The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-31
Balfour-More school Books.

by Paul and Victor Marguerite
Balfour-MOre school Books.
Mr.. Grant Aliens 1.-The Incidental
Bishop" is novel worthy Of more than
the ordinary notice. It represents some
OF Mr.. Aliens higher achievement and
falls only little short Of being q very
| considerable novel. It Ia difficult to de-
eide just what elements Of greatness
1t lacks. for Its good points are many.
1t Is interesting from first to last, close
knit, and Its incidents almost convince
Ing; simply the touch Of assured art Is
! lacking. "The Incidental Bishop" be-
gins as story Of adventure and ends
as a psychological study. It's hero Is
young man Of gentle ancestry, who. at
| nineteen. runs away from his Canadian
home. He appears in this story as an
ahle-bodied seaman on board the John
| Wesley, that hides under sancti-
monious exterior her real character of
slave ship, for the nefarious trade Is
still carried on by civilized nations as
the "Labour Traffic" Tom Pringle is
ignorant Of the ships real mission, and
1t Is but slowly his suspicious are
aroused. After the village is raided,
missionary, Cecil Gibson, attempts to
rescue his black converts and is NOR
tally wounded by Bully Ford, the
SLAYER. Tom Pringle refuses to leave
the missionary, and Ford doubtful of
his own desperate action, considers it
wiser to let the wounded man die on
his ship, and so be sure that he Is well
out Of the way. During the days that
Tom nurses him, Cecil Gibson tells him
of his whole life and his hopes and
plans for the unfortunate victims of
the slave trade. Following sharply on
the missionary's death the SLAYER is
chased by British gunboat, and the
blacks are thrown overheard Tom
would have shared their fate had the
captain dared, but a mutiny among his
own men made him desert the ship and
attempt to blow her up. Pringle, fear
ing to be taken by the gunboat for one
sionary's clothes to gain time for an ex-
PLANTATION. In the explosion he is
wounded. and before he RECEIVERS the
character he has assumed is fastened
upon him. In vain he tries to shake
himself clear of it: but. falling deeply
in love with a delightful girl, who
knows him as a heroic missionary, es-
cape Is complicated by his divided de-
sires. Without orders he drifts into
the church; and hard work and enthu-
siasm in the cause Of all suffering, join
ed to natural eloquence, finally lift him
high, and in the second part Of the book
we find him bishop. Untroubled, at
the beginning, by episcopal traditions
or great reverence for mere orders,
his new life educates his conscience into
an avenging harpy, and every day
and every deed Of righteousness but
add to his self-blame The develop
ment of this remorse and the conse-
quent necessity Of throwing up all
that he had attained by hard and good
work, combined with his dread of hurt
ing others by the revelation of his i'm
osition, is well worked out and is GER
tatnly the strongest thing in the book
There is humor In the situation to one
untrammeled by episcopal prejudices,
and Mr.. Allen is not ignorant Of it, but
uses 1t to some purpose. The strength
Of the bishops position is his absolute
| and honest carelessness Of results to
himself in either this world or the next.
The denouement, If tri1e theatrical,
Is the most comfortable possible
1.-THE Incidental Bishop" by Grant Allen.
800. D., Appleton,s Town and Country
library. For sale by the st. Paul Book
and Stationery company.
Evelyn IEnis."
| This is one of the longest books that
ever was written. It's actual bulk Is
very considera ble-it contains fully as
many words as. let US say, Daniel
| Deronda" it's apparent bulk is
something quite incalculable. It looms
before the reader like an everlasting
task. The labors of Hercules seem a
trifie compared to the reading Of it,
The Encyclopedia Britannica" Is
short story beside 1t, and Webster's
Unabridged seems thrilling fiction af-
ter 1t.
This is all right, of course. Mr..
George Moore evidently wanted to
write that kind Of book or he would
not have done so, for Mr.. Moore is a
| gentleman of sufficient intellectual re-
source to be able to write the kind
Of book he wants to write, and no one
can deny that he has a perfect title
to do 50. Still. it seems poor political
economy to spend much time and GER
ebral energy in concocting volume
which can please no one but the writer,
and which could not please him did he
have fine critical taste in things lit
erary and ethical. It used to be count
|. ed that zone with God was a major
ity." Mr.. Moore would seem to believe
that one with the devil is invincible-
and yet, perhaps, this Is doing a. kind
Of injustice to the Spirit of Darkness,
who has ever been counted a gentle
man Of infinite intelligence, and with
the composition Of Evelyn Innis' in
telligence has nothing to do.
The book Is the story Of an opera
singer, a vain, light and stupid girl,
| who runs away from home with an
equally vain. light and stupid man, in
order to achieve Paris and the deveI-
| opment of her voice. This accomplish
ed, she falls in love with another tri-
fer, and, curiously enough, is slightly
| shocked at her own conduct. Ulti-
rately, she leaves the stage, because
she feels that for her a dignified and
virtuous life Is impossible while she
| remains an opera singer. Her passing
preference for that which Is dignif1ed
and v1rtuous strikes the reader as just
as frivolous as her passing preferences
for the undigniaed and the Vicious.
| It is hard for even the shallowest fic-
ton -monger to create a human being
SO trivial that his or her aspirations
toward righteousness have neither
| meaning nor impressiveness, but Eve
Ign Innis Is such a one. The whole
atmosphere of the book is mephitic,
and like bad air always, is Supplying
to the last degree. It is just dull, that
Is all. While 1t deals with sinners,
there is nothing In 1t to attract those
who love the pernicious In literature
to repel those who love the good It's
colossal monotony Is like the vast
dreariness Of the London slums. One
glimpse of 1t Is enough. One pfties
those who dwell always In such pur-
gatorial precincts, and one turns away
Evelyn Innis.' BY George Moore. D: APP
by the st. Paul Book and Stationery COM
pany.