New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-17

Harper X Bros. 1895.
A SINGULAR LIFE. BY Elizabeth stuart Phelps.
Glrs Ward) i6mo PIP. i2e Houghton Miffn
JOHN DARKER. by Aubrey Lee l2mo PIP f6S.
| Macmillan & Co.
There comes quickenlng OF the heartbeats In
reading some books. 1t is painful sensation, ana
II is a pleasant one. too. When II arises from the
! perusal Of a work like Sues Wandering Jew you
! know that you owe 1t to meodrama and the making
| OF grewsome music by fdders in the dark. When
| you get 1t from a book like owen Wister's Red
! Men and White you are grateful to legitimate
comedy and tragedy jud!ciousiy mingled and en-
veloped in the atmosphere OF the most romantic
romance. Mr.. Wister himself might not calm so
much for his stories. In fact, he writes preface
TO remind the reader that these tales OF his arr
really records OF certain phases Of American lie.
records of rough social phenomena which are passing
from the plains and mining towns west OF the MIS-
souri, and have in some cases. gone quite Of
sight. one must agree with Mr.. Wister on this
point and concede what he does not de-
mand that his work il in measure historical ~
is so in the sense that Bret Harte's best stories OF
the West are historical But Mr. Wister. like his
predecessor. is by the necessities OF his nature
romancer first and historian afterward. He may
be read from a desire to know more OF camp HE
and Western adventure they have actually been
known among cowboys frontiersmen and
"greascrs" but he is enjoyed and remembered for
other things
The first among these other things IL the supreme
gift the salt OF literature unprecedented humor.
It percoates through Mr.. Wsters sternest situations
not shallow fun but the flexible sympathetic feel
ing which forbis writer TO forget that his cnaT-
acters human. that their daily life Is made up
OF common doings and common thoughts. the nR-
ure Of Specimen Jones in the tae which bears that
name Is In its way heroic, and all through the fasci-
Mating moves in his and Cumnors little drama.
with its depths of frontier grimness and heights OF
frontier farce. there s vein OF passionate serious
ness But when Cumnor was getting well In the
military hospital at Grant he listened to Jones re-
counting TO all that chose TO hear. how useful a
weapon an ice-cream freezer be, and how II
you'll only chase Apaches in your stocking feet
they are to run away" The ice-cream freezer
does make Jones any LEGS heroic. The man Is ali
the more lovable for the courage and wit with
which he carried out a sde-spltting stratagem in
a moment of tragic need II these illusions are
mysterious the reader are not sorry. They
will perhaps send him TO read for himself the en-
thral.ing chronicle Of how Cumnor made old man
Adams dance, how that drew him and Specimen
Jones together, how he ard Jones-but the story
is there.
Mr. Wster may remind again that his types
are there, We refuse to concern ourselves very
greatly about them. His men may be types. but
primarily they men, his local color may be I'M
utterab.y local. but the main point Is that as we
read we see the long level Of Western plain, the
sneakng passage of Jean coyote from shadow to
shadow the Jagged sides of an Arizona canyon ana
instead Of rejoicing that these are ali obviously OF
Arizona we breathe their bracing air and listen ABB
sorbed to the talk Of men. For dialogue as inter-
esting for drama dramatic, for romance as
stirring as you will find in Salvation Gap" one Is
accustomed to look to writers like Dumas Mr.
Wister strips his characters Of all the decorative
traits beloved by Dumas and his followers. traits
which are invaluable in Dumas, but which our
American author sees useless to him in his in |
terselv realistic field He deals with material |
and he reproduces good deal Of its rawness know
ing that 1t is close TO the hearts of his people |
II will get c.ose to the hearts OF his reading public
The strong fibre of his narrative is mirrored in |
his style He writes without rhetoric, clearly and
incisvey There is little sentiment in contemporary
fiction so wholesome the sentiment in these
stories In his pathos as in his humor Mr.. Wister |
is refreshingy human.
The motive Of a book has never made defect In |
execution less defective. yet it should be left
outside an estimate Of the work If it counts when
the work is well done why should 1t not count when
the work is less satisfactory than 1t ought to be?
Let us acknowledge. then. that the motive OF Mrs |
Wards new novel is that demands admiring |
recognition even while we lament the too sent |
mental and gushing way in which that motive Is
developed An attempt to show the consequences
in an imperfect world of following the Christ lie
in deed and truth is thing in literature;
and Mrs Wards endeavor is not particularly orlg-
nal in its devices But it shows feminine earnest
ness sympathy and nobility of feeling which win
respect. disarm criticism and almost subdue the
smiles which the authors strangely overwrousht |
phrases and hectic adjectives often call forth Inc
most successful character in the story Is not It's
lofty-mnded hero but the old theological professor
whose heart is so much enderer than his dog |
matte theories
Mr. Aubrey Lee went to the police records for the
matter and to Richardson for the manner of John |
Darker" Positively Pamela Is work OF CULVER |
ing dash compared to hs novel, and then the char |
acters in Pamela" have at least the negative |
charm OF bearing sonorous names while In MI |
Lees tale the cacophony of nomenclature u simply |
appalling AS II to accentuate the ugliness Uncle |
Pepper Smith, who is himself offender. and. |
as they say In the theatre. sustains very consider
able share of the dialogue is given TO addressing |
his friends by all their names. Thus, to cite |
typical instance. find Unc.e Pepper slowly rising |
in his chair and addressing the heroine In terms |
Ike these: "Rosamond Smith Plunkett. the account |
between Is settled at last. | killed your father. |
and you have killed my son" This solemn deV- |
erance = merely preliminary to Autobiography |
ical monologue which Ais thirty-eght closely |
printed duodecmo pages and closes with an equally |
solemn repetition OF the grave assurance. AS the |
episode which Uncle Pepper Smith thus persist |
entity referred on page S22 occurred on page j. Is
sinai wonder that Rosamond Smith Plunkett has |
forgotten all about it, and heard the confession with
surprise. she also did the subsequent revelation
tina. her benevolent uncle other than the man
the blue shirt who feled her father to the earth.
In short. was John Darker With two such start |
ling disclosures coming so close together. do not |
wonder that Rosamond Smith Punkett was driven |
to novel writing to drown her grief
The plot Of Mr. Lees history is far too elaborate |
for detailed analysis In this place. but We cannot |
dismiss 1t without noting that the murdered son. 10
whom Unc.e Pepper Smith referred did not. sub |
sequently transpred, collide suic.dally with the |
Llanrock express but was accidentally hit by the |
locomotive while on his way to join Brother Bene- |
dict In abbey Of ST Simeon Stylltes Eugene
Smiths reasons for seeking this monastlc solitude |
characteristic but peculiar and are fully set
forth in a letter addressed Brother Benedict a !
few Gays before his unfortunate tourney From this |