The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-04-03
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BOOK REVIEWS AND news.

1t 10 refreshing to read . good story
chat has not as an object the discrediting
OF some OF our instincts or traditions, or
the exposition OF some social variation OF
more or less nausesting tendency. "The
Joseph Hatton, 10 such story-e
q moral, and in no need of
one. Jessop Blythe was "A member OF
semi-communistio company OF hereditary
rope makers whose factory was In .
natural cave In Devonshire, England.
They called 1t GOODS factory" Jessop
Blythe persisted in getting drunk and tho
rope makers formally cast him out. he
trudged away down the dusty rosa
daughter behind. He. went into
an obscurlty from which he did
not emerge for 20 years. But the infant
daughte became q blooming young wo-
man, a handsome and independent young
woman, loved, to be sure, by youth VINO
had been adopted by the rope makers.
Adser was tho girls name; Lewis Tregar-
ron was his. Then came along Geonrey
Lathkill, young man whom his iather
had obligingly made wealthy by iiIs OF
drudgery, and then almost as obligingly
died. Geoffrey Travelled a goodish bit, set
up bachelor quarters and pretentions OF
being proof against the charms OF the
gentler sex. There was Zodack BRADFORD,
lapidary, who played the part oil father
to Adser to such perfection as an ola
bachelor often can and there was Jessop
Blythe's mother, quite the harridan of the
story, who was dubbed "Stingy Blythe
and was the special detestation OF the
whole OF the small communities with
there was Scarthin Blythe, with Q
black record, Jessops rich
but rascally brother. who is hauled In by
the heels to create couple OF dramatic
incidents. Geoffrey Lathkill ieii
pTebPptISy ana and tbat aeeP Ppiimevai virgin
gave him back in kind, after he had had
bis struggle with his conventional ideas,
and been beaten by true love and beauty.
Trcgarron behaved rather nasty, put
finally brought himself to accept the In
evitable, though with poor grace. lie
packed his satchel, and started on. just
before he went, however, there were
some strange happenings. Jessop
came home rich, and longing for his
daug hter's affections and the good Will OF
his old neighbors. He was strangled to
death in his bed the first night he slept
in his old home. Tregarron could not
leave without a last word with Adser, and
was seen to leave her house very early on
the morning that Jessop was found dead
Scarthin Blythe came along just In time
to denounce Tregarron as the murderer,
and tried to capture him. Tregarron did
not know that Jessop was dead, and threw
Scarthin over ledge and knocked the
breath out of his worthless carcass. Then
Adser rides furiously to Tregarron and
hustles him into a secret chamber In the
big cave, and kept him there until 1t became
known that Scarthin's last words declared
his being thrown over the precipice was
i'm elf-defen nse. Geoffrey came back from
London and was dlspleased at Adser's In
terest in Tregarron, narrowly escaping
making his cake dough. The tangle was
straig htened when Adser captured the
real murderer, an insane idiot. The love
making Is rather tame, and the last chap
ter might as we'll have been omitted.
[Lppincott; III. Gregory, Providence.
In ''The People and Politics Of the Far
East" Mr.. Henry Norman has produced
book OF surprising interest and timeiiness,
excessively British In tone and permeated
with that spirit OF empire which makes
many very capa ble English writers almost
ridiculous in the eyes OF such as are able
to look upon England's colonial opera
tions without prejudice. Mr.. Norman has
made "A sort of English "bluo book,
keyed to England's hopes and ambitions
In the East rather than devoted to a dry
discussion of diplomatic facts and
fgments. In his concluding chapter,
which is In .. the nature 3, OF "a
has been to show that we have the right
and the opportunity, and therefore the
duty, greatly to extend our influence and
our trade--in a word, our empire-in this
great division of the globe. The figures
Of our predominant interest, which
have given in every case
where they could be obtained,
speak for themselves. No other power
can present statistics which even APP
oroach them. And the future, IL we
grasp 1t now, will utterly dwarf the
past" With this sort of statement
everybody who reads English periodical
literature or newspapers is weariedly
.amiliar, rs with the composed
serenity with which the English
obliterate crude nations and impoverish
and extinguish peoples To extend their in
fuence. But while we must expect Mr..
Norman 70 thresh over this old straw, we
are sufficiently grateful to him that he
has SO skillfully and entertainingly
accomplished his patriotic task.
He has made an eminently read
able instructive and entertaining
book almost invaluable just now that
all ewes are turned eastward, and every
body il speculating about the future OF
China, Japan and Korea, and the part to
be played there by England, Russia,
France, Germany and possibly Amer
lea. [Chsrles Scribner's Sons; Preston q
Rounds, Providence.
Transition" is a new novel about to
Issue from the Lippincott press by the