New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-17

MRS sTEELs ROMANCE OF THE HIS
TORICAL EAST.
ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS. A Tale o.
the Mntiny: By Flora Annie steel. octave

handling or heroic issues stronger sun IN its cd"
veracity. Historical in its substance. with vein
Of delIcately imagined romance running through
the narrative 1t illustrates TO perfection that bal
anclng OF fact and fiction which IL the desired goal
OF many writer's, and is only In thousand
times achieved. As rule the historical novelist
makes his romance subsidiary 10 facts, or vice
He cannot help himself; the task OF keeping
the relation true is desperately hard. But In Mrs
Steels 1t has proved more than manageable.
II has seemed the most natural thing. her mlnging
of the two elements being but the spontaneous cx-
preston Of her own experience. II s a profound
experience upon which this tale Is based. an en-
perience in the imaginative not the material sense.
Mrs Steel did herself witness the frightful &C.
currcnces OF the Mutiny. but her goni,s-we do not
hesitate 10 use the cpithet-has pierced through
the written records Of the past has absorbed the
spoken traditions Of India and she revves the very
soul and movement of 1851. II is unnecessary 10
check her narrative with text book In hand,
though to do so n only to confirm the accuracy OF
her work All that the reader need do Is TO abandon
himself to his author. and. punging with her into
the thick of events at Mecrut and Delhi. feel some-
thing OF the rage and horror which animated the
English In India just forty years ago
At the outset Mrs Steel might well have paused
bew!ldercd before the wealth of material at her
ha nd In the history Of the Mutiny. she had Meerut
Cawnpore. Lucknow. Delhi. to choose from, ana
all India the rising tide on which these towns
carried TO shuddering renown. She couid
not indeed. reproduce the whole drama; she could
Only SO: act of 1t upon the stage. Delhi was
her choice. and wise one. We think. for though
Il offers no isolated examples Of English herosm.
being indeed but link In the fiery chain OF the
uprising II is nevertheless surrounded by peculiar
interest There the suspense OF the trapped Euro
pcans was II not more terrible than AZ other points
accompanied by circumstances particularly thrill
ms one has only to read Mrs. steeis description
OF the English eyes that watched imploringly Tor
the cloud OF dust the Meerut road that meant
reinforcements 20 feel how unutterably tragic the
situation In tho town II shows the authors
power. however that in making the relief Of Delhi
the great climax OF her book she has never FOR
moment isolated the place or the event Here. IN
another light We the skill that has kept ro-
nance and reality on such excellent terms in this
novel a less subtle writer might have fitted the
book be called "A Tale OF the Mutiny at Delhi.
but Mrs. Steel keeps close to the central truth of
the whole fearful story. the truth that the disease
of mutiny WAS in the blood of the people generally.
and manifested at point or another as the
surface Of the Is troubled in separated and yet
connected places By the same storm.
The limited number of personalities introduced,
aside from the military who known to
history. is of the plainest evidences of Mrs.
Steels strength. There are barely half dozen in
dividuas in the group around which the dongs Of
the story gather and in fact there are only four
who of major interest. These four, however.
are all wildly drawn. and they are. one by one,
absorbed into the whirlpool of events they retain
their significance keeping the interest Of the reader
to the end. We have heard much about the
tisfactory social types 10 be found among Anglo
Indians and Mr.. Kipling himself who knows these
things has shown Is how cynical, how hippant
and arid their society often is. But Mrs Steel can
make her characters sympathetic without sacriic.
ing the truth in this connection. Anglo-lndian So
cety would appear to have been about the same In
1857 as it is to-day. but IL the average man is al
ways the same So 1t may be observed the excep-
tiona man Is always exceptional The cashiered
Jim Douglas of this novel passes through a thor
oughly normal regeneration: the frtatious and I'M
womanly but plucky Alice Gissing meets her death
with a bravery that only such woman could have
possessed and the detesable Major Erlton,
when he dies at last like a gentleman, does so
with no kindly aid from the god from the machine
but quite naturally and somehow one expected
him to die from the first II Is her truth which.
after all. makes Mrs. Steel the impressive novel
ist that she it, She has left nothing to chance
She yields not jot TO the claims OF convention
Love figures in her story but II does not make
ION the Face OF the Waters" a love story. The
moves on the checkerboard OF fate seem inevita-
BILE even when they are most original and most
unexpected. most romantic. There are two cpl
sodss In the tale to which specific reference may be
made They will both be found in the chapter
entitled daylight" which describes the early
hours Of the trouble at Delhi. In one picture we
witness the rescue of child from the lance OF a
fanatic by a woman who had been contemplating
rlopemcnt with the husband of a friend-a friend
who has just come to plead against the wrong.
A. Alice Gissng saves the child she meets her own
lea tn The enemy of the man with whom she
had intended TO fly comes to rescue her in turn.
Just when II Is too late. The situation Is compli-
Gated to degree but mperfectly reflected in our
Dtf tafr &c inc M ira in
he .angc. 1t could not have been otherwise.
Thus fate and no the novelist. must have solved
he problems which Overwhelming every
creature involved. Then. few pages further on.
occurs the escape of the woman who had come to
plead for her husband. her escape through the
streets of Delhi to hiding In the heart Of that
,ity. A finer has not been set forth In Eng
ish fiction for many years.
Mrs Steel lavshes scenes like this upon her novel
and renders them the more impressive through
never ushering them In with an air. through never
neightening their spectacular effect II they have
any such effect II is the inevitable result OF being
EAST i'm strange country, where every smallest
hing Is picturesque TO Western eyes. Mrs Steel
sees with Eastern eyes and exhibits no feeling Of
surprise as she unfolds her story. She has the
Western temper. d British memory for the suffer
ngs and glorious deeds OF British men and women;
cut IT, as their countrywoman she shares their
appreciation Of what exotic In their surround
ngs she does not let the reader know IT, Her
local color is laid with the artessnoss OF one
whose life has been spent at its sources and who
has long since ceased to exclam over the quaint
ness of 'ayah the curious rhetoric In Orien-
al speech Her ambition has been to study the
natives as well as the Europeans, and she does
his with exquisite tact and sympathy making the
mia btants OF Indian villages. the native troop
,rs and servants, live again. But she never
alks AZ one who has delighted in the novelty Of
hese themes one of the curses Of modern fiction
the disposition of an author TO treat some exotic
,r otherwise picturesque character with perfect
V obvious consciousness OF all that can be got out
II the man In color or 'suggestiveness." The t,
author seems 10 be perpetuay saying: How odd
his man is Listen to the strangeness Of his
peech Mark the attitude. the costume. the poise
u the head. Is II not pictorial. artistic. delightful?
am quite sure IL is" Now. Mrs. Steel viii have
zone OF this shallowness She has probably been !
enchanted by the color and stranSeaess OF Oriental
life. but she concerns herself solely with the hui