Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-06-10
TENDER AND SWEET.
Beatrice Rafridsn's EoTsl . Ships That
Pass In the Night"
TIE DLER REVIEWS THE BOOK.
4 sad Swias Romance Gossip About Pen,.
senuary Bcciety--Ths Johnsons
and "The Blue Book"

When ! picked up Beatrice Harraden's
lovely little book. ''ships That Pass In
the Night" ] expected to peruse a volume
that was nautical In Its every suggestion
volume that savored OF seasickness. and
had pleasant. salt-herring flavor abou;
It, but was mistaken In my surmises.
the work has no more about ships and the
sea In II than one would find in cattle
car and such an animal as sailor Is
not mentioned In the whole story. The
title. which In itself Is enough to have
made the book success, IL purely
categorical. and refers-as I take ito
fhe noble deeds of persons who 20 un-
observed through this stale old world.
ana then die without getting so much
as three-line obituary in the newspapers
or Gxf-lnch tombstone over their graves.
People OF this sort ought TO be written
about. and IL had my way 1 would
smear them over with encomiums until
they looked as II they had been tarred
ana feathered. And I wouldn't have TO
90 much smearing, either. OF course, the
humorists have already begun TO poke
Iun at the title OF the tender romance.
One periodical publishes the sketch Of n
table. on which there are several OK those
desirable little articles. known as chips
not chips OF the old block"-but nice.
round, red. white, and blue little poker
chips. This expressive and most inte-
resting gem of art IS entitled. "Chips
That Pass In the Night" Another
modern Michael Angelo has depicted
temperance lecturer. as he. unseen and
unsuspected, draws schooner of beer
over the bar counter TO his expsctant and
eager mouth. This is true case of
ships mot chipsD That Pass in the
night SO much for the title OF my
friend Beatrice's boOk-now for the story
Itself, IL you care 10 look into L..
Ihe dear little love story. after you
have read about the hellish Heavenly
Twins" is as refreshing as "A milk shake
after walk UP the Ninth-street hill.
i found II so inexpressibly pathetic that
i almost came very near contributing s.
TO the Young Mems Christian Association
fund. III i had read 800 other books with
equally az much pathos In them, ! really
don't think / could have checked the
spirit Of prodgality that welled I'm. or
rather beneath. the manly bosom OF my
negligee shirt. In fact, 1 did put
Canadian Decent piece in church. The
authoress. without any preliminary clear
tngs OF her throat, and without any per-
ceptible efforts TO pull down her vest
and wipe Off her chin" forthwith starts
you TO weeping in Switzerland, without
any extra charge for transportation to
this picturesque land 80 full of Alpine
mole-hills. The scene commences at Pc
tershof. n village much resorted to by
invalids on account OF the healthful ef-
fects of the atmosphere and the fresh,
sweet breezes that blow across from the
ice-clad peaks of the neighboring noun
tains. Nearly everybody in the town was
Sick or dying, or about 10 get sick or
about to die. The place was n regular
SNAP for funeral directors, and though
Beatrice doesn't say So have no doubt
that IL was technically known as I'm
dertakers Heaven" When the doctors
failed to get rid of the sufferers with that
promptitude which insured semi-annual
dividends OF 20 per cent. on all invest
ments of the funeral directors some anna
bly-dlsposed individual would come to
the rescue by committing suicide. So.
altogether the village wasn't the most
cheerful spot on the globe. and no such
thing as lfe-insurance solicitor was
ever known 20 disturb the denizens there
of. This In itself made the resort much
more frequented than II would Otherwise
have been. Hither Btnadine Holme,
heroine. British girl, and school-teacher'
checked her little Saratoga trunk one day.
Bernadine's health was. as she thought,
beyond restoration even by Airs Sarsa-
parila or Slmmings's Dimnutive Liver
Pills, but she was hopeful and resigned.
She was n dear, "old -tmey" little prude.
who could conjugate her verbs In the sub
1unctve mood and write magazine aru-
cles like people you read about in poetry;
hut don't think she was pretty-she was
too much OF "llght-weight" for that.
Among the invalids at Petershof was a
Eour. lank, lean. MISUNDERSTANDING chap.
who had been christened Robert Allitsen,
but who, on account of his apparently
churlish qualities, was known among his
fellow sufferers as 1.-THE Disagreeabe
Man" Robert had many unpleasant
ways. He was the kind of chap who
reads a newspaper at the table yet al
ways manages 10 capture the only piece
OF egg In the salad-dish, or seizes upon
the poor solitary little chicken gizzard
Just as you had made up your mind TO
devour II yourself No wonder he was
unpopular-drat him! And then, to make
him a fend incarnate, he was an anna
teur photographer The authoress doesn't
say so, but I'll bet fifty to one that he
took snapshots on all the counting
couples. A man would have been afraid
10 kiss his girl-yes, even on top of a
secluded glacier-lest 1.-The Disagreeable
Man" might happen 10 be nosing around
with his camera ON page G. this photo
graphic iend. who took a great fancy
TO Bernadine. found that he was falling
in love with the little school "ma'am."
But he 'never touched" her. He Just
kept quiet, and nourished his affection by
criticising her to her face. and by making
himself more churlsh than ever Still he
was, deep down In his soul. a sympathetic,
IL.
visited the widders and orphans in the
neighborhood, and made himself useful TO
the needy. Robert was the kind OF
man who would listen unmoved to the
story of a suicide, and then 20 out
and photograph the Swiss ''po' white
trash free OF cost. Bernadine pretty
soon discovered the noble qualities that
lay beneath his rough and bony exterior,
and so. as a mark of courtesy, she fell
In love with him. She. also. never
touched him." Likewise "she never tod
her love. but let concealment like a
worm the bud feed on her damask
cheek" (For the rest OF this see Twelfth
Night" Act ill., Bernadine's character
vas as pure as the snow that sivered the
0ags OF the surrounding Alps but so
quietly did she perform her noble deeds
that no one ever heard OF them until
Beatrice Harraden wrote her up"
So:
BY and by the little school-teacher so
far recovered her health that she re-
turned home. and The Disagreeable Man
was left alone among his invalid COM
panions. Once or twice before she de-
parted he started TO confess his love, but
al the last minute. when she cast an ap-
pealing why-don't- you-own-up-old-spo
look at him, his nerve forsook him
and he entered a plea of not guilty. Even
after she had gone he wrote her a love
aetter-the sweetest love-letter I've ever
seen on paper, and unlike all others have
ever heard OF, the most truthful-but
once more his nerve forsook him, and he
tore II up. Then like a sensible man. as
he really was, he packed up his valise
ana went to England TO see her. He met
her only once, but had a come-early-and-
s'ay-late engagement for the next day,
which Bernadine inconsideratey broke
by being knocked down by horse and
subsequently, dying from the effects OF
the wound. The Disagreeable Man, brave.
despite his awful afiiiction, returned to
Petershof. and lived his dreary life
Through. That's all.