknowledged ability in other
directions should write such a story; not thatit is
bad, but rather that it is not strong However
it will doubtless be read with interest by peopla
all over the country, but more on account of tia
authorship than for its inherent worth
THE WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE. Edited by
Theodore Stanton. NJ. A Introduction by Frances
Power Cobbe g. 2. Putnams Sons New York;
Bowen Stewart & Co., Indianapolis. Price, $3.50.
With the prominence that the woman question
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To meet this desire the editor of this work, three
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among them women of prominence in the vari-
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Mrs Stanton Batch, B. A, and 9TH
ers of England. From France tho
following have contributed: Nine. Jules
Favre Nine. Caroline de Barran, Mile. Vernuil,
NJ. D., Nine. Andouard Mile. Herbertine Auclert
| Az r n44o IOala.s
| Ttaly-Mrs Christine LazzaG Rossi, Mrs. Ernes.
ia NAPOLEON. Spain-Mss There's Roaldes.
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hemia-Mrs. Charlotte Garrgue Masaryk In
addition to these are quite d number of promi-
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A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER IN EGYPT. By w. W.
| I,orng; Illustrated. Dodd Mead & Co.. Now
York. Bowen Stewart & Co., Indianapolis. Price,
$3.50.
The opportunity of the author of this work
has enabled him to obtain very clear and
valuable insight to contemporaneouS Egyptian
history Formerly colonel in the United States
army, and afterwards major general in the con-
federate, he went to Egypt at the close of tho
rebellion, and entered the service of the Khedive,
! becoming Fereek Pasha and general of the
Egyptian forces, The purpose of the author is
to present Wow of the cause and origin of all
thoaa facts which have nade Epypt conspicuous
in the history of Europe during the past ten
/ years. and TO expose tho attitude of European
powers, notably England and France, toward the
people and country along the Nile. The result
| is a valuable addition to historical literature
and ono indispensable to all who would under
stand the merits of the Egyptian question.