New-York tribune., 1897-01-10
NINOR MERICAN FICTION.
SOME CLEVER SKETCHES AND SHORT
STORIES.

| THE STRANGE SCHEMES OF RANDOLPH
| MASON BY Melville Davisson Post Octave
| pp. 80. G. =. Putnams Sons
TKdM II T"H TT9 Mn
I.ansdon Ewyn Mitchell. Illustrated by Gil
bert Gaul. octave pp. 2is. Harper 4 Brothers
MARIN LISA. BY Kate Douglas s,,, wIsgin Duo
HEn''iin Ranss IiIisrated by ". r. smedey Duo
decimo pp 225 Harper Il Brothers
THE trcky NgMbER =. :s':, BY o X ,r;,,,dms Trsdmsn
| THE REAL ISSUE. BY William Allen White
| Duodecimo PIP Ha Chicago: Way Williams.
The snuosities of the law perhaps after all.
| the most romantic things In the world. Certainly
there are few literary productions more exciting.
| more thrilling. than frst-rate detective story.
Gaboriau may he "A bourgeois. but Gaboriau holds
his reader and rever lets him go We are re-
minded OF him by The Strange Schemes of Ran
dolph Mason" book in which number OF mys-
terous tales are told with all the circumstance
familiar 20 those who have had dealings with the
lnw The different stories are really eases. and
they are set forth with peculiar ingenuity and
discretion in the handling OF legal matters and
terms \ writer less clever than Mr.. Post would
have been too technical and too obscure but he
wears a documentary air without making You
feel that he Is writing specialist. The atmos-
uhcre of the law Is in the book, but It is not dry
and dusty on the contrary. II Is the air OF dis
,nctly human happenings, and the book Is laid
dowr with a keen realization OF Mr.. Posts ability
10 tell a good story in field which is not often
successfully traverscd by the nov"lists.
Tales Of the Southern country people have for so
long time beer boring the public with impossible
dialect and scarecrow characters that II is a
inv 70 come across such book as Mr. Mitchells
81 ov, in the Backwoods. The movement of the
more important OF the two stories In this is rather
slow but the quality Of the work may b. judged
from the fact that in spite Of the sowness 1t il
lmnossibe TO drop Two Mormons from Muddlety"
until the end is reached. The characters
genuine ard they are described with so much
humor they are themselves so original and
handled from such an original point OF view that
they are on all counts good to meet. Moreover. the
almost fantastic newness OF the plot takes moth
ing from the simple realism which is In the long
run Mr. Mitchells most important gift He has
introduced into these pages one or two episodes.
like the battle between Nicholas and the two ras
calls Mormons which are unconventional to the
last degree: but no one could question their
yeracty In fact, the encounter aforesaid. for all
its extraordinary character. seems as II proceeds.
10 be more and more normal. II does not cease 10
be true because II Is hesr.rendinsly funny.
Mrs wigsin Just escaped making a first rate
book out OF her Marin Lisa" The escape has
been 80 narrow as to leave pang OF regret In the
readers heart The conception OF the story WAS a.
good one The author has how much good
springs from mmonsense application OF the
principles OF Christianity. she has seen the barren
ness OF much so-called "advancod' theorlxing. and
In drawing her contrasts between an altruist who
is omething of angel and selfish crank"
who is something OF brute. she employs her
satirlcally humorous vein 10 some purpose. But
she is not content make her philanthropc Mis-
trcss Mary a good woman. She puts "a halo round
her head and draws her portrait In such maud
lin fashion that the result is suggestive of par
ticularly saccharne Christmas card. Similarly the
Mrs Cora Grubb. who Is described as wasting her