The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-10-01
CONCERNING BOOKS.
BY e. cAyAzzA.

The Woodman. By Jules de Glouvet.
on. Guernay de Beaurepaire, Procureur-
General of France.) A man overbur-
dened with national cares, assailed by
political enmities, has need of some re-
treat of the spirit, where the tension of
his mind may have relaxation. The jests
of the saddest of men, Abraham Lincoln,
are said to have been the safety of his
noble brain. Similarly it appears that
the delicate and brilliant art of fiction of
M. Guernay de Beaurepaire, Public
Prosecutor of France, is a little world of
sylvan and idyllic content, where the
fierce cries of party never penetrate.
There the giant renews his strength by
contact with the mother Earth.
In the translator's preface-somewhat
feminine and emotional in styles rap
idly recorded the honorable history of
NJ. de Beaurepaire. He has more than
once saved the French nation from peril
In assuming the responsibility of the
accusal-of Boulanger, in his defiance of
his slanderers, and lately in the trial of
the Anarchists, April, 1892, he has shown
himself to be what the Republique Fran
caise newspaper called him, 1.-THE bravest
man in France"
Also in literature he appears as the
| arraigner of that which is base. Under
the nom de plume of Jules de Glouvet,
he writes romances which belong to the
new Idealist school Of fiction, whose
purpose is to correct the evils caused by
the naturalistic excuses Of the novels of
M. lola and his followers, The Wood
man is an unpretentious masterpiece, at
tanning to beautiful idealism by the
most truthful and simple observation. 1t
is full of the love of the forest, and the
aroma of the fir trees, the murmur of
the boughs, the wild happiness of ami
mails are in its pages. The peasants of
the Chemin Vert have no world outside
of the woods that employs them all, in
one way or another; a little more, and
they would have been like the antique
fauns and dryads. The author makes us
feel this passion for the forest, embody-
ing it in the person of Jean Renaud, a
cripple. who however climbs trees, Yields
the axe, hunts the boar. The primitive
thought, the dignity and tenderness of
the climber are depicted with extra
ordinary sympathy. In the latter pages
of the story the calm of the priest is
broken by the guns of the German inva-
sion. The tragedy is brief and powerful
A few phrases, descriptive of moment
in the woodcutter's life, may give an idea
of the remarkable concentration and SEN
timent of the story:
Remand had only to choose his trade in the
| midst OF this sylvan population. At first he be-
| using their axes at his side; his strokes ought
| to keep time with theirs; it was like going to
school again. And then the poor old trees! 1t
men at once, and from behind, too. Had they
| not already been shorn of their heads when he
attacked them so cruelty? Indeed, they
f6ere t9 tremble And his copanons e I'D thew
not give vent to shocking oathS, enough to scare
| the BIRDS when the task became hard? for
| some trees make better defense than others.
The Blue Grass Region of Kentucky.
By James Lane Allen. The life and
manners of the Kentucky plains, fertile
/ and beautiful, producers ola superb race
of horses-are delightfully."- depicted by
Mr.. Allen. These sketches were de-
signed as illustrative companions to a Sc
| ries of stories, some of which have al
ready been printed in the authors Flute
and Violin. AS the several chapters Of
the present volume have appeared in the
Century Magazine and in Harpers-it
may suffice here to call attention to theil
fine literary quality, their advantageous
grouping together, and the tasteful anc
readable edition, with beautiful engrav
] inps. in which they now apnear. New