New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-28
CURRENT FICTION.
AN INTERNATIONAL FARCE.
A QUAKER GIRL OF NANTUCKET. BY mary
Catherine Lee 1Gmo. PIP. o2o'

tOcracy.D limo. u hPpicUoh =" w.
WILD DARRIE BY Christie Murray and Henry Her
man 12mo. PIP goo. Lonemans, Green IL 20
BIRCH DENE. Novel, by William "estail'
limo, PIP. 313.
Mrs. Lee has written in I" A Quaker Girl OF Nan
tucket n poetcal little story, redolent Of the salty
frac,ance of the sea- ard OF wind-swept moors No
other writer has so successfully put on paper the
wholesome charm Of the quaint island OF SHOWN WIN
aoh delicate and truthful effect the strain of Nan
tuchet character. For many years there cHisted on
the island a community almost ideal. There was lite
Poverty: crime almost unknown ana society
,rancd, wcll.brcd and we'll read gave its keynote
.. ,ho tps,,lar life There was dignity, self
restraint and simplicity about life and manners that
werc drawn from the deepest sources
of Puritan and Quaker character. These conditions
and these traits are still to be noted In Nantucket and
arc ieaolsly cherished by the islanders: there has
been little change in the inner life OF tho community,
though the incursions Of summer visitors have some
what altered outward phases. 1t is the sweet and
sober shirt OF the old time Nantucket that breahes
through Mrs Lees story. solating It from ordinary
current felton, as the island Itself Is Isolated amid the
waves The young heroine is winsome character
and the authors fancy plays about her gracefully
and tenderly-as when 1t accompanies the child to the
ouiet bedsIdes in the old burrying- ground.
NJ little Quaker neighbour with whom
in former days she had occasionally INDUCED
in a very sober tea with clam-slIel dlshes.' There
q Miriam sometimes went and sat among the mullen
stalks and mlkweed. and contemplated with awe,
tempered to pleasing softness by the familiar sun
shine the mysterious barrier between her and her
old cheerful companion. She had feeling OF con-
tintcd companionshp in that place, and when, as
have said the days seemed long and many she had
sometimes brought clam-shells and had tea By
Rachel GarSiners qulet bedside. She had feeling
that this also conen.ed Rachel and she brought, be-
sides the innocent dreams by which she possessed
the ,nattainables One Is reminded by this Of
scene I'm The Sllivcr Romance" and there Is, In
deed throughout che story many traces OF that pc
culiar minor music which the feeling for Puritan
life and character always evolves from the poetical
temperament.
Mrs Lee IS not an accomplished writer but she
is natural one, and her style Is never other than
pleasing Her book is charming, unique and not to
be forgotten.
"By the Author Of 'Aristocracy' THAT IS recon-.
mendaton which leads tho reader to take up this new
story with feeling OF keen interest and OF anicl-
pated enjoyment. For Afisocracy" was clever
satire not fine but yet not broad enough to make one
doubt It's foundation In truth. 1t did not inspire
wish for a second reading, but It thoroughly
amusing triie Of IT'S period II dealt with the social
dlveislties of England and America. not with much
originality. It is true but with shlewd comicalliy
which at times almost became wit
1t is farce so exaggerated that It cannot be dlgnhed
by the name OF satire. 1t Is far from having any
apparent basis in observation Of American life that II
is hard 10 believe It could have been written
by an American. II tho characters had been taken
bodily from Punch" they could not have moro com
pIetey represented the conventional British idea of
the rich Western American. The two beautiful and
vulgar San Francisco heesses who in spite OF their
education In Ncw-York, talk the worst possible
ind I'm ala and co INST
the word amt have been met often in the
pages Of that dreary London weekly that they are no
longer anything but bOrcs Their male relatives arc
equally famllar-nen who after years of luxury and
contact with the world helplessly ignorant OF
social usages. who slaughter the grammar even more
ferocously than do their daughters, and who are con
stititionally incapable OF compromising even the
fantcst mixing of the proper employment Of h
foreign title. There IS a goodnatuted and even
humble minded tendency in the current American to
laugh at good satire directed against himself and
his belongings; but 1t must be satire intelligent
enough sting. In American Coin' we do not
find The piquant sauce OF unpleasant truth; the
mixture is and crude and more than little stale
The author Of Aristocracy" could do better than this
why didn't her
Here IS an example Of the least offensive matter of
this book.
"But my dear. what could on expectl' asks Lady
Chillngton with arstocratic shrug Of her artsto.
cratic shoulders aud naughty elevation Of her arched
were, and that SOONER or later you would hnd out
they were very low people. What you ever really
a common, uneducated. selimade man. whose rough
and affected straightforward manners you mlstoOh iOf
good nature Ills wife was like evcy other Amcr-
can woman / have met, vulgar, unnlanncriy,
and purse proud Why, she actually wore diamonds
In the daytime As for tho daughter, loud and
Come, my dear, she was bright CHEEKY girl
and very handsome Perhaps she may have dressed "a
much. For my own part, | thought all three were
most remarkable, considering their few advantages Of
society at home and all that
There's one Drawback to going to tho States
and getting to know lot OF Americans, unless, OF
ones 0vcfJrawn handbook" says Halcourt, :" and
that is the bother It gives one dodglng the men when
they over to England ana expect you ID enter
tain them IN return
"lts never bern any bother TO me- replied vane.
Then you don't mind having thcnl"
Don't mind should rather think / do mimi
simply don't and won't have them. II I'm so un-
llcRy as to run against one Of them, treat him
About as you'd treat your tailor or your hatter
aPrcciseiy soon let them sce that, while
suited me 10 know them intimately In America, II
doesn't suit in England. Yankees are sharp chaps
a hs RGa 'O The aS t iShs the R He' nav any
Yonr opinion differs g from Know CG harley HssOF says
Lord Oldcaste's SOM" chances Colonel Van silt
tart
aGrenadIersl p suggests Major MQnteage:
"Um That's the man Wen, when he was out IN
the States he says the people wouldn't give him any
peacc the way they ran after him, and
Il don't see In what way his experience differs from
NINE" laughs Nane. THAT'S the way they tfeated
me exactly"
Just walt. VIII youl There was one chap who
was so opprcs sve Ia his attentions that he actually
made Charley leave his hotel and and stay with him"
Precisely wha; they did 10y me. and
Hold up can't you, til you hear 1t an Last
winter Charley had a letter from this fellow Van
schcrmerhorn Van slodcnstrher or Van Sour Kront
[ forget which II was, II Van something or other"
"New-York. wasn't IT, asks IIaicOurt. " thought
So The New-Yort pe0ple Affect these old Dutch
names brcausc they think II sounds aristOcraic.
Uaba There's a Republic for yOu7
The best of the joke IS that oil those old Dutch
names were the names of lot of market gardeners
whose estates consisted OF vegetable patches the
DAYS when the place called Ncw.Amstcrdam' SAYS
Vanc AN American himself told me that, so It must
be true But
Just Let me finish what was saying" SAYS Captain
Venables This Van somebody. OF Fifth-ave wrote
ia Charley Bagot that he coming England,
and hoped 10 meet Charley. etc Gentle hint Charley,
however. took notice of the letter In couple of