The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-27


A complete vigor transformed them.
Denison, turning, looked at Guy. whose
thin hand clutched his. But the boy had
gripped him unconsciously. prompted TO
a physical demonstration by the frightful
excitement that was waking In him. And
a. Denison regarded him with Q strange,
mournful Interest q at Of coughing sud-
denly tore him. He fell back. pressing his
hands to his side. The cough sank In his
throat and a red rush Of blood passed
from his lips over tho garish yellow
couch. and dripped to the fioor. mingling
with the woven red Of the roses.
But the musicians played on and the
dancers sprang and glided. They. too.
were under the spell Of the monotony
they themselves created. They had lost
the power OF listening and watching. in
tent only on being heard and watched.
And even Denlson sat for . moment,
gazing stupidity at the white boy, lying
back with gradually closing eyes. and at
the red stream flowing from his mouth.
He seemed but a ghostly central figure In
picture. posed. by q master Of the art Of
creating horrors, In the midst OF group
Of demons.
1X.-A Foresoue Conclusion.
and the whole passion Of riddle-solving.
which had gathered force day by day
until II had dominated every other in
stinct OF his being. went out to >the
great. stone image. which his abnormal
Imagination soon clothed with the at
tributes OF divinity. The rational saw
age OF prlmeval ages worshipped the
rude carving which did service as his
idol: and our irrational degenerate.
whose veins burned with the poison Of
I'm de steele cynicism and misdirected
culture, made OF this staring symbol
OF antiquity mistress and God. Odd
as II may seem. almost ludicrous at It
would be In the hands OF an artist less
sure In his grouping Of the lights and
shades and colors. Denison "fell In love
with that stone mystery Of the sand
and the old years. with that everlasting
wonder Of which men have chartered
through the ages" and the reader OF Mr..
Hichens' book accepts the situation
with scarcely murmur Of protest.
Night after night Denison crept out
into the desert. ito be alone with that
stone incarnation in which a wonder
fll soul had surely taken UP Its abode"
Repeatedly. by artful trick and even
by physical violence TO his wondering
wife, he postpones the day Of their de-
parture from the vicinity. In order that
he might remain near to his newly-lis-
covered shrine. And In climax which,
however absurd It may seem apart
from the books remarkably woven
spell. appears In Its sequence almost
natural and certainly not unexpected.
Denison finally, In dead OF night. rushes
out upon the massive column and. we
are to suppose, lays down his life there
as a supreme offering to II.
Words have seldom been used with
greater skill and more palpable po-
tency than in "An Imaginative Man."
Yet the whole atmosphere Of the book
IL sitting and perfervid. The normal
reader reads OF abnormality under at
least silent protest. Most laymen shun
the sights Of the dissecting room and
the clinic. No doubt these sights have
their fitting place In the development
Of science and in the progress Of hu-
manity; but they are not welcome
sights, and the average human has no
wish to be a party to them. The work.
ings Of disease are not more pleasant
In the mind than In the body. One
wishes that Mr.. Hichens might utilize
his undeniable talents to more whole.
some purpose than In picturing the
vagaries Of mental arrangement or In
lifting the veil which fortunately, In
real life, usually screens the inner rot
tenness of mental and moral perverts.
Art can be art without Of necessity be.
Ing noxious. L. 8. II.
Il Il Il
AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS:
The Century has secured Mrs. Wards
new novel.
Sidney Colvin's biography Of Stevenson
will be delayed two years.
Miss Edna Lyalrs new story will deal
with the subject Of divorce.
Edith H. NJ. Alden. Of Harper's Month
ly. will publish "A Study Of Death"
William Watson has composed an ode
in honor Of the Burns centenary in July q.
A new juvenile magazine will be Frank
Leslie's Pleasant Hours for the Boys and
Girls.
Barrie's story CT London child-life, "Sen-
timental Tommy" will appear a. Q Sc i7i
in Scribner's.
Ian Maclaren's next volume Of stories
Will be christened "The Days Of Aud
Lang Syne."
Professor Edwin A. Grosvenor, Of Am.
herst. has written q notable history of
Constantinople.
HeSekiah Butterworth's forthcoming
I'm Old New England" will picture the ro-
mantle side Of colonial New England life.
]. w. Sullivan. whose Tenement Tales"
contain some moving pictures Of life In
New York city. Is a Pennsylvania by
birth.
Two more Of Jose Echegaray's plays
have been done into English prose-"The
Great Gale0to" and Folly or Eaintli-
ness"
A young English novelist has made Hall
Caine the hero of story, In which many
points Of his character are mercilessly
ridiculed.
Poet w. p. Henley and Critic George
Saintsbury are candidates for the chair
Of English Literature In the University of
Edinburgh.
The latest volume Of the Dictionary OF
National Biography" extends from Owens
to Paselewe. Leslie Stephen treats of
Tom Paine.
Charles kingsley's daughter. Mrs. Har.
rison ("Lucas Malet'D has written new
novel with the queer title Of THE Power
Of the Dog"
French Pond, . beautiful sheet Of water
In park about a mile from the home OF
the late James Russell Lowell. Ii to be re-
christened Lowell Pond.
"EIlixabeth Hastings" the author OF that
clever satire. "An Experiment In Al
truism," turns out to he Miss Margaret
Sherwood. young instructor In welles-
ley college.
Professor Caesar Lombroso, the emf
nent italian criminolo8ist. has summed
UP '"The Most Noteworthy Results that
Have Been Achieved In Criminology" for
a future Forum.