The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-01-28

the mastery. A stranger observing the
passions and animoslties that are aroused,
the vehement denunciations poured out
by the contending forces, and the
dire disasters predicted by each side
should the other triumph, would imnR-
inc that we were on the eve of a bloody
revolution. But he would soon discover
that the conflict did not occasion the loss
of single life. 1t was bloodless revo-
lution aifccted not by bullets, but by
ballots. Each side spends colossal for
tunes, and impresscs into it's service the
best talent of the nation in the nope Of
securing the coveted prize The highest
office in the gift of the people, the enor-
nous patronage attached to it, the eXul-
tation of victory, the glory of presiding
over the destinies of the country, are all
involved in the issue And yet on the
morning after the election, the defeated
party bows to the will of the majority
"a people that yield so ready and loyal
obedience to human laws, will not set
their face against divine revelation when
its imperious claims are clearly and CO.
gently set before them"
.
There has in recent years been much
writing up aud down of Virginia and Nir-
ginians, both in history and fiction. so
| much SO, indeed, that to claim our atten-
| tion new effort in this field must offer un-
questionable credentials Of merit. Such
| credentials are supplied by Julia Magru-
| der, ana the reader can take up the eight
| stories Herbert $. Stone q CO., of Chica-
go, publish under the titlc Miss Ayr
| of Virginia. secure in the knowledge that
| they will reward per1sal. Miss Ayr es-
! pecally is Il delightful young lady TO
| meet, even in the pages of fiction, and
| while Mrs. Loith, the Creole girl who loves
| her rogue of a husband so that to please
and free him she secures a divorce. al
| though 1t breaks her heart, Is a little In
| credible to the cold Northern mind, We
! dare say there are such women. And SO
! we could go through the list of stories
| pointing out in each one characters that
| appeal to us by their human qualites-ln
the portrayal of which Miss Magruder
surely succeeds beyond the ordinary. But
we prefer to let the reader have the pleas
| ure of forming their acquaintance at first
| hand. Before dismissing this book word
! should be said concerning the design on its
cover-a dellrium in white, black and slate
color that grows on one despite first i'm
presAions, like the taste for olives.
.
Mr.. George Pastor is one of those too
numerous modern authors who, lacking,
| 1t would seem, the ability or the patience
| to achieve success along the rocky path
way of real merit, consider it legitimate
| to catch the public eye by splitting in the
| publcs face. "The Career of Candida
| Mr.. Paston's last and worst (Which is
| done by the Appletons In paper covers for
| so cents) is simply a polite slapping of de-
| cent manhood and womanhood with the
| dirty glove of pessimism, and all to no
| earthly purpose unless to give Mr. Pastor
| a market. 1t is the story of two young
| couples, so mated that in each pair the
| artist is tied as he or she thinks, to mere
| bundle of flesh. and one artist being u
| man and the other artist being a woman
| (Candida) we have in due time and with
| the customary accessories jealousy, scan
| dal and separation, though not, 1t would
| SEEM actual guilt. After 800 pages of this
| sort of thing, done in the drabest of drabs,
| albeit with d measurable amount of lit
| erary skill, our mismated friends by a
| queer coincidence are induced to imagine
| that they really We're mated properly in
| the beginning, and thereupon proceed to
| tumble over each other in mad race to
| adjust matters marital in statu quo. And
| there you are What the point is we don t
| know We doubt if Pastor does. And, In
| deed what difference does it make whether
| there be a point? The smaller the point,
| the more the public's curiosity and the
| greater the sales. There is shrewd meth
| cd in this madness.