Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-13


her Interpolation of "Home, Sweet
Home" in the mad scene twas, from 9
dramatic standpoint, quite indefenslble.' .
I-[New York Evening Post.
New Books.
RUPERT WISE: A Poetic Romance In Eigh
Cantos-By H. M. Du Bose. 1889.
We have before US the above book,
finely printed on heavy paper and ele'
gantly bound, with illuminated covers.
1t is not every day we are permitted to
review poem of this magnitude the
work of one of our fellow-townsmen.
Nor is it of ten that 80 ambition work in
verse is submitted to the judicious dis
elimination of the American reading
public from the pen of an American au-
thor. The gentleman out of whose muse
these pages have been wrought is the
pastor Of Trinity Church, in this city,
and the melody of his verse is familiar
to the readers of the HERALD, to the COL
| umns of which he has contributed occa-
sional poems of more than ordinary merit.
The romance of Rupert Wise" is the
story of young physician and the girl
he loved. Rupert was the son of .
Southern gentleman, whose bright career
at the bar was cut short by his convivial
habits that were hereditary in his family.
he son is raised by an uncle, and after
passing through his collegiate course
with great credit, becomes physician.
At the time the poem opens, the plague,
| i. g. the yellow fever, is on the eve of in
vading the city in which he lives. He is
held in the highest esteem as a man Of
science, learning and success in
treating diseases. But the hereditary
taint has descended to him and has
been the bane of his life. This fault,
coupled with the fact that he is free
thinker, as we'll as free liver, has placed
an insuperable barrier between him and
the lady he loves and who loves him.
His pride of profession, however, arouses
him from his habits of indulgence, and
be becomes one of small band of in.
trepid physicians who remain in their
city to fight the dread disease. At last
he is stricken down. Madeline (his
early betrothed) learns of it and hastens
to his bedside. In his delirium he takes
advantage of an opportunity that offers
to escape from his gentle nurse,
and wanders forth. In this state
he reaches the hut of her
NIT, who takes compassion ON his
helplessness and gives him shelter. In
a lucid interval he describes to the her
NIT Wis on be had had some time be-
fore, but which had faded from his mind
till then. The dream is beautifully told
and forms the finest passage in the book
Exhausted with the effort. he falls back
in swoon and expires, ss the hermit
believes; not, however, until he has en-
trusted message to Madeline, which
the recluse promises to deliver. The
hermit starts for the plague stricken city.
and succeeds in getting the message and
token to the lady. She flies to the her.
mit's hut, and there finds, to her amaze
ment and delight, that Rupert is alive.
When left alone on his rude pallet
for dead, he passed into state
of clairvoyant imagination through
a series of delightful visiuns. He
Is taken, by shining shape, through
scenes Of heavenly loveliness, and finally
reaches mount that
-"sloped upward toward the skies,
Against which stood cross. ana roand IL
played
A mystic light"
Here he looked up, and beheld stately
Form moving slowly toward him and
benignly gazing into his face. The Form
spoke to him in measured tones and
said:
-"Arise thou fallen soul; grace
Bids thee rise. Thy will has d'ed, but live; Il
Who speak, the living Christ, shall make thee
stand.
am thy strength unto eternity"
At this his eyes opened to the great
Truth, his doubts vanished, and the
demon which held him chained to his
| hereditary appetite was exercised. De
wakes to find Madeline at his side, and
the great end of reconciliation and union
is accomplished by faith and refor.
nation.
The plot of the story is simple, and the
readers interest is we'll sustained to the
end. The opening cantos are in places
obscure on q first reading, but both the
perspicacity of the recital and the elo-
lauence of the poem improve as one pro-
ceeds. The author possesses all the
grace and art as we'll as the instinct o.
the poet, and at times dashes off stanz Al
of surprising melody and sweetness
In the higher flights of fame,
he sustains himself well, and although
. the wings of his muse may, like those o
Icarus, be cemented with wax, yet thel
dauntlessly mount into the sphere Of th'
: higher sunlight without melting unde
the rays of the dazzling. orb. Mr.
r DuBose has aimed so high in this etfor
that had he utterly failed the astouish.
3 ment would have been less than that h'
+. has made even partial success. The mora
q of the story is we'll wrought out, but tn
r author discloses weakness in holdin
8 his narrative in too strict compass
: There is poverty of episode in the tai
8 which leaves it, as told, with q drynesE
] and rigidity that constrains it with
n lines gu narrow as to take away from
the interest of artful expansion and enter
t tanning effusiveDess. Yet with a
Q its faults, the lover of poetry will be ree
warded with genuine gems OF poetl
K sweetness and Of melodious versificatio
0 if he will give the book reading. 1t
il not, perhaps, go much what the authc
9 has accom- plished in this task that make
a US commend it to our readers as worth
d of perusal, as it is in the promise that
9 manifest in some of it's cantos OF a NOR
It rounded, complets and harmonious poet
!, work in the ripe future from our author
o tuneful muse.
The book is on sale at all our princip'
II bookstores.
1 Have you seen the new style Ivers
D. \ q toni or