St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-16
NEW BOOKS.

"a Double Overture" by E. F. Benson.
author OF ''Dod0. A Detail of the
Day." Charles II. Sergal Company,
Chicago. Price, so cents.
Can the author of "Dodon have
written these tender pathetic sketches
and fragments of stories? In his de-
scriptions Of the fashionable life of
London's fast set MIR. Benson portrays
such deliberate evil, such a delight in
wantonness and sin that although there
is a certain glitter and brightness about
them, like the glow of rotten wood, they
can serve no moral purpose. But in
this handful of sketches bound together
III careless manner, the hand of the true
literary artist is evident. Few of tn
years books can equal this in sweetness
and purity. The diction is beautiful
AMI and the pathoS of these simple
stories will move hearts long unused to
pity.
The initial number. "rhe Double
Overture" which gives the title to the
book. is a fragment from previous
work. 1.-The Rubicon." Lady Hayes,
fashionable woman of the gayest of
London, who had sold herself for title
and wealth, and who in heart had
Crossed the line that separates inno-
cence and evil, only lived To be amused.
She ME: a young, unsophisticated boy,
Reggie, jus. home from India. and for
once fell in love with his fresh. boyish
beauty. She wanted TO be amused, and
he amused her. He took her seriously,
told her with enthusiasm of Gertrude,
his fiancee, and lie thought Lady Hayes
quite the most beautiful. the truest
WON III he had ever met. While he fol-
lowed in her train. she tried to inStill
into his mind the moral code of her set,
and as they were to take part in an
opera party to hear ''rannhauser," and
Reggie had never heard the opera. she
explained the overture TO him. But he
said:
ii am afraid + am awfuliy stupid,
You know. l don't know what you
mean" She told him he would when
he heard If.
When they touk their seats the over
ture began. The pilgrims march is
given out slowly. soiemnly. the march
of men walking steadfastiy in perilous
places. weary, yet undismayed. Then
followed the army of Venus. and then
the great conflict between good and evil
began. The great sensual animal be.
gan TO stir. its heart beat with the throbs
ofreturning life, and it rose up. The
violins shivered and rippled and laughed
as Nenus5urg came in sight, they rose
and fell. gathering strength and rising
i.yh n nj, f,lt
Infinitely beautiful. But below then,
not less steadfast than before, moved
the pilgrims" Fhe struggle was at its
highest. the triumph OF Venus and her
train seemed complete, when Reggie
suddenly arose, aud, standing at his
full height. turned towards Lady
Hayes. His face was very white. and
he tried to speak. At last the words
came. You are a wicked woman" he
said and moment afterwards the door
of the box closed after him. 'The
Double Overture was performed twics
that night.
The other sketches in the book
breathe deep ana tender sympathy for
all sorrow and suffering. Like the sweet
and plaintive melodies of Burns the
author touches the common events of
life and shows how full of tragedy they
are.
In the sketch Autumn and Love-"
the little dog trying TO attract the alien
ton of his dead playmate, whining by
the bed, performing the little tricks she
had taught him and receiving no notice
attempted one he used TO do when lie
was younger. But he was too stiff. aid
he fell over. He wagged his tail and
looked up TO the bed as it he should say
he'd tried his best, and when he saw she
didn't notice him, he gave a whine like
thing in pain and lay down by the bed.
They took him from the room, but in the
morning he was found lying at the door
quite dead. The old servant, Ellis,
turning away from the open grave of
his only child, and then going back and
kneeling down by the side of the open
pit, with the cold rain beating down on
his grey uncovered head, whispering
"GOod-bye, dear lamb, dear laGlb"-
these common things-as the anguish of
the little dog. the sorrow of very old
man for his only child, the broken piece
of chalk falling from the pocket of the
dead boy, the author shows are parts of
the sOfrowful tune which vibrates
through this world.
"a Yellow Aster," by Iota. Charles H.
Serge! company. Chicago. Price %
cents.
''And if this fought for climax is ever
reached and science creeping along the
path of experiment so invadeS the realm
of nature that blue chrysanthemum
or "A Yellow Aster,' can be produced at
will, the question Still remains. has
nature been made more beautiful there
by% With this quotation the book
begins and proceeds to show how two
pare hts tried along the path of expert
ment to so invade The realm of humanity
as to produce original specimens of
their wretched children.
The plan tor their education was not
to send them to school or allow them to
hold intercourse with other children; to
allow no woman to have any hand in
their tuition. to exclude all sports from
their curriculum, and all Christian
teaching to be utterly taboo6d.
Under such pair Of literary lmbe-
Giles the children developed Oh some
lines, but of human affection as igno-
rant as Zulus. Dacre, the boy, proved
too much for his tutors, and was sent
to Elton and Sandhurst. Of course, he
saw more of the world, and was more
human than his sister Gwen, who, at
nineteen, was as unlike any specimen
Of the human genus as yellow aster
would be to any known specimen of that
kind of flora.
The book is well written. but where
fore? 1t to influence mercenary. love-
less marriages, why not write of exist.
ing conditions?
The whole story is unreal. Gwen
Waring. a girl with great natural ca
pacity for loving. absolutely brought
up without even the affection of dumb
pets, living with parents who never
and hmm