The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-06-27
WORLD OF LETTERS.
FICTION.

That Stephen Crane has great posi-"
bilities is quite generally admitted. 1t
must also in sadness be said that just
now he Is engaged in sQuandering
them. The Crane novelettes that ap-
pear from day to day in the syndicated
newspapers are for the most part poor
stuff-mere pot boilers thrown of be-
cause at the moment there happens to
be a market for them. But worst Of
all. our young friend has deliberately
resurrected that bedraggled girl Of the
streets. Maggie" and with the coop
Grafton Of the Messrs. Appleton. put
her before the public on an equality Of
dressing with the RED Badge" Now
we don't want to say that In this real
and strenuous" tale Of New York low life
there are not touches Of genius and
flashes Of the artists power But 1t IL
pale exhalation contrasted with the
Badge" and it will do Mr.. Cranes
fame no good.
Maggie" is a girl Of u tenements.
who between the drunken sprees Of her
mother and father and the eye-black-
enings of scrappy brother works in a
collar factory and learns to view life
as continuous misery. But Pete. a
"barkeep," dawns at length upon her
perspective, takes her occasionally to
Coney island, the park and the show.
and soon the poor girl, from sheer lack
of moral perseptiveness, becomes the
"barkeep's' mistress. The story of her
fall. desertion and final death Is told
with realistic although unobtruded
pathCs. She really loves the tough
who is her betrayer, and he after a
time coolly shakes her for a finer
looking lady" of the town. The books
sketches OF tenement life are all vivid
and tense But we cannot forget, while
reading Maggie" that the author of
"Chimmie Fadden" pre-empted the first
claim to this particular dominion, and
has developed 1t with a kindly play Of
humOr which we much prefer to Mr.
Cranes somewhat monotonous strenu-
BUSINESS.
II \
Mrs. Stannard, or as she still signs
herself, John Strange Winter. has writ
ten. In "The Turth-tellers" (Philadel-
phia: ]. B. Lippincott Coz, a pleasan mt
and humorous story Of the complications
which befell the five children of Fyn-
land squire who. having been reared
into the habit Of always telling the liter
al and exact truth under any and all
circumstances, are by the death of their
parents put under the care of q wealthy
aunt, who Is prominent in London So
ciety, and who Is thereafter often morti-
fled by the blunt way in which her
young charges brush aside the conven-
tlonal tictions which do such excellent
service in social intercourse, in favor Of
the crude truth. These complicatio
are many and awkward, but in the
end they are smoothed out and the
young folks each and severally find their
due share OF happiness.
Although Justin Mccarthy cannot
manage the Irish parliamentary party,
he can and does write charming novels,
The latest Of these. THE Puzzle Ring
(New York: d. Appleton & Coz gives
us an interesting study Of the modern
woman. who while persistently talk
Ing down love and marriage, herself
precipitately falls In love and because
she does not succeed In eliciting favor
able responses from the male object of
her alteration (who. 1t may be interest
Ing to remark. is at that moment him
self madly in love with a married wo-
mani. goes to America and becomes a
noted woman's rights advocate. This
humorous but more or less truthful pic
ture Is only a side scene, however. The
main portion Of Mr.. McCarthy's novel
Is devoted to chronicling the agonies of
the man and the married woman. who
are mutually in love, but who are too
moral to violate the decalogue and too
scrupulous to seek relief from the di.
vorce courts. although the woman had
Scriptural cause. A variety Of incidents
befall during this interval Of seemingly
hopeless passion, including the entry Of
the woman's husband on the scene (he
had previously cast her Off with the
consequence that he again falls in love
with her. At the last, however, the su :
perfiuous husband Is opportunely killed
Off. and the freed lovers, after due
mourning. wed and we suppose are
happy ever afterward.