The Saint Paul globe., 1898-05-08

Is creature unlike any other human
| being, unlike his brethren in Other
| lands. The presence of thousands OF
| the very aged, who have come to the
| city only to die there and to be br-ied
on the Mount of Olives, crowds the
| street with picturesque figures with
which the Moslem devoutly pravs to
| be Kept from contact Among the
Spanish and Italian Jews are men of
vast learning, of the highest lineage.
and OF upright and holy life, and in
| the narrow streets of the Jewish quar-
| ter herd creatures who seem to have
inherited very little from their fathers.
| except the sinful practices of the cap
| tivity. Both Syrian and Jew are ruled
| Dy the Turk, who is described as little
| more than cleanly animal with a
! glaze of Mohammedanism covering.
| but in no way modifying his natural
| instincts. With personages like these.
| with the beautiful scenery of Pales-
| tine and the historic mysteries of Je-
rusalem for a background, novelist
| can hardly be dull, and from among
tnem MT Gilman has chosen gigan-
| tic Syrian shepherd, showing him at
| first as tending his f1ocks and wooing
his beloved, and later as a censcript
furiously refusing to serve the Sultan,
but, in the end, becoming an excellent
soldier. During his. absence the woman
he loves narrowly escapes death at the
hands of the men of her village, who
plot to carry out their anliable custom
OF dropping her into pit and stoning
| her, after numbering her child in the
North American Indian fashion, by
dashing out brains against a stone.
| She Is rescued by a young Italian and
marvellous horse, Al Borak, and it
Is this Italian, the son of a Hebrew
mother, who brings the Jewish element
m "a ctr nd criJ hn thnr.
an opportunity to enlarge upon the
| ruins and relics of Jerusalem.
| Now this mixture Of learning and
| love story Is very pleasant to the pop
ular taste, especially when Palestine is
| the scene of the story, as has been
proved by countless writers from In
graham to Disraeli. The strictest CAL
vinists find a religious flavor in events
taking place near Olivet, and the lazi-
est novel reader enjoys the sensation
of acquiring knowledge without taking
trouble, and it is easy to see that this
substantial volume will be the chief
topic of what the summer girl calls
literary conversation. 1t will put an
end to the Quo Vadis' controversy,
and possibly introduce another, for
Christian morality is no more accepted
by the Syrian than by the Turk. and
in one scene the author has ventured
upon a suggested parallel with the cru
u.
shock the sensitive. Further, the finest
figures in the book are an aged sheik
and his son, and there are those who
will insist that the place of honor
should have been given to a Christian
ard that very enjoyable theological con-
tests will arise, especially among those
VINO know little of theology Critically
considered, the book falls short of per-
fection in style and is sometimes too
rhapsodical, but it fulfills the great end
or taking tired people to the Islands
Of the Blest." One forgets Cuba, the
Philippines, Tampa and birmingham
while reading it, and becomes conscious
of strong inclination to adopt Biblical
phraseology and to forget the crudities
of the newest slang and the sinful
abuses of will in the war news
Perhaps "Hassan" may prepare the
path for the publication of Sir Richard
Burton's manuscript works. of which
there are many, one in particular b ar
ing upon the custom of human sac ifice.
so frequently alleged to exist among
the Eastern Jews. Recent discoveries
in Egypt have made it possible to is-
sue this book without shocking even
the learned. 1t is unfinished like
most of the others, for 1t was Burton's
habit to have many books on the
stocks at once. working upon them in
turn as the fancy seized him, or as
AldI
Mahan finds himself forced by events
to leave his work on the war of 1872
and to return home to aid the board
of strategy, but perhaps it is well that
he should, for the United States pre-
fer not to hear of privateering at pres
ent, regarding it as barbarous
"The Isles and Shrines of Greece"
by Mr.. S. J. Barrows, comes a little
late for readers who take their cue from
passing events, but not too late for the
scholar Mr.. Barrows accompanied DIR.
Dorpfeld in his Troy expedition of 1898.
and also made a long journey through
Greece and the islands. His descrip
tons of modern Athens are bright and
clever, combining the insight of the
journalist and of the scholar for Mr..
Barrows, although at this moment a
member of congress, was a staff CORE
Spondent of the New York Tribune
before he took the divinity course at
Harvard and became a Unitarian min
lister. Once journalist always a journ-
alist, was true in his case, and he soon
resigned his pastoral charge to become
the editor of the Christian Register
which in consequence became so en-
tirely unlike the ordinary denomina-
tional paper that it was actually worth
reading, and was a valuable piece of
property. He is chaplain of the Fifth
regiment, one of those now lamenting
It's hard lot in not being ordered to the
front, and withal he is one of the most
picturesque figures to be met in this
conventional town, where only Judge
Wood bury is allowed. unchallenged. to
please himself in the choice of hats.
Mr. Barrows selects a head covering
which gives him the ar Of being
Confederate cavalry man with melan-
choly memories of lost battles. for the
fun which is irrepressble in his book
is absent from his face.
The divisions of the volume are that
which gives the title, and 'The Ionian
Isles" "The Shrines of Attica," Attic
Days" "The Pelopennessus,' "Phocis,"
"Thessaly,' Islands of the Aegean
and Troy" and some twenty pictures.
chiefly reproductions of photographs,
illustrate them.
Another Bostonian, Mr.. T. r. Sulll-
van. risks the publication of a book
this week, but it appears In New York
and 1t includes only short stories, four
originally issued in Scribner's Maga-
zine. with which Mr.. Sullivan's con-
nection Is an open secret fifth pub
lished in the Atlantic, and two, contln-
uing the fifth, hitherto imprinted. All
are pleasantly literary in manner and
untouched by passing vagaries of
| fashion, the kind of story that one can
Imagine az being read In 1858, without
glossary or an explanatory note. and
Of how many stories can this be said?
Il