The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-06

MIR. Joseph Hooking calls Mistress
Nancy Wordsworth" "a tale of adven-
ture" with good reason. There are
thirty chapters in the book, and cal
eulatfng that each chapter is good for
an adventure and a half-a modest esti-
mate-we account by simple muItipIi.
cation for forty-f five sensations, and we
assure the public that several first
class ones are thrown in extra Non
Is there anything monotonous in such
a multitude of strange happenings;
Individually they are as diverse as the
poles, and If one did mot grow out of
another with apparent naturalness 1t
might be claimed that there was mo rela-
ttomsh1p between them, so utterly lack
ing are they in family resemblance.
The story has both a hero and heroine
Th1s statement may seem unneeded,
but we wish to emphasize it. We are
used to an active hero and g. passive
heroine; we even have met a passive
hero and active heroine. Mr. Hooking
has thrown away the traditions of his
guild and created them with an equal
supply OF energy and enterprise and a
willingness and ability to extract each
other from succeeding difficulties sim.
ply absorbing to follow. Mr. Hocking's
heroine is altogether nice. Hardly az
much cam be said Of his hero. The
reader of romance is exacting when it
comes to a hero. Certain essentials he
insists on, and one is a sense of honor
that never stunlIbles. Now Rover
TreVanion is nothing short Of a. cad in
the first chapters, and, although the
heroine forgives him readily enough,
the reader finds 1t hard, and his eternal
self-abaSement makes it harder-fOr
who wants an apologize hero2
We are not going to unravel the plot
1T Is much tangled one, we assure
you--nor further make known its per-
sonages, for the book is we'll worth the
reading, and the many who care for
romance and adventure should come
to it IN ignorance of plot or outcome.
Mistress Nancy Wordsworth, by Joseph
Hooking: s.25 Doubleday 6 Mcclure
Paul Book and Stationery company.
"Crooked Trails"
Perhaps Mr. Frederic Remington
has had the experience Of Japan's most
brilliant illustrator and maker of
prints, Holousi, who was accused by
BaRfn, the popular writer, whose works
he was engaged to illustrate. with
making drawings that were far from
dIlllS the lSXL. Inc duClOr In
sisted that the drawings should be
modified to suit the tales; the artist,
with what he considered equal reason,
demanded that the tales be changed to
supplement his work. 1t ended in the
artist producing books on his own &C
count-an example that Mr. Rerning-
ton seems to be following, whether
from the same bitter experiences with
nasty authors or not we do not know
Mr.. Remington, as author and illustra-
tor. is a pleasing maker of books. For
many years this young draughtsman
has tracked the wilds in search of ma
terial for his brush. and it Is not to
be wondered at If he, at the same time,
found much that insisted on being said
In words. The Illustrations are the
better part of the book, however: the
word sketches, some of them with vi
tally interesting subjects, have nothing
OF the writer's art about them, nor
should we demand that of them for, as
everybody knows, the brush Is Frederic
Reniugton's natural medium.
Crooked Trails" written and illustrated by
Frederic Remington. Harper & Bros New
York. 81. For sale by the St Paul Book
and Stationery. company.