The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-28

Memories of a Rear Admiral" by s. R.
arankl1n New York. Harper & Bros.
Stationery company
ga Champion in the Seventies.
Tabitha Vassie was nice girl with
Well-grounded objection to be bored.
AS she lived twenty years ago, her
family considered her peculiar and
strong minded" The family lived a
bucolic and aimless life on a small
country estate in England, having
money enough to live upon but not
lavish amount for their station. Also,
Mr.. Vassie had habit of storming at
bills without regard to their justice.
So Talbitha, hungry to learn and to
know and to do, gets away UP to Lon
don to attend classes and governess
the child of an acquaintance. Her
family disapproves Of her going. and,
therefore, do not allow her money
enough to live upon, observing that, if
she doesn't like 1T. she can come home.
But Tabitha likes it, and Is willing
even to pay the price Of semi-starva-
ton for the privilege Of learning and
doing. In the end, hoWever-it is all
very lifelike and natural-Tabitha. dies
Of undertaking, leaving her fat and
comely relatives to their meditations,
which, in spite of a convenient fac
ulty for not seeing the point, can hard
ly be pleasant.
The story is told as if it were one
taken from real life, and the reader
feels convinced of it's reality. No Gre
ator Of fictitious worlds could have
thought it worth while to invent Ia
bitha's homely, quiet, melancholy. life
like little story. 1t is not worth in
venting-for, if not true, it has no
value. But, if true, it is worth record
ing, and the writer has done her work
we'll. -
The style of the book is thoughtful
and deliberate-more like the style of
an essay than Of a novel. There is
much shreWd, impartial, even genial
reflection on life and character, though
the book, naturally, is not a happy
nor even a pleasant one. The reader
feels that he would be glad to meet
the writer at some time when the lat
ter is thinking Of happier things.
"a Champion in the Seventies" by Edith
]. Barnett. Chicago, H. S. Stone & Co..
$150 For sale by the st. Paul Book and
Stationery company.
"The Peacemaksrs -
In "The Peacemakers'' the lady who
writes under the pseudonym Of John
Strange Winter" again exhibits some
of the ingenuity in plot and vivaory
in dialogue which won for her her early.
successes, but have :. been ~ .afu'
lacking in a good deal of her ! "
work-if one can apply g. word so seri-
Gus as work to her airy and fippant
productions, the macaroons and sylla-
bulbs Of fiction. The greater part of
THE Peacemaksrs' is devoted to an
exposition of the family life and rela-
lions of Mr.. Edward German, Of the
Abode of Peace, Nottingham. This
gentleman was the son of a widower
who was four times married, each of
his successive stepnrothers was more
quaTelsome than the preceding one,
and when the last contrived to break
his enga cement to the girl of his heart
the youth felt that peace was the one
good in life. Succeeding to his fathers
property he established a sect of his
own to promulgate his tenets of the es-
sentials of life. The vivaciously- told
story of The Peacemakers" shows
how those who preach sometimes fail
to practice In the words of Mr.. Cor
mans footman, Mark my words, Mrs.
Bell no man, not even one that runs
a praying shop of his own, can afford
to go agin his own flesh and blood.
Masters tried it, and it's left its mark
on him"
For a hot and drowzy afternoon
hammock, box of bon-bons and The
Peacemakers'' form an excellent COM
bination.
"The Peacemakers,' by John Strange Win
ter. Philadelphia, ]. B. Lippincott COM
pany; 81. For sale by the St Paul Book
and Stationery company