The Portland daily press., 1898-10-21

| struggled, but to regard more highly
those forefathers of ours whose lives are
not the smallest portion of our heritage.
In the Brave Days of Old is story of
adventure in the time of King James the
First. A wonderful story it is, and one
in which the boys will delight. Like
nearly all of theErecent books for boys,
this of Miss Hall has an historical back
ground, and what her two boys, Giles
Valentine of England, and Jan Venory
| of Holland, did not accomplish in various
| countries, in detecting the Gunpowder
Plot, in saving from the Spanish insur-
gents the town of Sluys, and in wonder-
Jul journeyings, is not worth mention
ing.
The author has chosen for the scenes of
her story the period of ten years between
the death of Queen Elizabeth and the
settlement at Manhattan. SIT portrays,
she says, ''the condition at that date of
Europe and America, and thus betrays
the reasons which induced emigrants to
leave their homes to begin Ifs again in
new country" because SO much
now depends upon what happened then,
because our country rose to be what she
is from what other countries were, have
written the adventures of two boys, three
of the end of the nineteenth century"
portland: Loring, Short & Harmony
One more story for boys of which I
wish to speak is called Adventures in
Cuba" or tHow an American Boy Saved
His Friend and Escaped from Spanish
Prison. This story is writ ten by L. l..
Oswald, and published by W. L. Allison.
1t will be of more than ordinary value
at this time when our young patriots are
SO full of interest in the Spanish prov.
inces. and especially in Cuba, our near
neighbor. The book is full Of movement
and spirit; an agreeable, bright and we'll
told story.
Messrs. L. G. Page & Company pub
lish novel by Maria Louise Pool, whose
recent death takes from us one of the
very best of our typical New England fic-
tionists. The present volume Is novel
entitled Friendship and Folly. and has all
of the authors best qualities. Her hero
(Which, by The way. seems an inappropri.
ate apellation, as Rodney Lawrence had
not the courage of his qualities or convic-
tions] is inexcusably interesting consider.
ing his many weaknesses. One feels sensi-
bly, the charm of Prudence Ffolliotte (she
should have been called imp Prudenoe),
who is equally lacking in heart and prin-
ciple, while knowing that the good and
amiable Carolyne. whom Lawrence has
Tilted in order to marry her brilliant
cousin, should by rights have all our
sympathies. The small brother, the en-
FAINT terrible of the tale, is not so we'll
done, or rather he is a little overdone,
being rather unnecessarily pert and dis.
agreeable; but ON the whole the story is
dramatic, strong and very readable, and
one wishes there were more writers today
with Miss POOLS sweet reasonableness
and wholesome and direct way of looking
at people and things. portland: Loring,
Short & Harmony.
Anything new from the facile pen Of
Miss Anna Fuller is always an agreeable
literary event, and Messrs G. p. Put
books a novel by this writer, which is
altogether longer and more elaborate than
A Literary Courtship A Venetian June,
or Pratt Portraits, those dainty and deli-
cate bits of word painting.
The title of the volume is rather mis-
leading, for in thsse days of Colonial
Dame and Daughters of the Revolution,
many pens have worked faithfully at
their task of giving us the pilgrim faith
ers and mothers, wives and daughters,
and Colonial history to any extent But
''The Pilgrims" this time is merely the
name of bank which figures extensively
in Miss Fuller's story The hero is a
clerk in this institution, who has been
wrongfully accused of appropriating a
| sum of money, and later on is able to
solve the mystery and prove his inno-
cence. There is little by way of plot in
the story, but the characters are we'll
drawn, and the book impresses one fa-
YOrdUly anu aRF0oaply anu Is pl6d Sbut
reading. while yet there are no especially
salient points which one can give by way
of describing 1t. cortland: Loring,
Short & Harmony.
On the other hand, Mr.. ". Petit Ridges
new novel, By Order of the Magistrate,
which is published by the Harpers, is a
story of the streets, and the heroine is a
sort of female Chimmie Fadden. I be-
lieve the English edition of this clever
bit of work is called Mordemly. the name
of the girl whose portrait the author
paints, laying on his colors heavily and
bringing out strong effects and striking
contrasts in lights and shades. Poor
Mordemly reared. or coming up of her
self, rather like a dank weed, in the
dark and evil London alleys, she has vet
germ of self-respect in her blind little
soul, showing that something really clean