New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-09
FICTION.
A GENIAL, STUDY OF A DREARY THEME.

DuOdcCimO,
A DUET. WITH AN OCCASIONAL C o,e y =;
A. Conan Doyle. Duodocmo, PIP 3D. ~ APP
ton q co.
THE ENCHANTED STONE. by Lewis inu'
DuodecimO. PIP 2l. Dodd. Mead * %
Mr.. Whitcing has achieved the difficult task
Of making n slum novel pleasant 10 reAu'
Partly this is because mo. John street -
not exactly a novel. but kind OF pictoriaI
study with meditatiye notes. Ihis ihouc VI
treating the life In one of Londons most squi.i"
corners has the advantage of excluding the
melodramas Of crime and misery whch H'oS'
noyelists seem to think necessary when working
in this field. Murders occur in John street We
are given to understand. but Mr. Whteng
main object has been to give a series OF I'M
prossions. from which one may draw Il moran
mr. NOT so long as one recognizes his pages as
faithful to the general aspect of poVerty-slrlckeh
life One of the poor women in this book DIES
from the effects of poison taken into her system
during her hours of work in a factory. and TO
the extent of this episode the author may De
said TO have made a tract out of piece OF
fiction. There is a horrible situation AT the
end too in which the death or anotner "o'ndh'
the poisoned workers friend, is brought ABOUT
by the explosion Of n bomb in the hahdS Vi
Azrael an anarchist with whom she Srappies
in the effort to prevent him from WrecklhB tnc
house Of a millionaire. But these touches OF
drama do not give the book Il plot nor is there
any very elaborate philosophy implied in the
grim conclusion to which the author is driven
by lis study of the social sickness of the time.
This then was the dark decree, he says.
"'Tda was to die with Nance-both victims,
the one to the curse of the disease, the other
to the curse Of the remedy" This leaves the
subject where we found it. Mr.. Whiteing does
not dogmaticaIly formulate a theory OF the con-
dition that confronts us, nor does he draw
definite charges against anybody. On the con-
trary without even telling story in the usuai
sense of the word. he contrives to excite the
readers sympathy interests him in Low COvey
and 'Tda and Nance and finds his purpose
served If he has enlarged the boundaries of our
feeling for abject. suffering human nature. The
pictorial quality in his book, the sense of
spectacle observed, would ordinarily seem
cynical but the work is pervaded by a vein of
kindly humor; the atmosphere is sordid. but
it is shot with CLEANS of wholesome light our
author has not allowed himself to feel crushed
in the presence of tragic poverty; he does not
allow his reader to be crushed either, and in
that healthy attitude lies good deal Of
strength. NO. > John Street" is full of misery
but ii is a good book.
Dr. Doyle has presumably written "A Duet
to please himself. He can hardly expect that
it will please his large public. That public looks
for rafting romances from his hand or for in
genious narratives like those which made Sher-
lock Holmes famous. "a Duct is plausible
enough in its analysis of the experience Of
man and his wife seeking. after the manner OF
entirely ordinary people, for the best happiness
in life; but a book based on a commonplace
cOurtship and marriage is certain to be unduly
sentimental, ana "A Duet is such n book.
There is nobody of consequence in the tale.
Nothing Of consequence happens. The thing
leads nowhere. beyond a rather obvious hy-
pothesis as to what lines Of development are
followed by the typical and women of
Anglo-SaXon civilization in married life The
book is condemned by the fact that it shows no
very good reason for existing; IT is sometimes
family amusing. but it is. the whole, insipid.
DR. Doyle could have written a novel to prove
that marriage is a blessing without being so
painfully trite.
THE Enchanted Stone" is a curiously fantas |
tie romance which at times seems entirely |
rational and then becomes too fanciful for be- |
lief. Everybody in the book, from the SUPPOSE |
titious journalist who gets mixed up with the
fortunes of the Stone to the crazy architect. An
tonic Babb who presides over the erection of an
apocalypse temple for the reception of that
precious object. moves in incredible manner
across an incredible stage. Nevertheless Mr.
Hind lures his reader on i'm constant expectation
of some Illuminating crisis. and though this
never comes and the whole story is left sus-
pended in mdar, we are content to follow his
Imagination whittier it may lead. Perhaps there
is some scheme Of symbolism in this narrative of
how an enchanted stone passes from the East to