The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1896-07-04

habitual and confirmed house keeper
Is forced by the barrenness Of her
rooms and the absence OF anything to
clean into plain air. Blinking along
behind an uncompromising dame Of
the foregoing description, one whom
1 had heard the day before expressing
her horror OF impressionist pictures, 1
heard her exclaim to herself, well, 1
declare. there are those purple shad-
ows that I said did not exist Well
anyway this is the first time ! ever
took time to look. At home I have my
mind on other things or 1 am on an
errand and everything else seems triv-
ial. She was one Of those rare people
who admit mistakes. II only to herself
Most OF us when We are confronted
by fact that contradicts our views"
put our heads down and charge II with
hope Of getting II out of the way.
There are some people here who go
about with note books. a serious ex-
preston and complete ignorance that
summer reigns. Dalliance. dolce-far-
niente. laissez-faire are summer
words. There Is a time for everything.
life is long and this summer day one
of the longest. 1t will come to an end
only when another exactly Hike II be-
gins. There are people who must work
today, but my stint Is done and the
toilers have only my best wishes
Zanwilis THE Master Is a modern
Pilgrims Progress" Bunyan's allie
CORY is told in half the number of
words and with much greater SIM
plicity. 1t is unfair to Zangwill to
compare his work with Bunyan's. The
comparison was suggested by the sim
ilarity in form of the two books Fang
willis hero, Mathew Strang. travels the
rough road to Jordan that Pilgrim
stumbles over. he meets as many peo-
pie, they are deliberately, minutely de-
scribed, and the traveller leaves them
and they do not reappear, he also has
a burden which rolls OF when tempta-
tons are scorned. the same as Pill
grim's. Zangwill cannot get out of his
short story habit. The hero has a
hard time holding the book together.
The real heroine does not appear till
the last pages of the book, the sweet
heart only after the story is half told.
The Master is a series of character
sketches. connected almost as loosely
by interest in the hero as Scherezade
binds the thousand and one tales. 1t
is as full of epigram as one of George
Meredith's. II 1t were shorter it would
be stronger. 1t is without dramatic
composition and therefore lacks vital
types. They are composite pictures
that ghostlily resemble many and not
one. The hero has a superhuman
power TO resist temptation, a Sunday
school-bOok love for those who impose
on him, genius, strength. beauty, self
control. magnamity-yet, he marries.
because he is nearly starved to death.
He married not for money, but for
food. He is a great painter and as
soon as his simple bodily wants are
provided for he only wants colors and
a canvas besides money for his broth
ers and sisters. II he had a little,
much would not have tempted him.
The book is full of splendid strokes.
He writes as a scientist with the
scalpel in his hand rather than as one
who creates. The first few pages. the
mother, the vixenish beauty, and the
viking father, have more vitality than
all the rest Of the book. There is no
prototype for the mother. She is an
original. The author seems to know a
good deal Of what artists talk about
such as color and values, but he has
not seen his way to making use of
their ideas In his own work