The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-25

OF unlimited sell -COulIOl anu SdI5 AAoAN,
otherwise she could not have carried of
so successfully her roles of lady's maid
: to a cantankerous old lady; agent for
the automatic luadruple-geared self
feeding Manitou bicycle in Germany
and Switzerland; stenographer ana
typewriter in Florence; unprofesslonal
detective and wife of Mr. Harold I'll
lington. In each she is a success, and
the reader feels sure that had she con-
sented to accept the European agency
for salt goldfish suggested by her de-
voted admirer, Cyrus w. hitchcock,
she would have made an unqualified go
of it. The only fault to find with MISS
Cayley is that she is English; she ought
to be an American.
Mr.. Allen has written better novels
than this, but this Is good enough to
while away the summer hours with. 1t
is a bit of brilliant farce-cOmedy, with
out sentiment or nobility of the shred
of an IDEAL but it is full Of variety ana
episode, the heroine is a brave little
woman, the style is crisp and 1t is suf-
ficiently out of the ordinary to enlist
the jaded readers attention.
l. Thou and the Other One. By
Amelia Z. Barr. Dodd Mead & Co.,
New York. For sale by the Boston
store.
The scene Of Mrs. Bars latest novel
is laid in England during that time in
the first part of the present century,
when the whole country was agtated
over the prospects of reform. The story,
therefore, at first sight. takes on poll
teal aspect and with the hero and the
heroine and the father holding promi-
nent positions as members Of opposing
parties is strongly inbued with the
spirit of the times. In view OF the
charming picture of family life and of
simple honest men and women which
the book presents, however, the histori-
cal part becomes of secondary interest,
and may be considered rather as the
setting for d pretty love story than as
the essential reason why the book
should be. Though it is naturally with
the fortunes of ''I' and Thou that
the plot is concerned, ones interest CEN
ters not so much in these two faultless
persons as in The Other One whose
thoughtlessness and intrigues to disturb
their happiness lends a touch of human
nature as pleasing offset to the rather
cold perfection of the other two leading
characters.
In the old squire likewise is depicted
q character whose virtues and short
comings are we'll calculated ITO arouse
a fellow feeling in the heart of the
sympathetic reader. No better thing can
be said of the novel, perhaps than that
it follows the line of Mrs. Bars other
work, and in characterization, smplic-
ity and directness of plot, and charm
ingly quaint style confirms ones Opin-
ion of the authors abilities as delight
full story teller
The Garden of Swords. By Max Penn
berton. Dodd, Mead & Co, New York.
The reader who takes up this novel Of
the -Prussian war and the siege
of Strasburg will not find his confidence
misplaced for the author of 'Krons-
tadt" and THE Phantom Army has
never written a more powerful, prob
able, and moving tale than this of the
fair young English girl whose honey
moon with the selfish cad of a French
officer was rudely disturbed by the bat
tie of Worth. A vivid picture is given
of French vanity and fatuous confd-
etce, coupled with a pitiful lack of pre-
paratiOn, and the description of the
long days when Strasburg, reduced to|
the diet of horsh flesh and pate de foie
gras, was slowly crumbling under the
murderous bombs of the Prussians, yet
refused to show the white flag, are very
fine. The author is, however, unfOr-
tunate in his hero; Edmond Lefort may
have been a good lancer but as gen.
tleman and husband he proved an I'M
qualified failure, especially in COM
parison with his quiet English
friend, Brandon North, who one
feels, was the right man to mar
ton. Lefort died among mock her
oics on the last page, having returned
his errant affection for his wife just in
time to prevent her from ever marry
ing North. Max PembertOn knows how
to tell good story, sustaining the in
terest to the last and developing no end
of stirring episodes. This he has done
to perfection in the novel in question.
The yellow Wall Paper. By Char
lotte Perkins stetson. Small, Maynard
& Co., Boston.
When this little story appeared six
or seven years ago in the New England
Magazine, it attracted wide attention
and specialists in insanity declared that
it was exact in it's portrayal of the pro-
cesses by which an imaginative mind
goes insane. AS study in the psyche
logy of the disease, it is very striking
II is written in the first person by al
woman who goes insane through the
efforts of her husband, a physician, to
cure her of "a temporary nervous de-
pression-a slight hysterical tendency"
by dosing her with phosphates and
keeping her in the house, at absolute
rest from friends and work. For her
part, she believes that work, society
and healthy interest in life is what
she needs, but he knows better. She re-
cords her feelings in a journal. and this
journal makes the story. With pitiful
literalness she follows from day to day
the states of her mind in its journey
from melanchOlia to madness, and in
this wreck the yellow wall paper plays
an active part, for it sits on her nerves,
and by and by she sees that there is a
woman crawling on her hands and
knees under the pattern. and whenever
she looks out of doors. there is the yell
low wall paper woman crawling and at
last the woman comes down out of the
wall paper, and then she discovers that
she herself is the yellow wall paper
lady. and locking the door, she throws
the key out of the window and begins to
crawl around on her hands and knees,
with the rope she has seCreted to tie
the woman behind the pattern on the
wall tied around her own waist. So
her distracted husband finds her. Mrs.
StetsOn has written a little gem of de-
cadent literature.
Across the Campus. By Caroline NJ.
Fuller. Scribner's Sons, New York. For
sale by Putnam. Davis & Co.
Miss Fuller's bright book should
prove immensely popular for summer
reading. 1t gives a good view of life in
an American wOman's college. where
the political side of the fraternities,
with the hopes and fears attendant up
on elections, sports. and the ambitions
and emotions of the average college
girl, with her sentimental attachments.
her vanities and jealousies play almost
as important a role as books and "ap-
pointments." Miss Fullers characters
are true types of the modern college
girl, and her teachers and professors
have the genuine ring of academic hall