The times., 1897-04-18

The literary event Of any week which
is SO fortunate as to claim il is the puhlica
tion OF a new work by Mark Twain, even
when the new book is made up OF old
material Last week volume of easy
essays We're given forth in book form under
the title. taken from the first Of them,
"How to Tell Story" Most of them
will appeal as new material to the average
reader, for they appeared in various period
icals, and 1t is quite unlikely that any one
has read them all before.
Mark Twain : idea OF how to tell a
story, a humorous story, not on paper, hut
colloquially, is by the observance of four
points First, TO string incongTuities and
Rhsurtlities together in a wandering and
sometimes purposeless way, and seem in
nocentl Y unaware that they are abSurdities,
is the basis of the American art For he
distin gnishes the humorous story as origin
ally and distinctly American and not a { all
tobe confounded with the comic story which
is English and the witty story which is
French.
Another feature is the slurring of the
point A third is the dropping of a studied
remark apparently without knowing it,
Us il Oiit Nttt tlitlihtiif cfc-N- ~ Apo1 va
and last and most importantis the pause.
He illustrates with a couple OF samples
illustrative Of his position
The major portion of the book is, how
ever, taken up with the really famous
defense of Harriet Shelley, which is re-
produced from the North American Re
view, wherein all who read wonder at the
reviewers trencnant criticism Of Dowdeli
and his spirited and studied eXculpauon
of the first Mrs. Shelley flom tie imputa-
tions of her husbands biographer that she
drove Shelley to his II esalliance with Cor
nela Tuner. This essay is che OF the most
important of modern contributions to the
study OF Shelley, for Prof Dowden's ar
raignment of Harriet Shelley is so pal
pably unjust that il must be denied the i'm
portance which its ambitious dimensions
might claim for it,
Lovers of Mark Twain's peculiar humor,
and especially believers in him, viii sus-
pect that in Travelling with Reformer
the writer played the dual role of COM
pauiOn and rcformer, and that the reformer,
like the reforiner' 5 manifold kinship, had
no Foundation, save in his companion s i'm
agination But the reformer's methods
were drastic, and he handled offenders
with sympathy and appreciation, and a
mendacity with all which will make con-
verts of all who read his experiences to
the gentle art Of lying
There is an amusing interest in reading
the real history of the jumping frog story
even though the discovery of an identical
story two thousand years older puts our
humorist in the light of plagarist.
One of the most deiciously humorous
features OF this private history of tie frog
story is Mr. ClemonS rendering back into
literal English the French translation of
Nine. Blanc. Between these covers are
likewise found an arraignment of Fenni-
more Cooper for certain literary offenses,
an essay on Mental Telegraphy,' on what
Pau Bourget thinks of us, and a little note
TO Paul Bourget. The needles Of Mark
Twain's satire are sharp and incisiye,
and no victim, Dowden, Cooper or FouIget,
comes from under other than a well punct-
uated. lacerated mass. And all the time
we laugh with him, for he so thoroughly
understands the American quality, which
is not the comicality of the British or the
wit Of the French (New York Harpers.
Washington. Woodward & Lothropl
The reiuvenated spirit of Jules Verne
sreathes againin Frank Aubrey sadventur-
gus romance. The Devil Tree ofElDorado.
In IL he unites the graces of the lItterateur
and the license of the romancer to the
facts Of science and nature, which are more
marvellous than we ordinarily account them.
He has chosen for the locale of his fiction
the summit Roraima.
This is towering mountain, with table
land for a summit, and is so situated be-