The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-21


MIR. Al. Drexel BiddIe's Varied
Ventures-"Spanish Words"
The most remarkable book of adven-
lure that has appeared for many days
Is In the Sargasso Sea-" by Thomas
A. Janvier. Pure adventure It Is, I'M
complicated by romantic plot, love mo-
tll or divers human interests We know
OF no book since Robinson Crusoe in
Whlch solitary man has had adven-
lures SO absorbing as in this book Of
Mr. Janviers. 1t is something to dare
comparison with Defoe, and yet more
to come successfully from the challenge.
Were he the first in the field, Mr.. Jan
vier might well look for immortality
Tor his tale. but In the conservative
heart of boyhood there is hardly room
Tor another Robinson Crusoe, of modern
experiences, and SO, perhaps. I'm the
Sargasso Sea" will find it's most ardent
ADMIRERS among the grown ups"
VINO SO rarely are able to gain immor-
tally for their favorites. There is a
wonderful power of imagination In this
tale, and 1t is almost equaled by the
dramatic force with which it is pre-
scented. If it lacks the calm convincing
ness that made Defoe's imaginings ac-
Qualities to all time, that is because De-
Toes sturdy style died with him. OF
course, Mr.. Janvier is not copyist.
and IT comparison Of his novel with
hoolnson Crusoe has been inevitable,
IL IS not because the author Of TODAY
mas taken the author Of yesterday as
his model but because both men have
SHOWN what 1t Is possible for one man.
absolutely apart from his fellow crea-
lures, to suffer. accomplish and endure
Mr.. Roger Stitworth, after passing
tnrcugh many hazardous adventures in
Wnlch other men bear part, finds him
SELF accidentally prisoned in a cabin
OF wrecked, deserted steamship on the
edge of the Sargasso sea-that mar
Vicious bit Of the Atlantic whose impen-
etrable load Of sea weed 80 frightened
the ignorant sailors with Columbus.
Good reasons were there, although not
the superstitious ones Of these early
mariners, for the fears Of even brave
men, for the ship that is swept into this
terrible sea Is more helpless than the
wreck stranded on any other coast,
the ceaseleSs, mysterious currents and
the attraction that gathers drifting
things to common center draw inev-
ltably the wrecked boat into the heart
OF the Sargasso sea, where, according
to Mr.. Janvier's Imagination, all the
heating wrecks Of the last four CEN
turtles are congregated in a desolate,
CHASTITY company that reminds one
shCdeeringly Of Poe's terrible "City of
the Sea-" save that 1t Is above the
water instead of under it. and there
fore more horrid in its unburied decay
Into this terrible company Stitworth Is
dragged, and, leaving his own we'll pro-
visioEed ship, loses himself in the maze
OF many wrecks. In his fruitless eff
forts to return to his own wreck, where
ne Knows himself safe from the awful
sights he finds in other shattered hulks,
he penetrates the very heart of his
weird continent, and happens upon
many terrible and wonderful things-as
who would not who had the run of all
the wrecks that had strewn every sea
for full 400 years? Never had any au-
thor better chance for the free play
OF his imagination or the judicious use
must be said that Mr.. Janvier, lacking
neither the one nor the other, has made
artistic use Of both.
A book by Mr.. Janvier without cat
would be Hamlet" with the Prince of
Denn ark left out. So late was he in
introducing the expected pussy into
this tale of his that we began to fear
the book would disappoint US in this
essential feature, but the black cat was
locked up all the time in one Of the
wrecks only waiting to be liberated to
take his place Of honor in the story,
and really finer cat when he did ap-
pear 1t would be hard to find, unless
one hunted up Mr.. Janvier's own Mex
lean pussy, the companion of his very
lame and lazy ass"
I'm the Sargasso Sea-" by Thomas A. jan
vier. $1.25. Harper & Bros, New York
For sale by the st. Paul Book and Station
cry company.
"a Romance of Summer Seas
ga Romance of Summer Seas" Is the
second book its author, Miss varnia
Anne Jefferson-Davis, has published.
The story Is recounted by the globe
trotter" to single listener In the
smoking room Of a country house, and
we must admit that, while the story
Is an interesting one, 1t takes a little
long In the telling Of it to be put in
the mouth Of even an inveterate talker
as his contribution to an evenings
conversation. The story that the globa
trotter tells would be more artistic
without the introduction, which is
necessary neither for the development
OF the plot itself nor to draw more dis
tlnctly the character of the story teller.
who Is also one of the chief person
ages In the story he tells The action
takes place on board the Sultana. a
P. & o. steamer on it's way to China
OIL his way to Japan for a much needed
change of climate; the heroine is a
young girl Of the Burne-Jones type
qu1Xot1cally taken charge Of, with her
fathers consent, by the young Eng
lishman out Of pity for her Ill health
and loneliness. The young man Is not
half bad, and his picture is drawn with
some cleyerness, as are also the like
nesses Of the other characters. If one
Is able to swallow the original prem
1ses that a young Englishman Of good
breeding and, on other matters, good
sense could be either so ignorant or
careless of the conventions as to place
young girl In such a questionable
position, the story becomes interesting
and swings along to a logical conclu-
sion. The absolute ignorance Of the
young girl, brought up far from Euro
pean civilization and with only a
sh1ftless, unthinking father for guar
dian, makes her own blindness quite
natural, and the readers sympathy.
while not overmastering, Is yet strong
enough to follow her through the. series
OF prosecutions to which her fellow
travellers subject her, led on by the
venom of an old maid, the apostle of
the Religion Of Light" "a combination,
50 she claims, Of the religions Of the
East and Christianity, and one
Chubbs, a dissolute Eastern hummer.
whose vanity has been hurt by the
girls friends. The introduction of a
Kansas ranchman-of the typical sort
known to fction-as the cat's-paw for
this amiable pair further complexities
the situation by the introduction Of
dueltng, which holds In this book as
prominent place as it once did in the
social history Of Louisiana. 1.-The code"