New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-02
NEW NOVELS.
A SCOTCH TRAGEDY AND AN AMERICAN
MELODRAMA

' Dnodecmo. DID, is. The Macmillan Company.
THE MISTRESS OF THE RANCH Novel BY
Frederick Thickstun Clark. octave PIP. '''.
Harper Brothers.
Mrs. stee"s new story seems like something In
the nature of an interlude 1t is brief and contains
comparatively few figures. IT might nave been
written in a mood OF relaxation from the tense
feeling which gave that major novel. On inc
Face OF the Waters" and II Is not itself so much
a novel as Il is an episode. an dyll on the other
hand within it's crcumscribed limits the ioyl
carries the strength and dignity Of a truly tragic
narrative Where Mrs Steel has especially SHOWN
her power has been in her artless mingng OF
tragedy and comedy I'm the Tideway mas so'ie
veritably thrilling passages. but 1t Is natural from
cover to cover and is laid down as piece OF evenly
brilliant writing Its charm pursues the reader a!ohs
several lines The central motive is original. ana
It's development is even more unexpected. The love
interest heSitates for a moment on the Drink OIL
familiar drama, but II soon energies into its proper
scenery and there. amid the strange witchery Oh
the Hebrides, Mrs. Steel has given her descriptive
faculty full play. drenching her whole story IN the
atmosphere Of a place of new enchantment Eer
characters are well drawn. and their transition
from the seventies of a country party TO the ex-
elements OF a CHASTITY crisis. is accomplished with
ont any strain The people move with as much
ease as the story. Altogether, Mrs steer mas
done some striking work in this fragment OF
romance. and II viii increase her ALREADY great
rcpute.
In "The Mistress of the Ranch" MI. Frederick
Thckstun Clark has so near to writing a
first rate novel that he leaves sense or exasper-
alton at his failure. The pot Is well designed; inc
little group Of actors has been studied with care
and presented with skill; the picture OF colorado
ranch life is sympathetic and effective Every
thing in short is pretty nearly what II ought 10
be But Just when the reader expects MI CiarK
TO rise to the tragic level Of his theme he SINKS
to pure melodrama, and the story goes on from
bad to worse with mere Enthusiastically ana grew
someness taking the place OF a seriously impressive
climax The colors are laid too lavshly ana
with too coarse a brush. Mr.. Clark meets his re-
ward for this excess in kind Of stoppage OF MS
narrative at several points where the tangling of
events gets too much for him, and he has to cut
the knot with few words Of explanation instead
of loosening it in natural manner Nature IL
may be retoyted more often cuts knots than unties
them but IL she does 1t is not In the manner OF
Mr. Clark There would be less occasion for criti-
cising The Mistress of the Ranch" so poinlcdy II
II were not on the whole promising a book.
The plot interesting and the personalities sharing
in It's development painted with exceptional
humor and ceverness. II Mr. Clark will only re-
sist his prediction for supping on horrors ana
will allow the human nature in his work TO be
more human: If he will but turn his back upon cal
he vii, write some important novels. AS it is. no
one cOuld find him dull,