The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-22
SOME NEW BOOKS.
Three Pieces of Fiction Based on the
Unhappy Allfance-A Valuable New
series for Home Reading, study and
Culture.

S~'Ao" sSA AAvsss~ As~~~o, ~s~~s ~~~
Culture.
You can but admire the art which
holds your interest to the finish OF a
sizeable novel through the medium of
only three characters at most. Indeed
Mr. Henry James in his newest book
The spoils of Poynton, which Is pub
lisheu by Houghton, Mifiin u CO., the
sixteenth in their James list, really asks
you to become seriously interested In but
two actors, both of them women, the
third, man, being only the CHIEF
feeder, " TO use an expressive word OF the
stage OF the parts portrayed by the other
two. The reader, however, Is likely to
| cling rather fondly To this third character
of which enough strong glimpses are had
| TO make you know what sort OF fellow
| he Is. And he Is irresistably likeable al
though he does make "a mans mess OF
| things.
| Owen Gercth Is all right and besides
| Flcda loves him and rs she Is an alto
| gcthor charming young woman, that for
| downright cleyorness and consuminatc
sweetness has few rivals among Mr..
| James many clever and sweet women,
| the reader is bound TO like what she likes.
Hero is young fellow, just an average
| young fellow, who persists In getting
| himself involved with young woman Tor
whose sake he shows his mother the door
of the house that has always been their
common home, disappoints q far superior
| young woman, namely Fleda Netch,
| much to the irritation of the reader who
follows the story, and disappoints himseit
| i'm the end because, after all, he doesn Z
love the girl for whose sake he sacrifices
himself, and everybody else within reach
including the Spoils of Poynton on
which treasure hangs the thread OF the
comedy and tragedy OF this altogether
realistic tale. We take 10 that Mr.. James
did not have to look far To find the kind
| Of fol ha whose
half shot love affair is only limited by the
number Of persons within the limit OF
its influence But the gallant defense
of the Spoils of Poynton from the upas
tree, their capture, their surrender ana
their ultimate fate, the hopeless struggle
of clever heads and loving hearts in their
behalf, directly and indirectly, the hap
pness of everybody concerned, create
profound sympathy in the telling and
makes capital reading. There Is hardly
conceivable way out OF the difficulties
resulting that would satisfy the reader
and yet that would not be stupid.
Mr.. James may not always be satisfy
| ing, but he is bound not TO be stupid.
So the Spoils are removed at
stroke and we suppose everybody lived, IL
not happy, yet in comparative content
ment ever after.
The book is gotten up with the charac-
terstic good taste of the Riverside Press
printed on linen paper and daintily
1
ornament For sale by Preston q Rounds.
Price Sl.5O.
The number of men who marry women
that they had better not Is probably quite
equaled by the number OF women who
marry men they had better not. Both
styles of the misaliance are popular with
the writers of fiction. The "Spoils OF
Poynton, as preceding for example,
sin the Crucible'' to follow and THE
Man who Wins. for present considera-
| ton. With remarkable cleverness Mr..
Robert Herrick sketches us rapid view
of several generations of men to the period
wher the Ellwell family finds itself pretty
we'll run out in dlssolute man
and weak woman, the latter, of whom
has enough gimp left in her com
position to make her feel instinc-
lively that the family must be re-
grated for its survival, not to mention its
Immediate happiness which is of chief
concern. Jarvis Thornton represents n
fine bit Of blood for the desired re-invig-
Grafton and Thornton, with all his strong
qualities succumbs as better and worse
men have before him and will To come, to
the pleading eyes of woman in pitiful
situation and thinks 1t love and when he
discovers IL isn't, he sits down with it
and strives and saws his allotted share
of wood and makes the best of IA not half
bad world that, after all, one can manage
to enjoy hugely and get along in without "a
lot of things. Now comes the prime in
terest in the story with the Development
of still the next generation. The author
does not furnish the story OF this he only
brings you UP to its beginning If nc
told it, very likely 1t would be simply a
duplication of the story already told in
1.-The Man Who Wins. = We doubt II tho
next generation needed the warning Of its
predecessor. The attractive story Is
printed in the Scribners' Ivory Series,
dainty 10 mo. volumes that SELL each
with a capital story so far as we have read
them, for IS cents. (Preston a. Rounds
Two of the three naval officers intro
| duced into Grace Denio Litchficld's IS new
novel I'm the Crucible, C.. p. Put
mans Sons Hudson Library, Monthly,
| No. Is, paper 90 cents) are ferocious
gamblers which is rather unkind per-
centage Some naval officers drink to
| excess, many of them chow tobacco with
out stint, but we doubt If the gambling
| fever seizes more than rare victim.
| However, this is "a small point to pull out
| in an altogether capital story and would
not have suggested itself were naval
officers more numerous as figures in our
I | American fiction. ''In the Crucible"
knows Washington life and presents 1T
sketchily but breezily-including an in
, auguration day. Russell Olney and Lloyd
Giifillan, cousins, are both in love with
| Leigh Cameron, an altogether fetching
| young person, the development of whose
) | womanhood, under the distressing cir
cumstances of the tale involving of
course, the naval lovers, represents bit
of art of which the author may well feel
Q | proud. Indeed it is inconclusive whether
: the enjoyment had from reading this
nightly Interesting book came from the
| cleverness of the plot as TO its inception
and handling, or the development of the
several characters that it Introduces Ii
is not an extended story, 1t is purely
seriously Yet i'm the telling more than a
; half dozen exceedingly attractive people
: | are impressed on the mind of the reader
i'm "A way that makes them and the book a
4 remarkably pleasant memory. IL Is alto
gethed charming
! Something new and desirable i'm books
!. is to be offered in Appletons Home Read,