New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MRS ELEPHANTS oTHER,woRID STORIES.

STORIES OF THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN BY
MargaretO. W. Oliphant. 12mo Boston hooerSs
CHE LAND OF DARKNESS. Along with Some Further
12mO. PIP. 23S. Macmillan d Co.
In the first Of these volumes all the suporna'a,s''
stories written by Mrs Ophant have been collected by
the American publishers. The second cohmans 'no
last three Of what may called for disfnctiohs S
@The Little Pilgrim series that Is, "ihe L&lo Oh
Darkness" "The Little Pilgrim in the secn anu IND
Unseen. and "On the Dark MOUNTAINS All VI
these remarkable stories have now become known W
many readers and they are in a manner cefeorateo.
The spirit that animates them is equally tender ana de
won't The religion they illustrate cannot. indeed be
+ermcd orthodox IN any strict of the word but 1t
Is such as 10 suggest hope and consolation TO the DO
rcarod and to encourage and lit up the fa'ien.
Labelling every effort to decpher tho secrets
of the universe not emnenty calculated to induce
a mtschievous narrowness Of view. 1T might be said
that so far as any ct<ne hnted at by the author
thai called Universasm approaches most nearly to hcl
ideas of the 1na outcome Tho varied experiences OF
the Little Pilgrim In the Seen and the Unseen are
supposed To illustrate the conditions Of the afterlife
and. however wanting these descriptions may DC IN
authority. the beauty. pathos and charm which dis
tinguish them must be recognized.
1t is. indeed. the modern view which has impressed
itself upon Mrs. Onphant Death leads to e1-
fstences which arc conditioned upon conduct here TO
however a quasi material foundation unavoidable.
and so we find both the heaven and the hell OF tho
Little Pilgrims experience reflections. In one way ana
another. Of earthly phenomena Perhaps 1t Is OF ue
nature Of the theme that all attempts TO define either
place or condition Of supernal felicity should emu
In failure. more less strongly marked and II MIS-
Ohphant has succeeded better than other writers
in this difficult experiment. her success Is largely duo
to the liberties she has taken with doctrine and prob
ability II would. perhaps, be impossible 10 derive
from an dcaizaton of unallOyed happiness concrete
representation which would not. to merely mortal ap-
prehension. the suggestion OF monotonS Ihls
danger is avoided In the Lutte Pilgrim stories by I'D
Producing possibilities Of sadness. yearning and even
regret into the abode Of the departed who are not IN
dying carried by the Gravitaon OF their evil eli-
denotes 10 the Land of Darkness. No more
of this is introduced than serves TO heiehten
the nteres. by varying the motive and making op
portuniiy for play of conflicting emonohs'
Necessarily me very methods which give picturesque
ness and vivdness the stories and impat to them
come such graphic effect Dante's clearcut. strongly
imagined scenes and figures lend TO the Divine Comedy
detract from the spirituality of the presentation. The
philosopher would certainly dismiss them as anthppo-
morphc. and from philosOphic point OF view the
designation frs them exactly But tho needs OF The
human imagination tyrannical and insistent. and
the most imporunate Of them all is the need OF com
ppehorsibility.
Esoteric religion has always been for the few; the
many demand faith which relates the seen 10 the
unseen so closely that the average imagination can
bridge the passage between the two without too great
a strain or shock. Mrs ELEPHANTS Land of Dark
nesss is thus place and state OF exstenceso material
that IN some respects 1t hardly exceeds conditions
familiar on the earthly plane.
Mrs Olphant has succeeded IN being picturesque
and in avoiding all bathoS and this is much TO be
able 10 say in the circumstances. Besides the Lit
tie Pilgrim, series the Boston edition gives Old Lady
Mary The Open Door" and " The Portrait'-three
as clever and interesting stories Of the supernatural
as this modern period has produced and the popularity
of which tesiies the survival in decided vg0r, Of
feelings and belief which the Zeitgeist" is supposed
to condemn and rcpudate relics of outwon super
stition