New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-11-24
NEW NOVELS.
THE WORK OF AMERICANS

A LITTLE JOURNEY IN THE WORLD; BY Charles
Dudley Warner. 12mo' PIP 'oo' harper
srAY h5R;Hf'S OF sTANplsH , STORY OF THE
| PILGRIMS BY Jane c. Austin limo, Pr.
400 Houghton Miflin co. $780, W,
WOULD you KILL HIM. BY George Parsons Parsons
Iathrop 12mo, pp 3s4. Harper & Brothers.
NJ warmers Novel is on the whole decided
| success. though marked by defects Of both plan
| ord execution which practice In fc;ion VIII no
| doubt remove In the beginning tho action drags,
the author giving too much space to reflections and
discursive remarks, and depending too much upon
the development of his plot through Conversations
which, while sometimes clever, are Keyed 100 hlgh
n he natural The people who talk epigrams at
! one another and who never speak without saying
! .omctbtnc profound. witty significant, are an
ideal folk but sparscly represented In this humdrlm
and workaday world. As Mr. warner proceeds
however his work becomes morn compact ana
artistic Throughout he Is given to comment as
from an eN nal and dspaSsonae position, upon his
characters and some of these comments certainty
have a flavor of Thackeray. There Is plenty OF
strongly drawn individuality in the story which Is
emnbatically OF the period. 1t Is. in TACT. inc sOy
NJ a souls degradation. Margaret, the heroine IS
a New England girl, Of strong spiritual tohuehcI9'
brought up I'm a refined country circle, VINO matries
q Wall Street adventurer railroad wrecker and money
grabber OF attractive person and amiable disposition
The main motive Of the tale IS the exhibition OF
Margarcts slow but steady moral and spiritual decay
and this is developed with much art in very I'M
pressive way.
The foil to Margaret is Carmen Eschele, thor
ouoblv worldly frankly selfish and cold hearted beauty.
who mocks at the ingenious Margaret, admrcs the
perpetrators Of legaed bbcrles who flourish through
the ruin OF Others, and is generally as destitute OF
conscience and soul Goldfish. But Carmen after
ALL IS no worse than Margaret comes TO be. Ihe
husband OF the latter Henderson, grows very rich'
builds a palace, Is one Of the many-miloned. and
rets and les SER
with continued success, IS followed steadily in his
debasement by his wife. The whole story Is of course
study OF the present overgrowth of Materaiism ana
Mammon- worship. On the one side Is the htte
ounry circle devoted plain living and hiphhinklng
on the other IS the great business and fashionable
world devoted to Tic cult Of wealth. and caring less
all the time how that wealth is acquired. Mr.. Warn
ers pictures are faithful his satire Is keen and bu.
too wcll-dcserved, and the implied conclusion thai
the standard Of right and wrong is becoming
obscured In the eyes of the people, seems TO be JUS
titled by impartial observation Of the facts. 1t IS,
indeed becoming more and more difficult to determine
what ethical principles believed in at the present
day. for while mere professions necessarily without
special significance the general tendency toward the
coptance conformation of tho most fragrant dishonesty
and iniquity cannot but bewilder those who are trying
TO believe the optlmst declaration that society is
making better progress than ever before. This Is the
phase OF modern civilization illustrated by Mr. Warner
In his highly interesting and really powerful novel
Jane G. Austin has done a very difficult thing; she
has written historical novel based on the settle
mcnt Of Plymouth, and while following the chronicle
with curious fidelity and mnuteness she has succeeded
in composing a very interesting and natural story.
Her sandsh is highly satisfactory portrait. II not
the himself, IL IS so nearly him that accept
the likeness. So also with the other historical
characters: with Bradford and winsow and John
Alden and Brewster and Carver and Priscilla and
| y md ich and
and the rest. They every ono real people, not
dummies and the life Of the time is reproduced and
the building of the colony represented, with a fresh
ness. filness, and verisimtude altogether ad-
mirabe. Perhaps, II anything. the author has rather
underestimate the influence of the Puritan religion
upon the spirits and the expression OF the younger
coonists, but after all have but conjecture for
this, and II Is necessary TO The interest Of story
that it should have plenty Of light and brightness
Mr. Lathrop's novel-".woud You XIII Him7--bas
not, has been sald any special bearing upon the
question Of capital punishment. II s In fact simply
the presentation Of an elaborate problem arising ont
Of very peculiar state of things, having no gen.
| era abstract implications young man Is Tilted
by girl to whom he is betrothed. she acting from a
false sense of honor. She keeps his letters IN her
Her brother, silly youth, takes II into his head In
perverse defiance Of the plain facts that his sister ba,
been wrongcd and getting possession Of the discarded
lovers letters her in dshOnOrable way addresses
himself to destroy the happiness of the latter who
meantime has married happily. The worst Character
I'm the book however, and the who most deserve,
killing is Lily Brtton, detcsiable young woman who
| plays the part OF female vampire. She worms her
self into the affections Of the hcro's Wife and * rom
spiling with the aforesaid Anticipated brother NJ tbe
old sweetheart when the hero, in a stormy meeting an
| board an ocean steamer with the Notwithstanding
brother strikes the latter and Kills him. Lily Brton
has seen the occurrence. and OF peaches ON
the homicide who Is tried and acquitted and then
suffers so much from conscience that he is sbout 10
| commit suicide when his wife saves HIM The fact
! T. or should be- obvious that this really com.
! ,nittcd no moro than mansaughter. There was no
| murler0is intent The fatal blow struck I'm mas
| sion and without generalization. Had the evidences
! been strong enough 10 convict, no sane Jury would
have rendered n verdict of murder I'm the fsf depre,
Therefore the question" Would you kIl him l7-must
be answered I'm the negative here even by those who
believe most In capital punishment For the resi- MIR
Iathrop gives elaborate account OF a wheat cor.
| ners and another. which IS more graphic OF a race
hetween ocean steamers. Tie story Is rather over
| loaded and would have gained by compression hut
II Is sufficiently interesting 10 be read without i'm
| paence I'm spite of It's length
Pm n A ~