Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-03-30
Mr.. KEENAN'S NEW NOVEL.

TBE AlirNs--A noyG by Henry r, keenan' |
author of "1ralan," etc. ~ mo. PIP. as. ID, |
Appleton A Co: New York.
MIR. Keenan, Is the avowed author of
"Traian,n and the suspected author of "The
Monevmak akers,n both of which made some |
stir In the literary world; and belonged |
to that fortunate class Of books which
evoke praise aud censure, mild and /
furious, undeserved and iudiscriminate /
There ia little in the new book to
recall either of its forerunners nothing TO |
suggest that the author has exhausted his
powers nor put forth the best of them and
this is a good deal to say for new author;
The judcious friends Of MIR. Keenan, VIII
grieve over this, aa over all his work, that he
does not do his best 1t is plain enough that
his heart Is not In "1he Aliens" rs II was In
"Trajan," and ~ Il literary performance the
new book will not be given rank Win tne
first of his creation. lis merits are not as
conspicuous; its faults are not as glaring.
The scene Of the story is amid different as
sociations its characters are Tor the most
part different personages and from other
walks of life 1t seems to us Mr. Keenan,
has handled them quite as well.
aThe Aliens who gave title to the book,
are an Irish immigrant boy and girl, who
come over with their parents and other Kin
tifty years ago, landing at New York and con-
veyed to an inland town of that state by the
Erie canal, then the great highway OF trsiiic
and travel. The father soon succumbs to
the easy indulgence Of a weak disposition
and to the generous hospitality OF fellow
countrymen risen to position IN the new
land. The mother, with "a Madonna face
| that the reader Is not allowed to forget ana
| which early admirers recognized when they
| saw in later life her daughters features, dies
| stricken with grief and madness. The
i children, after sort of stepmother
care from a churlish brothers family, are
| widely scattered by varying fortune. 1t Is
| with two of them only, in the main, that the
book has to deal together they fall into
kindly hands at first, though they have from
| rural and village associates the vicissitudes
| and race persecution which it is the authors
purpose to represent as the the character l,raoadr
at that period. That he does this
with picturesque and graphic force can
hardly be disputed although 1t may be
questioned whether it is a faithful presenta-
ton of the spirit of the times. The authors
habit OF thinly yelling the places and some
of the persons of his story under such open
disguise as " Manchester for Rochester,
" Bucephalo" for Buffalo, Darcy for
| Marcy, gives to his work such an air of real
ism that he may expect to be held to accuracy
| of detail by those familiar with the scene OF
his story aud suspicious of the originals OF
its characters
Very early in the movement OF the tale
begin those descriptive passages which
adorn the work and especially in dealing
with rural scenes is Mr.. Keenan's style
| captivating and eloquent The days
when the advent of canal packet,
moved at a lively jog by six fleet horses, was
hailed at the wharf by a great concouise OF
spectators, with cheers and flags and much
| popular commotion, in leading city-these
days are not easily recalled by the present
! generation, and yet they are not more than
| fifty years back. In Western New York
there were, too, at that time, in social life and
politics, undoubtedly the families OF whom
the Warchesters are types; rural homes like
| that of the good DIR. Marbury and his wife
rough, impulsive, henpecked and vehement
; | ofishoots of better parentage, such as Byron
with a filnty sort OF uncongenial spouse
| Theirs was the household in which Moral
| and Denny, the orphaned Aliens grew up
9 | and there is a good deal that is natural ii
r | their development, with possibly no more o
| the romantic and melodramatic than has &C
. | tually happened to many a boy and girl Il
: the incidents of their active life were to bt
! | crowded into a few hundred pages OF written
. | narrative.
We have no purpose TO supplant the read
er's interest in the book, nor to anticipate the
Q | development of its plot-if its author lays
a claim to plot, in the story of two plain lives
with only the usual amount OF persecution
and passion, vicissitude and triumph. Their,
| are charming bits of humorous by-play
in the character of Lady Molly, and one o
| the best strokes of art Is the Introduction o
Agnes, the sister of the heroine Norah, atte
: | she had grown to womanhood among
I | stateier society than her sister knew; thu
| contrast of character and OF fate Is very vel
, | managed, and throughout the mingled weak
ness and strength of Darcy Manchester arr
admirably presented.
Q The critic intent upon finding flaws vii
4 | dwell upon the eschool-dsyepisodes of Denny
. | career, the snake pond and mill wheel anC
. | flood, and upon the last tragedy In poo
| Norah's life, as a style of writing andsof Incl
| dent that has no part in the modern move
and is relegated to the flash story papers
. that are dropped into the basement; the
| same critic will detect certain anachrOnism,
I | of customs he will discover the personages
, | in the "Aliens" striking matches on tn,
, | outer walls long before the invention o
; friction matches, and he will not fail I,
I | remind us that it was Gov. De Witt Clinton
on the Erie canal Joined in blessing for III
| projection and construction. But what tn,
| reader will have to find out for himself o
: | herself is that here is a genuine American
story, with a local, even a provincial flavor
Q through which runs the fragrance of wiiI
c flowers in a new country, and in which
q | il told the heroic struggle of trans
planted race. The contrast of the Ger
man and Irish Immigration, the strength
and weakness of each the early watering
place of interior New York the swee
i simplicity and answering fidelity of Dill,
@ Dane the struggle OF Darcy, not altogethe
n contemplate, and after all very human tn
d discourse of Denny with the field and wood
land spirits that he had brought from tn
= land of his birth; and the pitiful end o
D Norah's dream when, Ophelia.like, sh,
$ chanted the sad fancies of crazed brain 4
7. | the flowers and grasses out OF which she WOW
Il | shroud and crown-all these fancies of tn
IS author will make you read as pleasure tn
n | book that you may take up as duty. 1t
= a story of sentiment, Of pathos and OF power
. 1t needs pruning it will stand rewriting
but, as it is, it is hedgerow, wild and un
Is kempt with sweet blossoms, sharp thorns an
6. tangled twigs.
d Though vista there is glimpse of tn
Mexican war period, which Is skilliully il
troduced-if we dare speak of skill in til
II book-and a generation that has just burie
70 Mcclellan, with the grief of true affectio
h | and the tears of honest sorrow, will be CRATE
n- full to the author tor the kindly notice
ar makes of the already "great engineer"-'s
young man with sandy hair and brow
;, eyes"
as