New-York tribune., 1890-07-15
NEW NOTELS.

TIE ALP,NE FAY From the Gsrnan Of yi,G. wsrnGr
phia: J. b. Lippincott Go.
CHILDREN OF To-M0RRQw.. by, william sharp
1dmO PIP 312. Frank r. Lowell & CO.
HAUNT1NGS. BY Vernon Lee 1GmO. pp. 237.
Frank F. Lowell 4 co.
LEAH OF JERUSALEM Ry Edward I-ayson Berry
12mO PIP 3Ss. A. D. Randolph q GO.
A son OF ISsACIiAR. BY ElbridG2 r Brooks. l"mo.
PIP. 293. O. p. Putnan's SON,
BELTESHAzzAR. By p r. Roe. 1Gmo PIP. 2G7
Chicago: DOnohuc, Henncbery Co.
PERE GORI0r. by lionorc de Bahac; iran 'a'ed
by Mrs. Fred ". Dcy. Rand. NcNauy CO.
TIE DEVILS DAUGHTER. Translated from Bal
zac by ". Flcron. The American News company
Wcrncr's romance The Alpine Fay well
translated by Mrs. Wster. is an excellent story
of its kind. The motive is the struggle between
elemental forces and the power and skill OF man.
and this is illustrated in the fortunes OF great
railroad enterprise which involves the crossing Of
the Alps at particularly difficult and dangerous
point. The Alpine Fay" is the storm spirit
that reigns on the Wokenstein, and deNccnds at
a critical moment and with disastrous results, in
the form of an avalanche A capital conscries Of
love stories is woven about the central idea and
in carving them ont the author shows n remark
able lightness OF hand, with much genuine hrmor
and knowledge of human nature. Perhaps the
most interesting episode is the conflict between
the nohler and the bascr tendencies in the mind
of q young ambitions and able man, aud the final
victory of his better nature, This is powerfully
SCI forth and the moral atmosphere of the book
is wholesome and bTacing, while as story II IS
decidedly strong and artistic.
"Thc Children Of Tomorrow" according TO
Mr. Sharp, are a peculiar people, who fee! and
suffer more intensely than the Children of To-
day. and who, apparently because OF this excess
of senSbitv. consider themselves cmancipated
from convcntonalitv 10 The extent Of being per
fectly free to emulate the work of Moses in smash
ing the Ten Commandments. All of them III tins
book siguazc their advanced IDEAS by falling in
love-the men with other peoples wives, the
girls with the husbands Of thcir friends. Oar
delightful chil6 of nexb week. to say hos redis-
covered the poison of tic Boreias, and nnocently
slays herewith his own love while intending the
removal of her husband How the story would
have ended if left to tie unprcdicta5lc promplngs
of these eufrnchiscd and TOO previous souls can
hardly be coaiectured, but fortunately con
venient flash Of lightning inciuerutes q pair Of
them at critical moment. and a third falls
mad. and after some furioas Gddling rusheS into
the sea, leaving the world with clean bill OF
health.
Vernon Lees four stories under the title Haunt
ings' are in very happy vein OF fantasy and CON
structed with just that dciicacy and vaguencss
which suggest rather than assert. TIE presence OF
the supernatural! or the four we prefer Amour
DurcH and "Oke of OkchurSt." Though there il
much fascination in The Wicked Voice. ana
"piOnca" has intimationS o! particularly daring
scope in tic first story a great professor has 50
absorbed himself in the study of wicked, heauti-
1ul Italian duchess Of the Renaissance that his
ina gination rcsurrccts her. IS il his imagine
ton? For he is found dcad-stabbed to tIc
i,4o 1,is laIl
or whatever it was In Oko Of OkehuIst' a mod
en Englishwoman who has inherited strangely
close likeness 70 wicked ancestress fauccs her
sef a rcncarnation Of that bad woman and lauuts
herself, 10 speak, with phantom lover II IS
all weird. uncannv and therefore the more ttillat-
ing and the stories S'ril5ipEly fresh in con
CeptiOn AID written admirably.
Here are three novels founded upon Bible stories,
namely, Leah Of Jerusalem, a Son Of Is5achar
and Relteshazzar" There would seem TO be a
epI,,ell-c OF this sort Of stories. but il would
be difficult TO explain None of those before rs
is really worth reading. They are dull. wooden
servilc in Reproducing archaeological facts from
common textbooks. and in all respects feeble ana
unintercStlng. Surely the world of to-day offers
subjects enough for romance without going to
past which only The highest genius could repro
duce. As 10 BelteSbaz2ar1 i; comes directly
Into comparison VIII " he Master OF the Ma
gicans," recently reviewed in The Tribune, and
the comparison Is fatal 10 il.
II is piece of objectionable impertinence to
issue a poor TRANSLATION Of Balzac's Cousine
Bette under tho false title Of The Devils
Daughter 1t ia a work Of sIpererogGtiou 70 put
on the market an inferior translation of Balzac's
"Pere Goiot while Miss Wormclcys admirable
and unapproanhed versions of both these stories
still flesh in the minds o. me reading public
There demand for either Of these later
experiments, IN short, and they possess no merits
70 Justify their existence