Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-12-07

! 1--WE me TWO tens LOT THIS Druhque-
ly queried the stranger as he handed out
the bill.
"If I can," replied tho conductor,
scarcely glancing at it
lie made out ten and two fives and
passed them over, and the Detroiter
handed over the amount of his bet,
kicked himself into the next car, and he
never saw bit of Lake Michigan as the
train made its way into Chicago.
A New Literary Star of tho First usgni-
tude.
For the Dispatch.
A new book. "Alfrieds," published
by the author. Mrs. Emma e. Fl. Specht,
OF st. Louis, has lately fallen under my
notice. As it had received favorable
mention from q number of leading news
papers sat down to examine 1t with
more than the usual attention and inter-
est. One Of these papers declared it to
be work of the profoundest, widest
thought, and that it would appeal to
every thinker and stir the heart of every
earnest student. Whether it will do
all this or not each reader must Judge for
himself, but it is certain that had not
read many pages before | became con-
WINGED that | had fallen upon literary
production of the most remarkable kind.
The book purports to be theosophi-
cal novel. 1 don't propose to discuss it
as such, because frankly confess Mrs,
Specht displays too much erudition for
me, and | should suffer too much
by comparison. What | wish to do is to
direct attention to her extraordinary
literary style, and her powerful argyll
mentative ability as displayed in the few
pages of her book which have thus far
had time 10 read, and | warn Mrs. Chan
Ter and other well-known possessors of a
distinctive literary manner that they
must henceforth prepare to take very
back seat indeed.
One remarkable feature of Mrs.
Specht's book is that it consists of some
six hundred solid pages. This is in
keeping with the place Of its nativity
the Great West. A critic once insulted
Tnackeray by calling one Of his books
an "opuscule." No one would ever say
this of Mrs. Specht's book, which is de-
cidedly an opus. / would not be sup
posed to insinuate, however, that it is an
opus to read it. That cannot be, be-
I cause the authorizes declares to the con-
trary. alt is not doing justice to any
book which ranks above the average,
she very truly and modestly says. TO
peruse it through only once" OF course
not. But it is also true that justice is
seldom done in this world to my one,
and especially geniuses.
Alfrieda, the heroine, is a wonderful
creature. She is introduced to the reader
as " sorrowing for her deceased husband,
feeling dull pain which tugged at her
heartstrings quite fiercely at times. "
She also regretted her many mistakes,
and that "she had often allowed her lite
rary aspirations and overweight ro-
manticsms to becloud and hamper her
wifely flow of affection and demonstra-
tive approval Of him." She was forty
years old, but "the lineaments of an
eternal youth were plainly stamped and
written on her brow. 1t is said OF her
at one time that "her hazel brown eyes.
luminous with the gifted soul they har-
bored, took on wondrous light-play
when their ever-varying expressions were
animated with the spirited glow-fervor OF
most fascinating magnetic nature.
Observe those compounds, hazel-brown,
light-play, glow-feryor. There are
myriads of such. Nobody in the book
has simple brown, black, or red hair OF
eyes-if there be any red eyes (Ihere
is "red-eye," 1 know.) There are
I" blonde brown" bright blonde
brown "-"tb golden gllnts of bel
bright blonde-brown hair" how beau
tiful and alliteratiye =" bronze,
q" bronze brown" 3" red brown,
"bronze. red," and I don't know how
many other variations of brown hair,
but not single case, think, OF simple,
vulgar, brown hair In the book. 1t is
the same with eyes, "wine-brown ap'
pearing to be the favorite. But there is
another trick which Mrs. Specht possess
es in even greater perfection. Here are
some of her representative expressions
1.-The deepest emotions of her heart were
stirred to their profoundest depths, Oh
"deeps," as it occurs in another
place-"a brooklet's babbling deeps,
+" sad and sorrowful," a" battling
against and opposing" "good-hu
mored bonhomie," directions and
instructions. malignant and virulent,
"God's divine law" marvellous and
wondrous," discovery and detection
(these two in the same sentence), "sur-
roundings and circumstances, "atten'
dant sequete, crime and evil, "com
bat and resist" "human brethren,
"perplexed and puzzled" a deeE
vacuum, an intense void" "the tired,
weary watcher" tranquil and still,
penumbra shades" outrageous
shade" life and vivacity," Z" deep con.
Germ and much anxiety" "sad and
melancholy" "a small miniature edl
ton" and so on. These are called al
most at random from few pages II
seems almost impossible for Mrs. Spechi
to content herself with simple, direct
statement about anything; second
word or phrase must always be added.
winch Iacb uelp5 sOutHHhb 10 dCCOuH'
for the length OF the book, il not It's
strength.
There are other queer things to be
found-one of the heroine's ever vary
ing moods, for instance. "She was now
in fit condition for soul analysis, for
she was in a state of arch rebellion. il
was all a bitter protest, a confusion OF
the isms. chisms, and beliefs of religious
dogmas physical intellectually pitted
against that divine esoterical and intui'
tional NATURALIZATION" and go on.
fortunately, about this time she met q
doctor-the hero, as nearly as / could
make out-but, strange to say, he didn't
prescribe for herr there are gorgeous
glow-lights, sheens of radiant edulgen-
Cyl" sun fires sifted through rare, misty
blue ether hazes." "calm sylvan quiet
and 6lmy mist-haze Of dim, purple Wis
tas, " " striated nimbuses," "banners Of
illuminated cloud-banks, al "over.
arching sweep of the horizon" and
many other equally wonderful natural
phenomena. Contemplating some OF
these once, Alfredo was overcome by
The maasterial scene" One OF the char