The times., 1899-03-26
Boston: Small, Maynard & Co. $500

] 1t could be wished that the publishers
had seen fit to do as was done with Ros-
enfeld's Songs of the Ghetto"-publish
the German on one page and the English
on another. New York: G. P. Putnam's
Sons)
1.-THE Song of Stradella," by Anna Gan
non. is collection of verses of average
merit with one or two slightly above the
| average. "The Harp" and the verses to
| Ellen Terry are rather good. tPhiladel-
phia: ]. B. Lippincott Company
Minor Fiction.
1.-The River Syndicate is a collection OF
stories by Charles E. Carryl, carefully
| written, printed, and illustrated. The au-
thor is practiced writer with consider
able command of language. and now and
| then uses a phrase which is happy in its
originality. For instance, he character
| ICES one of his stories as remarkably pro-
fuse in the utterance OF undigested ideas. :"
| We have all met gentlemen of this type.
| But the truth of the matter is that Mr.
| Carryl does not know how to write detec-
| tive stories, and as nearly every one OF
| these tales belongs TO this class of litera
| ture, 1t is a pity that he should have
wasted so much good writing on so unsat-
isfactory a book. Several OF the stories,
| notably Mrs. Porter's Paragon" and THE
| Asper Agency" contain some good char
acter drawing, and the title story, The
River Syndicate" has an elaborate and in
genious plot. But the trouble with them
&, all is that the author anticipates his cli-
| max, and the reader can see almost at the
| beginning, in some of them, Just how the
| narrative is going to end. That is not the
way to write a detective story. (New
/ n.
| "The Procession of Life" by Horace An
nesley Vachell, is published under the
! name of novel, but candor compels the
reader to admit that there is very little
plot and still less character-dr drawing in the
book; and a novel without either of these
| things is rather like a bread and butter
| sandwich-reminiscent but unsatisfactory.
! The story follows, very much at leisure,
| the fortunes of two sisters, both natives of
California, one of whom married a ranch
| owner and the other an Englishman. The
| Inhabitants of Ciumyille, the place OF
residence of these sisters, are described
| quite fully, and there is an evident effort
| to insert local color by means of these in
| offensive but rather wearisome, people.
Until the eighteenth or twentieth chapter
| one hopes for some sort OF climax: but
after the middle of the book is passed that
hope yanishes. Anything except dullness
can be forgiven in a novel; and this au-
thor has committed the objectionable lit
| erary sin. (New York: d. Appleton &
Co. 81
"Cartagena: or, The Lost Brigade by
Charles W. Hall, author of Drifting Round
the World" "Adrift in the Icefelds," etc.
Is a story of the British war with SpaiI
QT40-1742), and bears suspicious earmark
of having been gotten up TO satisfy th'
supposed craving of all American readers
for books about past conflicts with thu
Iberian Power. There is considerable in
cident in the book and some information
but it might have been cut down to hal
its present size without serious injury
(Boston: Lamson, Wolfe & Co. s1.50.)
'"The Miracles of Antichrist" is a trans
lation from the Swedish of Selma Lager
lof, author of THE Story of Costa Ber
ling" It deals with Sicily rather thai
with Sweden, and resembles its predeces
sor in several important respects. Their,
is the same power of description and th'
same mingling of the natural and the su
pernatural, folk lore, and fiction. Mis-
Lagerlof Identifies Antichrist with social
ism.s a conception which is, TO say th
least, extremely novel. The translation
is made by Pauline Bancroft Flach. witt
did the same work for The authors pre-
vious book. Boston: Little, Brown &
Co. S1.50)
Brown, V. Co. by Mrs. Alexander, i
one of the characteristic novels Of the au
whom her work attracts. 1t Is simply an
other of the mildly interesting, entertain
ing and workmanlike stories which Mrs
Alexander has given us in such numbers
New York: r. f. Fenno & Co. sl.50)
"An Incident, and Other Happenings" i
a book of stories by Sarah Barnwell Eli
ott. author of The Durket Sperret,
Jerry" etc The author is one of the nu
merous chronicers of Southern life VIII
have contributed to our literature durini
the last twenty-five years and, to judg
/ by the negro dialect In her stories, tn
| scene is laid in South Carolina and Ala
bama The dialect is not that OF the Vir
ginia house servant, but rather of the rie
swamp and the coast.
| The author takes rather a sombre viey
of life in general, and If her account is t.
he trusted the people of whom she write
are half barbarian and half patrician
There is no more morality, from ciyi,
lied point of view. In some of these tale
than there would be in records of the do
ipgs of Chinese highbinders; public opn
ion in the regions with which they dea
seems to be too weak to express itsel
without the aid of the shotgun, and natu
rally. private opinion takes the sam
method. When two Chinese have quar-
rel and one chops another methodicall
into bits with hatchet. things are sal
about the innate ferocity of the Mongo
liam. but It is difficult to see how it is an
more mercifui to shoot a man down lroZ
ambush. One of the tales deals with
. love affair in which one OF the lovers of
Young girl swearss that If she goes TO
certain rustic festival with any man saw
, himself that man will be dead in tn
morning The gin naturally goes wit
/ her brother instead of staying at hom
and saving bloodshedr and the result of
is that the brother is killed. Subsequent
/ lIv the murderer meets his death at tn
hands of another of the lady's lovers. VIII
| comes from some region where a pistol
not "the only wear and. never havin
a killed n man before, has some qualms {
+ conscience on the subject. For this he
e numerically laughed al by one of the lad
e characters of the talea 1t may be that IN
q popping of the shotgun heals the hurt tina