The times., 1899-03-12

Yankee, there is no room to tell here. But
these and many other curious tales of
strange ports and stranger fishing grounds
are to be found between the covers of
small book bound in dull green. The Illus
trations are worthy OF the text. Taken al
together, there has been nothing which ap-
prOaches the Cruise of the Cachalot''
since Morgan Robertson published Spun
Yarn The book is likely to rank with
the few classics of sea literature. and is
one of the best books for boys which can
be found in five years publications. tNew
York: ID. Appleton & Co. $LJO)
: Bool. of Irish Stories.
Through the Turf Smoke" by seumas
MacManus, is a book OF tales fun OF the
love. lore. and laughter of old ireland,
as the subtitle reads. The author has
done for the Irish peasant very much what
the "kail-yard school of novelists" have
been doing for the lowlands Of Scotland,
and it must be confessed there is more
laughter and heart warmth in these quaint
legends than in two-thlrds OF the chronicles
Of the staid Free Kirk people of Thrums
and Drumtochty. The little book is thor
, oughly charming, and should have wide
| popularity, both for its literary qualities
and the glimpses which it gives into the
life and character of the Irish peasant.
! There are just a dozen of the tales, and
| they are of all kinds except the sombre
! tragic. There is a touch of pathOs here
and there as there must be in all genuine
| humor but for the most part they are
neighborhood legends, very slightly pol
ished and put into shape. Few writer's
could so carefully preserve the atmosphere
of the peasant cabin, while giving to the
work that indefnable quality which dis
! tinguishes the born novelist from the mere
| stenographer.
| The stories are of such uniform excel
| lence that one can only select at random
two or three specimens of wit and humor.
| The Leadln' Road TO Donegal bears all
the earmarks of being one of those neigh
! borhood tales which in the course of many
generations pass into proverbs. II is prob
able that if this story were let alone many
a woman would be saying to her husband:
| "Ye must mind the pig when she got the
better of him in a controversy and never
know when or where the expression origi-
mated. The story must be read to be ap-
preciated, but ii tells of one woman who
quarreled with her husband. and of how
| the quarrel ended in the husbands S being
obliged to teach the pet pig manners. Two
| other stories have evidently been handed
| down from generation to generation of
! grandmothers, sitting beside the peat fires
and telling the tales to groups OF round
eyed urchins. They are chronicles of the
adventures of one Jack, Who Was the Ashy-
pet-a sort of Irish Jack of the Beanstalk
They are full of the indescribable fasci
| nation, humor, and semi barbarous Incl
dent inseparable from stories which have
grown up among half-civilized but not
uncultured people. They are not quite
| fairy tales-at least the last is nOt-and
| yet they are not realistic. Reading these,
! frh bot aFT~t-
lor, one Dan O'Connell, one sees how
| demigods came into existence To this
day, in the West Highlands you will hear
| the people say, LAY, ay, it did not need
the wise man of Null to tell us that" and
you may hear tales of the Fair Stranger,
who made Gaelic songs so many genera
tions ago that the name of her has passed
out OF the memory of the people. and no
one knows who or what she was except
that she was Fionaghal, the Fair Stranger.
The story Of the Counsellor doubtless
grew out OF the shrewdness of one OF
| those natural leaders and contriyers who
are TO be found in every country town.
and to whom the people turn In any emer-
! gency.
There is a little touch of pathos in the
| closing pages of The Boyne Water, -
though 1t begins merrily. A Catholic man
| married Protestant woman, and. as the
narrator quantity says. it was necessary
for them 10 have one or two days in a
month when religious quarrels were in
order. Finally they adopted the plan of
laying down stick on the floor Of the
| cabin, and they called that stick THE
Boyne Water" The father and the son.
who was Catholic, kept on one side OF
the boundary dividing the family Quarrels,
while the mother and the remaining chill
dren kept on the other: and neither dared
cross the line for any purpose whatsoever
And so 1t Sc ent on till the children grew up
and one by one left the old home and went
TO America. Then the "Boyne Water
was laid down less and less frequently. till
at last 1t was only in requisitiOn on Saint
Patricks Day and the 18th of July And
at last there came time when there was
no more need OF the "Boyne Water" and
II was laid down for the last time, across
the fire. at Williams wake.
The story of The Quad -dhroop-eds'' /:
a distinct addition to literature. Its rol.
licking, wild humor is of a sort which car
only come from the Irish nature. Every
line of il is full r' mischievous drollery
and the denouement is delayed a little. a!
if the author himself relished the situation
too heartily to bring il to an end. "Th,
Master and the Bocca Fadh' is a deliciou!
bit of absurdity, and "Dinny Monaghan
Last keg'' is one of the most vivid picture!
OF Irish life ever put into print. In short
Mr.. MacManus has contributed something
new to the fiction of the day, and his con
tribution is OF sort to delight every love
OF human nature. In this little volume ",
find the Irish nature presented in all III
whimsical quaint and charming phases
There Is a sweetness and wholesomenest
about the book which makes an irresistibl,
, appeal TO those who are weary OF the in
terminable problem novel and the yearly
repetitions of conventional plots and eveI
more hackneyed studies of human ma
ture." These stories seem to have beer
written by man who loved his work an,
brought to IT a sympathetic and tende
wisdom. Not the least attractive bit o
writing in the book is the dedication.
To Ethna Carbery:
Your fond heart throbbed for our coun,ry's story
] Your great heart glowed for comtry's glory
Because IL SO, BaEbhas daughter,
, My tribute take er the far, far water
: tNew York: Doubleday &: Mcclure Com
panyJ
The Thnckrrny Series.
The eleventh volume in the Biographical