The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-28

Hills One the story of native girl
brought up by a missionary, and after
ward falling in love with a young Eng
ishman, is altogether too much like kip-
ling's "Lispeth of the Kotgarh Mission
to pass unnoticed. But that may be sim
ply because the sitDltion occurs both In
Mexico and India; and Mr.. Cunningham S
local color is all his own. The grim light
heartedness of the tales is also like that
early work of Kipling. Perhaps this is
the natural effect of exile in a tropical
climate. AT any late, there is more than
enough originality in the book to save it
from the charge of plagiarism.
Perhaps 1t Is the conditions of Eng
Iish life in Mexico which are reminis-
cent as much as the style of the author.
In reading Mr.. Cunningham's book one
is continually haunted by feeling of
having passed this way before" Some
where or other we have known this
fearful, burning heat, this steaming
moisture, these swarming insects this
strange, unhappy parody on the English
mans club.
We have known silly English wo-
men who fitted away to the hills or to
England. leaving their husbands to slave
in torment; young men who lost hope
and strength and ambition under the
exactions of an alien climate and unre-
loved and hated fiercely; light loves,
bitterly avenged. And then ii is recalled
that the same sort Of life has been shown
us in India. Perhaps, when the English
stories of South Africa South America
and China have been written they will
be of the same type. The Englisman
is the same all the world over, and there
is always the same conflict between his
life and that of whatsoever darker race
he happens TO rule.
This particular book, however, is thor
oughly Mexican in flavor, and the resem-
blances to anything else are only super
fetal. Two or three of the stories are
especially strong and fascinating and
each has an Individual beauty of its own.
The greater part of them are rather
grewsome. 1t is strange thing 10 think
of, but sunny and full of joy as the
tropic nature seems, almost all its sto-
ries are sad ones. There is always an
undercurrent of death, when life IS at
its fullest tide. There is not one of these
tales that can be called anything but
tragic. The book is a symphony of sud
den death. Sometimes it is the body
sometimes the soul, that dies; one or the
other surely does. There is but one ex-
ception TO this among the fifteen stories.
and that is a ghost legend.
Two are stories of bull fights which end
ed disastrously for some one besides the
bull. Another is an incident of the 'tifo"
plague, and of deserted man in a death
stricken city, and a nameless Mexican
woman who died with him. Another con-
Germs a leprous tribe of Indians some
where in the mountains of inland Mexico.
1t is not a pretty tale, but 1t has an ar
tistic completeness that would have de-
lighted Edgar Allan Poe. Still another is
a story of a mixed marriage, which ends
as one might suppose marriage between
a highly-civilized man and perfectly I'M
civilized woman would end. There is also
a CHASTITY recital of miracle play in
Mexico, which had a tragical climax.
Another legend has to do with the Cata-
combs where the ancient Inhabitants or
Mexico kept the mummies of their an
cestors.
The charm of the stories lies in the per-
lection of the telling. The author never
wastes words, and he knows how to des-
cribe a scene so that the reader sees II as
in a skilfully painted picture. There is
no affectation in his style. He does not
use rainbow rhetoric, or long words or
mysterious metaphors. All is direct.
forceful and well arranged. One or two of
the descriptions are distinct contributions
to literature. a bull fight has never be-
fore been so well pictured, nor has
Mexican feast day. There is story OF
Mexican woman who poisoned her hus-
band which gives a new glimpse into the
life of a certain type of Mexican woman
kind. One cannot quote part of any one
story without quoting the whole; it would
be like dissectng a moss agate or an In
dian arrowhead. Mr.. Cunningham has
produced some fiction in these short stor-
les which is thoroughly individual and
notable. Cincinnati: The Editor Publish
ing Company