The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-06

come its friends and if it is accorded
its deserts the number Of it's readers
VIII be large. The essay, as a literary
form. is certainly advancing in popular
favor Whether this is due to the evo-
luton Of body Of readers sufficiently
cultivated to appreciate manner as
we'll as matter, or to the fact that af-
ter years Of dearth the new genera
ton has produced essayists worthy Of
attention. is a difficult question, and,
since at last We have essays again,
perhaps the cause of their reappear-
ance does not matter. Mr.. LIE Gal
lienne's qualities as an essayist are
delicate and whimsical fancy, care
fully wrought style, a dash of moral
earneStneSs, a warm human sympathy
and an obvious delight in his own
work, OF that engaging sort which i'm
mediately pTedispOSes the reader to de-
light in it also. The essays in the
present volume are quite unequal in
value, but the author has done nothing
more charming than "A Seventh Story
Heaven" Wholly admirable also, but
in a different way are The Dramatic
AIT of Life" and THE Greatness Of
Man"
C'Prose Fances" by Richard lie Caffeine.
Chicago. IL. S. Stone & Co. $1.25)
There are a great many books pub
lished nowadays which are intended to
be amusing, and occasionally one finds
its way into print which successfully
fulflls that intention. Such a book is
1.-The Sentimental Sex" by Gertrude
Warden. The story is clever and spark
ling in style, but its irony is structural
as well as superficial, and the contrast
of characters throughout is the source
of a. deep and perhaps unhOly joy in
the readers breast. The hero is an
Australian sheep farmer, with exalted
le-of-the-century sentiments. IF
women cease to believe and obey" he
observes in the first chapter, the
world won't hold together long. Gentle
obedience and implicit belief are two
of WOmans most beautiful qualities,
and if she ceases to believe and obey
her God how much longer do you
think she will believe and obey her
husband?" He falls in love with the
picture and the poems of a young
woman in London, proposes to her
through her publishers and learns that
she is married, but ultimately meets
her in London after she has become a
widow The Iris of his dreams is a
very different person from the real
Iris" who is a practical hard-headed,
beautiful young woman, extremely
modern and up-tO-date, and, in mild
way, everything which the Australian
sheep farmers sainted mother would
have disapproved. But this fact is
h.
as he is dubbed by Iris " friends, and
he makes love to her in large, deter
mined, primitive fashion, declining to
believe that she is going to marry him
for his money. even when she fatty
tells him 50. The story is told alter
nately by him and by her, and the
method brings out, as no other could
do. the contrast between the two char
acters, a contrast whose humor lies
in it's inherent probability. We recall
no comedy in recent fiction that is hall
so amusing as this. The tragedy or
the last page Is impertinent and out
of place So clever writer as Miss
Warden should have found a less hack
neyed solution of the situation.
('The Sentimental Sex by Gertrude War
den. New York. d. Appleton & Co. 81. Fol
sale by the st. Paul Book and Stationery
cOmpany.)
1t is difficult to conceive that "Epis
cOpo & Co" can have any interest fol
sane readers except a pathological one
and an equal number of pages selected
at random from the American JOurna
of Insanity would be quite as valuable
in that respect. We are told that Mr.
Henry James once said Of D'Annunzio
He speaks so loud that one hears hin
we'll only from a distance" We may
add that the only distance at which h'
IS desirable is one that renders him in
audible The book is made up of the
rawlings of an insane criminal, always
apparently, an imbecile-nOt. one o.
Gods FOOLS" but very decidedly, on
of the devils. If you like that sort o
thing. the feast is spread for you il
this little book. The general reader
however. has more oXygenated taste
The only value of the volume is 70
the student of literary symptomatology
to whom its inherent responsiveness viii
be a matter of scientific Indifference.
C'Episcopo & Co.." by Gabrielle d'Annun
Eio. Translated by Myrta Leonard Jones
Chicago. H. S. Stone & Co. N.25.)
1t is as unpleasant to read novels
about degenerates as novels by them