The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-14
LITERATURE OF THE. DAY
TWO NEW BOOKS OF ADvEN-
TURE

IA Trooper of the Empress,n by
Clinton ROss-"John of strath-
bourne" by r.. d. Chetnode-A
New Musical Novel by M. e. Fran
els - "Materfamiiias," by Ada
Cambridge.
The title Of Clinton Ross latest novel
Is suggestive to the reader who re-
members the phrases place in Kip
Hng's "Gentlemen-R Enthusiastically
suggestive of the English army man
OF high name and good family, reduc-
ed to the ranks because of a shady
record-"A trooper of the empress. if
you please" Bitter enough is ones re-
membrance of these Gentlemen Rank
ers, damned from here to eternity"
and one admits that it was with dread
OF the disagreeable one opened Mr..
Ross book with it's borrowed title. But
the dread is unwarranted, for Mr.. Ross
hero, though "Gantleman-Ranker."
Is not damned at all, though per-
haps he should have been. The re-
semblance to Kipling's BLACK Sheep
Who Have Lost Their Way eudfs with
the
force to retrieve the past, past main
ly heroic and filed with great deeds
IN India, but with the shadow-but
only the shadow-of a terrible breach
or trust upon it, a breach Of trust that
lay between him and an other, never
proved against him, but always dog
ging him. Mr.. Clinton Ross has writ
ten "a Trooper Of the Empress" with
the evident desire to show what might
hoe -
raid had been a success, the fate that
might have awaited its leaders if their
attainment had been as great as their
enterprises Fraser OF Glencoe who
had enlisted with the Belaland police a )
a common trooper, gets a chance to
prove himself and does it with genius.
Then, although the shadowy crime Of
his past is sometimes mentioned, his
marvellous force courts and the I'M
questioned deeds of his Indian career
are more often remembered
Boer rule in Belaland brought about
the Johannestown raid, MacIvor Fraser
acted in keeping with the British idea
OF empire and his enterprise was sue
cessful. Rich Nitara was put under
English rule, and England refused to
yield it until it could be shown that
some one else could govern it as we'll
The leaders that gained this rich
plum for the empire are offered before
the world at large as scapegoats. but
even they, in the end, are saved and
men speak Of their deeds with rever-
ence. Such is the difference between
success and failure.
1t would take love story of strong
character to hold it's own in the midst
Of such stirring events as Mr.. Ross
uses for the common warp and wool
OF his tale, but such story is at
hand. A mere sketch in comparison
with the carefully wrought political
plot, the love motif yet seems one of
the strongest things in the book. Mai
sic Halton is as striking in her way as
'The Trooper Of the Empress" him
self, and seems worthy mate for
him. 1t is a question in the reviewer s
mind, however, as to whether the touch
Of the occult introduced in connection
with Fraser's and Maisie's love does
not detract from the force Of the pic
ture. It's only excue is the delicate
touch that shows the union Of the mys-
tic and strongly practical man in Mac
Ivor Fraser, a union often found but
seldom noted.
The book is very convincing, follow
ing as it does so closely on the track
of events already written into history
Thereafter sometimes loses the dividing
line between fact and fiction. Is it not
something Of departure in fiction to
write a romance Of a historical char
acter that runs parallel to written his
tory-contemporaneo history, at that
and then run off at a tangent at the
crucial point, and picture the might
have-beens?
"a Trooper Of the Empress by Clinton
Ross. Appleton's Town and Country Lii
brary. Goth. 81; paper, 80 cents. For sale
by the St. Paul Book and Stationery COM
panY.