The times., 1897-07-11
d! 14!!+l ] +ll|@l 3 ! t|l.tll1 ia !


Joke; and then, when it was actually time
foT them all To go TO bed. they would have
wanted TO use him for a street lamp, he
was 50 bright
The pcculiarity OF the case is that, with
allthese varied and exquisite auddaZZlingly
brilliant gifts, this same Earty Jossclin
had terrible time when he tried To MAKE
= living He could sing like an angel, but
bis voice was not good enough for the
stage, he could paint like seraph, tut
none OF Isis pictures would cordescend to
sell, he could see, and hear. and touch, and
taste and Smell with the most eXtraor-
dirary cutcness, but he couldn't dodge an
adyersary'S sword in just the way in
which he had meant 10 do il; aud so,
although he was the most wonderful
swordsman that the world had ever seen,
he got the point of the sword in the W rong
plac andhurt himself good deal.
Bet all this $ eXcasahle in hero. We
who Were brought up on Bulwer-Lytton
and the Arabian Nights know how tomake
excuses for hero, / he is too bright and
good for human nature TO endure even as
medicine. IL is expected, too, the heroine
of every novel should be a winGlesS angel,
and We should not like To say how many
divorces are due 10 the idea foStered by
novels in the minds of caIlow young folks
that a man-the particular man who is
engaged in the business of making love
is Chevalier Bayard and Sir Philip Sidney
and St Michael and one of Rarhaers
cherubs all rolled into one, with liberal
addition of Genius-and that every girl is
as beautiful as her pet photograph and as
F,,- -
creams. There are curl papers, ana cold
cream, and overdone steaks, and butchers
bills, ana collar buttons, and naggings,
and swear words, to be introduced later,
and the shock is unpleasant.
But this ultras operative, doIble-dis
TILED, eNtTa-fine perfection does rot stop
with Barty aud Leah, his wife, nor cv ~
with their Children, of whom there are ten
in all Tor they devoted themselves Ia the
business quite steadily for Il number of
years, the historian calmly informs uS-it
extended 10 n sort OF unt!erStudy heroine
whom 8ariy did not marry and W no is rep
presented in one OF the pictures as large
aud rather pretty young woman with her
hair done up in a saus age on the back OF
her neck. II eXteads TO the school In
which the redoubtahle Barty and his friends
spent their youthful years and to Martha,
of course, when that shadowy person
comes on the scene, and TO everybody
and everything in the entire 457 pages Of
the book.
And this effect is not altogether de-
str"yed by the pictures, which certainly
show lot of very ordinary people IN not
particularly becoming clothes with here
and there the profile Of a lovely female
face" The author takes great pains To
remind us about once in half n d,-zen
rages that Party Josselin was fond of
lovely female faces.
good deal more than half of the book
is devoted to tie earlier history and adj
ventures of Barty Josselin, his astonishing
talents and the way in which he aston
Isl iHgly dill not make a living.
Finally, on page 255, moIe than half
way through, the mysterious Maria ma kes
her debut in a letter. She is soul ftou
Mars, who goes about inhabiting people and
getting experience. In the process of in
IA biting Barty she discovers that he is terri
hly blue over the loss of he sight OF one eve
and is about tocom!nit suicide. The way in
Which his is not done Is one of the sublimest
anti-climaXeSinl liteTa tLra :, andalmOSt worth
wading through the foregoing pages 10
discover The ineffaMy wretchcd Young
man puts a dose Of cyanide of potassium
in a glass of water, and lies down on his
bed towatch it melt and think aboutthings.
Before ii is entirely melted lie goes To
sleep.
When lie wakes he discovers the tu.nbler
empty, and a letter. In this letter Martha,
who else where describes herself as a
bland and fleeting little anima lcuIe,
without body" informs him that she
has been living in his physical frame at in
tervdls For some time, and loves him dearly,
ana that she is able, when he is asleep
and his brain off duty, to use that BODY TO
Write him letters, and, incidentally, to
throw away poisonous doses W hiCh are
dangerous to have around the house. She
later nforms him that he and she are gcing
TO do some literature, and that he is TO
leave pen and ink beside his bed every
night before retiring, and she will tell him
some books which he ought to read. and
make notes frcm which he is to write.
And in this way, in course Of time. he " rites
books which Ievolutionize the entire course
OF iIc On this planet, and cause the world
10 wonder how on earth it ever got along
iNiiOuN ItiIts JUSSelt1.
Bdrty minds Martha beautifully. he
only rebels when she tries to control his
love affairs She wishes him to marry the
understudy heroine; who, she saws. is al
ready in love with him. Bartv, like a
gentleman, affects to doubt this, but tries
duufully t. fan in love with the Young lady.
which, however, he can't do, because he
loves bis Leah, and finally marries her
IN spl'e Of Martha, who goes off in a huff
She becorles reconciled to him, however.
alter time, and later expresses d desire
TO be born as his child, which is done. All
TINS time Barty has been writing heavenly
DOCKS, Wbiah are not, however, quoted any
further than their names
Al! this time Martha only makes herself
evident through the letters which Barty
sornnambultsticaliy writes, and when she
finally becomes q human child she has
entirely forgotten that she ever was a
disemhodied conscience floating around in
space However, as she prophesed that
this would happen, in the last DIS
embodied letter which, she ever wrote, it
doesn't weaken the evidence.
This element in the book is the only
original thing in it, and occupies, all told,
only very few pages The rest is the
reeollections of the garrulous old
reared tradesman, and his dilatations on
the astonishing beauty, health, genius.
strength, grace, goodness, humor and other
oclghtful qualities of every person in the
whole book except himself, and he modestly
says of himself that if it had not been for
him some of these astonishing things might
sui have remained undeveloped And then
what would the world have done?
Although THE Martian'' will never be
popular, it is interesting as a study Of
one phase of du Maurier's self. and that