The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-27
Literary Notes.

Ellery Sedgwick says of NJ. Rostand and
Cyrano de Bergerac IN the December At
lantic
Upon Paris. crammed to repletion with
plays of an outworn and degenerate type,
'Cyrano de Bergerac" came with quicken
ing spirit. The school Of the classics
Dumas fills had scarcely been challenged:
- After all this, the noble touch Of
the play it is was hailed with intense relief.
1t was the same relief that in a petty scale
comes to the reader of some sparkling TO-
nance after he has toiled through shelves Of
bald and arid realism. People love ex-
tremes, and N. Rostand came in the nick
of time
the merits of the play. NJ. Rostand's ven
ture commanded success, but 1t deserved it.
AT the moment. Parisians thought the play
creation OF a new type. In reality it is
the lineal descendant of the best traditions
of French literature. The author has schoO ed
himself in his Moiere his Corne-lla, his
Hugo. and he knows them as well as ever
Stevenson did his Scott or Keats his
Shakespeare. Read 'Cyrano de Bergerac"
carefully. and you will find reverence for the
masters at every turn. The note of high ro-
nance, which COrneille caught from Ronsard
and from the literature of Spain. is struck
again by NJ. Rostand. In Cyrano's disdain
for the world there is something that re-
minds Of lie Misanthrope himself. Per-
haps it is not fanciful to imagine that in
part at least, our hero fnherits his adven-
turous spirit and merry humor straight from
LIE Sage's Knight of Santillane. Certain IT is
that the blood of Ruy Bias flows in his veins
and who would deny his kinship to the
Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan to
! boot? But NJ. Rostand has been the master
not the servant, Of tradition. In the best
! sense his play IS original for 1t is instinct
with his own genius.
The keynote of the plot is the hero's self
sacrifice. His unselhshness is complete but
| it Is not without compensation. In the in
tensity OF his pain he is conscious of a subtle
delight in knowing that he himself is loved
in the person of Christian This is far from
iS vln
complex, more human. more interesting
The Christmas number of ST Nicholas IS
full OF the holiday spirit The frontispiece
is striking drawing by Maxheld Parri n
Illustrating tale by Evaleen Stein entitled
The Page of the Count Reynaurd" THIS
is cry OF the song coztes.s Of the troubs-7
dours, in the days OF good King Rene ~
Provence Clara Morris, the eminent acfess.
bright character portrayal My Little jim
Grow 1t is the story OF a little eolored
boy hat was once member OF her house,
hold, and OF his prlnks. his joys and his
sorrows Thomas G. Allen Jr. who made
| tour around the world awheel, several
years ego, and who is one OF the authors OF
Across Asia on a Bicycle" tells about The
! Boys of Siberia" He gives a different i'm
! preston OF this land and it's inhabitants from
Ine one usually entertained. Klyda Richard
son Steege describes Football of Long Ago"
pheninda, as played In ancient Athens; har-
pas UNI, as 1t was known among the Romans
and calcc, as the game was called In Flor
ence. The article is illustrated from o'd
prints ana from photographs. Oliver Herfori
mas written a clever drama in verse Fox
and Geese" and furnishes the illustrations
for it. Mark W" in Clarence Maiko's story
was an errat!c torpedo that caused great nm.
easiness 70 a number of American naval
oHlcers during the recent war. A story that
has good wholesome moral most appropri-
ately enforced at this time. is IAN Amateur
krls -kringle,' by Warren McVeigh Seasnna-
BE verses and jingles are 1.-THE Christmas
Tree Lights" by Annie Willis McCulloueh.
The Dream of the Toy" by Katherine Pyle
and Ye Christmas Puddinge" BY Malcolm
Douglas. Birch, Varia Potthast, and Blanche
McManus are among the artists represented
in the number
In the first inStaNment of HIS story Of ghs
Merrimac," in the December Century. which
is to be an unusually attractive number
Lieut. Hobson lays claim to having
originated the idea of blocking the channel p
Santiago. The sinking of the collier had
been ordered by Admiral Sampson, but the
commanding officer off Santiago had not ex-
ecuted the maneuver when the flagship ar
rived, and the working out of the rlan. as
well as its execution. was intrusted 20 Iieur
Hobson. The preliminary steps are detailed
in this number of the magazine. and in later
issues the story OF the sinking of the shin
and the capture and Imprisonment of her
crew will be given at first hand. This Is
the only account OF his exploit that Mr. Hob
son has written for publication.
Much interest has been excited in America
by the teiegrapfIic accounts of Hcoley's ap-
parently wholesale purchase OF British noble
men for use as decoy ducks to his various
stock schemes; and his connection with the