The times., 1899-12-17

self in lonely little house. with only the
quaint and exquisite fancy Of her long
cherishing to keep her company. Having
discovered in sirlhOOd, that she was born
on the same day, ana so far as her father
could 'hEure II out eafashiOn,' at the
same hour as Englands Queen, she has fol-
lowed the life of Victoria through all its
changes, with as eager an interest as II
the royal lady We're indeed her twin sister,
separated from her and chosen for that high
place by some fairy-tales chance. She
tells in simple yet somehow stately Lam
guage how some of the facts of her life,
too have corresponded with the events of
that other and far different life in Eng
land. She says:
I married n man Icy tie name of Albert, just
the same as she did. and an 10y chance for
didn't get the news mat ShC had am Albert, Too.
till a fortnight aiterward: news slower COM
ing then than it IS now. My first baby was
girl. and ! called her Victoria, after my mate;
but the next one was boy. and my husband
wanted the right 10 name him. and took his
own name and his brother Edwards, and pretty
soon / saw in the paper that the little Prince
o. Wales had been christened just the same
After that l made excuse To wait till knew
what She q named her children. didn want 10
break the chain SO had an Alfred, and my
darling Alice that / lost long before she lost
hers. and there | stopped II I'd only had dear
daughter TO stay at home with me, Samo's her
Youngest one. / should have been 50 thankful
But II only one Of us could have little Beatrice
I'm glad Z the Queen; we've both seen
trouble but she's had the most care.
Then she tells how once she actually
saw the Queen, on a voyage which she
took with her husband and brother, end
bow. III her simple life, she has kept that
memOry~ precious for more than one gen
eratiJn. II IS a charming study and true
10 a certain phase Of New England life
as few Of the short stories of the day are.
This little old lady. fresh and shy and
dainty as a maylower with her rustic
dialect and small formalisms of the past
century, her old-fashiOned, gentle dignity,
and her straightforward courtesy. belongs
to an old New England type which has
often been overlooked. because it hides it
self in out-of-the-way country places and
is less obtrusive than the rOugher and
more uncouth characters. No writer less
sympathetic than Miss Jewett could have
portrayed it, and the more such portraits
she gives us the better OF the other
stories. one. a Bunnet Shepherdess,
deals with a somewhat similar parsonage,
and two or three others are studies Of
Irish character as good in their way as
the New England sketches Where $
Nora ?" is the title of one which is espe-
cially delightful, Boston: Houghton,
Mifiin & Co. $l.25J
The Story of Ronald Kestrel" by A. J.
/ Dawson, is the latest book in the Town
and Country Library, issued by its pub
/ fishers, and that is in itself a guarantee
! that the story is fairly entertaining. But
/ this particular novel is decidedly original
| and has a fascination OF its own. 1t de-
! scribes the career of a brilliant young
Australian writer of fiction, who comes to
London to try his fortunes. There is not
/ much plot in the narrative, and not a great
I deal of character drawing, but that which
appears is rather clever. Kestreis f3the.'
} was an Englishman, who lived for many
! years in the north of Africa, among the
Moors, adapting some of their customs
! From this semi Oriental existence and
! from his subsequent experiences in Aus
| tralia, the young writer drew much un-
usual material. On his arrival in London
lie went through the usual struggle to con-
vince the metropolitan publisher OF the
merit OF his work, and was subject TO the
usual condemnation when he did not in
stantly follow up his first success with a
/ greater one. (New York: d. Appleton &
/ Co. $1.00)
The Idol of the Blind, by Tom Gallon,
is the story of a lonely child, who grew
into a lonely and unhappy man; and the
name Whlcn he bore was COIneJhup W HIS
1t is a pathetic little romance but has
enough incident and plot 10 keep it from
being depressing in its sadness. The char
acter drawing is extremely good and the
/ interest is we'll sustained throughout. II
is better than 'Dicky Monteith," the work
which preceded it. and that is saying some
thing. (New York: D. Appleton & Co. SD
Rob and Kit is pretty pastoral story
by the author of Miss Toosey's Mission" ."
It is less sad than some OF the writer's 9th
er work and full of the same wholesome
English atmosphere. Boston: Little,
Brown & Coz