The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-10
BOOKS OF TIE HOUR
w. d. HOWELLS' NEW VOLUME OF
EXPRESSIONS AND EN-
PEREENCES.
A NEW SCOTCH NOVELIST.
SOME SHORT STORIES BY j. a.
MITCHELL, THE EDITOR OF
LIFE"
''ToBlmy-Anne and the Three
Observation-Disclosures in
the Back Woods"

No reader who is intelligently inter-
ested in what may, perhaps too modest
ly, be called the minor problems of our
ciVilizati lion, should fail TO read the new
volume Of essays by Charles Dudley
Warner. entitled The Relation of
Literature to Life" Mr.. Warner is
thoughtfu sincere and very much in
earnest in his discussion of the rela-
ton OF books to daily bread, of the
cultivation of one class TO the needs
OF the class below it, of simplicity TO
life. Of the theory of equality to the
practice Of it, Of the intentions of
progress" which underies the history
Of the nations to civilizat ton. and the
things that he has to say about all
these subjects are not only intrinsical-
y sane, wholesome and optimistic. but
are delightfully."- said, as we'll His essay
upon equality is a brief review Of a
large subject and fun of the wisdom
which is the outcome of experience.
If some such outline of what equality
really is, some such doctrine of civil
izing the individual in the line of his
capacities could become a part of the
worlds daily thinking and acting a
quarter of the difficulties and half Of
the bitterness Of existence would be
eliminated at once. His essay on
Modern Fiction" goes directly to the
root Of the matter in saying, apropos
OF the realists, The failure is not that
vulgar themes are treated, but that
the treatment is vulgar" No one has
made this statement quite so explicitly
before, and it is one of which our bud
ding re8lists would do well to ponder.
There is, in truth, more material for
reflection in this unpretentiOus volume
than in any other book of the last six
months
e The Relation Of Literature to Life, by
Charles Dudley Warner. Harper & Bros.
Stationery company
Benjamin Swift, the young Scotch
writer whom Mr. Barrie says is bound
TO be one of the best-known noVelists
ii England in a few years is as vet
man whose work is to be watched
rather than to be read. In other words,
Nancy Noon Mr. Swift's first novel,
is more powerful than pleasant, and
more chaotic than powerful. The book
is sort of witches broth in which
good things and i'll simmer together,
and the writer is still SO young that
he fOndly imagines himself giving us a
dTaught Of the cup Of life in this re-
peilant mixture. He looks at his char
acters as Dickens looked; he tells of
them much in the manner of Meredith,
but. being young and enthusiastic his
thoughts flow more quickly and harden
into less cOntOrted shapes. He an
nOunceS the world somewhat after the
fashion of Carlyle, though of course the
torrent of his inEvActiX~n in a
row channel The world is a bad
world, chiefly because the lovers Of
his story found it so. He does not ar
raign it at large. The characters Of
the tale are all distorted figures. 1t
is as if instead Of watching the world
steadily with calm eyes, the writer had
turned his back upon it and observed
the procession of the living as it pass
ed. in some lying mirror that showed
but twisted shapes. He brings to his
task, however. such reserves of enthus-
i2sm, youthful certainty and at times
goodwin that the reader is impressed
with something Of the authors own
confidence in the seasonal bleness~ and
even the necessity of his own work.
The work itselfWe may say, apart from
this insistent conviction of the worker,
would hardly give us the same idea.
Mr.. Swift is epigrammatic at times,
but Oftener in intention than in execu-
tlCn. His epigTams fail to hit the work
more frequently than not, and yet are
often good. On the whole, however
the faults Of the books are those of
superabundance rather than of def
cheney, and are therefore likely to be
remedied. But for pleasurable reading,
commend us to Mr. Swifts fourth novel
rather than his first.
C'Nancy Noon" by Benjamin Swift.
Charles Scribner's Sons. 81 sc. For sale by
the st. Paul Book and Stationery company
In THAT First Affair" are collected