The Portland daily press., 1898-07-27
CONCERNING BOOKS,

Miss Eleanor g. Walton has written Q
book-her first, by the way-which is
published by Henry Altemus of Philadel-
phia, and is entitled, She Who Will Not
When She May. 1t is the story Of clev-
er woman's heart which in the course OF
time dominated her train, but too late
for her happiness. Our heroine, Kathe
rine Pemberton, is an unconventional
young woman, and an artist, who quite
believes in Platonic affection. and scorns
the idea of the sort of love which leads to
marriage. When she at length finds that
she is desperately in love with Jack Hard.
ing, sin the good old-fashioned way,
and cannot live without him, he has al
ready turned his affections over to anoth-
er pretty girl who takes him for such as
he is, and neither fiouts nor derides him
when he makes love to her. AS for Miss
Katherine one is inclined to say-and
good enough for her-if it were not that
the blow when it comes breaks her heart,
and .sde mortuis nilnisi bonum.
The book is charmingly gotten up, be-
ing quite unique in style and makeup,
and, for the story itself, which is in the
form of notes and letters, it is striking,
original, and remarkably. well done. The
only fault one can find is in the author s
careless method with her English, one or
two awkward grammatical blunders, and
a constant use of twill" instead of shall,
and 'would' instead of should. These
last errors are SO common with persons OF
culture and education that perhaps one
should pass them by without comment;
but they are, nevertheless. exasperating
to the critic. Portland; Loring, Short
g. Harmon.)
The Harpers publish this month vol
ume of most entertaining and amusing
short stories; Moriahs Mourning and
Other Half-Rour Sketches, by Ruth Nc
Enery Stuart. Many of these, and there
are thirteen in all, have appeared in the
Editors Drawer of Harper's Magazine,
and they are principally humorous
sketches Of types to be found in modern
plantation life in the South. The charao-
ter drawing Is very clever and effective,
and the one touch of pauhos in the oollec-
tion is the last sketch in the book, ga
Minor Chord''
Moriah's Mourning is very funny,
Moriah, so-called in honor of the scrip
ture mountain of that name, being a
widow of months standing, who is
oh or7r 10 Fr- &hn
trimonial state, but who in spite of that
proposes to Mon for Numa, her first hus-
band, according to conventional rules.
"Bless yo' heart Mis- Gladys" she ex-
claimed, 81 amt gwine out o. mo'nin |!
gwine marry Pete in des what I got on
my back. I'll marry him. an I'll take
dem little no-'counts O. his'n, an I'll
make folks out'n 'em 'fo' I gets tn 'ough
wild 'em, eff Cord spares me; but he
nee'nt ter lay out ter come in 'twix' me
an my full year O. mo'nin for Numa.
When [ walks inter dat chu'ch, 'csp'n
fur de owange wreaf, which of co'se in a
Christian ma 'iege I'm boun' ter wear,
folks IL be heap mo- minded o. Numa
N dey will o. de bridegroom. An dem
chillen o. his'n, which amt nuyer is had
no proper mo'nln' fur dey mammy-no
mo- n what color Cord gave 'em in dey
skins-I gwine put 'em in secon' mo MIN !,
'cordin' to de time dey ought ter been
wearin' it; an when we walks up de is
land o. de chu'ch, dey got ter foller, two
by two. keepin' time ter de fun'a march.
You come to de weddin' Mis- Gladys, an
I Law you'll 'low dat done fixed it SO dat
while I'm a.lookin' out for de 1ivin', de
dead amt gwine feel sighted, right ner
left" cortland; Loring, Short & Har-
mon.
The Deacon's Medicine recites the meth
cd of matrimonial discipline employed by
Mrs. Deacon Gregg, who paints her hus-
bands face with iodine when her pre-
serves ferment, and doses him yariously
when she is out Of temper from any do
nestle mishap. In the story OF The Rev.
Whites Three Chances, the parson states
to Brer Jones that he would sometimes
like to preach of the harps and golden
streets, but ''I bleege ter preach Heaven
f'om de He'll side, an shoe EN- in. " Port
land: Loring, Short & HARMONY
Another of the..Harpers' recent novels is
Meg Of the Scarlet Foot, by W. Edwards
Livebuck. This is a highly dramatic
story, the scene of which is in Lanca-
shire mining village. The heroine, Meg
of the Scarlet Foot, is thus called because
she has scarlet birthmark on her foot.
and having been deserted by her parents
while an infant, discovers them at last
by means of this very mark which she has
learned to regard as having some occult
influence ON her life.
Meg is.sadopted by Margit Mitigate, the
mother of Ark Mitigate, who becomes
Meg's lover, and after much tribulation,