The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-12


too much of chaos in its motives and.
style, despite its careful construction;
not enough of the creative power,
which divides the elements and makes
worlds
C'The Christian by Hall Game p. Apple
ton & Co., New York. $1.50.e For sale by the
St. Paul Book and Stationery company
One reads with regret the adulatory
criticisms Of Mrs. Steel's ION the Face
of the Waters" appended so conf,
IDENTIFY to her later venture, I'm the
Tideway." With regret, not because
one does not appreciate their apprec1a-
ton of a mastery book and recognize
their genial aptness-though one is IL
clined to discount the statement that
Mrs Steel has beaten Mr.. Kipling on
his own ground, India"-but because
these comments bring back so wildly
the memory of strong book, and
force upon one the comparison with a
feeble one, and comparisons in this
case are unkind, and so unlike are the
two books that they are unnecessary
as well. However, even the name Sug
gests comparison and floats the book
on a false hint of resemblance, which,
very possibly, was not at all in the
authors design. At. all events, the
resemblance goes no farther. In mat
ter, treatment and power no two books
by the same author could be more IN
like.
In the. Tfdeway'' is book without
composition. 1t is like painting
made up of fragments intended for
ether pictures and Joined together
without regard to natural relation,
proportion or cohesion. The fact that
these fragments are at times of in
tense dramatic power and drawn with
broad mastery strokes make the
no effect of the whole more
annoying.
1t seems to the reviewer that Mrs
SteeFs study was -perhaps-trite
but still enthralling one of the human
soul bent to the usages of convention
! until caught into the dark power Of
primitive passion; and to obscurely
typify her problem she has set her
tragic comedy of sophisticated society
life against background of the wild
fatalism of "Eilean-a-fa-a sh-Island
of Rest-the grim Scottish Isle where
the Vikings sleep and which lies
right out in the sunset, like AvillOn, -
in the resistless embrace of the mystic
rious gulf stream. But, despite the
mysticism of the background, the book
Smacks of realism, and the gaps and
inconsequence of the plot, as irration-
al as the shifting of dream or the
surprises in fairy story, are lndefen-
SbIe in it's construction.
Gin the Tideway" by Flora Annie Steel
The Macmillan company, New York. Sl2o
For sale by the st. Paul Book and Stationery
company
'Tn Simpkinsville" is the name under
which appears a number of Ruth Nc
Emery Stuart's fascinating stories:
Character tales she calls them, and
character tales they are, but the at
mosphere through which Mrs. Stuart
sees the people that come within her
ken makes them entirely her own crea-
lions, though it brings them at the
same time into closer sympathy With
all mankind.
The humor. tenderness and human
sympathy which are so closely woven
in all these stories, that to touch one
is to suggest the others do not need the
grace and charm of style,
which, is always present to set
these sketches of Arkansas life quite
above the ordinary or even more
than ordinary character sketch with
which the presses Of the day are ever
busy. Out of these seven tales, all Of
which are worthy of more than one
reading one at least is deserving oil
a permanent place in literature. The
Unlived Life of Little Mary Elm has
that in it that makes for immortality
of nc mean order. The kindly people
of Simpkinsville are canonized by Mrs.
Stuart in spite of their .tendeney-=t3
gossip and other human falling, int9 e.
sainthood very tender and 'loyabaS,
and to the entire community of8them9
belongs that sympathy that leads
stern old meralist to lie like a perfec'
Ananias an Sapphria" to comfort q
heartbroken and demented little WoI1l-
an, and to maintain that, If any Wom-
en- could have done otherWise-Well,
maybe they might be better Christians
than [ am, but don't never expec
to be sanctified up to that point
Gin SimDkinsvile." by Ruth McEnery
Stuart Harper & Bros. New York $12o-
For. sale by the ST. Paul Book and Stationery
Company)