Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-23
THE CRITICS. REVIEW.

/
ME aud Other Books.
Mark TtOdfr's Connecticut Yankee in King
ArthuT's Court tCharles L Webster Coz is
| Christmas book which Is not only worth look
| ing at, but worth reading. And it iS worth
reading not only at Christmas time, but at any
| time between the lst Of January and the 3lst
/ of December. Mark Twain has never written
anything better.
There are dull pages in the book-a few of
| them. By some kind Of fatality the FULLEST
were selected out and printed by way of sample
in the November Century. The choice showed
a good deal more modesty than discretion.
Everything in the book is better than the chap
ter which was given in the Century
Mark Twain would have published better
book if some other Connecticut Yankee, with
finer sense of literary discrimination, could
have gone over the proof-sheets with blue
pencil. The blue pencil would not have needed
a second Sharpening during the process OF re-
vision, for it would not have been called into
very frequent use; but a good, vigorous line
drawn here and there would have made de-
cided improvement. It is not likely that even
Connecticut Yankee would have talked quite
SO much entirely inane slang. Slang is a capital
thing in its way, but it does get little wearyipg
when it adds nothing to the force of what is
said and when 1t is dragged out into pages.
Nevertheless. here is good book A Con-
nechcut Yankee resident in East Hartford,
and employed as superintendent In Colts gun
factory, gets a stout blow on the side Of the
head from a club in the hands of striker and
wakes up in the sixth century in King Ar
thurs Court. He finds a condition of things
there which amazes him. The way in which
people live without windows without chimneys
without hundred things which we account as
among the necessaries of life; the kind of
-. s.I. 1a fhn nd
tunics of the common folk, the ingeniously
uncomfortable arnor of the knights; hesuper-
stition everywhere prevalent; the cruelty, in
justice, caste-spirit ignorance of the principles
of democracy and political economy-these
things impress the Connecticut Yankee. He
proceeds to introduce the ideas Of the nine
teenth century into the dull brains of the
SIXTH He builds factories, brings in all the
contemporary inventions, the telegraph. the
telephone powder and printing. He mounts
Sir Launcelot on a bicycle. He turns the
round table into a stock exchange. He
decorates the armor of the knights with
such unromantic legends as use Peterson's
Prophylactic Tooth Brush-An the Cor He
casts old Merlin into the shade by his superior
nineteenth century magic. The coruscations
are very funny The effect is as il one were to
take Sir Thomas Malory's MorteS d. Arthur and
interleave it with pages from Andrew Car
negie's Triumphant Democracy" with Mark
Twain's notes along the margins. The con-
trasts that are brought out between old and
new are both amusing and instructive. The
writer is careful to see that the instructive
side shall not be overlooked. Mark Twain has
a serious and worthy purpose in this book, to
show what crowns and mitres really mean, and
in what shape they survive men in our cotem-
porary life Something ought to be said in
praise of Mr.. Boards illustrations. The work
Of the artist is in its way as good as the work of
the writer. Some of these symbolic pictures
preach very strong sermons indeed. Through
out the book the pictures illuminate and en-
phasize the text.
An armored knight, with cross upon his
breast, bestrides spirited horse upon the cover
of Heroes OF the Crttsddes Oee & Shepard: ].
R. Weldin & co., Amanda NJ. Douglas has
contributed nothing new to the story of that
invasion of the West upon the East The
knights are set forth in the conventional way.
Godfrey is the saint and Richard of the Lion
Heart is the hero which the schoolbooks pic
ture them The dark side of the character of
the crusades is lightly drawn. 1t is rather a
pity that some of the less known but no less
picturesque heroes were not included. The
crusade of the children might have made an in
teresting chapter. That grim and indom-
table old Dandalo, the Doge, deserved
more than q sentence or two.
The finding of the holy cross at Antioch was a
picturesque incident which is more than
mere passing allusion. 1t is not likely that one
will get a coherent idea Of the real movement
of the crussdes from this book. Still, the chap
ters are written in plain, straightforward
way The volume is readable, and the illustra-
tions, from pictures by Dore, are many and
good.
The knights who figure in the pages Of Heroes
and Heroic Deeds Franklin Printing Company
are such as would commend themselves even to
a Connecticut Yankee. Robert Burns and Rob-
ert Emmet, and George Washington are the
''uncrowned kings" of whom Mr.. A. F. Downs,
Treasurer of Fayette county, has chosen to
write. The book is made up of addresses deliv-
cred before various audiences, and now for the |
first time collected. Mr.. Downs writes with
strong feeling of the relations between
England and Ireland, reviewing step by step |
the progress of misgovernment
EsE
Willis ]. Abbot, in The Battle Fields of 81 |
(Dodd, Mead & Co.: 81. Watts & Co.l. tells the |
story of the war up to the end of the peninsular
campaign. He divides the history of the Civil |
War into three eras. During the first era the |
South was only on the defensive. No man in |
gray set his foot on Northern SOIL The era be- |
gan with the bombardment of Sumter, and |
ended with the disasters of General Mcclellan.
In the second era the South carried the war
into the North. General Lee began it by his
invasion of Maryland. The third era was the |
day of Confederate defeat. Its hero
was General Grant. The first of these |
eras Mr.. Abbot has chosen as the |
subject for. this book. He has made q
graphic and interesting story of it The up
rising under John Brown, the election of Lin
coin. the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the |
call for troops the secession of the disaffected |
States. the battle of Bull Rum the surrender of
Fort Donaldson, the battle of Shiloh, the CAP
ture of New Orleans, the retreat of Mcclellan,
are the turning points in the history. The
book is bound in a coat Of blue, with a broad
sash Of white and gold, and is illustrated with
spirited pictures
The Civil War is in that first stage of
which Mr.. Abbot writes in Oliver Optics
Within the Enenfs Lines (Lee q Shepard; J.
R, Weldin & Coz. The Confederate soldier
who ventures into the North within the
enemys lines' has pretty hard time
of it. and his expedition ends inglofi-
ouslv In mishap which retires him
from the scene OF stratagem and spoils. His
cousin who fights on the other side, has all man
ner of adventures within the eenemy's linesn in
the South, captures prizes, outwits commanders
escapes from prison and covers himself with
glory
Several books for girls are waiting this week
upon the critics table. Witch Wfnnie (White
& Allen; ]. R. weIdin d Coy is the story of
',Kiug's Daughter" The scene is boarding
school, where the girls become aware of the
dreadful condition Of life in tenement house
not far away, and take effective steps to remedy
things. They start the Home of the Elder
Brother which seems to be the book name of
real and most useful institution. the Messiah |
Hnrne Cor IittlA Children. at 4 Rutherford |