The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-16
RECENT FICTION.

Being Further Sketches OF Drumtochty
Cloth, l2 no. si25 New York: Dodd.
Mead & Co.; Scranton, for sale by II.
Howard Beidleman.
Ninety nine times out OF one hundred,
if not oftener, the experiment of
clergyman entering the field of let
ters as a writer of fiction will fail. and
fail disastrously. Apart from the in
stance before us do not now recall q
the extent which would doubtless have
been realized had the author been freed
from the homiletic environment. The
business OF a preacher being to preach,
Il is natural that he should, in the over
whelming majority Of instances, con-
tinue to perform this edifying but not
always entertaining function in the
novel as well as in the pulpit Now. the
preuchy novel has its admirers, and In
its way ! dare say it deserves them.
The utilization of romance as kind of
handmade to theology, the shifting OF
scenes on an imaginary canvass for the
purpose of giving the worthy lecturer
at the stereopticon a chance to indulge
in highly praiseworthy precepts-this
sort of thing, ! say, has educatfonal
value. but 1t Is generally conceded to
belong to the primary grade. 1t suf.
fees admirably in the Sunday schooi
libraries and Is of charming availability
at the holiday time when grandmama
wishes to give to young America
Christmas t~l'n at once readable ana
safe. But nd this. the hortatory
novel is lily ignored, and art,
very fortunatey for all concerned, Is
permitted to exist in its own person,
sovereign and supreme.
/ count il as the chief merit of the
Rev. John Watson, otherwise ian
Maclaren," that having only just left
the pulpit of church by traaItion Sc
we're in it's manners and almost for-
bidding in It's morals, he should have
given to the world series of wonder
fully human sketches In which, with all
their purity of inspiration and their
tonic moral properties, there Is not, IRON
cover to cover, one single precept. l
can conceive of no field more barren
that that to which he withdrew for his
subjects and his atmosphere. OF all the
human beings inhabiting that portion of
the sphere which is regarded as civil
ICED, it occurs to me that the Scottish
peasant farmer is probably the least In
teresting, the least picturesque; being
in these respects second only to the
jargon which distinguishes his speech.
Yet the genius of this Scottish minister
of a year or so ago, bursting suddenly
upon the world of art, has gripped
whole millions by the heartstrings and
literally led them captive to Drum
tochty. Touched by that genius, the
waste places Of the Glen bloom with the
richest and rarest flowers of fancy; be-
meath the rugged ways Of Drums
heugh. Burnbrae and jamie So
tar, those types of the great mass of the
Scottish middle and lower classes whom
he has drawn seemingly with SO much
ease, yet with thoroughness which
bespeaks the inimitable artist, we soon
discern the mOvings of emotions and
impulses common to all mankir and
even the dialect, harsh, discOrdt.-.; and
severe. mellows In his use into kind OF
fascinating cadence which blends with
the general effect and perceptibly aug
ments its total charm.
This newest Maclaren book keeps be-
fore US the same characters, the same
surroundings, and the same atmosphere
that gave and IL yet giving to its pred
ecessor volume, beside the Bonnie
Brier Bush." its phenomenal popularity.
1t treats of the crude, simple Scottish
peasant folk. canny In the craft of busi-
ness. stubborn In the traditions of their
faith and kirk and yet, withal, true as
steel in friendship. loyal to the death in
patriotism and firm as the very hills
about them when 1t comes to matters OF
principle and conscience. There are. in
all, ten sketches, of which we specially
commend the one In five chapters called
"For Conscience Sake" in which 1t
seems to us that the art of this wonder
ful writer has reached degree Of
achievement beyond any previously re-
corded to it's credit. 1t makes no diff
ference who the reader Is, what his
tastes or predictions are, or whence
his literary instincts were derived, If he
be equal to the average in intelligence
and not deficient in the normal sus-
ceptibility to pathos. Maclaren's
sketches in this book will fasten their
spell upon him, send the blood beating
In rapid currents through his system
and, at its climaxes-so easily reached
vet so tense with scarcely revealed
power and force-suffuse his eyes with
the moisture Of fairly conquered SYM
pathy. The man who cannot be made
to cry by Maclaren is unfit for a posi-
tiOn of public or private trust, and
should be put under espionage lest he
loot bank or wreck a tran. L. S. r.
A SHERBURNE ROMANCE. By Aman-
da M, Douglas, author of 1.-The Sher-
burne Series" Cloth, 12 mo, $780, New
York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
Miss Douglas skill in the interpre-
tation of youthful charcter and her
sympathetic understanding of the
thoughts and emotions Of young people
were SO pleasantly exhibited in the first
story of the Sherburne series that she
has not yet been able to bring that
charming series to close, so great has
been the public demand for it's contin-
uance. In Difference to many written
requests that the heroine Of the first
volume, Lyndell Sherburne, have love
affair and be safely ensconced in do
mestic felicity at the last chapter, Miss
Douglas has In the present book pilot
oA vudo1v thVNv0h ri
sodes Of a cardiac adventure. The deli
cacy with which this romance has been
unfolded and the general brightness,
purity and grace Of the tale will COM
mend It to all admirers Of good Juvenile
literature.
rETTERED YET FREE. A Study in
nett SMITH. Cloth, 12 mo, $l.25. New,
York: Dodd. Mead & Co.
There ia this agreeable virtue about
Mrs Smiths book: the problem in 1T Is
kept well in the back ground, while the
story itself moves swiftly and easily to-
ward its end. She has called 1t O study
In heredity;" and so far as that goes
the book may be said to be O warning to
parents that wrong-living on their part
is certain to outcrop in the lives Of their
children, causing them anguish and
humiliation. But this feature of the
work is by no means delineated aggres-
siveiy. 1t is at all times subordlnated
70 the main story, which is q brisk and
pleasing melodrama of life among the
Cnghsh middle classes, replete with in
cidents OF a natural tenor and yet suffi-
ciently varied and dramatic to sustain
the readers interest. Mrs. Smith has
been likened as writer to the late E.
r. Roe, and there seems in this effort
OF hers to be good ground for the com.
sNQwBIRD AND THE WATER TIGER
AND. OTHER TALES, BY Marearef
Compton. With frontisplece In color and