The morning times., 1896-07-12

faced the army OF the king. Wnlie ue
lineating in his characteristic manner the
story OF Lexington and Concord, the
author has most happily shown the part
taken by other towns in that memorable
days experience.
So faithfully has he caught the spirit
of the times of whichhc writes that one can
not read this bIok~without himself itcling
that he is Il participant for the hour in those
trying scenes. The book is fully illustrated,
notable among the illustrations being the
Burial of the British Dead at Lincoln
Capture of the Convoy by the Excmpts at
Menotuny." and '.The Site OF the House
Where John Hancock and Samuel A dams
Lunched on Coarse FAR. on April 10. l775,'
and a score OF beautiful reproductions
of other famous New England colonial
homes. The whole makes not only a charu.-
ing story, but is faithful delineatiun ui
that chapter of history of which every true
American is proud.
HARLES DUDLEY WARNER writes in
the July Harper's that the United
- States today must present singular
spectacle to a supervising angel who
is familiar with the literary develop
mcnt and production of the rast. Probably
in Il like area was never so much writing
done for publication, and probably never
SO little that in proportion TO the mass could
on any standard of criticism be accepted as
a contribution TO the literature OF tile world.
This is due 10 the general misapprehension
that everybody ought TO try to write-the
school girl WHO'S fond of sentimental poetry,
the lad VITO has read about the prices that
authors receive. tie society woman who has
become weary of the inaDity of lIer set, the
man who has failed in everything he has
undertaken and has 4 distaste for manual
labor. What is wanted in this country in
this era of its development, is not writers,
but discriminating readers.
F Mr. William Black talked instead OF
wrote we should call him volu5le. But
as lie devotes himself to silent ex-
preston. he is only voluminous. His
latest novel, recently issued by the
Hdrpers, is his twenty-sixth. What might
one expect of a comparatively young man
the god-parent of twenty-siX brain fam
lies? Surely at best he has ceased to be
original; he has at least concentrated his
individuality into ruts; he writes with
labored stress or artificial mannerisns.
Nothing of the kind. Mr.. Black is reliable.
He does not drive brilliant PAGER, nor
a cantering yearling, nor Il Norman wheel
horse; but, If / ma V pursue the equine simile,
his steed is a familiar Affection for him
comes. with association. and the longer
you know him the better you like him
He jogs gently through delightful we'll
worn roads, where the sun is bright and
the flowers are fragrant, the people we
pass are very human and very natural,
and there's not one but bears Il resem-
blance in some part to some one we have
seen before.
His Scotch scenery is always graphically
in evidence. and the pastoral sports are
made as dear to the reader as they are to
the writer who tells of them with ST. much
affection. Briseis-that is the name of his
latest story-isa n lovabe heroine and, though
the interest in her story never reaches the
point of suspense. it never declines below
a degree of positive attraction. and every
ching is satisfactory in the end.
A AIRY T. WILKINS seems to have con
N centrated extremes in her latest
| published novel, "Madelon." Thous' Z.
| there are at points. judging from
the writer's own high eXemplar,
many startling inaccuracies of character
drawing and even of shOddy construction
yet at least one of the new people in this
story is the cleverest characterization So
far introduced from her pen. The play
ground is, dis usual, among the New Eng
land farms and villages. and many of the
dramatis personae are of the Puritan stock
"Madelon" she has introduced us to some
new blood strains. involving new demands
on her delineating powers.
From the moment it is known that the
heroine is Of red Gallo blood, her name,
Madelon Hautville, suggests it, there is a
curiosity to see how the dainty
etcher in browns and grays will swing
the brush of carmen and greens. There
is tentative quality in the result. Be-
tween the lines one may read the authors
that it is new and an ex-
pertinent As an experiment she stands.
but not without promise, nor without in
trinsic perfections, none the less charming
because they are more Puritan than Gal
lie. Turning to Burr Gordon the imagina-
tionisawa akenedtOgratitudefor scarborough
and even portrature. He is skillfully
drawn to the line, finished enough to save
any story and the feeling at the end is
that Burr is Madelon's saving clause.
believe there is an inclination to regard the
story depressing. Rather say it is ctnsum-
ing and powerful. The incidents are ar
rayed with dramatic sequence and cul-
inmate realistically and naturally. Such
criticism is only the recurring dispu
sltion to rule out actualism when it
IS not sugar-coa ted. Perhaps Miss
wilkins is suffering the penalty of having
PEI uthiitfIOiOWiiSd AWAY stocAptCttne
sweetly simple.
y I how many books can it be said that,
when the text has Teen read to the
last line faithfully and lovingly for
its own sake; it is the thought of
the man who wrote it that dominates
and survives it? In a book of criticism it
may be the erudition or the sincerity
breathed through the lines. 1t is this and
very personality that suffuses the fine
essays collected by Dodd. Mead & Co. under
the title of Critical Kit Kats.' The
author Is Edmund Gosse whose delightful
Gossip in Library" and "Questions at
Issue" have heretofore made him COM
panion to the reading hours of appreciative
He has written with the ease
Of q man with n large command of his
subject. with the intimacy of one pleasur-
ably interested In it, with the penetration
Of trained Judgment and the skilful ex-
preston which is the giving out Of SELF
The selffullness of Kit Kats is it's enduring.
charm.
The somewhat mystifying title Is, when
singuiaSiy appropriate. Mr..
Gosse explains that in an age when studies
and our shelves groan with
hooks. it is not every interesting and origi-
nal figure to whom the space of a full
ength portrait can be spared. For the
low, comfortable rooms. where people
dincd in the last century, there was In
vented tire shorter and less obtrusive pict-
ure, called E.tknt, and some OF our
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