Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-05-03
BOOK Reviews.

MISSING. Romance. Narrative OF
CAPTAIN Austin Clark, OF the tramp
steamer Caribas, who for two years was
a captain among the savage people OF
the Seaweed sea- BY julius ChamDels
author Of "A Mad World and us rev
pie" &c. &c.
The author tells us in the preface that
"within a weeks sail Of New YORK 10 d
vast and trackless waste unexplored ny
the hardest sailors, uncrossed py the
stateliest ships, a monster mass OF hoa'-
ing debris. consisting Of growing sea
weed. blooming and poisoning orcnlus'
creeping and twining vines-traVeIseu ~
broad and easily navigated straits that
stretch through its broad expanse VI
living green. 1t IS called the odI 49,
Sea Geographers confirm this state
ment as substantially true, and give inc
dimensions Of this large area OF compare
lively stil water as nearly equal 10 Son-
tinental Europe, lying in an irreguiariy
clinical shape between the paraIels Oh
% degrees and 50 degrees north, ana pe-
tween the merdians OF 80 degrees ana
co degrees west. Into IL IS collected d
large proportion Of the drltt or WreCh
which floats about the North Atlantic. IL
does not require a bold stretch OF lhasF
nation TO make this cunt lauon OK sea
weed the harborage Of many or the shlps
which have left port never TO return
whose fate has been involved In the pro-
foundest mystery. But this unique vol
r,ne makes a. much larger demand upon
our fancy and peoples this unexplored
sea with many living inhabitants OF dere-
licts and wrecks enchanted in the
meshes of the surrounding sea vegetation.
The hero of this book, with his snip, IS
entrapped among them, and ms expert
ences of life among this strange comnu-
nitv are the protested revelations OF his
narrative. The story is well told In a
pleasant graphic style, and the interest
Of the reader is all the time keeniy
awake a love episode with one or the
fair inhabitants Of the vessel when was
made his home vindicates the fellowship
81 this marine community with the fair
women and brave men who constitute the
material of our dry-land society. The
originality Of the plot is scarcely less
creditable TO the author than the success
full execution of its unfolding. Those OF
our readers who remember the delight
which attended their first acquaintance
with Gulliver in his travels, Robinson
Crusoe in his exile, and the countess
heroes and heroineS Of the ARABIAN
Nights cannot fail TO be entertained with
this volume, Notwithstanding the con
seriousness Of frequent provocation to
rank the narrator with Baron Munchaus
sen as occasionally approximating the
ragged edge Of truth, and sometimes
rising TO the dignity Of fast liar"
The Transatlantic Publishing Company.
New York and London: 1896. Emo, lS2 PIP.
81
| MADAME ROLAND. A Biographical
Study. BY Ida NJ. Tarbell. New York:
Charles Scribners Sons Crown 12mo.,
pp. 32S $780,
This book has been prepared with the
! assistance Of data furnished by the de-
| scendants Of Madame Roland, and we
may therefore naturally expect in the de-
| lineation Of her character and the recital
of the story Of her romantic life no little
of the couleur de rose. No more pic
turesoue character appears upon the can
vas in any Of the kaleidoscope changes of
the French Revolution than Madame Ro-
| land and her execution, perhaps more
| than any other Of the contemporary trag-
| edies of that era, has elected sympathy
| and provoked the execration of her brutal
! murderers. She was undoubtedly a very
| gifted woman, and her claim for postum
nous fame does not rest alone upon the
! dramatic close OF her career. She exer-
| cised a very potential influence upon her
| day, but even If it be conceded that her
|
! and the ends she aimed at commendable
and desirable, the merit cannot be ac-
| corded 10 her OF farsighted wisdom or
! political consistency. She had very
masculine understanding, not tempered
| even so much as her most charitable
] apologists must concede with feminine
! tenderness and charity. She contributed
| no little by her own enthusiastic energy
and teaching TO the fierce passions of the
/ ~ hfnh .ts1f,- fpa tod
Reign of Terror TO which she ultimately
fell a victim. Her counsels snd encour-
agement gave the first taste of blood
which reused the bestial appetite of the
| mob Of Paris and In the outset OF the
! Revolution she was in fullest sympathy
with the clamor which consigned the
| King and royal family to death. She re-
Tented from her fiery zeal too late to con-
troll the storm she had invited, and while
we may pity the suherings OF herself and
her associate Girondists history must
hold them responsible TO no small extent
for their own tragic fate.
The personal history OF Madame Roland
has very little Of feminine romance at
tached to it. Her marriage TO a husband
| old enough to be her father was a match
! without much love upon her part But the
political sympathies of husband and wife
were all in harmony. and though ire
| quently separated. they were always cor
dial co-workers I'm their political labors,
and were intended by the powers that be
TO share a common and contemporaneous
fate upon the guillotine He escaped by
her active assistance, and was hiding
from his pursuers when he heard of her
execution, and then he manifested his
love to her by refusing to survive her, and
ended his own life by suicide
She was certainly not model wife or
mother While her life was free from
the reproach Of the blatant blasphemy
and scandalous impurity of many Of the
women Of her day-who wore brooches 10
lead the sans culottes. of the fierce de-
mocracy of Paris-it never began to rise
to the moral plane OF those OF her sex
who I'm English and American homes
make the sacred names of mother sister,
wife, and daughter the most potential In
fiuences TO stimulate men 10 lives Of noble
manhood.
Miss Tarbell has given us very enter
tanning account Of the early life and eX-
periences OF Madame Roland, and her
book contains much new matter OF inte-
rest. The author has done her part well.
and her work will well repay careful pc
rusal. and place upon the shelves Of any
well-selected library.
From the ]. w. Randolph Company.
THE CENTURY OF SIR THOMAS
MORE. BY b. o. Flower, Author o.
Gerald Magrey," "Civilization's In
ferno." etc. etc. The Arena Publish
ing Company; Boston; 1886.
This book Is a beautiful specimen OF ty
Biography. printed upon heavy. plain paper
and handsomely illustrated with numer
Gus portraits OF Sir Thomas More ani
his contemporaries. The epoch OF whicl
1t treats-the hundred years intervening
between the middle OF the fifteenth an,
the middle of the sixteenth centuries