New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-03-04

he is subject to the dctation OF the res'ouS press
and to the tyranny OF prejudice the Co'"o'ie p'e''
is a character admirably delineated' ana n'''' N'''e
somewhere a living counterpart. Inc DOOM pu'po' %
to be written by Kenneth Paul put " i u'u' Wv
that this is a p.erdonyme for the Rev NJ - LOCK-
.,oI or -i,ci,na, The scene of the story Is laid
In Ncw-Jersey.
The reader OF Bret Harte's new books derives
from them no new impressions OF mankhd-ahd
no new impressions concerning the author apiii''
The stories in his latest collection are all couched
In that lightly ironcal angud.y humorous style
which has long delighted us. They eXhiD'' ahe"
the same human quaes-the whimsical lingering
Of chiyalrous feeling in the breast or d!sSOIute
rascal which leads him to act occasionally 10 Il
woman or 4 child like white man the mixture
OF syness and frankness. OF sentifnehtai'| anu
cold-b,ooded sslhshness In the average young wo-
man. Yuba Fiji reappears, OF course ana '"e En-
prossrnan and the Highwayman. and several other
Old friends and all shining with perennial huinor'
Most artistic and least artificial OF the collection IS
AN Ingenue OF the Sierras. the tale OF cohidihg
and childlke young person who pulls wool over the
eyes of stageful OF susceptible Californians and
carrics away into safety the hunted eduer VI d
gang OF outlaws.
The Rousng Of Mrs. Potter is the title OF the
first OF a series of short stories which recall in
manner and matter those OF Rose Terry COOKE
and Mary wilkins Most OF them Illustrate rustic
life and character. and their atmosphere Is SUD-
dued to the dim sadness which the American slo'y-
teller seems to prefer. The book shows clever and
careful work. and deserves cordial praise Inc
touching little sketch. AN Only SON. is really
mastery in construction so few are the details
which tell story.
Charming examples of the story-tellers art In
miniature are the little tales from French or NJ
Iu1ovic Hal6vy. and they are charmlngly trans
lated In unreality NJ Halevy IS a master. There
are those who would make Of Fairyland a prosalc
region. duly measured with parallels Of latitude
and mcrldans Of longitude. like any par; OF SeoS-
raphy Rut VI. IIaltvy makes tho actual world
unreal His people are much alive but they arc
parts Of stage scene and you are never quite
sure whether they telling you their own thoughts
or only coming over what they consider 10 be the
hourhts proper to the character which they happen
to mpersonate. The same vivacious little lady
might sit for the portrait Of either the Duchess
Of Larnilis or Nine. De Norolis. perhaps with some
changes Of complexion. And the scene IS enVeI-
oped by atmosphere which gives to the SIM
plest things an appearance Of being strange Is 1t
merely the cncbantment OF distance. or is II
secret of the authors art? At all events. W.
Hal6vy's personagcs might do very extraordinary
things without arousinG the readers incrcdulN.
or course tho mechanism of these little s,oricS TO-
minds one tha, VI IIalevy once wrote much for
the stage. There Is in them ~ mclitativc para
graphs in which the author thrUsts himself forward
to tell the reader what he thinks about characters
or Incidents Tho stories begin almost abruptly.
and a flashing dialogue or rapid narrative in tho
first person goes straight to the purpose OF the
piece and 80 10 the end Mr. Matthews Introduces
the collection Of tales with brief essay. party
biographical and partly critical He dwells on the
hopeful tone of H. Haltvy's writing and points out
how far II is from anything like pessimsm per
haps the dominant Characteristic OF the best French
fiction 90 our time H. also insists on the dis
tncily Partisan character Of his author As CON-
pared with others But this Is an easy Inference
IL
capital ami grew up In its theatres. /: IS minute
criticism - say that while NJ. lola the
side and VI. Georges Ohnet on the other. may write
French. VI. IIllcyy writes Plrisan." Just minute
as 20 s,, that Livy's Latin had Pavian twist in H.
In either case the matter Il ono ~ expert knowl-
edge. The book Is uniform with pretty series
81 Transitions It's frontlspicce is portrait OF "
Iltl(Iy az hts writing table.