The times., 1897-07-18

pOSt-InOTteIn WHICH card enthusiasts HOlu
after every hand he and his book are, for
that single act, entitled to a glorious i'm
mortality.
The book is full Of pictures and diagrams,
which makes it look easy to understand.
But there is one defect There is missing
any allusion to game, which is spelled
phonetIcally, ,GrabOoshe. WeloOkedprayer-
fully Tor this, not only because it is good
game. but hupeful OF finding the right and
professional way TO spell 1t, knowing how
to play it. There are in the language some
words and expressions which are never
spelled out in places where ordinary InOrtals
can see them, and their proper orthOgTaphy
remains a pursuing mystery Thomas
Nelson Page recently gave the spelling uf
the affirmative grunt, nh Hmhi' and we
We're grateful. Why didn't Mr.. Foster
eD.ighten card players on the game which
sounds like 'Grabooshe?" New York:
FrcderickA Stokes Company. Washington:
BreEtano's)
There is more seasonable promise in a
novel Here is IAN American Emperor"
by Louis Tracy, the man who wIote The
Final War" ana THE Shadow Hand"
The book hasa fresh yellowcover, indicative
of the enperor's gold, no doubt, and the
cover is adorned with the lack view OF a
yellOw-haiTed man in black oyercoat
writing out checks on green table in a
room papere,l ana ca arpeted in terra Gotta.
Does THAI melange OF color remind You Of
stephen Crane? The hook won't.
1t is vaulting phantasy, this case Of an
American who became emperor. Its title
and its text remind ore OF Richard Ha riding
Davis The Reporter Who Mace Himself
King" The text principally because Il
is 80 dissimilar. Davis is nothing if not
natural. His easy flow OF the vernacular
adOrns the yeTiest tHfle, and gives them a
touch Of interest and a glow of romance
which they may not possess in the IemOtest
degree except by grace of Davis pen
MI. Tracy, on the contrary, deals in tie
pIost astonishing extTBysnEancies. and
hasn't the gift to preserve them their flavor
The author shows daring Imagination.
That's his c-owniDg glory He spirits form
q young American worth at least eleven
hundred and fifty thousand millions. This
composite Of cash attends the opera one
evening and falls in love with a young
woman across the tier He seeks in every
way to discover her identity. The mau-
caddishly buys up the boxes for a series
of nights and trys to force the lady TO
accent his hospitality She refuses. He
hears she wants Louis Quatorze furniture,
s, within two hours he buys the hotel,
where she is stopping, and Louis Quatorze
set of furniture was forwarded the same
AFTERNOON.
She sends for him 70 demonstrate, but he
is so fascinating, and besides has sister
who mas accepted an impoverished pFin-
cipalfty, or at least the title OF princess,
for stare OF her millions That settles II
with tie mysterious woman She ccnfeSses
that she is a Hneal descendant OF two lines
ol French Kings He wants TO marry her,
hut of course tie lincal descendant OF two
lines OF French Kings couldn't think Of
marrying a plain American millionaire.
But he promises to make himself Emperor
of France, and she agrees that she viii
be glad to marry him then.
So he sets forth to make himself en-
percr. He accomplishes this by turning
France into a limited liability company.
lie turns his millions into gold coin, and Il
yellow flood attends Ills passage through
the lani of the fleur de lis. He goes to
Notre Dame to be crowned, but instead
he makes a speech and magnanimouSly
turns over the kingdom TO another fellow,
who had been married to the woman for
whom he made himself emperor. You see,
she didn't exactly keep her word. But he
didn't miud that; he found another Gid
in the course of the story. and their lirs
metz at the end of the forty-fiTst chap
ter There are forty-two chapters.
Here S Z sample OF Mr. Tracy's text,
taken at random, but accurately char
acteTistic:
Then she gave le Grand a swift, fond
slap on the cheek. But YOU needn't think
because I'In married to you thatI'm going
to do everything you want
"'You're going TO do this, though. I'm
thinking, because it's got to be done, you
see
~ see. You are a beautiful husband,
you are. But shan't give you chance
Adieul' She rose with the grace OF a priR-
cess. He had her By the aru.
Here, are YOU going to edo what I tell
you? What do you think married yo.I
for?'
Il won't do it,
'You shall!''
AZ shan'tI''
And she don't They have q foot race,
and he comes out second best, ''hopelessly
disanced" Some of the illustrated lines
are interesting, and may, perhaps, bring
the reader further in touch with Mr.. Tracy
and HISTORY: utterly disheartened, ,cowed,
brcw-bcaten. disgusted and disappointed,
the ex-ministers passed out into the night"
cit was otherwise with Arizona Jim;"
1.-THE American at last threw him off,
Isrr lot
lyon call me u tramp, you white-heaGcd
idiot,''
glance at the after-pagcs discloSes that
the Bookman has said of another of this
writer's stories: I'VE don't know when
we have been so much diverted as by this
book of Mr. Tracy's'' And we may add
the same OF IAN American Emperor As
for accounting for its publication by the
Putnans? The manuscript must have
been sent in with that quotation pinned on
The outside, and the firms reader passed
the story to the printer on the strength OF
the quotation, having missed the point
New York: g. T. Putnam's Sons. Wash
ingtou: Brentano.)
Some one, evidently a journalist, has
asked George w. Cable for a list of the
ten best short poems in the English Ian
guage, and this reply was ELECTED:
well, Of all the rough and Hl-defined
challenges that ne wspaper hurry ever
tossed into the arena of literary criticism,
isn't this the most so? What is short
poem, any way? How many verses must a
poem have to be a long one? If one
We're asked to confine himself somehow,
somewhere, within terrestrial limits, he
might find a point from which to draw