The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-25
NEW BooKs.
BrieT Reviews or Important and Intere.tIr,
New Publication.

or objects, ana In RhOdn BroughtOn's story
Dear Faustina" ID. Appleton & Coz. there /,
no need TO DO surprised at the authors inclina.
ton and liking for tho present tense. To h,
sure 1t is n difficult tense to sustain throuphopt
an entire book. and something OF n feeling OF
personal aggrievcment is likely to result FROM IL
In the course OF time to those readers who's.
idiosyncrasy 1t is to hold some other tenss
in a superior esteem. In the general %.
timation, whilo the present tense is occasion.
ally admirable for tho production Of hirhIv
graphic effects, and while 1t has been emploveI
with unimpeachable results in descriptions NJ
boat races, cavalry charges, and the bursting NJ
dams. 1t is still subject to limitations, and be.
comes speedily feeble under great and unneces
sary tax. Inasmuch as Dear Faustina" 4,
q story almost destitute of action, and
could not be made graphic by the en-.
ployment Of any tense that is now known.
1t is certain that some critics will find
that IL should have been put In the mast
tense, which Is undeniably n tense of consider.
able restfulness, whatever else may DO said OF
1t. So far from a dam breaking in the tale. or
a cavalry charge carrying terror and devas,a.
ton through its pages, nothing occurs exccpt A
somewhat attenunted conversation and
rupture in the friendship OF two new"
women. 1t Is to be said of Faustina that she
was a person Of cold and callous heart, formid.
dblO III hOI ihIOhbJhnIlCb. III IntnaClnE and I'm.
desirable from almost any point Of view. A w,
remember, 1t was Peter Monk, a simple fellow
in Mr.. Hauff's tale. who bargsined for a heart OF
marble because his own heart was soft and i'm.
questionable, and hurt him constantly, and no
cause he was DESTROYS OF q cessation of sympa.
thetic pain. As 1t turned out, the marble hear,
Of Peter Monk was not the greatest prize that
could have come to him. and he felt the poign.
ancy of wants with which the heart had
nothing at all to do. We do not find that any
overpowering penalty befell Faustina. Shs
earned money enough, by writing Socialistic
and advanced essays for the papers that curl.
ously wanted things Of the sort. to pay for .
small fiat and to satisfy the exactions Of the
neighboring butcher and grocer. and she seemed
to get along as well as a marble-hearted person,
filled with reformatory ideas, could be expected
to do. Further, she came from London to
America on a lecturing tour. and the potentiali.
ties involved in that performance are certainly
nothing to be sneezed at. As for her particular
dupe. the pretty and natural-hearted Althea,
she had an hour Of sorrow over tea and cakes in
a shop of the Aerated Bread Company in West
minister. but q sterling person with a steady
income was in love with her. and the inference
is that she grew to take Reform less seriously,
and came out happy. OF course, the question OF
the desirableness or tho undesirableness Of the
present tense is to be determined by the indi.
vidual reader as he sees fit. Perhaps he will
decide not to bother his head about it. There is,
really. no particular reason why he should, and
it may be, further, that he will feel no annoy.
ance by reason of the persistent form of locu.
tion, Gould not your" Twill not you p
Are not you 7" and so on. 1t makes the con.
versation seem a little stiff. and seems to recon.
mend the device of the abbreviation. but it is
not likely that readers will stay awake nights
$500 st IL ~.L- d.
dreams.
What q colored barber has to say, or what a
persistent and kindly humorist conceives that
he has to say, may not be Important, and may
at the same time be welcome in q world where
it has long since been discovered that the i'm.
portant things are not the only things that there
are. A dialect is a queer, evasive thing, and i.
is a question whether q just understanding OF it
is best conveyed. in a written or printed i'm
preston Of it, by a degree Of misspelling which
amounts merely to a suggestion. or by a degree
which undertakes to be absolutely phonetic. In
Pink Marsh" by George Ado Herbert S. Stone
& Co.. a great tax has been nut upon the print
er in the matter Of apostrophes. and it seems
to be further the case that the reader is called
upon for a good deal of strenuous endeavor.
There is no doubt that Mr.. Pinkney Marsh, the
Chicago barber celebrated here. is a friendly
person. willing and eager to amuse. and he is. in
fact. amusing as a general thing, when the read.
er has penetrated the apostrophes and the other
armor Of conscientious phoncticism and got
at him. He might have spared us the con.
siderable essay superimposed upon the familiar
notion that it is better, in n controversy with Q
negro, TO kick his shins than to beat him upoa
the head: but the account by Mr.. Marsh of how
a war between England and America was con.
Quoted in the barber shop is novel and funny
enough 10 aNCusa aayeral nf the nriu,itipc iIcaa
and a great number OF the apostrophes. Alter
all, however, it is not a negro humor that ex.
presses itself here. 1t is the humor of a lively
young white American masquerading. That it
should be at the trouble to disguise itself in
a dialect with so many apostrophes is to be cx.
planned probably by the fact that one shrinks
from being funny outright. The clowns always
cover themselves with plaster of paris, and
seriousness, for a reason that it would be hard
to justify, continues to be the principal thing in
the world. Pink Marsh" is 4 fairly right in its
way, but it will never be a text book In the Cit.
zens' Union.
NAN ncrowned King; a Romance of High
Politics. by Sidney C. Grier &c. p. Putnam's
Sonsn 1t seems TO be no great wonder that tho
person distinguished in the title should have
remained uncrowned. He was q rather serious
member Of the British Parliament, and It docs
not seem as though he could have fitted exactly
upon the small. disturbed, and not unamusinG
throne in southeastern Europe which for some
southeastern European reason had seen proper
to call him. He was English enough to fal! in
love with an American girl. whose father.
a martial Irishman. was also concerned in
high politics. and to prefer her TO the throne IN
question. We should call the story a rather
formal and stately romance, constructed upon =
cold and perfectly self.contained British under
standing of that quality of tale. The reader
will find himself betrayed into no fever. HewtIl
proceed through the book decorously, supported
always by an atmosphere OF decent restraint;
and it Is. perhaps. just as well to have stories
told in this way. for it saves wear and tear OF
the emotions, and does not interfere with sleep.
DIR. Max Nordau as a pscudo.scientist, gravcly
seeking symptoms Of insanity in most OF those
modern authors who have written anything that
counts. was not altogether unamusing: while.
when writing fiction on his own account, he has
more han once proved how dreary. prolix. and
inartistic 1t Is possible for tho product OF tho
absolutely normal mind TO be, In his latest