New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-16
NEW NOVELS.
A TRIUMPH FOR MR. RICHARD HARDING
DAVIS

SOLDIERS OF ToRTyME BY RSha 1,h. Harding Ing
tavo PIP. 364. Charles Scribner's Sons
THE THIRD VIOLET. BY Stephen Crane Oc-
tavo, PIP. 2os. d. Appleton Co.
- There are two reasons why Mr. Davis should be
atuIated upon his Soldiers OF Fortune" In
the first place he has given us In II the novel OF
life in a revolutionary South American State for
which we have long been waiting, and. further
more, he has made 1t revelation Of his finest
gifts. His originality and skill in the construction
of a brief story have long since been recognized;
his animation and accuracy In descriptive nara
tive have won him wide and a faithful public;
but he has done enough work of An unsatisfactory
nature TO give the reader pause when IL has come
to acknowledging in him a veritable master OF the
art OF fiction. He Is such master in Soldiers OF
Fortune" His defects have disappeared The cock
sure mannerisms and what might be called the
color OF an inveterate commOnplaceness have both
been escaped. What Is presented between the COW
ers of this delightful novel Is the work or mature
romancer, writing out Of a full mind and sure OF
his ground Ffom all points OF view 1t Is n good
book In that relation alone. TO which reference
has been made above in its Interpretation OF the
tone and movement Of a South American State In
its characteristic condition of fermentation. we are
persuaded that II is unusually sympathetic ana
exact The reader is not left TO cultivate an I'M
pulse OF doubt. The whole thing moves with such
artless celebrity Perhaps President In the tropics
does not play such a toruous game as that OF the
Alvarez of the present story; perhaps the new die
tator in the field is less of the melodramac indi-
vidual that we find Mr.. Davis's Mendoza but he
| has certainly made these two men Hfellke and
| convincing he has painted in Nine Alvarez just
| the sort of ambitious woman who might be ex-
pected to stand at the centre OF such Crisis as
| that in the affairs of blanche which IS here de-
scrIbed and the background is fitted 10 the actors.
the scene is absolutely vivid and deludng. we are
made 10 participate in the events which nave given
new power TO the novelists pen. and there Is not
| q maze in the book which falls OF its effect
Possibly that last observation should be qualified
On mage $50 the hero Clay. INDUCES In spasm OF
| self-pitv which f. hardly worthy OF him. But to
note this is really 10 pay tribute to the general
| excellence of the authors work for it would nc
| impossible to resent the lapse IL MI DAVIS mad
| not kept the hero to himself In every other
episode Of the story. Clay is "A man who could be
| consistent who could be undeviatngly strong and
admirable without being prig lie fills the stage
| with the aplomb OF man who Is almost an Adj
| mrabe Crichton. but he never ceases to he a man.
| he is always interesting. always sympathetic
| Hitherto Mr. Davis has done well I'm sketchins
| rather obvious types Of the Van Bibber or Gall
| legher sort but he has drawn In Clay figure
| genuine clean through and with that touch OF In
| dtviduality about him which makes a parsonage in
fiction remembered for his own sake instead OF as a
| type The other actors In the drama are indvidu-
allied too The amiable millionaire, with his love
| T,
| his serenely mpeccable daughter, Alice and her
| impetuous but more lovable sister Hope, all
bodied forth distinctly. and the men who surround
| CLAY are equally well presented. They all
| flung into an adventure the thrill OF which Mr..
| Davis has communicated to his pages as though
without effort. and tho book IL closed with a
feeling of complete satisfaction. There is only one
point on which It, would be interesting to have
some further light. Did MacWilliams go to the
bungalow in white duck or the robes OF conven-
tiona human intercourse? Mr.. Gibson, In his Illus
tration is for the latter, but the text leaves the
matter In doubt.
Regiment" with some stories In 1t that readers of
| fiction will not forget. 1t seemed evident
that he had thrown off the incubus OF that curious
ambition which had led him to produce such a
hook as Maggie" But I'm The Third Violet" he
has reverted, more or less to the worst side OF his
realistic ideal. In other words. to the side where
| he is not realistic at all In any plausible sense
The plot of his narrative Is good and, pitched I'm
another key: the book might have turned out
| preston somewhere that the impecunious artist
OF to-day is nothing II not sIangy and the reverse
| a frowsy young model upon the scene a person
| whom he would perhaps have us believe had
charms. II she had he certainly eonceas them
| hero has a faint of commonness which he can
not shake of: the heroine suffers in the way.
difiicult to reach any conclusion other than thai
| the company Is profoundly disagreeable whether
one region TO the other and Is true enough 10 the
superficial aspects OF BOTH but Its descriptions are
never quite adequate and when they deal with
gro,esaue For example: 'Hawker turned and
found a young woman regarding him wave OF
viii have to produce something better than 1.-THE
| Third Violet" he 10 to keep on even the modest
Laval Of his best work