New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-03
MISS WOOLSON'S LAST BOOK
ATTRACTIVE STUDIES OF LIFE IN MED1-
TERRANEAN REGIONS.

son managed the bits of history and Archaeology
which she found necessary to her narrative. III '"e
description OF Menone and the region near that
town her contrivance IL the traditional one Oh the
| novel-writer She introduces the pedant' that MS
torc character who has figured as the butt OF the
romancers at intervals for nearly three Thousand
wears In his mos, -msdern guise the professor al
ways ready to be sent on bootless errands' AWAY
making n fool Of himself in any little act OF gar
Iantry that ne attempts. but always READY VIII"
an answer when anybody wishes 10 KNOW 'he HIS
tory OF a tower or an ancient road or mediaeVai
hattIe The professor Is effusve He pours out MS
learning whether anybody wishes to hear 1t or not
Miss Wooison balances him with younger man
who reads up on Mentone and explains Things so"ie-
what more opportunely than does MS eidery rival
Thus the antique knowledge wrested from guiue-
book and cyc.opedia is worked into the very detais
=, n ,ova-storv the progress Of which carries the
actors in II all over Mentone and Monaco by the
time everybody discovers which OF the young men
has captured the beauty OF the party there Is ho,h
ing left to see The tourists have looked over the
old Town traversed the Cornice road inspected the
caves of the trogodytes looked In at the Capuchn
Monastery watched the gamblers at Monte Carlo,
s,ud,ed the olive orchards and the lemon panta-
lions and so ready to part. The characters are
40 varied that they never tempted 10 DC "''-
tated with each other. Everything Is as sunny DIS
the climate of Mentone Itself, though al the emu
there Is for one of the players in this bit OF realism
rast to the 'lIghtness of the rest
In the study OF Cairo and Its environs there Is
ust so much of history and antiquity as can De
made picturesque. One sees again the FAMOUS "ood-
en- man. a statue which has preserved from the
very beginnings Of Egyptian civilization htelKe-
ross and unconventlonality that few modern sculpt-
ors can rival and hears again about the wonder
FIJI find of the mummies OF the Pharaohs, one OF
which Miss Wooson remarked, CLOSELY reseihpieu
vo.taire. This. however" she added Is propaoy
due to the fact that Voltaire closely resembled
mummy while living" There were also antiquities
loss remote the ancient mosques OF the Arabians
and the still ancient churches OF the Christian
Copts Then there the houses OF the older part
of Cairo Outwardly these houses look ike RUNS
but within the traveller found beauty to be COW
eted walls studded with jasper and mother-of-pearl
carved and gilded ceilings, and ali the fances OF
Saracenic architecture She was admitted to one
house eight centuries old, the dwelling of the only
direct descendant OF Mahomet. 1t was strange
place with Its inner court and its group OF CHAM
bers, the more ancient of which were crumbling ana
roohess while In others the delicacy OF Saracenic
decoration shamed by European carpets and
Western furniture. Under ceiling that rivalled
the hues Of Persian weaving, surrounded by walls
incrusted with old blue tiles. stood tables and chairs
instead of the Oriental dvan and these rested not
on the ancient marble floor but on a smooth French
carpet. The charm anu mystery OF EasrerU1fe must
be disappearing fast where such things be seen in
the home of Mahomets family. After that shock to
the dreams of the Arabian Nights. 1t matters little
that lawn tennis fourshes at the foot Of the pyra-
mids.
What would not one give" exclaimed Miss
Wooson. ITO see the sheyhk. who Is himself
purely Oriental figure seated in this splendid hall
OF his fathers 1t once was, on one of the now
superseded divans. the marbles OF his floor I'M
covered save for his discarded Turkish rugs, the
fountain sending forth it's rose-water spray, per-
fume burning in the silver receivers, and no en-
numbering furniture piles Of brocaded cush
ions and jar two on the sded shelf?' But
all those beauties OF the past are becoming mere
memory like the glory OF the ancient world that
preceded them. In religion and In education, In
the mosques and In the old university OF Cairo.
best preserved the architecture and the customs
OF the medieval Arabian conquerors. In the
ancient school the multuces OF students still sit
ss-legged on the floor. and they still have the
outfit which their predecessors had ages ago
a Koran. a rug. low desk. a slate. an inkstand
and an earthen dish. And the poorer ones sleep as
others did before them. in the courts OF the uni
versity. The genii, too. the very ones that figure
I'm the Arabian Nights, perhaps. may still be seen
by the devout in the dark wardrobes of the inner
rooms. But all around these little realms of old
Arabia surges life. such as Egypt never
held before.
In Corfu the traveller had the impression Of in
Vulnerable churches. all like vast jewel-boxes.
There was little light in these from without. The
most brilliant sunlight struggled family through
the dark tnts of the stained glass. But the orna-
mentation seemed never paltry or tawdry. The
light from the wax tapers reflected from the
icons in repousse work OF silver silvered copper,
or gilt that lined the walls These not always
ancient but they always follow traditional models,
those OF time when the Eastern Church had still
the shadow OF an empire behind 1t, and
preme IN ConstantnOple. Nor were the churches
all ancient. The Oldest OF them was dedicated to
St. JASON name suggestive of all Mediterranean
wanderngs but claimed in this for kinsman
OF ST. Paul. Somehow ST. Jason neglected
by the people. But II seemed with its vines and
flowers to be saying confdentially ITS not my
fault that people won't come here. But II they
won't, I'm not unhappy about II; the sunshine. the
vines and I've do very well together" There
were memories, too. of Venetian supremacy and
OF times pre-Homeric, represented by scuptured
lioness only less venerable than the lions OF Ny
cenae. Miss Wooson happy In the firm belief
that Corfu was the realm OF King Alcinous and that
the very spot could be found where Nausicaa
ba thed and played at ball with her handmadens.
But she had to laugh when she came upon villa
utterly English and modern, like something or
other from Cheltenham, and read over its dusty
gate "Alcnous Lodge" The thinks
Of that. the funner 1t The book is crowded
with illustrations.
Studies In Theo.ogic Definition Underlying the
Apostles and Ncene Creeds,' by Frederic Palmer
(; =. Dutton & Coz. is helpful and uplifting
book. Mr. Palmer who is a clergyman of the
Episcopal Church. is a broad churchman who Is
profoundly saturated with faith In the eternal
vorlties of religion. His book will be his first In
PRODUCTION to the general public; but unless We are
mistaken. those who read 1t viii desire 10 become
better acquainted with him. In luminous and
cogent way, with trace whatever OF contro-
versial rancor. he strives to show that the re-
ligious thinking Of the present day, In its highest
and best manifestations, is not antagonstic TO the
religious thinking Of the past. but is fulhlmen
Of IT, 1t is refreshing to find such topic as this
treated by man who Is at once clear thinker
and a seer touched by the revealing Imagination
OF the poet. The book is timely contribution to
the religious literature OF the day, that is more
concerned to find the truth than to overturn old
dogmas or establish new ones