The times., 1898-07-03

but not, necessarily, good art ON that ac-
count.
There are seven stories in this book,
and only four ideas. Two of these have
been mentioned. The other two are that
if the presence of ghosts causes hair to
stand on end. it viii do 50, even in hair
mattress; the other is a new form of the
old notion of the astral body.
The essence of ghost story, or love
story, or a funny story, is that the author
shall at least seem to believe in ii him
self. If a romance writer takes a love
story and points out at every turn that
the heroine's face was not beautiful; that
the hero did not love, her more than he
did any other woman; that there was
really no particular reason why they
should or should not become engaged,
and that, on the whole, all romance is a
delusion and snare, we may be con-
vlnced that the author IS very clever fell
low to know so much, but we are also
sure that he has wasted his time in trying
to tell a story. And when a man tells a
funny story with the air of not thinking
it Is funny at all, merely matter-of-fact
commonplace, the chances are that he
cannot do justice TO the real humor of his
subject. So it is with a ghost story
A make-believe ghost story, with the
sawdust and springs showing at every
step of its progress, is one of the most
sorrowful things IN existence. And that
is the sort of ghost Mr.. Bangs manu-
factures. He takes the manikin and ap-
pears to be showing it off. "You see. at
this point / articuate the skeleton; here
! put a tallow candle in the skuil-some
day l hope to use gas, but it is both eX
pensiVe and inconvenient at present; here
l throw some mosquito-netting around
the object, and il does just as well as
gauze; finally, add the sulphur-hames,
and then I stand off and shiyer and raise
goosefiesh over my work. Don't you
think il is funny?"
1t is not so very funny especially when
the ghosts begin to make, bad puns on
themselves, but Mr.. Bangs has such a
naive way of appearing to think that 1t
is, that one can hardly contradict him
with pleasure. II is really about as fun
ny and witty and humorous as it would
be to go into an an -ique furniture fac-
tory and see the people making May
flower chairsS and clocks 10 fool the pub
lie. No; when the public wants ghosts
it wants genuine, out-and-out spooks.
with all the racial aracteristics-not
humorous specters, with a desire for
practical jokes.
A ghost may be made out of mosquito
netting and store birthstone, but he should
not seem 10 know that he is. 1t spuils
the illusion, and as illusion is about all
that there Is OF gnost, the eIIecl -
bad. When Hawthorne described the ad-
ventures of the scareCrow which was
made into a man by the old witch who
put II together, he so cunningly created
a mystical atmosphere out of the blue
smoke Of the manikin's pipe, that the
reader is himself inclined 10 believe in the
miracle. and watches with a half-be-
widered amusement the adventures of
the pumpkin head. This not only adds
the grace of ideaiity to the tale, but
makes the denouement more richly hu-
morous. Mr.. Bangs either does not know
how to do this kind Of work, or does not
care to try. Hence the House Boat on
the StyX'' and all its grotesque but not
very amusing inhabitants. There is a dis
tinction between the grotesque and the
humorous. Mr.. Bangs is seated calmly
in the garden OF the grotesque and thinks
he is sketching humorous objects.
(New York: Harper & Bros. Wash
ington: All booksellers.)