New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-29
FICTION.
MR.. HOMELESS NEW BOOK.

AN IMPERATIVE DUTY BY W. d. iowells 12mo
PIP. $50. Harper d Brothers.
IN THE STRANGER PEOPLES COUNTRY. BY
Charles Egbert CraddOck. With illustrations. l2mo
PIP. 500. Harper d Brothers.
BLANCHE. LADY FALAIsE. by j. ii. shorthouse
12mo, PIP. 2sS Macmillan & co.
DUMARESQ'S DAUGHTER. BY Grant Allen. l2!no
PIP. 207. Harper d Brothers.
THE SHIELD OF LOVE. BY b. L, Farieon' lomo'
PIP. 234. Henry Holt & Co.
1emo, PIP. 1877. John W. Lowell 60.
LORD ARTHUR sAvILE's CRIME, AND OTHER
STORIES. BY Oscar Wilde 1Gmo, PIP los. Dodd'
Mead d Co.
THE BACHELORS CLUB, by l. Zangwill; l! BgS
trated by George Hutchinson. l2mo' pp' ''o
London Henry d Co.
Mr. HoweIlss Story is rather a sketch than novel,
and it is story with purpose. The scene OF action
is narrow the movement restricted and the actors
few. There two points of interest ana they are
closely allied much that the significance OF the
title. and its application, are not altogether clear
Mrs. Meredith Is woman face to face with lafd
problem Having reared girl with negro blood in
her VEINS In the belief that she is white, she Is con-
ronied with the possibility that this girl will marry
a white man. What is she TO dol She thinks 1T her
duty TO disclose the secret of her birth to the GIRL
but she first consults her physician, Dr. Olney, VINO.
witouo realizing it, has fallen In love with Rhodn lie
declines To give advice the difficult pesiuoh, out
Mrs Meredith decides for herself and tells Rhoda who
is naturally taken quite OFF her feet by the inteli-
gence. Mr. HOwellss description OF the poor girls
feelings and actions immcda ely after the revelation
is both delicate and powerful and his sympathy with
the heroine's situation Is apparent Mrs. Merediths
sudden removal cOmplicateS things. Two men want
to marry her: knowing the other not knowing, the
truth The Doctor, who knows, wins the day. but 10
Is cautiously intmated that the union had drawbacks
quar.er OF a century ago Mr. lowells would have
been accused Of answering the questlonthen thought
a poser by DemocTacs and Southcrners-" Would Won
like your daughter 10 marry Niger" IN the aIIrma
tive To-day that archaic cOnundrum has lost its
point but the social nws remain iegnrds questions
OF race, precisely what they were. by making his
heroine so white that nobody suspects the truth
about her. Mr.. Howcls, Of course, dlntes the prob
lem so to speak; but at the same time he seems TO
Intimate that even in such silence and conceal
ment alone render the success of such marriage
possible There is a good deal to he read between
the lines Of this little story which is written with the
authors accustomed skill and restraint, but IL does not
appear TO offer any very distinct conclusions on the
difficult subject OF which 1t treat.
Charles Egbert Craddock's new novel takes us
among The Tennessee mountains and mOuntaneers
again. and enables us to renew our acquaintance with
those simple folks who put their dependence upon
their rifles and TevOvers, who prone TO get re-
ligon" In sensational form at intervals but whose
spiritual aspirations prevent them from drawing
q bead upon an antagonist. An old aboriginal bury
ing ground forms the centre OF the action and the
story incidentally illustrates the ecctioneerng, the
festivities, the domestic manners and customs end the
uneradcated brigandage OF the region dealt with. 1t
Is rather odd that Shattuck, the only educated man
introduced is made to play a particularly mean and
nbject part that the only woman introduced who Is
| in any way superior to the barbarans among whom
she lives fails Of her purpose in life; and that the
one aineer who has any Individuality Is killed
in needless scuic arising out of misconceptlon.
This collocaion Of dark desnies gives rather pessi-
| t,,ia a., t1a hnnlF NIhiC wQH
and spritedly written and interesting throughout The
| author has certainly made humorous picture Of
Little Nose" II at the sacrifice OF his reputation rs
baby Like Carlyle in his youth Nose must lave been
| II ey Ill 10 live wiz
"Glanche, Lady Falase' is a thoroughly mclan-
choly tale. IT, moreover the authors purpose was to
present his heroine q high and estlmsbe character.
| he has not succeeded in this. girl who masks a
consuming egoism under the notion that she Is con-
secrated to great mission OF philanthropy, might
easily fall into the Illusion that self seeking theat
rical preacher was Paul; but IT, after having
been shamefuiy Tilted by that hypocrltc for Weather
woman such u girl married really noble who had
long loved her. and H. being married to him, she ron
| tinued to mourn for the miserable creature who had
! deserted her, blaming herself for her misbehavor
aud ignoring the steady and exalted affection of het
lsband-she would surely not deserve to be regarded
| ms n sanity person. Yet Mr.. ShOrthouse becomes al
tines almost maudn in intmating the holiness OF this
! unhappy but certainly not praiseworhy victim 10
| morbid emotion In truth Lord Falase is the hero
| Of the story and IL has no heroine. LADY Blanche
seems TO have been at no time wholly sane, and least Of
all so when she bestows fortune OF $4,000 upon the
] wretch who had fee5ly commended himself to her
invcteratc devotion by squanderng his wie's means
taking TO drinking and finally committing forgery and
getting Jailed rs n criminal. The best part OF the
story from an artistic point of vew is the conclusion
| Of IT, which affords the author opportunity for the
inf reduction OF enc OF those touches OF supernaturasm
which he Is so fond OF, and which he handles so skill
| fully.
| Mr. Grant Allen. everybody knows, likes
| PSYCHOLOGICAL problems and OF adventure and
| romantic action almost equally. In " Dumaresq's
| Daughter he has contrved TO crafty both these
tastes and the result very interesting and unusrn,
varied story. From Die philosophical studies Of
| old Dumaresq who is Herbert Spencer In multi
the reader is wired of TO kartoum, where he shares
I'm the last days OF the defence and the fall OF the
belcaglered city and the death OF Gordon Then back
and forth the story goes. between England and Africa
| hleicrs and the Desert until no can complain OF
any lack OF Incident though may think
| there Is rather Of 10 psyche
| physiological case is thrown In TO vndlcate the
moierntg 81 the novel. The heroine. Psyche, sepa
rated from her lover she supposcs forever. falls
nto the habit OF crying silently when she goes 10 bed
so az not TO disturb her father the philosopher. Pres
entity her eyes begin TO fail, and between her mental
worry ffor she knows that her lover has gone 10
Khsrtoum TO get killed. and her suppressed crying. she
| becomes blind. How, after many fluctuations Of hope