The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-10

ity than she has those Of the women;
we mean simply that, Willingly or un-
willingly, she considers the masculine
part of her village population as SUI
perior in all ways, and without excep-
ton, to the feminine, and has so rep
resented it. Other writer's occasionally
allow a man to be fenininely weak and
a woman to be virilely strong, but
Miss wilkins draws the line with pre-
cision and allows no OVer-stepp1ng OF
it, Her women may be wise, but 1T Is
in little things; they may have GER
tain force, but it is strained and ner-
vous, never powerful; her sweetest
women are doll-like, brainless and
emotional; her ablest women are
hysterfcaIf and grabbed; : to only
+ one, the" squfre's wife, is at
tributed any brains, and they are
not of a remarkable sort. Over against
these range theE men. of her creation,
Whether they have virtues or vices,
they have force and repose; and these,
we are made to feel, are merely quail
ties inalienable to the sex. II MISS
wilkins men and women are to be ac-
cepted as competent evidence no other
testimony is needed to establish the
relative position Of the sexes.
("Jerome, A Poor Man." by Mary E: Wiki
ms. Harper & Bros, New York. $40: For
sale by the st. Paul Book and Stationery
company.)
The most artistically conceived and
symmetrical tale Of vengeance that
we have had the pleasure of reading
for some years is 'Nr. Peters,, novel
by Ricardo Stephens. More brutally
thrilling plots are with US always, but
the Subtlety Of contrast, the balancing
of effects, the ever present knowledge
of hidden machinery, the slow but in
evitable approach Of the fatal climax,
the insistence of what may be called
the vengeance motif, cruel, but dispas-
sionate, in the midst of kindness and
gayety, is really more narrowing to the
nerves than heaped up, pressed down
and running over blood, thunder and
dynamite-and if not to be nerve-shat-
tered why does one read vengeance
stories?
A Western town in the United States
is the opening scene in the tale. A
man accused of horse stealing is con-
victed, through the agency of a treach-
erous adventurer, and the eloquence of
an unsophisticated young Scotch law
yer, who is overwhelmed by the result
of his success. The supposed horse
thief is only lynched-and the hanging
supplemented by .shaoting-when his
innocence is established, and the re-
mOrseful town makes up a purse for
the widow. heroic figure of an Ital-
Of the lynching and then disappears
with her little boy. Thirty years after,
Mr.. Peters. a mysterious stranger, ar
rives IN Edinburgh, with family affairs
to settle-llis father died with debts
unpaid and he has come to pay them.
What we count as especially artistic
in this tales composition is the intro
duction just here of a sane and whole
some subplot-several Of them, indeed
each one having its own life but close
Iy related to each other and the dark
unread OF vengeance. Iucius Moriarity.
the heartiest, cheeriest Irishman. Of
sense and sensibility in the city of Ed
inburgh is the best foil possible to the
lnpaSslVe, pondefous Mr.. Peters.
whose patient, dispassionate ''treasur-
ing Of a wrong is the very spirit of
Nemesis. He reminds one of a huge
black spider slowly spinning a fateful
web, and his poisonous nature seems
as utterly removed from his own will
as Is the spider The author has
made good use Of the force of contrast
again IN the two unwilling OBJ
One, g depraved, besotted ad oven.
turer, filed with bombast and
deception; the other. a Judge On
the Scottish bench, the 1"jjlst Judge"
a man digntffed, though conscie6ce-
stricken by SIN of pride long mast q
loVap!e' pltlfuI figure, but brought he
fore the same Judgment as the villain
ana LOT snare in the same crime.
Withal. 'Mr. Peters" is an unusual
story Of its kind, and combines many
OF the qualities Of the school of ad-
venture tales with some of the subtletv
Of Mr.. Henry James. 4..-e.-.,. =
C.Mr. Peters" by Riccardo Stephens. Harm
er q Bros New York. S1.25. For sale bv the
81 Paul Book and Stationery companyJ
A considerable story is "Fiercebeart
the Soldier" story not to be dropped
TIL the last page is finished and not
even then to be quite forgotten. "a
! Romance Of 1745" is its subtitle, and
IN rapidity OF action, highly colored
situations and interest sustained at the
boiling point the tale justifies its right
to the name; but in its really clever
character drawing, philosophy and
| scraps of psychology, it is not what
MI. Stanley Weyman and some others
have persuaded Us to associate with
the term. It is a romance in which the
great events Of history are pictured
with no little knowledge Of the touch
that turns them from mere facts into
romance, at the same time that these
events appear as Of but slight i'm
portance in the shadow Of a purely