St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-29

sidered in the light of fiction, ave have
here volume of fine, strong, vigorous
stories, always interesting, often eXcit-
ing, written with saving humor an eye
for character and strong appreciation
of the picturesqueness Of the material.
AS history, we have reliable sketches
of the Western frontier, to quote the
preface, "as it was in a past as near as
yesterday, and almost as by-gone as
the revolution Mr.. Wister expresses
the fact that civilization is not spread
evenly over the country flying the
stars and stripes by saying that "never
have such various centuries been JOS
tied together as they are today upon
this continent and within the bounda-
ries Of our nation. We have taken the
ages out of their professional arrange
ment and set them marching disorderly
abreast in our wide territory. a harle-
Quin platoon"
In some of Mr.. Wister's stories these
surviving centuries appear. The tales
dealing with the red men are accurate
accounts Of various events in frontier
life and warfare as they happened, and
the entire contents Of the volume i'm
press the reader as being absolutely
faithful to the spirit. if not to the letter
III d VI uNle anu IllOSl interesting DndS6
in our national development. 1t would
crafty the average reader greatly to
know if the incidents of the 'Serenade
at Siskiyou' actually happened or only
might easily have happened This grim
story, as most magazine readers will
remember, records the fate that over
took a couple of murderers who were
lynched, not because they had commit
ted murder, but because the masculine
temper of the community was unable
to endure the sympathy, flowers and
birthday cake lavished upon the GRIM
inals by the feminine contingent of
Siskiyou society. And the leader of
the German band, engaged by the
ladies to serenade their proteges, made
parting comment on the lifeless bodies
dangling in midair. which had greeted
the would-be serenaders, as follows:
my! das Ewigweibliche haf draw them
apove, sure enough
cred Men and White,' by Owen wister.
New York. Harper & Bros. $1.50. For sale
by the st. Paul Book and Stationery COM
pany.)
If Mrs. Meade had not told us in
her brief predatory note that Martha
Mace, the Princess" Of her East Lon
don story, was sketched from living
original, we should perhaps have
doubted the lifelikeness of "a Primo
ess of the Gutter" 1t is difficult for
the average man or woman, who hndS
righteousness and self-sacrifice hard
enough to attain in the most favora-
ble environment, to believe in the ac-
tuality Of such fine characters in such
forbidding surroundings, and stories
of. the noble natures to be found
among Whitechapel folk almost in
evitably arouse the suspicion that we
are being fed upon fairy tales for Sun
day school children. In the present
instance; however, the author wisely
provides for this disbelieving disposi-
ton on the readers part by her as
sertion that, apart from the dialect
of East London, which cannot be al
together reproduced, her picture is a
faithful one. The story deals with
slum life as seen by Joan Prinsep, who
inherits fortune derived from the
rent of tenements, with the charge to
put right the wrongs which the former
owner, her uncle, had permitted to ex-
ist Quite apart from any religious
convictions, and almost against her
own will, she is convinced that she
can only carry out her uncles request
by going to live in the East end and
spending her income among the peo-
pie from whom 1t has been drawn
The Princess Of the Gutter is one
of Joan's first friends and firmest ad-
herents, and the story of her life,
though touched by tragedy, is far from
wholly sad. Some stories Of slum
life, Mr.. Gissing,s. for example, leave
the reader powerfully depressed for
days. This sbeel<=of Mrs Meade's
Is not Of that uncomfortable variety.