St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-26

is rudely enlightened as to his real
worth in the working world. Angry
and heart sore he turns away from his
boys house and sets out alone to prove
that "it's a gran thing to have the
world all before you"-at past eighty.
The son rises from his sick bed to fol-
low and find the obstinate old man, and
comes upon him at last at Lisconnel
one wild winter night. but comes too
late-for death overtakes both at Lis
connel.
Of novels coming under the second
division above cited, there are three
on our table just now. By all odds the
most important and disagreeable Of
these is Corruption" by Mr.. Percy
White. IT, as Henry James suggests,
Madame Bovary" should be in every
Sunday school library, then "Corrup
ton might appropriately be its COM
panion, for it is sternly moral. It's CEN
trail idea is to illustrate the spread Of
moral decay, the slow encroaching Of
a faint until all the soul is spoiled.
Paul Carew and Beatrice Mannering,
the leading characters, are man and
woman who profess to believe that
they owe each other a debt stronger
than the convention of marriage"
which both have accepted for their own
convenience Mr.. White demonstrates
that, though the bonds of righteous
ness may not be strong, the bonds Of
iniquity are still weaker. The subtle
undermining Of character In each
leaves them unable even to hold to the
love for which they had sacrificed
everything. Having deceived others,
they have in consequence lost the pow
err to be true to each other. Their degen-
GRAFTON is inevitable and hideous. The
atmosphere of the final chapters is that
Of a charnel house where all things
lovely and Of good report in the char
acters of two human beings lie decay
ing. The author has many gifts. His
style Is strong, vivid, brilliant, and he
spares the reader not at all in his proof
that the feet of those who defy society
take hold on hell. 1t is only just to the
sinners, however, to call attention to
the fact that his demonstration is not
as complete as 1t would have been had
he shown the spread Of moral evil in
two characters of a finer strain. Ca
rew's overrnastering ambition and Bea-
trice's love Of luxury were centers Of
decay in each, and no one could ever
have predicted any very exalted ethi-
cal development for either of them,
aside from their defiance Of the ac-
copied code. To close the book is to
emerge into fresh air again, and the
reader does it thankfully. Doubtless
it is good to preach sometimes the doc
trine of the predestined degeneration
OIL lHOSG WHO 10 evil, DuI Cllc eAdItdllOi
of those who do good is a more accept
able theme. This is the side from
which Mrs. Campbell-Praed approaches
a similar situation in Mrs. Tregas-
kiss" novel Of Anglo-Australian life.
The heroine, who is married to brute,
is punished for a momentary resolve
to leave him for the man she loves, by
the death Of her only child. She takes
up her unbearable life with patience.
n the end the horn r1arripS q sweet
girl who knows the history Of his for
mer affair and pities him, and Mrs.
Tregaskiss receives gift of 100000
from an old miser, which relieves her
life of some of it's more material trou-
bles. The reader is glad that these
unfortunate people should have some
good things to come into their lives,
but material healing for wounds of the
soul seems a little sordid, and the sense
of ethical uplift is hardly perceptible.
The minor characters of the book are
strongly drawn, and the Australian life
is wildly depicted.
1.-THE Desire Of the Moth for the
STAR also deals with forbidden love.
1t is one of the stories which read as
if they had been written by reader
of books rather than a student of life.
Tt contains elements Of power and
pathos, but in spite of strong scenes
and characters it never comes very
near to life and reality and the reader
need not fear that it's discords will
linger ong in the memory.
cstyangers at Lis s BY Jane Barlow r
ruption,'' by Percy White. $1.25- MRS. Ire
gaskiss,'' by Mrs. Campbell Praed., SO cents.
1.-THE Desire Of the Moth for the Star" by
Capel Vane. so cents. New York. D: APP
pleton & Co. For sale by the st. Paul Book
and Stationery company
To turn from a group Of works of
modern fiction to an assurance (price
one ha'penny), that the millennium Is
coming very soon is to receive a re-
freshing and needed bit of information.
So perverse IS this world, however,
that the fact that we need it makes
it all the more improbable that it is
as near at hand at 1908. However,
"Great Events at Hand" tract sent
out from the prophetic News" office,
London, is our authority for the state
ment that it will begin on April %
of that year. ~ Various remarkable
things will happen previous to that
time, all of which you may learn for
the modest sum above named.
If, however, you are in such haste
for the millennium that you cannot
wait twelve years, there is booklet
published in New York, for a quarter,
which assures you that it will begin
in 1899. The contrast Of British leisure
and American haste was never more
to our advantage. Think of our
achieving even the millennium nine
years ahead of England! Among other
things prophesied in 1.-The Judgment
and Old Liberty Be1l'' is the closing of
the ports Of America against a foreign
invasion before July, 1896.
The Anti-Christ (who is the Prince
Imperial-it was all a mistake about
his death in Zululand) will also make
his appearance in the next few months
and will have something to say. about
the Armenian question. If these and
the other events foretold occur as adj
vertised, they will certainly be worth
looking for, and our thanks will be
due the people who have forewarned
us of them. In the meantime, however,
they are likely to meet the traditional
fate of prophets in their own coun-
try.
G'Great Events at Hand" Prophetic News
Office. 1.-The Judgment and Old Liberty
Bel" by Samuel Hendrickson. New York.
j. e. Jewett.)
''The Last Cruise of the Miranda" is