The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-11
BOOKS AND THEIR MAKERS.

/ etrates and from which he snatches his
| bride. From what has been said, 1t will
| be guessed that "Cartageua" is novel,
| vigorous and intensely romantic.
(Lamson, Wolfe & Coz
In wild Eelin," William Black has
written a picturesque story of Scottish
life that viii rank with the best of
his work. There is less Of opalescent
gray sky and purple heather in it, and
more of fine Old tradition, Scottish lore
and the romance of national pride
than the writer can remember having
met with in MIR, Blacks previous
. books. As a picture of Scotch country
HE and the permanence Of the clan
spirit, it may or may not be correct;
but all this lends to it a nobility and
classic value. Particularly interest
ing is the glimpse of the athletic sports,
When to the slIirl of bagpipes the killed
/ hlghlanders danced a reel, their cairn-
| germs and silver ornaments flashing in
the sun, and the elderly chieftain in
full array of tartan and eagles plume,
graVely engages dances with the young
women for the BAH in the evening.
Then the pictures Of salmon and trout
fishing and of swimming matches, are
full of color, and give d virility which
has too often been lacking in Mr..
! Blacks novels.
Wild Eelin's father was the chief of
the clan. With his death, all the
homage and patriarchal pride that
have centered in him are lavished upon
/ his widow and daughter. Three men
ful in id
Donald, q young Canadian railroad
magnate, who has brought his blind
/ father to Scotland in order that he may
revisit the scenes of his youth; Lord
/ MOuntmahOn, a dissipated young no
| bleman who owns kinYaig, Eelin's old
/ home; and Archibald Gilchrist, young
newspaper man. Believing that Mac
Donald, who has returned to Canada,
4 is Indifferent to her, and desiring to
/ get rid of Lord MountmahOn, Eelin en-
cages herself to Gilchrist, only to find
out later that Macdonald loves her.
/ Quite incOnsequentially in a creature
/ OF her superb health and strength, she
/ falls i'll, becomes delirious and essays
| a swimming feat that has bafled her.
/ GlichrisE, who rescueS her in a half
dazed condition, learns from her raw
/ ings that she loves Somerled, and gen
| erously releases her that she may
marry the man of her choic2. To tell
more would be to rob the reader of his
/ due.
Belin is built on 'Madcap Violet" and
"A Daughter of Heth" lines, her chief
variation from the type lying in a gift
of bright talk and a literary penchant
/ Like all the Black heroines, she dis
plays remarkable character in certain
directions and equally remarkable
/ weakness in others. Like them she is
| d bunch Of picturesque emotions and
i agreeable sensations bound in a his
1 triOnic whole. like them, it must be
added, she is entirely frank and sweet
and refined. Somerled Macdonald is
Uninteresting and ineffectiVe; one won
ders how q girl in her senses could pre-
fer him to Gilchrist
| Lord and Lady Nomination are, or
the other hand, tremendously well
done. Her ladyship-a music-hall sing
er before his lordship marries her
browns in attempting to save his
| poodle. "Ol' remarks the widoweI
cheerfully, few weeks after, cit was
just my luck. l have the most awful
luck I was born like that. Still. we
must tide along, don't you know. Little
use sitting down and folding youl
hands. A good old wholesome WeeI
may be a comfort to you ladies, nov
and again; but a man hasn't time
| There's things to be done. You've got
to eat your dinner whatever happens.
| Then he suggests a picnic to amus(
| Eelin. And when / say l want tC
amuse you, l mean it; I don't cenfine
myself to a wopenny-halfpenny picnic
with champagne cups gone fiat and ear
wigs crawling about the dishes my
idea is to do the thing slap-up or let II
alone And if you'll let me drive you
| from Kingussie, I'll get a proper turn
| out, you trust me; and you needn't be
afraid to put yourselves in my charge
| for 1 can take a team along. Yes
can. l don't like to boast, but if there's
one thing l have at my fingers ends it's
| the handling of the ribbons See me il
| Bond street Of a July afternoon-half-
past fouI-just at it's croWdedest: a
smart lively horses-a
! pretty woman on the box-and you
would say l could run that machine to
rights"
"Wild Eelin" is entertainingly writ
! ten The plot proceeds at a sufficiently
rapid rate, and there is nothing to bore
or offend and much to please in the
| book as a whole. (Harper & Brothers.
| There is but one criticism to be made
on THE Gray House of the Quarries, "
! the novel by Mary Harriott Norris
Gently published, and that is its length
Charming as is the first part, with its
/ sympathetic, realistic pictures of the
| life Of the Dutch settlers and their
! descendants in the foot hills of the
! Catskills during the middle decades of
| this century, and fresh and vigorous as
| is the touch of the author ON every
! 4.