St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-16

erwise Galloping Dick, sometime Gen
tleman Of the Road. As a highway
mans adventures they are excellent
enough to appeal to the lovers of stir
ring tales, but az carefully finished
studies of the kind OF English life that
a highwayman in the time of Charles
III. would be likely to see they are still
more meritorious. Since the readers
who care for a highly polished surface
and pains-taking execution Of detail.
while they rank well in quality are not
very numerous it Is to be hoped that
the matter OF these stories will attract
sufficiently large audience to reward
their author for his censcientiousness
in manner. THE Bishops Quandary. -
delightfully."- humorous tale depicts
the enforced comradeship for a night
between high dignitary of the church
and the footpad. including the robbery
by the pair of guests on their way TO
wedding, at which the bishop was TO
have officiated. The situation is clever
ly conceived and carried out. and the
story is easily the best of the half
dozen in the volume. though all are
good.
(Galloping Dick by H. 3. Marriott Wat
son. Chicago. Stone 4 KimbaIl 125 For
sale by the st. Paul Book G. Stationery COM
pany.)
The failure to get somewhere IS
not charge which can be brought
against most of the books Of J. Mac
laren Cobban, a fact which makes the
reader of THE King of Andaman"
feel all the more defrauded when the
end of the volume finds the Saviour
OF Society from Ilkastone only at
the beginning Of his adventures. In
definite endings to novels are all very
wei IN their place, and highly ar
t1stic at times, but they belong prop
erly to studies Of character. and com
paratiVely brief ones at that. rather
than to substantial volumes of 342
pages filled with incident The CEN
tral figure of the book Is indeed.
striking character-So striking as to
deserve better treatment than he has
met with at Mr.. Cobban's hands. 1.-The
Master of Hutcheon" was the de-
scendant of the baron of that ilk who
was attainted and outlawed for his
adherence to the cause of the Stuarts
in 1745. and, to hide his identity and
earn living, learned the trade of
weaver in the village of Ikastone
and prospered there in that business,
as did his sons after him. in moderate
measure. In George Hutcheon the in
herited instinct Of leadership, the pro-
tective impulse Of the chief of a Scot
fish clans blossomed afresh He felt
himself charged with the care Of his
people-the humber weavers of Ilka-
stone-a feeling which made him a
Chartist in the forties, and afterwards
patriarchal altruist whose dearest
dream 1t became to set sail for south
ern isles with his oppressed people
His life and character are noblv
conceived. but overlaid with a tire
some amount of incident, and the
book contains no other parsonage in
whom the reader Is able to take the
slightest interest.
c'The King of Andaman." by J. Maclaren
Cobban. New York. D. Appleton Co. 30
cents. For sale by the St Paul Book & Sta
| ttonery company
Henry Seton Merriman writes q
| good novel, one of the satisfactory nov
| els, whose perusal does not convict the
| reader Of the fact that he is wasting
the time spent upon it. His stories
| have well rounded plots, plenty of in
cident, and thoroughly studied char
| acterS. Sometimes they have more
possessing that touch of elevation and
| insight which Is dearer to the intelli-
| gent reader than anything else in a
book, but which a generation of sordid
and unenlightened publishers have
| done little to encourage. THE Grey
Lady" Is not in this particular respect
the best Of Mr.. Merrimans novels. but
| this fact does not prevent 1t from be-
ing an excellent tale, well construct
| ed and well told. It exhibits restraint
| as admirable as it is unusual in these
days Of sensationalism and striving
| after effect. The Grey Lady Is highly
respectable without and extremely vii
famous within, living on blackmatl, ex-
49, ~, .%&1~x
a man 30 proud Of his name and his