The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-06-07


into his own hands TO furnish what every
reader must admit, we believe, was moth
ing more or less than the natural ana
fltting outcome Of the visit o; the burglar
to the Old Maids Paradise
In word, tho burglar did move Para
disc ana In literal as well as sshti-
nental sense He captured the delight
full Oid Maid--simply took her by storm.
Then certain Interesting circumstances
making 10 desirable. he moved the whole
establishment To another site. The cap
ture OF the Old Maid was easy by contrast
to the extraordinary difficulties placed in
the way OF the literal moving of the cosy
Paradise So Paradise was first captured
then moved successfully and finally tho
maid servant was captured, too-married
and altogether Mr.. Ward, with mischief
atorethought ties up all the loose threads
of tho Old Maids Paradise so that no one
can hereafter unite them ana another
sequel can never be necessary, or pro-
test be of any avail. It Is just as we'll,
for do we not read that after all the Old
Maids Paradise, as discovered, was not
Paradise at all until the burglar climbed
up in " and asserted himself as OF super
ior Importance To a house,
It is charming story for summer
days reading, a jolly book for train or
hotel piazza, or camp, or hammock. lt ls
clipper and alive with good humor, clever
situations and rare sport Indeed, IL Is
delicious fun-making. The author evil
IDENTIFY hugely enjoys his mischievous
work and he tiokles his readers CORE
spondingly. And the strain OF love
through it all strikes responsive chord
OF the tenderest and purest quality.
The humor Of John Kendrick Bangs
always reminds us of that found In the
college opera or the university book of
"grinds." Indeed, we have been led TO feel
that Mr.. Bangs deliberately applied this
kind of humor TO commercial purposes
where less perspicacious wits were blind
10 tho resources thus so freely available to
all men. Ihore is surely no wit more
epullient than that of the fresh young
minds In our universities To which the
world appeals strongly as a good deal Of
joke, which is SO acute TO discover fun In
everything and quick TO puncture the
serious aspect of their elders and their
betters. Particularly Is IL this quality OF
humor that distinguishes that riotous
conception "A House Boat in the Styx,"
and In Mr.. Bangs new book The Pursuit
OF the House Boat" (Harper & Bros,
the same quality again makes every page
particularly rich reading. sHere Is the
natural fun, refined, to be sure by ex-
perience and art rs practiced by the
humorist but in nowise subdued or re-
strained. Mr.. Bangs rs we have indi-
Gated seems TO have monopoly OF this
kind of humor. He has applied IL TO
books just as impressario Edward T..
Rice has Co comic opera-and with the
same striking success. The original idea
OF the house boat of the shades was q
sufficiently comical conception but when
MIR. Bangs tells us that the house boat
was stolen by the shades of Captain Kidd
and his kind who sailed away without
knowledge of the fact that there wure on
nd att ha Hy sh N
the colony and that tho immortal remains
of Sherlock Holmes led the rescuing party
i'm pursuit Of the house boat-why, surely.
there's richness In prospect for you at
the start. The amazing story is dedicated
60 DIR. Conan Doyle, the untimely demise
of whose great detective evidently made IL
possible. IL is profusely iliustated by
Peter Newell. and upon opening the book
the reader is likely 70 be profoundly and
delightfully."- struck by these pictures.
Mr. Newell furnishes something new and
decidedly effective In ghosts. His shades
are exceedingly fine. There Is dampness
about them, and sense OF unlimited
distance and ghostly moisture in the
atmosphere of their surroundings that
make the reader Immediately at, home In
ghost land and they are a distinct contri-
button In furnishing the local color
with which the author invests his tale
with marvellous consistency. (for sale by
Louis Becke writes fascinatingly gloomy
stories of the South seas Ho has the
field good deal TO himself ana he knows
his territory thoroughly. We are sure, how
ever, that there Is delightful life in the
South Seas among the primitive peoples
and the Eden-like climate. Mr. Becke,
however, cuts into all the loveliness like
German gunboat frownng on
Samoan VILLAGE Here is His Native
Wife," 81. B. Lippincott Company in
the dainty Lotus Library, for instance
1t is a cruel ana pathetic tale. 1t is
probably truly told, too-only pleasant
things are often true, but Mr.. Becke
seems not to find them. We admit lots of
people like n grueSome story. We like
that kind once in a while. His Native
Wife" gives us our fill. Incidentally, if
your feelings are injured by any reilec-
tions on missionaries you will be wroth
when you read this little book. You may
be led TO believe that It's author has no use
for missionaries. lie makes them con-
tribute To the cruelty and pathos he finds
in life In the South Seas. Gregory, price
75 cents
A probably impossible woman and a
possibly impossible man claim the interest
of the reader in not altogether unlEtcr-
esting novel entitled The Philanderers.
by A. T. w. Mason(The Macmillan Com
pany) The story leads one on in rritat-
ing fashion TO nothing mt all, leaving the
reader stranded at the conclusion TO ro-
fleet upon the'probably impossible woman
and the possibly Impossible man as all
that are left in sany way material
from the reading. Clarice Le Mosurier is
one Of those doll-like, easily influenced
women who figure in the list Of those who
don't know their own minds. But it Is
TO be doubted II ever there was a real
woman who knew her own mind so amaz-
ingly little as Clarice She is iickle TO
the point of making Of hckleness a
mania. She is the kind OF a creature that
some men like TO pretend they believe
exist In the same way the man who
figures most prominently in the story Is
he kind that some men feel ought to exist
though we never heard of one in real life
in. word he is the opposite To the inn
possible women I'm that no is strong,
sincere and simple beyond belief. IL
there are such women as Clarice we
very much doubt that they can attract
such men as stephen Drake-if there are
a