New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-01-05
FICTION OF THE PERIOD.
TALES FROM AMERICA TO IoNQClN'

Il Co.
GARRISON TALES FROM ToNcUIN. BY James
ONe. l6mo. PIP lso. Copeland & LAY.
BEATRICE OF BAYOU TECHE BY Alice ilgen-
fritz Jones. l2mo PIP. &c. A. e. McCiIrs 4" w.
AMOS JUDD. By j. A. Mitchell. l6mo. PIP. lss
Charles Scr.bner's Sons.
THE BRITISH BARBARIANs: HILL1TO,Pi
NOVEL. BY Grant Allen. iSmo, PIP. zsi. w. T.
Putnams Sors
The Village Watch-Tower, which gives the ''''e
Kate Douglas Virgins latest volume. Is one 0.
SIX short stories dealing with some typical Phase OF
New- EnslanI rural life and character The style Is
fluent graceful witty and pathetic by turns. per-
feet reflection of tire varying moods suggested ny
the matter which 1t - called upon to depict a
word OF sincere commentator il due TO Mrs. wig
gins scenery She Is an excellent landscape paint
err; w.tnou, any false sentiment. the scenery Is
worked into the very texture OF the t1e ltsei
Like the chorus in Greek play, the trees anu
fields and the changing lights and shadows seer"
10 keep up mute comment on the acton W.
ness for instance. the part played by the giant ei
in the story entitled "rhe Mooring Tree or sun
more to the point. the log In The village "atch-
Towers" with the letter II. hewcd in II at the time
Lucinda Bascom who in her old age. figures as TIE
heroine os the story was born. Il - no"Aere eN-
plcity stated. but the re1d!r is nevertheless msue
to feel that somehow there is bond OF sympathy
between Lucinda and the huge log waich hung hish
,on the river bank, projecting from ne'"eeh wv
hitting peaks of rock When finally the log fa.!s
we need no; be tod that Lucinda is dead lies
relative dependence OF animate and imam mate nat
ure Is brought out with subtlty ard would be su'-
ecjen, In itself TO distinguish Mrs. Wiggln among
American writer's. The prevailing tone oil these
sketches Is sad although the sadness Is. as s al
most invariably the case WITH New-En lana stores
shot through with laughter. Even the tragic fate
of TON O. the Blueb'ry Plains" Is not without us
humorous relief.
The honors of pioneer. II OF nothing else pe'oo
10 the author Of Garrison Tales from Tonquin.
As the title implies. the stories are concerned lo'
the most part with the lives Of the soldiers OF the
French Army stationed in the remote and little
known province of AMMAN: but whatever may De
the interest which attaches to the plots OF these
brief sketches the authors obvious intention IN
writing them to depict the country i'sel' III
this he has been In the main SUCCESSFUL, aithoush
we are scarcely prepared to say whether IL Is the
int rii.sc merit OF the stories which holds the read
ers attention or merely the novelty OF the theme.
We are Inclined TO think II Is the latter, Tor Mr'
O'Ne,l Is Jar from being a nrs-rate writer. lie liz,
in fact quite awkward and prosy and he mas an
abonnable habit OF using Ananlese terms WHICH
are the less obscure because translated IN an
appendix Even the modern craze Tor the exotic
can be pushed too far and We draw the line az
Anamese on the principle laid down by Ju.Ie' We
can sec no reason why house should be called a
"cania" or why when one doesn't like "A thing he
should say "tsou" or when he likes H. ROT. Inc
Introduction OF these uncouth vocables IN the text
instead OF adding local color, is serious oos'ac'e
in the effectiveness of a story and implies. more
over a false theory OF art For local color Is ohy III
4 secondary sense question OF speech; 1t is pri-
marty a matter OF psychology. Most OF the iaults
If our young writer's OF exotic fiction IS due 10 their
failure to grasp tbs fundamental fact. MT y Neii
ia no worse a siancr than many others VINO might
be mentioned II he has made himself conspicuous
# IL only because Of the remoteness of his theme
Nessrs COPELAND & Day issue Garrison Tales from
Tonquln' in striking cover. Presumably the
color scheme IS also bit Of local color. The I'M
initiated however. might mistake the green ana
red and black disks FOR pinwheels
q, the heroine Of Miss Alice Ilgenfriz Joness
novel Beatrice OF Bayou Tache. It IS told that as
a child she had three absorbing passions cen
trlng upon the three grea, glories OF the pnyscai
sound and odor. THIS was when
she was a child Later these passions took differ
en-, FORM AMI on occasion as when Helen calls her
slave" limiting thereby at the strain OF negro
blood in the girls veins. Beatrice can LEI her
'.whl,e hand" out. and deaf "a singing blow on
the cheek" She is. indeed. 4 young lady of no.
tceably violent emotions. with disposition to wrthe
and moan. All these pecul.ari,ies are faithfully re-
nectcl In Miss Jones's style, which Is In conse-
quence rather febrie. However. Beatrice OF Bay
on Teche" might easily be worse book, aad in
those passages III winch Inv au''iNi - ''''NN'"~'
with natural scenery is actually quite admirable.
Miss Jones clearly writes from hrsthand knowledge
OF Southern NE. and with little more self-re-
straint both In the matter OF the excism OF super
nuous details and more especially in the omission
OF highly colorei adjectives. she may ye' write
a thoroughly excellent novel
Amos Judd" IT, believe frs, offence. and
with no wish aiter. Il is 70 be hoped 1t Will not
be the last. Mr.. Mitchell. while not exactly what
one would call born s,ory-teller. possesses to
considerable degree the gift OF fiction. especially
a. regards the construction OF plot. His main
weakness f. in the drawing of character. How
ever the people IN this tale OF his are not devoid OF
l.fe. Perhaps the severcst and trnest way to de-
scribe the hero and heroine Is TO say that they are
by all the qualities which we have
learned to associate with the stock personages OF
fiction Looking, the other hand. TO the plot. /;
IL manifest even cursory reading OF his book
that Mr. Mitchell understands how 10 arrange
his Incidents dramatically. and to keep his reader
perplexed and myst!hed without wesrying him
Grant Allen has fortunately relieved the critic OF
the necessity OF torturing his brains for descrip
ton Of his last novel The British Barbarlans." by
describing 1t himself In preface This. he says.
us a Hilltop novel" and adds In the next breath
that a 'Ilill-Op novel Is one which raises protest
In favor Of purity" Considering that this is said
By the author OF THE Woman Who DID" the
reader has every reason 20 begin the perusal OF the
pages which follow. fully confident that his precon-
ceived notions OF morality Will come out OF the
ordeal unscathed. But alack the day! Mr.. Allen
has his own idea Of purity and 1t Is to be noted
OF 1t that It is not the one usually held by simple.
folk but such II Is. Mr. Allen
proceeds TO eXpound Il in the conduct OF a man
named Bertram Ingledew and a woman addicted to
dressing in the mauresIue fashion. named Freda
Monteth. Bcrtram. we learn IN the first chapter
is not an Englishman. or an American. a Euro
pean: he Is. I'm his own phrase, IAN Allen" we'll
dressed city cousin OF Mr.. Howes's "Alrurian."
Freda is u woman OF possibilities. She Is extraord.
narily beautiful, surmounts her head with IA
luscious wealth OF glossy black hair" ana walks
with the regulation gliding grace" peculiar to the
herones OF fiction who either have "pasts' or are
set upon making themselves futures. Given these
u,o nunnnia Mr. Allrn nrlceela Il rlahnrale hIs