The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-12

the incompatible advantages which
1t affords for their history students.
The representative OF the publishers
of this work. Mr.. a. G.. Lund. is now
taking orders in the city and we COM
mend him 10 the favorable -considera-
tion of all lovers of good books,
Two slightly volumes of short stories
are received from Way Il Williams,
Chicago. and found to merit more than
passing attention. One of them, col
lection of fifteen stories and sketches
of Kansas life and manners. entitled
THE Real Issue" is the work of a
country editor" William Allen White,
proprietor of the Emporia Gazette. Mr..
White sorang in day into political
prominence during the last campaign
by the publication III his paper of a
breezy, slashing rebuke to Populism un-
! der the heading Whats Wrong With
Kansas" This was copied the country
over and finally made into circular
and distributed by the million. In that
| editorial Mr.. White was the caustic and
yet humorous partisan battling against
surrounding idiocy. But in these ff-
teen stories we have him revealed in
less belligerent attitude, with ready hui
NOR softened by equally ready SYM
pathy and both dominated by vigorous.
virile masculinty. The Real Issue"
the story which gives its title to the
| book--is only a sketch. the picture of a
| congressman in momentary revolt from
the hollow mcckeries of politics. but it
shows on the part Of it's author an in
cisire insight into the workings Of
the soul. THE Story Of Aqua Pura"
Is Kansas variation of Mrs. Peattie's
Jim Lancy'S Waterloo" the difference
being that 1t is done in bolder strokes
and by a man. 1t explains why Kan
sas. like Nebraska. is a hotbed of
Populism. But the most enjoyable
product of Mr.. Whites fancy in the COL
lection before us is his story of "The
King of BoyVille." which wei, deserved
titular honors. 1t. too. is a slight thing.
in scope; but where else have we had
the real article of boy limned In such
unpretentious, kindly accuracy? There
| are plenty Of technical faults In Mr..
Whites fiction, but 1t has the great
| element of human interest, and more
Of 1t will be welcome
The second volume, "The Lucky
Number" by I. X. Friedman, carries
us into a decidedly different atmos-
phere. 1t is a study of the slums of
Chicago-and not an attempt to photo
graph squalor in the manner nowadays
abominably overdone, but rather an ef-
fort to catch the romance of it and to
| picture in little studies the effect of
environment upon character. Mr..
| Friedman, We are informed, is a novice
| in letters. By occupation he Is florist
the last thing one would thing of
while reading his stories, is q years
old, jew, and graduate of Ann Ar
Dor. Natural interest in human pecu-
| liarities took him as a studen into Chi
cago's Ghetto, and his present endeav-
Ors to reproduce some of the fruits of
| his observations there are his first pub
lished literary work. We have read
''The Lucky Number through with
| honest and at times enthusiastic inter-
est, and we find 1t fit to recommend.
| Mr.. Friedman has a singularly effec-
| tive narrative style and Is possessed to
| notable degree of the dramatic in
stinct He does not write stories In the
conventional sense; he rarely takes the
pains to rig up plot cOunterpoise his
characters and mete out at the last a
proper equalization Of rewards and
| punishments, and to those who have
| grown to expect that kind of thing he
will prove disappointing. His method
Is rather to throw his picture on the
screen just as 1t appears in real life but
| with more attention to character, hu-
man motive and the essence of things
| than to photography, and with dra-
! matte prOpriety which escapes monotO-
ny and shuns the non-essential. 1t may
be charged that his art is somewhat
| impressionistic, but the main thing Is
| that it is effective, that 1t commands
attention, excites sympathy and leaves
! afterward no lingering sense of regret.
We shall await Mr.. Friedman's next
literary work with expectancy, for he
seems capable of something far be-
| xI,