San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-15

economic, ethical, and religious prob
lens of today are being most effect.
vely presented under the vail of
fiction. Few writer's, however, pos.
sess the power of eubordinating the
lessen to the story in q sufficient de
gree to hold the interest and thrill
and impress the average reader, who
is merely looking for something en-
tertaining Thus many writer's of
modern fiction in this age of unrest
and growth defeat their purpose by
preaching where they should picture.
The story deals with expanding wo.
manhood. 1t Is the legitimate pro.
is in perfect touch with the thought
of the hour. Incidentally the
of the very poor in our great cities lie
touched upon, and in n chapter we
have a prose etching of an apartment
In the Sums. which Is painfully true
to life. The great cardinal thought,
from the side of utility, is the picture
OF the crime against girlhood tolera.
ted by our present ''age of consent
laws" In victor Hugo's masterpiece
1t will be remembered that he sought
to picture mans struggle with unjust
law. In Miss Gardeners new book
she paints most vividIy the struggle
of girlhood with unjust social condi.
tons. Like Hugo, Miss Gardener
also deals in types. Gertrude Foster,
Frances King and Elite Berton are
types, but they possess nothing of
the colossal nature of Hugo's or
Jhakespeare's great creations.
Dickens also dealt in types, but he
intesified them until they often re-
sembIed caricatures. Not so with
Miss Gardener. While typing young
womanhood of today, she Hoes so
With such perfect naturalism that one
feels that the story is something more
than fiction. EACH character lives,
and we feel while reading that we
are being acquainted with the hap
penings of real persons. This of
course, is art of the realist; and, in
deed, while Miss Gardener is no way
writing history In "Pray You, Sir,
Whose Daughter" she is narrating
episoCe s and Incidents which a 9
happening every day in every centIe
of life.
There is no plot in the story; but
the interest of the reader Is held from
cover to cover. The most delicate
subjects are dealt with; but they are
so handled as not to offend any heal
thy Imagination while the atmos
phere of the book is pure and lofty. |
In Gertrude Foster we have q magni.
ficent picture of the modern girl; tree,
educated, untrammelled, with strong
and positive individuality; the broad.
minded, noble souled modern girl,
.phx laraa fa thipb n,,I tD m no 40
her highest convictions of right re-
gardless of consequences. There are
today hundreds OF Gertrude Fosters,
and they are tho advance guard of
the twentieth century womanhOod.
L wish every young woman In Amer.
could read this book, If ii were for
nothing else than to catch inspiration
from this splendid creation. In the
other two typical girls, Elite BertOD
and Frances King, we have strong,
natural, lifelike reproductions Of
thousands of young women who may
be found today in every great city.
Beautiful, i'll starred little Elite! How
the heart of every true man and
woman will go out in love and SYM
pathy for her! and In her fate it should
not be forgotten that we read the fate
of thousands of maidens, who, through
accursed laws, fall victims to some-
thing far worse than death while they
scarcely crossed the threshold
of wOmanhoOd-laws originated by
moral lepers for the protection of the
most heinous forms of RIGHTEOUSNESS,
and from year to year discussed In
secret sessions in various legislatures,
where systematic attempts are III
stantly being made to lower the age
which renders q moral leper exempt
from q crime far more colossal than
murder. Even this year a bill was
introduced in the New YORK legisls-
ture to lower the age of consent from
to thirteen years, and had it
not been for the vigorous efforts OF
stalwart friends of purity,
the measure would have
"Pray You, Sir, Whose Daughter?'
is far more than an intensely inter-
novel; 1t is q brilliant appeal
tor justice and purity; a protest
one of the most glaring crimes
blIsters the brow OF nineteenth
century civilization. 1t is pure, whole
some and inspiring. If the white
ribbon army should make 1t the
"Uncle Toms Cabinn of their noble
crusade, it would, l believe, accom-
plish more in n year than their
present efforts will realize ina decade
The price also of this volume is with
In the reach of all, being only fifty
cents per copy. It is published by
the Arena Pub. Co., Boston, Mass
and is one OF the handsomest books