The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-21
WORLD OF LETTERS.
SOME NEW BOOKS.

Nothing to surpass In mechanical
beauty and elegance the latest work Of
the Roycroft Printing shop AT East
Aurora. Mr.. Elbert Hubbard's two
volume novel. The Legacy" has yet
made Its appearance In this country.
1t is evidently a labor Of love. for
there are only TOO copies. and each
is signed by Mr.. Hubbard. The vol
umes are printed on dekle edged. hand
made paper. and bound In blue cham
Ois, satin-lined. We put the books
manner before It's matter not because
the latter isn't interesting, but becaus"
in any fair estimate 1t must be ranked
secondary.
Mr.. Hubbard Is q philosopher ana
satirist rather than novelist. In
touching of fads and foibles and In
putting cauStic to the shams on the
time he has few equals among the
younger Of our writer's. but his IL not
the equipment for sustained imagina-
tive work in fiction. His story-that
of a simple minded Harvard profess
sor who suddenly receives legacy by
the win of an admiring former pupil,
Is tricked into putting 1t into stock
speculation in the hope of being able
TO make enough profit to endow chair
of biology, Ia tieeced, to be sure, be-
comes temporarily insane and while
labOring under the Authorizations OF
that mental alteration fees with a
favorite pupil to the far west, where
he takes uD with typical gulchman,
Rattlesnake Pete, and lives for per-
iod as hermit In the wilderness-pre-
sents good opportunities for artistic
treatment, but Mr.. Hubbard only in
places rises to them. His drawing OF
the cowboy Is superb. But nobody not
esoterically enlightened can figure out
Johnson's share In the professors In.
sanity nor perceive the propriety or
waiting until near the last chapter TO
have the professors wife fall over
precipice.
The merit of the work Is really In its
epigrams and in it's little dashes Of
peppery description. They scintillate
in nearly every chapter. Below are
some of them:
You seldom catch weasel in the arms
of Morpheus; the snake always sees you
first and the fox has his inward eye on
q hen roost, not on a theory.
Admiration and imitation being hrst
cousins, we unconsciously become like
that on which our thought Is hxeu;
The wife Of genius often takes MS nus
OF abstraction for stupidity. and having
the mans interest at heart, she endeav-
ors to arouse him out OF his lethargy by
railing at him. Occasionally he awaksns
ems enough to rail back. And SO 1t has
become an axiom that genius is not do
mestic.
1t is hard for frank and generous soul
to keep secret. secret gnawsr,Ihe
more you hug II the more you suffer. The
confessional Is necessity for great souls
and small.
call at Pete's cabin he would have taken
you in. warmed you, clothed you; fed
you. and he would have felt insulted had
you offered to pay. II you mad iaiien ins,
among thieves been beaten sore ana ielt
by the roadside, half dead, and Pete had
chanced to pass that way he would nave
stopped, bound your wounds, set you on
his own beast and taken pursuit OF your
enemy; thus not only acting the part o.
the Good Samaritan, but seeing his biun
and going him one better.
"The Windfall' by William o. Stod-
dard New York: d. Appleton & COZ
is story of the mines. written es-
pecially for boys and spiced as all Mr.:
Stoddard's stories are with liberal
dashes of love. heroism and adventure.
The young hero of the tale goes through
enough explosions. floods and misceI-
laneous perils to satisfy the most eX-
acting, and in the final chapter no DOUBT
wins his reward. We haven't read as
far as the final chapter, but we would
If we had the time.
The Appletons publish in their Town
and Country library a capital sea tale
dick, Buccaneer." 1t is a yarn spun IN
the day of the second Charles, when
daring spirits roved the main and nom
est enterprise often went foul through
mutiny of crews or encounter with the
black flag. In the very Vestibuie 10
this story, as 1t were, we have a cnoice
sea fight between modest britlsh
merchantmen and Hollandish plra-
teer, and a few pages further on
mutiny is served up in language that
does ii Justice Indeed. the reader OF
this book will be q singular parsonage
If he does not feel before laying
the volume down that he has got MS
moneys worth.
"a Woman in 1t" is what Rita
calls her latest novel, whicn reaches us
from the Lippincotts. of Philadelphla.
The woman in question Is what miSn.
be called feminine dead beat, but
there are probably some persons VINO
will find her interesting.
Those who read the papers on SPAN
by II. c. Chatiield-Taylor which were
printed in recent issues of the Cosmo-
politan will welcome the handsome vol
ume in which the Chicago firm of II. ).
Stone & Co. has sought TO preserve
them. 1t appears in oranSe-and-scar-
let covers under the title The Land or
the Castanet," and includes In all ten
papers, or double the number Whlch
saw light in the magazine. Mr.. ray
lors sketches of Spain are interesting
in themselves because drawn with a
free hand and set down without ma
nipulation; and they are interesting CO.
incidentally by reason of the light
which they unintentionally shed on GER
tain diplomatic problems now before
the world for settlement.