The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-18
NEW BOOKS.
Hr,er Reviews or Important and Interesting
New Publications.

their town in its historical and antiquarian as
pects, that once upon a time lovers held their
tryst aud pirates plotted for the delivery OF rich
earSocs into the hands of Capt. Kidd in the
,tul and solemn greenwood where Jefferson
Market now stands, and where tho red Amster-
dam avenue horse cars turn about In order to
make their deliberate way uptown again.
Can't. Kidd was a figure in New York history be-
fore the ninth ward came into its tangled. two
story. red. brick being, hot in politics and noisy
with the Salvation Army. In his day Minetta
Greek bArs a good reputation; It behaved itself
openly and above board, kept out OF the cellars,
and is said to have had fish in 1t. Although the
slavers we're active, and brought from the Con-
70 and Ethiopia all Of their peculiar freight that
was necessary to supply the vigorous and thriv-
Ing colony, there was not as yet any Minetta
lane. No public co~nveyances, very shabby. and
habitually i've minutes late, made their rheu-
matte way down Christopher street to the rail-
road ferry, FOR the sufficient reason that there
was no Christopher street, no railroad. and no
ferry. though the conveyances themselves, no
doubt, were already constructed, and only await
ed their opportunity. The studio In Tenth street
was not built. and Wells. in Sixth avenue, had
naturally not yet been opened by the Alsatian
patriot who exiled himself at the conclusion Of
the Franco. Prussian war Of 1871. What there
was in the Ninth ward at that remote time, and
what It looked like. may be agreeably gathered
from Augusta Campbell watson's romance,
Beyond the City's Gates (E- p. Dutton g. Col.
1t was an easy enough matter to be beyond the
gates in question in those days, Of course, for
they were at Wall street. and any place north
Of that point was beyond them. Harlem was q
remote community. and Gabe Cases was the
New World equivalent for the Pillars OF Her.
cules. Freida. the pretty daughter of an opu.
lent Dutch farmer, who lived far beyond the
gates, in the Bowery, of course. somewhere in
the neighborhood OF the Cooper Union. is the
heroine OF this romance. She wore multitu-
dinous petticoats. taking therefrom, naturally.
asomewhat dumpy appearance; and. though it
is not explicitly so declared, II Is to be supposed
that she sweetened her coffee by means Of a pre-
liminary bite Of the common Jumps OF sugar
which swung at the end OF a string above the
family table, for 1t would certainly be a per
verse early Dutch heroine who neglected so to
do. There was rich cream and butter In the
Bowery farmhouses OF those days, and excellent
cheese, and the happy occupants marched from
their spinning wheels to breakfast and supper
to the deep. slow music Of the cowbells.
Freida was in love with the nephew of
. PATRON who had great possessions and
power Just across the East River, in Long
Island. He must have lived in the navy yard,
e-e - ANNAJ 1920 eAS A'eAN AAS " 80
far away as Jamaica. The nephew was an I'M
worthy person. the companion OF pirates. leagued
with Capt. Kidd himself. He drank and gam.
bled, too; but he was handsome, with q dash
and swagger, dark face. and vibrant voice. and
these fortuitous qualities have always played
the deuce in love. Freida at q church fair
gave him q nosegay that had been bestowed
upon her by an altogether worthy lover. q
strapping fellow. the strongest man in New
York, and the rascal would have married
her il he had not murdered his uncle
and basely left her to DO tried FOR the
crime. Ii is creditable to the heart of the ro-
mancer, and q proof OF her discernment Of the
proprieties and needs of fiction, as it seems to
US. that she should have married Freida to her
worthy lover finally. and should have allowed
the other to die q bachelor. of wounds received
In battle. in a distant land Poetic Justice Is de.
nirable, and 1t Is reassuring to think that there
Is a place for it In fiction. II not in the actual
world. The story is for the most part very sim.
ply and reasonably told. We feel ourselves CON
strained to say, that we do not think that
anybody has cords" In his forehead.
and for this reason we do not believe
that any degree of passionate excitement
In anybody could cause the cords OF
his forehead to swell. Again, we doubt II
anybody. at the time Of this story. lived in
Liberty street" in New York. Still again, we
could wish that the simple Dutch character,
Aunt Annette, who had passed her life making
butter and heelinR stockings, had not been
made to speak. unverisimilarly and extrava-
gantly, of these worthy people. the co-workers
Of the arch-fend Kidd" and that the worthy
hero. the strongest man in New York. had
not been moved to mention, in the course
Of an impassioned GRAFTON at the tav.
ern, 1.-THE iend that is in our midst. 4"
We have never thought out precisely what the
limitations were that constituted an objection
to the careless use of the word "fend." We
should describe it offhand as q Miltonic word,
exalted and even sacred in its character. To
have a iend in ones midst is a deplorable con.
dition not unknown in history. but not always,
when a tiend has been alleged to DO in such an
intimate place, is 1t the fact that he has really
been there.
Robert Louis Stevenson. who knew and loved
some OF the South Sea islands and their peo.
pies. said that the first love. the first sunrise
the first South Sea island. were memories apart,
and touched a ~virginity OF sense. But there Il
one man, now living, who knows those won
crous lands. from the Solomons to the Mar
quesas and from Easter Island to the far-away
Pellews. and who in the course of twenty years
wandering. as supcrcargo. sailorman. and
trader. has learned to understand the Poly
nesian and the Micronesian as few white men
have ever done. Mr.. Louis Becke, whose
short stories. in the volume by Reef and
Palm. at once stamped him as u man who could
not only write, but who knew what he was
writing about. stands at the head OF all those
who have striven to convey something OF the
romance and the atmospheric charm that lingel
In these most beautiful Of all lands and OF
the strange blending OF primitive limo
cence and horrible brutality that Otter
marks the association OF the doomed and
iast-vanishing native races with the all
conquering whites. In his latest volume
: Pacific Tales 1.-THE New Amsterdam Book
company) are eighteen stories that show the
strongly marked contrasts and the sunlight and
dark shadows OF island life. and that range
from the sensuous tropical charm of the open
Ing pages Of " In tho Old Beach.Combing Days
ana In the Evening" to the pathos Of Fol
We Were Friends Always" and tho crud,
horror Of "Hollis's Debt" Q tale Of cold.bloodet
murder and revenge. or of 1.-THE Arm of Lunt
Opal" a "reminiscences of cannibalism In New
Britain.