The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-18

Ing need be said since IL Is by tho Duchess
and its mere announcements assures 1t an
immediate reading and no end Of passing
around until its pages are .thumbed to
shreds If the letter press is not sooner de-
yourcd therefrom by ever eager eyes. The
publishers have bound the book with
exceeding beauty. ~.
Mrs. J. M. ,Fleming--Alice NJ. Kipling
lis sister Of tho only Rudyard. She
knows India and she views 1t through
woman's lorgnette, even II she docs not
get view of a wholly different piece
from her distinguished brothers. She
Is the author of delightfully."- readable
book entitled "a Pinchbeck Goddess" {"
There is dcliciously nudacious not to
say fantastic, plot but after all tho chief
enjoyment from the book Is found I'm its
clever pen pictures of life in the bizarre
society of an Indian outpost and in the
clever dialogue There is vein of not un-
pleasant irony, with respect TO humble
man, running through tho story in tho
suggestion of the superficial methods most
usually supposed to bo successful for his
enthrallment by woman, a not altogether
flattering picture, bc it said, but per-
haps quite true I'm the main. Tho story
has a real dash and smartness about IL
that keeps the reader gong at "a brisk
pace through its pages and so the happy
sequence Is not alone responsible for tho
feeling of satisfaction mt having read IL.
tAppleton's Town and Country Library,
No. 2ll. For sale 10y Gregory. Price 90
cents.
The "Lounger' in The Month, which
sums up in magazine form the weekly
Critic, has this to say Of the author OF that
fine yarn On Many Seas" MIR. Herbert
Il. Hamblen was born In Lowell, Maine,
Of poor but honest parents, about as years
ago He had II good mother, but she died,
and his father replaced her with an old
fashioned story book kind of stepmother
The boy and the otepmother could not
agree and the former left home to seek
his fortune. The result of this stepmothcr
is book called "On Many Seas, which
the Macmillan Co. will publish early next
week. The title-page tells us that it is by
Frederick Benton Williams, but it is not
The authors name is Herbert j.. Ham
blen; but, as story writing was a new
thing with him, he was shy about putting
his own name on the title page.
Mr. Hamblen fell in with Mr.. William
Stone Booth, librarian of the East Side
Settlement to whom he from time to time
told fragments of the story of his adven-
turous life on the ocean wave. Mr. Booth
was struck by the mans native wit and
ability as story teller, and induced him
TO write out his story and let him see the
result. The old salt was 10th to undertake
such a task but one day he came to Mr..
Booth looking rather sheepish and thrust
fifty pages of closely written foolscap
paper into his hand. The M. 5. was writ
ten in lead pencil, close up to the edges.
Mr.. Booth read with eagerness and found
that Mr. Hamblen was as vigorous a
writer as he was "a talker. The manu-
script grew apace, and it was not long be-
fore book of at least 200 OOO0 words had
been written Then Mr. Booth went care
fully over it and cut ont nearly half, but |
he left the rest just as Mr.. Hamblen had |
Niito'h i'- <AIi 80 VII hdily otds Wds |
submitted to the Macmillan CO., and at |
once accepted, to the great surprise of the |
author.
What little education Mr.. Hamblen has,
he has picked up in the course of an un- !
usually active life. He is an omnivorous |
reader Novels he cares little for but |
he deyours history and biography. A ter |
following the sea for fifteen years, he OBJ |
tanned a position under the city govern |
ment and is now settled down, married |
man. That he will write other books |
there can be no doubt. Authorship is an |
appetite that grows with what it feeds |
upon. Already the alert Mr.. Mcclure has |
been after him, and he is writing some |
short stories for McClure's Syndicate |
"On Many Seas is said by those who |
have read it to be the best sea story since |
Captain Samuels published "From the |
Forecastle to the Cabin
Besides the present volume "Louis |
Napoleon and Mademoisselle dc Montijo, -
by Imbert de Saint Armand, a second |
entitled 1.-The Beginnings of tho Second |
Empire" and recounting the history of |
the reign up TO the birth of the Prince /