The sun., 1899-02-11


lands Cape Navesins. !" a mistake not likely TO
be made by any seaiarinE man who has en-
tered New York harbor. Occasional little
moral dlEresslons too. seem those rather OF
shore philahthropist than OF one familiar with
the ways OF mariners. THE Cruise OF the
! Cachalot" lacks the spontaneous. open air feel
ing found in Herman Merivale's and Il. II.
| Dana's books: It leaves no such taste of the
seRwnter as does Captains Courageous but
| II Is certainly a capital story OF adventure on
| the sea.
| The Rev. Louis Albert Banks. ID. D.. OF
Cleveland. o., a clergyman who has attained
certain form OF notorety by his methods in the
pulpit. has thought 1T to put together in
| Anecdotes and Morals u Volume Of 1llustra-
| tions from Common Life" published by Funk
& WaGnalls. number Of newspaper items to
| which he has attached moro or less pertinent
moral reflections. Short excerpts will show
the character OF the volume:
| A strong young man who was an expert wheel.
man. and felt that he safe anywhere, lost con.
troll of his wheel the pier at Hoboken, and, being
unable to stop rode OF the end of the pier into tho
river lis supposed that his feet became entanged
in the wheel at all events no sank and did not riso
again. One is reminded of the Scripture Let him
that thinketh he stAndeth take heed lest he fall"
| No man is safe who depends solely on his own
strength wisdom to lead good life. History and
| observation combine TO teach us that the strongest
| men and women liable to lose their selfcontrol
| and fall into sin unless they nerved and sus-
| taintd by divine fellowship.
| Mr.. Hall Caine's book, Tho Christian" which
is said to have brought its author tho largest pecun
larry reward paid for work Of fiction. cost three
years OF the hardest kind OF work. At nrst he made
six barrels of notes: then the complete book
written three times. This is simply another suEges
| ton that great successes arc tho result OF hard.
painstAkng work. Mushrooms viii grow in 4 night,
| but they are only mushrooms after they grown.
Book hunters and collectors will find much to
| interest them in Book Auctions in England
| in the Seventeenth Century" by John Lawler
"a. c. Armstrong & Som. Though the Elzevlrs
| sold books at auction in Holland early as
1904. the first book auction in England was
| held by William Cooper in October. 1915 The
sale was from printed catalogue and the rules
| for bidding devised by Cooper were substan-
| TALLY those governing modern sales. Mr.. Law
Ter tells about the auctioneers. the catalogues
| and the prices obtained for books to the end OF
| the century.
| problem that may occasionally arise in real
life is the theme OF The Open Question; a
Tale of Two Temperaments." by Elizabeth
Robins 70. L. Raimondl. tHarpcrs.) It is, as
we understand it. the following Given. an in
eradcable hereditary taint in a man and
| woman, which must certainly be transmitted
| to their children, and, given. that the two
| really love each other. should they keep apart
or may they marry. on condition OF putting
| an end to theiT existence before they
harm society by bringing into the world
| another generation afflicted with their NAL
ady? The problem is no new one even in
fiction. Miss Robins however. demonstrates
| her point with mathematical accuracy. and.
having arrived at the two possible solutions.
| brayely selects one and carries it to the end
| with logical in1exibitg. The mechanical con-
| struction of the story leaves nothing to be de-
| sired: it moves slowly. logically. apparently in
| evitably to the end appointed by the author.
| The methods of the modern realists. save for
the substitution Of scientific terms FOR those OF
fancy. are strangely like the means employed
! by classical tragedy or the despised romanti-
| cists to evoke tho idea Of fate. 1t Is. perhaps.
unavoidable. under the circumstances. that
| all the characters in The Open Question"
| being created merely to prove an abstract prop
! osition should lack life and move like puppets
at the authors WILL the heroine alone being
now and then galvanized into something like
| life. 1t takes two hundred closely printed pages
| to bring the hero and heroine into contact for
| the first time: wearlSome pages filled with
detailed family history and with trivial matters
| that cannot be called irrelevant. as they all
| point toward the end in Wow. but which could
| have been made much more tellingif judicious-
| ly pruned down. The inductive method. when
| employed by writer Of Maeterlinck' IS talent.ca
| be used with effect in short COMPOSITIONS: in
| long novel 1t is out OF place and tiresome.
| There is an effort, too. at local color" that
| fails through the authors lack OF familiarity
| with the places and things she strives to de-
scribe. Her New Englanders are gross. con-
ventional caricatures that might pass mus
ter on the British stage and we suspect that
| the same is true OF her Southerners The book
| has attracted some attention in England. where
| such faults would naturally be unnoticed. ow-
! ing partly to tho accident that tho specific
| disease selected by the author is consumption.
| the stamping out Of which is one of this sea-
! sons fads. The author. OF course. accepts
| the theory that consumption is hereditary still
held by many physicians against tho mod
| ern return to the old view that the disease is
| infectious. The book may be taken up in this
country also. in which ease country sewing
| circles will busy themselves with physiological
| discussions instead OF the Theological talk
generated by books like Mrs. Humphry Wards
! Miss Robins's conversations are generally
bright. her characters occasionally talk like
| living people and whoever can wade through
the long introduction will find her presenta-
tion of her problem interesting and will forgive
| some immaterial dgressons for the courage
| that marks the end of the book.
| We have also received
"wedlock." John Strange Winter. tR. F.
| Fenno & Coz
The Two Standards" William Barry. THE
| Century Company
Campaigning in Cuba" George Kennan.
| THE Century Company
For the Honor OF a Child" Beulah Downey
Hanks. continental Publishing Company
Windyhaugh." Graham Travers MAR
| Garet G. Todd. NJ. d.. tAppletons)
"Harmoncs OF Evolution" Florence Hunt
| lev (Chicapo II. Huntley)
Essays on the Higher Education" George
! Trumbu Ladd. tCharles Scribners Sonsl
Rhode Island and the Formation OF the
| Union" Frank Greene Bates Phi. d. Mac
| millaus, published for Columbia University
| HOWIRD CONST4BLE'S GUESTS.