The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-04
NEH monks.
nEisf Reviews Of I,npsrtan, and IntrrsstinE
New Publications.

unbroken flow OF The gentler and more compre-
hcnsible Impressions. and he generally sees to
It that his very ingenious and clever stories
shall be sufficient y strange and disturbing. In
"Thc Mystery Of Choice."a new volume OF his
tales ID. Appleton s. Co... there is. we think, no
insane cat that tears its mad benefactor and In
quisitor into ribbons, and no armorer forging
suits OF mail in Blocker street, and no public
lethai chamber for the convenient disposal ofhis
characters In tho last chapter; but the new tales
are agitatinR and strange enough. and no reader
who loves to be disturbed will find in them. We |
are sure, any reason to complain. Surely there
10 sufficient qualification for anybody whose
wish II Is to depart from the beaten path, in
what Mr.. Chambers has to tell Of the Purple
Emperor. the Red Admiral, and the Black
Priest. Obviously these Sc cral characters arc
powerfully invested with what Prot. Brander
Matthews would call local color, and 1t is to DO
added that they are scrupulous to live up to
their color in their deeds. Fly fishing is a matter
not unassociated with the idea of lively hues;
the rod ibex, the dragon fly, and the common
caterpillar are all calculated to fill us with differ
ent Impressions from those that We should gather
from u contemplation Of the Quaker drab: but
the %tendeu,y of MIR. Chambers to begin with a
fishing story makes only moro violent, after all,
the shock of his narrative as 1t proceeds from
fishing hooks into the darkest mysteries and
deepest agitations Of understandable human
tragedy. The Red Admiral. 1t is painful for us
to explain, was slain by somebody who left
upon him the odor OF cythyl. and was discover
Cd In his grave under a hearthstone BY n butter
ny, because cythyl is n bait for butterflies, and
attracts them irresistibly, Notwithstanding
anything that Purple Empcrors may do. The
Purple Emperor did not wish to have the burial
place OF the Red Admiral discovered, and the
applied instinct of the butterfly made of him
q raving ~lunatic, which was after all no moro
than no deserved, and no more than Mr..
Chambers was bound to do with him.
That tho Red Admiral was possessed of
q cheap glass eye. and that this evi.
donce of vanity was conspicuous in him
when he was discovered under the hearthstone,
signifies, we should think, that. notwithstand.
Ing his vanity, he was OF an economical turn.
and, further, that a glass eye is as good as q
red ibis or n caterpillar to point a tale of
chaotic horror. As for the enormous birds that
Mr.. Chambers anchored to q cedar tree In the
tale called "A Matter of Interest,"" and the
enormous antediluvian lizard that he pep
pered with two magazinefuls of steel-tipped
bullets In the same tale, it is to be said that
they were dangerous as well as large. that Mr..
Chambers was lucky to be able to escape from
one of the birds. after 1t had broken his arm by u
nap Of its wing, by rolling himself into the
mouth of an iron boiler, and, altogether. that
he lived to get a kiss from the interesting and
amiable girl called Daisy, and to bag q thermo.
oaurus at the end of the story.
In "The First Christmas Tree" by Henry Van
Dyke Charles Scribner's Sonsl, we have a ro-
mantle story of that sanity nan and famous
pilgrim and apostle. Winfried of England. also
called Boniface. He comes on Christmas eve, in
the year 722, to the cloister of Pfalzel. in what
IL now the vineyard of Germany A pleasant
place in the cloister. the pleasanter when one
considers the wildness and inclemency Of its
surroundings at that time. The huge kitchen is
a-bustle with the preparations for supper, and
q fine odor arises from the meats suspended
on splits before the fire and turned by the
efforts of a pack OF bandy-legged. little dogs,
properly harnessed for the purpose. In the BAN
quct room later Winfried sits at supper on the
right hand of the venerable Abbess Addula,
daughter of King Dagobert, and narrates his
adventures to a wondering company. The pic
ture is full OF the suggestion Of ease and pleas
antness, but it is not in ~cloisters, those snug
harbors of early piety, that a soul like Win
fried's finds its peace and solace. To him it Is
joy to be abroad in the forests of Hesse and
Thuringia, contending with bears and wolves
and the fury OF the elements, and carrying
the Christian story to a savage people.
He storms the imagination Of the young
Prince Gregor. grandson of the Abbess. and
carries that sturdy lad away with him upon
his travels. He thrusts out his foot, covered
Win u DOOt OF neaVy niue, OeIore ureBOr. sec
here.' he says, chow a fighting man of the
Cross Is shod. 1 have seen the boots of the
Bishop of Tours-white kid broidered with silk;
adayi in tho boys would tear them to shreds: l
have seen the sandals that the monks use on the
highroads-yes and worn them; ten pair of
them have I worn out and thrown away in a
single journey. Now l shoe my feet with the
tou chest hides, hard as iron; no rock can cut
them, no branches can tear them. Yet moro
AkAH 49,. -nt. - TO- L--- - --I
many more shall l outwear ere my journeys are
ended. And 1 think. II God is gracious to me,
that 1 shall die wearing them. Better SO than
in q soft bed with silken covering" That surely
is a delicate suggestion and premonition
OF the rudely expressive modern phrase.
"to die with ones boots on" After two
years of wandering infried and Gregor come
at Christmas upon the thunder oak OF Geismar.
where the people are assembled to worship the
god Thor; and to offer sacrifice in honor Of Bal
dur, that minor but very beautiful deity Of the
northern mythology. The high priest Hunrad
has lifted a hammer to slay a beautiful boy. who
kneels at his feet, when Winfried beats the
hammer aside with his staff, and offers to cut
down the thunder-tree in order to show that
Thor will mako NO sign in resentment Of the
violation OF his dwelling place and temple.
Winfried and Gregor assail the thunder oak
with axes. They are skilled woodsmen, and
mako the chips fly. but hardly have
they begun upon the tree when a great
WhirlinR wind D sses above 1t, tears 1t up by the
roots, and lays 1t PROSTATE in four great pieces.
which are employed. under the direction of Win
fried. in the erection of a chapel to st. Peter.
nobody doubling that the destruction OF the
tree IL 9 sign in favor of the English apostle
rather than an angry manifestation of Its own
alleged and disturbed contents. Furthermore
Winfried and Gregor chop down a young fir
tfaa and this Ia eunnlnyed In the manner nnyy a0
familiar to the Christian world. and is the first
Christmas tree" Of the story. The book 10
beautifully produced. with handsome print
upon rich and heavy paper. An attractive de,
sign borders the pages. and Mr.. Howard Pyle
has supplied four characteristic and admir- able
Illustrations.
Mr.. Thomas J. Vivian has humor, mman