The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-26
RECENT FICTION.

THE CHRONICl.to Or SOCNt AN.
y TONIC. by Anthony Hope, Author Of
1.-THE Prisoner Of Zenda." With photo
gravure frontispiece by 8. w. Van
Schaick. Cloth, 12 mo. $50. New York;
D. Appleton 4 Co.
That the pendulumic popular taste,
which erstwhile ran largely in the
direction of the Photographic realism
Of Mr.. Howells and Henry James, and
which sometime later took a swing
toward sexual fiction of the class of
"The Woman Who Did," is now full
bent in the direction of the romantic
department OF the novel-writers art
Is convincingly shown by the contem-
porary vogue of books like this one Of
Anthony Hope. The ronanticists are
three-strong since the occultation Of
Mr.. Quiller-Couch. and one can al
ready plainly hear the muffled tread
of a regiment Of ambitious reinforce
ments. There is Doyle, to begin with,
who excels in the simple spinning of the
yarn, but is inclined to vary the fields
of his endeavor, so that to call him
q romanticist Is only to half describe
him; there is Weyman. with style
odorous of the fragrance of mediaeval-
ism and knack of picturing men In
colors unmistakably true, but who has
never yet quite caught the secret or
womankind; and lastly there Is Mr.
Hope Hawkins, prosaic as to his name
but inimitable In his touches descrp,,
tive Of woman's whimS and foibles, ana
not far backward in his delineative
grasp Of the sterner sex.
We should like to say that Mr.. Hopes
bandit count equals In workmansnip
the same authors prisoner of Zenda."
or his later series of Princess Osra
stories; but in truth he does not. Not
that he isn't a most chivalric and
amiable free booter, who kisses the
ducal hand that smote him, even while
he knows that it would delight to wiring
his troublesome neck, and whose nice
sense of propr!ety in declining to elope
with the Lady Lucia when fate had
fairly thrown her in his arms and the
damsel herself was more than willing
will stand in the annals as lesson
to lovers for ages to come. Antonio Is
all that the most fastidious could de-
sire as a being of virile beauty, truth
and honor. and were he alive today
might we'll hope to compete with "Gen-
tleman Jim," the pugilist, as "Gentle-
man Tony" of the road.
But for all that. and despite much
additional grace Of style and felicity
of characterization reaching in in
stances to the plane of the authors
highest achievements, it occurs to us
that perhaps Mr. Hope is harvesting
his acres overanxlously; that perchance
the quality Of the crop would be more
uniform and on the average superior
II the quantity of it were a trifle more
restricted. Do not infer from these
slight expressions of doubt that "rhe
Chronicles OF Antonio" is not at it's
lowest point, immeasura bly, above the
tepid and anemic stuff which the dear
public, until very recently, dawdled
over and yawned at under the gross
delusion that 1t was reading literature.
There Is no moment in its perusal when
one misses the consciousness that he
Is being towed along in the swirl of 4
real genius, which sweeps through the
pages to real and sure results. The
principal deficiency we are conscious
of Is the absence of illustrations of
that exquisite insight into feminine ma
ture which the author has so happily
exhibited in the series of stories about
the Princess Osra. The Lady Lucia is
doll-like; and the only other approach
to real woman in the book Is the Prin-
cess of Mantivoglia, who. when we Incl
dentally make her acquaintance, is al
ready welded and therefore, by all
rules Of precedent in fiction, bowled
out Of the argument summarily.
-:I:-
MISS GRACE OF ALL SOULS. By Will
lam Edwards T!rebuck: Author Of est.
Gwen." etc 1s Drs nao, cloth. Ias'nSevs SIS. New
York: Dodd. Mead & Co.
miss Grace of All Souls" has been
well described as "a study of two varie-
ties OF the modern wOman-One Nance
Ockleshaw, the homely dutiful wife of
the miner, representative of the old or
der. devoted to things as they are, be-
cause they are unconscious that they
are wrong; and the other Miss Grace
Wade, the thoughtful daughter of an
easy-going vicar representative of the
new. To the social humiliation of the
Vicar of All Souls, Grace becomes SYM
pathetlcally attached to Nance, the
hard-working wife Of the miner; and by
degrees. to her son Sam, an advanced
democratic young miner who uncon-
sciously throws light upon the question
OF labor as between man and man, wO-
man and woman. and as between the
church and the state. Grace becomes
fired to protest against the things that
are, in favor Of the better things that
might be II the church would only do
its work. Hence the dramatic and psy-
Geological s!tuation-a Wears daugh-
ter in advance Of her parent, and a
miners son In advance of his; the two
with perfect spiritual unity between
them, but with the ludicrous crash of
the most calling social distinctions
standing In the way. 1t is to the evo-
luton OF this interesting social and eco
ncmic problem that Mr. Tirebucks book
Miss Grace Of All Souls is devoted. AS
a novel II Is powerfully imagined and
the readers interest In the development
OF the drama enacted in these pages is
held spell-bound to the end"
-:ll:-
DICK AND JACKS ADVENTURES ON
ley, Author of "Tan Pile JIM" Illus
trated; cloth. vo. 81. Chicago: Laird
& Lee.
This is a story Of two adventurous
boys who got stranded on an island Off
the Nova Scotia coast and have deal
Of fun and not a little anxiety before
they are rescued and taken home
Mr.. ASHLEY keys his writings to the
tune Of bright boys vivacious spir-
Its, puts an abundance of life, action
and excitement into his stories, and
makes his persOnages talk and act not
like puppets worked by hidden wires
but like real, flesh-and-blood young
sters of dash and daring. The result
IL that he is a prime favorite with
young readers, who, when there's
DOCK by him anywhere within reach,
follow the fashion of the FAMILIAR ad-
vertisement and "cry for It,"
--:II:-
PADDY AI1 o'LEARY AND HIS LEARNED
iustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele.
GIosh' Gosh' lS mo. 81. New York: Dodd,
Mrs. champney has here drawn roll
licking Irish story. bright in ap,ot w'ttv
IN dialogue and with sparkling touches
OF character-drawing. In the latter
part OF the book the famous Fa.Aer
Mathew. OF temperance renown, makes
his appearance as one of the person.
ages OF the story, and figures promi-
nently In some Of the eliminating
scenes. The comedy has its alteyna-
tions OF pathos, and rounds out. at
!ast, Into an effective object lesson In