St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-19
NEW BOOKS.

'GOld Dust" by Emeline Daggett
Harvey, is d pleasant, readable story,
with nothing new about it either in Incl
dent or plot. Laura Bassett. spoiled
beauty, was loved and wooed by two
cousins, bright young Englishmen, Rob-
ert and Allen Morton. Robert was what
our Yankee brothers call driver"
and bound to be rich man, of coarse
fiber and selfish habit, who was intent
on accomplishing his ends by every
means, fair or foul, and did reach the
goal of his desires as rule, let who
would stand i'll the way. Allen,
on the other hand, was the
exact opposite of his cousin, and Laura
loved him, as all women did, but through
treachery and Misrepresentation was
separated from him and induced to
marry his rival and cousin, Robert. OF
course she repented. and, though good
wife in the outward seeming. was at
heart true to her first love. After years
of struggle and miSery-yearS that take
the Mortons to Chicago in time to fur
niSh both victims and hero to those
dreadful May days that the Haymarl1et
tragedy has made historic-the lovers
are reunited. as they should be in
book; for in real life how few are the
lovers who "know when to come back
and be forgiven"
Mabel Collins has written several
readable books. 'The Confessions of
Woman" 1.-The Blossom and the Fruit"
and Lord Vanecourt's Daughter are
all from her pen. In this later book.
"SuggestOn,'' she has dipped into that
fascinating but little understood sub
ject, hypnotlsm, and creates girl,
Margery Hawthorn, who while being
strong, suIlen and c!ear-brained, allows
her will to become subject to that Of
another in a game called willing and
wishing. The other is the villain of
story, Oliver Heriot. Oliver, having
been disinherited by his father, becomes
a member of the Hawthorn family,
where he tries experiments III
the way of subjectlng Margery
to his Will and finds that she is COM
pletely under his control. When the
old Squire HeriOt dies and leaves his
money all to his son Rex. who is also
the betrothed of Margery, divers rage
is boundleSS, and he determines on re-
venge through his influence on Mar
gerry. How he succeeds the story tells.
The question of hypnotism or hypnotic
influence is one that has employed the
thoughts of many people for years, and
more so during the later years OF the
present century. 1t is most Interest
ing subject land one that opens up mum
berless theories. Ii it is possible for one
mind to suggest crime to another. where
shall the responsibility rest? Are we
free moral agents? We know that we
are influenced by minds about us. but
how much?
ssThe Song of America and Columbus,
or The Story of the New World-A
greeting to Columbus and Columbia,
and descriptive narrative OF the voy-
ages and career of Columbus and tho
precursors of this great discovery, with
The sequel as seen in the United States,
in celebration of the four-hundredth
anniversary of the d iscoyery of Amer
lea by Columbus in 1492-1S92." That's
the title in full of poem written by
Kinahan CORVALLIS, aud sent Us by his
publisher this week. The book begins
with a greeting from Columbia to Co.
iumbus In these lines:
Columbia greets Columbus now
Across the splendid bridge of time.
and moves along in spirited way to
tell of all the wonderful cities that now
greet the discoverer, who sought
Very few, il any, of the salient points
of our great country have escaped being
apoStrophiZed by this poet before he
sweeps into more heroic strain that
tells of the labors and wrongs of that
man whose bravery and devotion
brought such wonders of wealth and re-
nown to the cowardly ruler who had not
strength or courage to defend him when
the storm of envy and hate broke about
his devoted head and crushed his valiant
heart.
Of "My Uncle Benjamin." by Claude
Tillier, we will say nothing more than
the translator has said in his preface:
81 resurrect buried treasure; novel
unlike any other, by an author unlike
any other; novel, as Charles Monselet
says, that has no equivalent i'll the lit
erature of this century, novel which.
despite the pessimiSm with which it
opens and the pathos with which it closes
yes. even in theSe-nuSt take rank
among the wittiest and most humorous
ever written; a novel of philosophy, of
progress. of reality, of humanity;
novel of the heart and OF the head;
novel that is less work OF art than a
work of geniuS-the work OF an obscure
genius, child of the French Reyolu
nineteenth century and will be famous
early in the twentieth"
"a Survival of the Fittest' by Louis
Bond Mason and Norman Elliot,is title
which has really no connection with the
clever story it presents. The book is
another one of that notwithstanding
school whose object is to prove the rot
tenness of society. The heroine to save
the reputation of friend who has died
five minutes before. takes upon herself
the shame of an intimacy the dead We
man had had with married man. So
ciety. of course, turns against the self
confessed sinner, and she is driven into
an elopement with the married lover of
her friend. The story is interesting.
and the heroism of the girl undoubted.
but one cannot but deplore such stories.
If society be really so immoral. 1t is
matter for something graver than light
fiction. The conversations IN the BOOK
are admirably done.