New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-08
NOVELS.
AND SHORT STORr~9.

AND SHORT SToRr'.
THE FAITH DOCTOR. BY Edward Eggeston. l2mo'
PIP. Ar. ID. Appleton Co.
THE. STORY OF The GLITrEkING PLAIN ny
William Morris. $40, pp Les. Boston: ROBERTS
Brothers.
THE HOUSE OF MARTHA. BY Frank r. stockton.
16mo, PIP. 375. HoughtOn, Mihiln & Co.
THE sssssS5 ne rrd e. f9 s%s Pr B. HSs
PHILLIDA. By Maud Howe. 12mo, PIP. ESQ., John
AS YE SOW. BY Leander Richardson. 1smo' PIP
265. L. Richardson
I iSmo Do. 9S3. John W Lowell Co.
WE ALL BY octave Thanet With illustrations l by
E. J. Austen and J. p. Bir'en. sVo' pp' @'o'
D. Appleton a. Co
A NEw-MEXICO DAVID, and other stores ana
Sketches Of the southwest by Charles Z: Lun'-
mis-. 12mo, PIP. 2l7. Charles scrbners Sohs
"The Faith Doctor is a story of Ncw-York life
1t deals with Christian Science and Faith Cures not
clumsly and with coarse ridcule and denunclation.
but skully and with light hand The two principal
characters Charley Willard and Phlids Calender arc
admirably presented. Willard is a man OF society.
who has little ambition beyond the social pleasures I'D
which he delights. The gill is pure and highly
spiritual woman, devoted to good works, ana OF q
tcmperament so exalted that she is easily led away
by a clever speaker who talks glibly about the pos
sibies Of faith In healing disease. This episode
YER the Christian Scientist, is portrait to dwell! In
the memory. 1t is indeed, as Mr.. Esgleston states.
dono from the lfe and 1t is probably little exagger-
ated The story IS full of interest Of many kinds.
the pictures Of metropolitan society being natural.
subdued in Tone and yet sufficiently suggestive the
author has not are inclined to Think done better
work than here.
Mr. william Morris has given another OF those
lghtful archaic prose poems OF the producuon Oh
which he appears to enjoy monopoly, In The story
of the Gllttering Plain, Which Has Been also Called
the Land Of Living Men the Acre OF the Undy ing
1t Is open to any find allegory In the charm
Ing tale but 20 thinking Ii may better be relshed
for what ii is It's face, namely reproduction OF that
extinct typs of Imaginative tales in which our remote
ancestors sought relief from tho hardness and dismal
ness Of practical life. In this case, moreover, the
authors vivid Imagination Is enhanced and adorned by
the beauty the English employed to give 1t expires
son The period is that Of the Morse sagas, and this
also Is Saga, only less filed with slaughter than the
genuine ones, and informed by nlmbler and brighter
fancy To follow the strange adventures of Hallbthe
In search Of the Daughter Of the Rose, his betrothcd
stolen from him by the Ravagers OF the Sea- Is pure
delight and his sojourn in the land of the Glttering
Plain abounds with striking and moving Incidents The
American publishers have made their volume fac sim
lie OF the original English edition. with all its archaic
sms and consequently the book Is Typographical curl
osty as well as little masterpiece OF literary art.
Mr. Frank Stockton is not less humorous than OF
wont In "The House OF Martha but his humor is
with difference. Tile Idea OF love affair originating
IN sort OF conventua establishment appeals to that
sense Of ncongruiy which is largely responsible for
the amusement which this author affords; and the
minor incidents scarcely less odd. But the writer's
afcctation OF gravity Is better sustained than usual
and there Is an endeavOr TO assmilae the story, at
least on the surface with the kind of fiction which
defers 10 conventions. This gives additional zest to
the fun, which IS the lively from being delicatey
presented. "The Squirrel Inn,' by the same prolific
author, in Mr. Sockton's original ne though
he seems 70 have almost Outgrown-or perhaps,
hansted-that vein Of fantastic extravaganza which
made his early stories such magazines Of surprises
The Squirrel Inn Is chiefly dramatic, and a vdry
good, rafting farce or light comedy could be evolved
from n. 1t Is langhable and pleasant throughout, and
there Is plenty of 60" In It, while 1t contains whole
gallery OF portraits of tho queer, topsyturvy Stock
tonian type
Maud IIowes PhilHda" is an interesting, well-writ-
ten novel, though Ct the kind which calls for tragedy
by way of elimination Not that this is against the
story quite the contrary We prefer fiction to be
sad In these days, when pessmlsm Is fashionable In
effect, who marries one woman, and then finds
that she Is cold and loveleSs, and next meets his
affinity and falls desperately in love with her. is
marked out for calamity In the hands OF any novelist,
and Maud Howe could not probably have done better
with him than she has done. The tale is OF English
life but the heroine is Phillida and American.
Miss Howe has pleasant style, light hand at da-
logue gift of description, and knows how to make
her incidents effective. Phlllda herself partlcu.
larry nice and lovabe girl and her history holds the
reader firmly.
Mr. Richardson has written strong story in @As
Ye Sow" though perhaps the plane upon which the
most of his characters Is rather low 10 expect
much from them In the way Of ethical example. The
story opens at the headquarters of Harvard student
who Is in training for prize fight with the champion
Of the world. The young woman whose sowing and
reapng Illustrated In the story the daughter Of
professional gambler, and her mother eOped fom her
father. Another leading parsonage is English peer
of great wealth, who IL engaged in the agreeable occu-
patton OF drinking himself to death. For those who
like such matter there Is really spirited description
of great prize-fght. The tale generally is strongly
written and characterized By vein OF quiet satire.
Politics and the modern politician, and life at Washing
ton, afford the author many opportunities for telling
sarcasm, and the interest Of the novel never sinks
a Golden Dream is story OF life I'm Hayti with
such voodou accompaniment the demand for local
color seems TO Mr.. Fem to necessitate. There are
wicked Frenchmen, and gigantic negroes and crafty
mulattoes and lively adventures but little character
study. Tho author belongs to the old school, which
sought to centre the interest Of fiction In action which
neither knew nor cared anything about realism or intro
spection psychological analysis, but Just told story
straight out and left the reader to determine what man.
ner of men and women the people In the narrative
were. Nor is this kind OF story by any means dull or
undressing, the steady popularity Of il sufficiently
indicates The fact perhaps, that 1t does not require
special mental training TO appreciate 1t is a recon-
mendatlon TO many readers.
octave Thancts awe hll' appears to have been prl-
marlly wiItfcn boys book, but IL will interest
el,li af laPOe with deaIs xpit.
adventures Of Chicago lad, Who goes Southwark on a
visit The negro sketches and those OF plantation life
at the present time fresh and striking. and the
mystery is well preserved until the proper moment for
Its calculation.
Mr.. Lummis has produced . volume OF sketches and