Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-31
THE CRITICS REVIEW.
Two Readable Detective Stories of Differ.
ent Typss-Cookery and Poetry-Prnc cti-
cal Typewriting-Songso of the Battlefield
Tho Nun of Keumnre's Book-New


Tho Nun of Kenmnre's Book-New
Novels.
EVERYBODY who read 1.-THE Sign of the
Four" in Lippfncotcs, month or two ago,
will turn with interest to Il Study IL, Scarlet
q. B. Lippincott Co. ]. r. Weldin & Co. so
cents), another detective story by the same
| author. In point of time "a Study In Scarlet"
precedes THE Sign of the Four" being noticed
in that brilliant little story and having the same
hero Mr.. Sherlock Holmes is the best detec-
tive we know of in any of the detective stories.
He has good reason for having poor opinion
| of Edgar A. Poe's "Dupin," and even of Ga
boriaus "Lecoq." AS for Miss Green's "Mr.
Bryce" or Mr.. Hawthorne's real Inspector
| Byrnes, Sherlock Holmes is still way ahead.
| He has a genius for detecting. He has a
| happy faculty of seeing everything and
| knowing Immediately what everything
means. A man is found dead in
deserted house. Mr.. Sherlock Holmes
is summoned in :. his capacity of
| consulting detective" He looks about the
| yard and house and room, and comes to the
| conclusion that there has been murder done
and the murderer was man. He was more
than six feet high, was in the prime of life, had
| small feet for his height, wore coarse, square
| toed boots, and smoked a trichinolopy cigar
| He came here with his victim in four-wheeled
| cab, which was drawn by a horse with three
| old shoes and one new one on his off fore leg
In all probability the murderer had horid
face, and the finger nails of his right hand were
remarkably long" This was certainly pretty
well for brief inspection of an empty room
The plot breaks in two in the middle, after
| Gaboriau's fashion, and travelling from En-
gland to Utah begins overagain until the second
thread gets long enough to be tied to the
first. Somehow, we will read detective
stories. Probably they feed some mental
I of
Doyle, with his sherlock Holmes" knows
how to construct most ingenious plot The
publishers have printed the story on such good
paper and IN such good type that an ADDED
pleasure is given to the reading. 1t is the most
attractive and interesting paper-covered novel
which has appeared on The Critics table Tor
several months. A capital book for the vaca-
ton satchel.
a MOTHER story of the detective order. which
suffers good deal for being read immedI-
ately after "a Study in Scarlet" but which if
read before and by itself is capital piece of
work. is Jack Gordon. knight Errdnt (Cassell
Publishing Co.: ]. R. Weldin & Co., so cents.)
The plotis very well done. gradually developed,
arousing no suspicion, and coming to fine
climax. There is murder at the beginning,
and as in "a Study in Scarlet" the fellow who
is murdered richly deserves his fate. The
novelist in such case is in a quandary. The
murderer must be hunted down. That is the
thread of the plot. But discovered murderers
are either hung or imprisoned, and that is no
way at all to dispose of worthy hero. 1t is
true that the remarkable story "For the Right"
ends In that way. But that was altogether an
exceptional case. Mr.. Doyle and Mr.. Hudson
could not let the law have its course. 1t gets
perilously near to it in both cases. But there
is an escape. It seems to The Critic, even after
a long experience in the reading of good, bad
and indifferent novels, that the love business is
little hurried up in this case. Jack and Lucy
have hardly been introduced before they are
betrothed. Still. of course. circumstances alter
cases. and in this case there was no lack of very
astonishing circumstances. Jack Gordon"
teaches un0btrusiVeiy very good moral
TWO little cook books come this week to The
Critics attention. Both of them, by a
curious coincidence, refer to the use of the
chafing dish. What One Can Do With a
Chatting Dish is the larger of the two and is
set in a most attractive binding. 1t puts forth
its guiding hand as help to amateur cooks, and
has, within but few months, passed into a
second edition. John Ireland is the publisher.
The old lines, often quoted and always quot
able, are set by way of preface:
We NAV live without poetry, music and art,
We may live without conscience. and live without |
heart,
We may live, without friends we may live with
out books,
He may live without books-what is knowledge |
He may live without hope-what is hope but de-
He may live without love-what is passion but
But where is the man who can live without
dining?
After this and other graceful little literary
garnishings we are prepared to indorse the
whole attractive bill of fare which follows-all
sorts of appetizing things made with a chatting
dish 81. r. Weldin Coz. On u ChGJfRg Dish
has also its bit of Introductory rhyme:
The turnpike road to peoples hearts, find,
Lies through their mouths, or mistake mankind.
A word for Sunday night teas is what this
little book proposes to speak. All of these
by the housekeeper hersef-"or himself"
which happy little addendum gives reviewer
courage. Twenty minutes for preparation,
with chafing dish on the library table, and
here is your nice hot supper. The cook may
CO. The Critic learns with interest that
chafng dish consists Of one dish within an
other, the under one containing boiling water
kept boiling, of course, by an alcohol lamp
When there is no water in the dish the chatting
dish becomes a "blazer." From terrapin to
some things (G. w. Dillingham;. H. Watts
Coz.
THE word ''blazer'' is good one to describe
the color of the cover of Practical Type
aCriting (Fowler & Wills, ]. R. Weldin & Co.,
Sl). 1t blazes like the noon-day sun. or rather
like the sun which the Ancient Mariner beheld
lust up above the masthead" Red red-and
no mistaking it. Bates Torrey is the author of
this manual, which teaches "all-fnger"
method. The Writer, which ought to know
such things, assures us that Mr. Torrey has
written here most serviceable book in which
all is included which a typewriter has any need
to know. THE numerous expedients and sug-
gestions, and the chapter of fac-simile FORMS"
are especially praiseworthy.
~ |
a ND after practical Typewriting," poetry.
DR.. Edward Octavius Flagg, OF New
York, with Mr.. Thomas Whitaker for publish
er, entities his little volume Poems, and in
scribes it to the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity
Camp songs, society songs and religious poems
make up the larger part of the book. DR..
Flagg read the poem at the Alpha Delt Con-
vention, at Middletown, Conn.,, in 1884. Gettys-
burg and Other Poems Porter and 0oates) be-
gins with Mr. Pennypacker's poem, which was
read on the battlefield at the dedication of the
Pennsylvania monuments last fall Several of
the poems have already teen printed In Long
fellow selections Of Of Poems Of Places"
tive After the PROPOSAL is very pretty and |
sweet. The little book is tastefully bound, and
attracts the reader, both within and without
&xs
THERE is no poetry, grave or gay, about the
Nun of Kenmare's' Life Inside the Church
of Rome &c. W. Dillingham;, ]. R. Weldin &
Coz Neither is the book particularly pleasant
reading 1t was not intended to be particularly
pleasant reading. The Nun OF Kenmare has
seen good many evil things and
she Is determined to tell all she knows and
spare nobody. There is a curious feature of
the copy of Miss Cusack's book which the
publishers have sent us. 1t is patched book
There are leaves taken out in a dozen places
and other leaves set in. Here, too, in the pref
ace is a name erased with penknife The Nun !
IS telling OF the tampering with her mail ,