St. Paul daily globe., 1892-12-05
BOOK TALKS.


for the holiday trade an exquisite edi-
tion of Robert Browning's poems. The
book is everything a book should be.
The body is properly clothed in colors
as fine and delicate as the soul of the
poet himself. White for purity, gold
Tor wealth. and purple-who is it that
said purple is for lfe?-it holds the
crimson of blood. the azure of hope, alglf
the black of strength. OF the soul of
the book it is enough to say, Brown
ing wrote it"
Another book issued by the same firm.
and as royalty equipped, is an old-tiine
favorite. Scott's Lady OF the Lake" tt
is an interesting question. from a psyche
logical point of view, to ask how much
the reading of such books as ScOtt'S has
to do with keeping alive that delicate
sense of honor. that fiery love of coun-
try and nome, that loyalty to friendship
and fealty to love. that make men great
and women strong. l wonder If he
is read by the young people of today as
he was by those of forty, or even thirty
years ago.
The Lady of the Lake" is one of
Scotts sweetest stories. and loses moth
ing by being told in verse. Indeed, the
stately march of martial lines seems the
one fit setting to the old, sweet story of
Ellen Douglas love. the headloHg i'm
pptuosity of the rush OF Malcolm
Creme to the aid of the proud old
earl so unjustly banlshed. These are
rude tales told of ruder times; but may
not our money-getting and money
loving days learn something OF honor
and heroiSm from these old stories of
l,aa IitIct fnI
by Joseph NJ. Gleeson. which IS TO say
that the work is worthily done.
ga Rosebud Garden of Girls" is the
pretty name given to collection of
Nora Perry's stories for girls. These
girls. taken from various walks in life.
are real girls with all of girls faults
and follies, and also OF girls sweeter
attributes and higher aspirations. The
stories are we'll told, and teach lessons
of beautiful moral courage. or charity,
or self-forgetfulnesS, such as all peo-
pie, not girls alone, are the better and
higher for learning. What blessed
thing it is for girls that such Deauti-
full soul as that of Nora Perry should
be moved" as our Quaker friends
would say, to teach such lessons as
these in her owu attractive way. These
girls in the stories live ordinary, every
day lives. but lives that are broadened
and lifted out of the murk of selfish
ness and worldly living by just those
touches of the higher life that girls can
feel and appreciate. Mothers can do
their girls no greater service than to
Dut such books as this into their hands.
The curious and uneXpainable has
always strange interest for every STU
dent of human nature. We are all con-
sciouS of SO much that is mysterious in
ourselves and those about us that any
hypothesis that may be suggested by
which these things can be explained is
readily received, and, indeed, Is wei
coined. The deeper researches into
hypnotism and kindred subjects Of these
Later davs have opened views of pOSsi-
biIities in human nature that are deeply
Fascinating, at least. Some Sucn posi-
bilities as these have been used as
plan for a novel by Mary r. Z. Hatch
in her last book, 1.-The Missing Man"
Vane Hamilton, a prosperous business
man, happily married, and the father
of two lovely children. has been i'll the
habit of taking a mysterious journey
during the month OF May ever
since his marriage. He leaves home
",
disappears, Search for him is vain.
Mouths pass, and gradually the idea that
he has been leading ID double life gains
the assent of all his associates. Every
body but his wife settles down to the
belief that he is a criminal. having car
ried off a lot of notes from the bank of
which lie was cashier, and raised them
many-fold, aud fed with certain
strange woman who has emerald-tlnted
hair: and by this mark man, supposed
to be Hamilton, is traced from place to
place. But this man seemed tu have
Strange power over Others, could hypno-
tiZe them, in fact, and so eluded arrest.
Vane Hamilton then came home, look
ing his own handsome self. NO one
doubted him but his Wtfe-or. rather, but
Constance, who had been the wife OF the
missing man. She could not believe the
returned wanderer her husband. Then
appears another man, who COMES to work
at the mills. No one notices him, but
gradually the story is unWOund till the
final deuouement, so strange, so unu-
sual, takes place. 1t is most thrilling
story, and dramatically told.
1.-TWO Men and Woman is the best
thing that Franklyn W. Lee has vet
written. The story is well told. the plot
fertile in incidents that are highly
dramatic, and the author has handled
them in the most successful way. IL any
fault could be found, it would be in the
character OF the lmpetuOuS American,
Jack Haven. The proyocation is hardly
sufficient to bring about the drubDlng
he gave TO the faklr. Yug Goorni. 1t
would seem that any traveller with the
least understanding of Hlndoo customs
would not allow his anger to rush him
into striking all lmportunate beggar.
Then by so doing he ran the rlSk OF
mortally insulting one whom the people
considered holy; but the beating given,
the rest follows III most natural way.
whether the queer pipe, which was the
medium through which Yug Goorni
meant to work his revenge on the man
who had injured him, was poisoned, or
was simply the means of attracting the
attention of the victim, thus rendering
him passive while the fakir worked his
will upon him, is not clearly shown, or
rather 1t is left to the reader to decide.
The story is a sad one, and surely the
most malignant OF haterS would nave
been amply satisfied with the den0ue
ment
The second story in this book, Mrs.
Harding's Eyes," Is also very reada-
Die. The character of Mrs. Harding-i is
very llfe-like, as are the most OF those
in the story. The idea might be sug
gested that Mr.. Lee is believer in the
doctrine OF elective affinity, and, to tell
the honest truth, the most of those who
observe ths lives OF those about them,
seeking for motives to account for ac-
tions, can hardly believe auy other way.
That there is subtle something that
xfnakes the difference between those to
whom we may say 'Du, III tile German
fashion, and The ordinary human being
that we meet, is as strongly marked as
it is possible for anything to be. 10
Mrs. Harding Fred Hazelhurst was sim
Div that lacking halt OF the soul that we
used to hear about i'll the days when we
believed or hoped more.
PEARY AND THE POLE.