Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-17


 his love and gratitude for the young min
 ister, never fails to aver that he is not
 worth such solicitude and care. In the
 midst Of such work among the poor and
 fallen Bayard is betrayed into an avow-
 al of love to young woman whom he
 knows he cannot ask to share his pover-
 ty and strife; page after page tells of a simple, noble story, with style that is
 terse, energetic and forcible. The book
 ends in a tragedy, but we feel it Is only | fitting close to the persecuted Christ-like
 life of Emanuel Bayard. A young New York lawyer with a promise of 8 brilliant career, was forced and finally in the south. In this inforced leisure MT. James E. Burnett found amusement and occupation, says a re-
 viewer, in contributing to the periodicals
 of the day and now he has published 1 Love and Laughter, A Legacy of Verse" with an introduction by that em- | inent poet and critic, MT. William Win ter. Listen to the following description
 of southeriI girl
 | Her eyes
 Would match her southern skies. That all their beauty lend her; l Their light,
 l Like stars of southern night | Is soft and clear and tender. Her laugh. l As light as wine or chaff, Breaks clear. at witty sallieS. As brooks
 Run bubbling through the works | or all her southern valleys. Her voice,
 By nature and by choice, l Fen those who know her slightest l Will find
 l As soft as southern wind. | When southern winds are lightest.
 Can anything be more graceful or deli cate of expression?
 l Edward W. Townsend joined the staff | of the New York Sun nearly three years l ago. and during that time it is said, he | has made for himself an enviable reputa- l tion, not so extended a reputation, how ever, as the publication of "Chimmie l Fadden" has given the young author. l Of the knowledge of the people of whom 1 Mir Townsend writes, he says: There l was one httle fellow down at one of the l slips. He was the most perfect Bowery l boy I have ever seen. 1 used to go down l and pretend to sit reading @ paper, or to be waiting for somebody, just to be near | him and hear him talk. I studied hard l on three things in particular-the idiom, | the slang and the dialect The last is the l least important and the easiest to get. | Anybody can get 1t, It rather hurts than l helps the stories in my opinion. What l 1 care most for is the slang and idiom. l They were modified as I went along and learned more about them. It was hard l to get them well, for the people will not
 talk the same way with a stranger as l among themselves"
 l In MT. Townsend's new work, "A l Daughter of the Tenements," we miss quite great deal of the dialect, which l most readers found unintellgible in | "Chimmie Fadden," although it's truth | fitness to the life represented added to | the authors success in his work. The scenes are laid in New York, the East l Side, popularly known as the slums. The | book is strong and forcibly written, show | ing quite a genius for dramatic recital, and the author Is praised for the truthful | ness and accuracy of the life he repre- l sents. In the development of the plot, | which Is somewhat complicated the au- | thor takes us from Mulberry Bend to the l home of the Hazelhursts, who stand for l the 400, with a rapidlty that Is bewilder- | ing, and @ quaint picture is formed in 1 the readers mind when he tries to fancy l Dominica" an Italian fruit vender, in | the parlors of the elegant Hazelhurst | home.
 "Dominico, for this tremendous occa- l sion, had achieved the acme of gorgeous l ness; butterfly, any number of butter l flies, in comparison, would look like | flight of humble moths. His tight lav- l ender trousers failed by design to con- | meet with the tops of his pumps, thereby artfully disclosing a section of scarlet hose His dres-coat was reddish brown, l and was fairly crusted with enormous shell buttons, and generously revealed 1 low-cut vest of purple crossed with watch chain of mighty links. His loosely | flowing scarf was Dominico's pride, his own unaided invention. It consisted of l two voluminouS breadths of silk wound | together; one a pale salmon in color, the other brilliant green" Mr. Townsend has been very much crit | icized for the expressions of distrust and fear against the "society" in the opening | chapters of his work, for he does make some sarcastic and biting remarks on | this subject. Carmenella and Tom are | original and pure creations, and the en- | tire story clusters around them as cen | ter. While the book may be considered good work, showing ability on the part of | the author in his individual field, it is | not such a book as most readers would enjoy; one will not lay it down, after read l ing it, any the purer, better or more h. | formed for it's perusal PAUL PRY.