The Saint Paul globe., 1897-04-11

Ulcu COulO Only GmDItJeF. lie naQ sur
fered, and against the things where
by ne had suffered his voice was lift
! ed. Had his life been otherwise, the
strength might have been welded to
gentleness, the courage to humanity
! But otherwise it had not been. Cir
cumstances are mighty, and man is
weak. The wheel of the potter grinds
on and the clay is moulded into symme-
try and distorted by mishap. If it is
misshapen by the mishap, is it the
fault of the potter or the clay?"
Against the institutions of society
| that had made him what he was, he
took UP the weapons of bitterness and
scorn that had been forged by them
| for his destruction. Nothing had come
| into his life to teach him self -knowl>
| edge or self-cOntrol, everything had
| entered in to develop resistance and
destructiyeness. What wonder that in
| the violence of his blind struggle he
! destroyed himself and those who had
| come to love him!
| In subtle contrast to Michael Acker-
| SHIN is John Driscoll his friend. y
man whose nature contains every shade
| Of delicate OmpleXity-the complement
! to the almost primitive directness of
| the hero; a man who possesses the
| understanding and restraint almost
unnecessary for him. but which would
have been the salvation of the other
| But perhaps the greatest difference be-
| tween the two friends is Driscoll's
acute sense of humOr, which poor Mich
ael absolutely lacks.
The lOadstar of the book is Rachel
Gavin, a woman constant, wholesome
| beautiful. Clear-eyed and soul-con-
! scious, she chooses her way and makes
it pure because she is so.
The Descendant" is a novel with
| out guide posts, and great will be the
| clamOr of those who are unable 20
| perceive the moral trend of a story
| ur--esS these indicators are at all ques-
| tiOnable corners. Certainly in this book
| there are no set hands pointing in old
| fashioned phrase This is the way
! that leadeth to destructiOn;" and those
who can not judge the morals of a
| tale by its fruits will find here much
| to declaim against.
| 1t may be claimed that there is
! nothing conclusive about The De,
| scendant;" that the snarls of circum,
| stances are left unraVeled and social
| problems propounded to which the
! novel offers no solution. The artists
| work is not always to level dangerous
| mountain passes, but to paint them;
! not to provide shelter from the rain
j but to catch the cOlOrs of the bow. We
i accept from the painter a picture or
| the violence Of mysterious winds, Of
| drifting clouds and uncertain distances
| hidden in formless mists, and do not
| ask from the artist scientific ex,
| position of the phenomena or a reason
| able charm for the quelling of natures
! storms. Why not accord an author the
| same grace?
The Descendant" published by Harper &
! Brothers. $1.25. For sale by the St. Paul
| Book and Stationery company
Death and Afterwards" is a little
| volume bound in greWSOme black and
red and avowedly intended for Lenten
reading. After reading Sir Edwin Ar
nold's beautifully written essay, re-
printed now from the fourteenth Eng
| lish edition, one is persuaded that it
is offered to the American public in a.
mistaken dress and with a misleading
| introduction.
| The essay should be called "Immor-
tality," be bound in white and gold and
recommended for Easter reading
Never the spirit was born, the spirit will
cease to be never;
Never was time it was not; end and beginning
are dreams:
Birthess and deathless and changeless re-
! maineth the spirit forever;
/ Death hath not touched it at all, dead though
the house of it seems.
This, from the Song Celestial" strikes
the keynote Of the essay. It has been
| deservedly popular in England and will
doubtless find many appreciatiCe read
| ers on this side.
C'Death and Afterwards" by Sir Edwin
| Arnold. New Amsterdam Book company.
| New York 60 centsD
kitty the Rag" is an Irish story by
! Rita, in which the incidental charac-
| ters are very much more edifying than
the main props Of the edihce. Kitty is
very beautiful and very dirty little
! girl. who resides with Biddy Mcguire
| and is the mystery of the country side
| The ambition of her soul is to be a
| ''lady"-an ambition which carefully
| arranged circumstances most kindly
fulfill. Through the help of Mr. Mas
| den, the English landlord who has a
| scheme of vengeance which he thereby
| grattfies, Kitty is sent to school. and
| eventually becomes lady of the larg-
| est estate in the county. Biddy Ma
| guire is really interesting and pathetic,
and is perhaps the best excuse the
author offers for the books existence.
! C-Kitty the Rag" by Rita" R. F. Fenno
| & Co. 81. %. For sale by the st. Paul Book
| and Stationery company
In "Tatterley. the Story Of a Dead
| Man." the hero is given that rare ad-
| vantage, Ito see himself as others see
| HILL 1dDle Z Ey IS an ola man whose
| whole life has been given up to money
getting and money keeping. He is a
| self-centered old creature who sees
| nothing OF his relatives and greatly
fears that his nephew and rightfIl
heir. a young artist Of promise. will
| make ducks and brakes" Of a for
| tune. so he changes his will. Tatterley,
| his servant and other self in appear
! ance, when called upon to witness the
| new will pleads with Gable NOT to cut
| off the boy: Fry goes out to post the
| will to his lawyer and on his return
finds Tatterley dead. He changes clothes
| with his dead servant and announces
! that Gable Fry is dead. In this way he
| thinks he will be able to see how his
| Death affects his relatives and what
use they will make of his money. When
ii is too late he realizes that his story
| will never be believed and that he
| must remain Tatterley to the end. Pow
/ erleSS to hinder, he sees his unWOrth Y
| heir misuse his wealth and realizes the
/ worth of his discarded nephew. How
ever, as "Tatterley," he does more good
in the world than Cable Fry had ever
dreamed Of and as Tatterley he died
/ and was mourned as Cable Fry had not
! been.
! C'Tatterley.' by T. Gallon. The Appleton
company. 50 cents. For sale by the ST. Paul
| Book and Stationery company
Literary Notes.
Among the announcements Of the Macmillan
company are a new novel by Mrs. Florence