The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-10-07
CONCERNING BOOKS.

Girl; Well After An. by h. Frankfort
Moore. and the The Life Of tine Spirit, by
Hamilton Wight Mabia
While the first Of theee lacks much of
the humor which. we were won't to find
In the delightful stories of the old days
of the literary partnership Of Besaat 81
Rice. yet The Orange Girl win doubtless
stand as one Of the best and most clever
works Of fiction Of the ssasou-and such
find IL. One is refreshed By taking up q
good, substantial story. which Is not
sufficiently indecent to be up to date, but
which is agreeable and comfortable read
Ing. and leaves pleasant tssts In the
mouth.
The tale opens In the college. or prison
as some call 1t, of the Kings Bench,
and one VIII Halliday relates to US how
he came there, and how he afterward
got .'out Of the frying pan into the fire;''
also how VIII loved music and pretty
Alice Shirley better than fame or for
tune, and Jenny, the orange girl as well.
One must read the story to understand
how he-to give Wills own words-"could
love Jenny without worrying my wife,
and as much as a woman can tie loved,
and yet In Innocence and with the full
approval Of the woman whom also
loved.''
Well, After All, do not care much
for Mr.. Moore's latest novel, although 1t
has some good points, and may be popu-
lar with these who admire this writer's
earlier work, The Jessamy Bride. 1t
opens with description of a run upon
the bank of Westwood. westwood, Bar
well s. West wood, and the firm name, to
begin with, sound slightly stilted and
insinoere. Then comes suicide, and the
return Of another Westwood, who Is the
lover Of Agnes Mowbray. She has wait
ed for him upon her knees for years.
while he has been wandering about In
| with apparently no other Idea than to
put In all the time he can away from his
| swt Q heart. Worse than all he seems to
| forget her at last, and falls in love with
ans tier girl. while Agnes thinks all the
time he has seen only tigers and els-
plants, and still pines for her.
Given this situation one can easily
done this In his own peculiar style.
One turns to quite another line of
thought in taking up Mr.. Hamii-
ton Mabie's interesting and helpful
volrme, The Life of the Spirit. 1t
contains a series of religious essays
such as the title would suggest,
which are dedicated to George A. Cor
don, with this quotation; sThe race
must become partner in the moral enter
prise, fellow-workers with the universe
at its ethical task. II its heart of rhythm
and soul of fire are to stand fully re-
yealed.
This Is lovely book, full of beautiful
and high thoughts; a book to have and
to mold, to read bit by bit and page by
page day after day, until the tull signih-
canoe of it all sinks into the heart.
Under the heading The sea is
his, imam. says Mr.. Mabie. sis
an adventurer. not a lotus eater; he
was famed to be taught by expert
enoe, not to be shielded In inglo-
rious ease. "He makes noble ship
wreck who Is lost in seeking worlds"
says Leasing; and the great critics
thought may be rounded out by adding
Channing's beautiful line: ''If my bark
sinks, tbs to another sea-" The song of
the sea which rises and falls with the tide
along the shores of the world Is tie song
Of life for hearts that grow cold in the
seltishness of mere comfort, for the imag-
ination that loses it's larger reach In the
sensuous warmth of fruitful valleys. Far
inland that song is heard by those who
ate in peril of becoming the children OF
day instead OF the sons of Tod; like q
faint music 1t sinks In the hearts OF tn
reapers at the centre of the continent,
and straightway tue great world beyond
the horizons rim sweeps into view.
There Is a rsstlessness wi ioh lie and
sterile but there is also disoontsnt
which ia born Of mans instinct to know
what Is in life and to mix himself wit
its deepest movement. And so Gods sea
sings forever In the ears of men that
song of seeking and daring and risking
which Is the song of life." portland
Loring. Short s. Harmony
0essrs. harper isrobHeIs nave just pup
lished new volume by Sir Edwin Ar.
mold in the Odd Number series, The Gull
istan, being the rose garden of Shaikh-
Sa'di, translated from the Persian In
prose and verse.
The authors preface is an extract from
an article in Literature in which he says
that to free himself .'from politics and
todilv pain ard an ocean of careless and
worthless written, WORK upon whish float
the scattered Islands that are fair and
good In current literature" he has be
taken himself to good old Sa'di, and es-
pecially TO his Gulistan. The translation
declares that the Shaikh was really the
Horace and Marco Polo of the Far East,
combined into one rich and gracious ma.
ture. Ancient enough to carry with him
"a fine favor of the old world, he is ms
modern and as much for all times as the
Roman poet himself. or American Emer-
son.