Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-22
LATE BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
Valuable Fiction from the Pens Of the
Story Writers,
CLEVER WRITER ON JAPANESE SUBJECTS
New Review Published at National
Capital I'm the Interest of Demo-
cratic Party-Pienty of Read
ing Matter for All Glasses.

ing Matter for All Glasses.
THE Adventures of Philip forms volume
XII in the biographical edition of Thackerays
works now being brought out by the Harp
e-s. Mrs. Richie, in her Introduction to
this volume, deals with the era of the Corn
hill Magazine. years of unexampled pros
perity to Thackeray, but Of unceasing toll
and fatigue. 1t has always seemed that the
authors fatigue showed itself plainly IN
"Phiiip," but Thackeray and his children
thought better OF that work than the public
and lamented It's comparative failure. In
1859 Thackeray felt that the pecunlary re-
ward OF his labors was generous. After
thirty years OF ups and downs Fate seemed
to smile upon him. By his lectures alone he
had made SAL. 500. He wrote to his mother:
Three more years, please the Fates, and
the girls will have the s 5000 or 10000 apiece
that 1 want for them" Vanity Fair
.'pendennis." "The N~ewcomes'' and
'Esmond' had secured to their author fame
and a promise OF fortune. Probably few
persons ever knew that philip was largely
photographed. That novel was published
In Cornhill and was, in some sort, a sequel
20 the unfinished shabby Genteel Story
first published in 1857, in a volume OF
"Miscellanies." In a letter to one OF his
publishers, George Smith, July o, 1851
Thackeray wrote: "'Philip' is unfortunately
going into proverty and struggle, but this
can't be helped; and, as he Will, entire nous,
take pretty much the career of w. NJ. I. in
the first year of his ruin and imprudent
marriage, at least the portrait Will be faith
full" Mrs. Richie says: EARLY marriages
always appealed to my father. In writing to
congratulate Mr.. w. F.Synge on his marriage
in 1852, he said: I married at your age
- n Ann -,sl ~, N ,av.g,onar uyhfph failn1
six months afterward, and always love TO
hear of a young fellow testing his fortune
in that way. And, although my own
marriage was a wreck, as you know. l would
do 1t once again, for, behold, love is the
crown and completion Of all earthly good.
The man who is afraid OF his fortune never
deserved one" But not Philips early
marriage or the hardships which befell him,
or the sensational way in which fortune at
last came to him founded on fact, as Mrs.
Richie shows us) maj the interest OF the
story. 1t is too long drawn out, deficient in
freshness OF invention, in actuality, in
charm-as compared with its predecessors.
There is too much OF Pendennis and Laura
in their talkatiye maturity. There is too
much OF rum and tobacco pipes. One is al
ways glad to have read Philip however,
and must feel pleased to see it again in
this fine dress, with Frederick Walkers
Illustrations, which now look so quaint, and,
sometimes so droll, neatly reproduced.
Harper & Bros, New York.
"Exotics and Retrospectives" is the rather
peculiar title which Lafcadio Hearn has Sc
lected for his latest work. 1t has been
rather aptly spoken of as a book for two
readers. The "Exotics' are very interest
ing essays that relate to things that actually
exist. Fugi Is climbed, and perhaps no one
who has not been above the sea of cotton
can understand how we'll Mr.. Hearn has
portrayed the experience. Then how quaint
and pretty and wholly novel is the story
OF the singing insects that the Japanese
keep for their amusement. Their frogs, too,
give him a subject replete with tradition
and folk lore, proverb and ballad. But
when the reader innocently turns the leaf
and enters upon the "Retrospectives," wha'
can he hope to make of such subjects as
azure Psychology Beauty is Memory
and the like? at was because of billions
and billions of memories" the reader /:
told, "amassed through trillions of lives
and blended within you into some one vague
delicious image, that you came to believe
a certain being more beautiful than the sur
mnemonic shadowing of all the
dead women related to the loves of your
innumerable lives" This idea that life ant
- Ga GIL hhN fN'
like a ghost before and about the reader
as he dreamily follows the writer through
mystical garden of exquisite flowers O
thought and speech that intoxicate thu
reason by strange perfumes and wither tn,
instant they are looked upon. II this seems
a trihe vague and rhapsodical, il must b.
remembered that it is only a reflex of
retrospection! Little, Brown & Co, Boston
The readers OF the magazines have proba
bly, noticed of late a number of very reada
BILE little stories with a strong Japanes
flavor published over the name Of "Onotl
watanna." II sufficiently curious they hav
probably already learned that the name be
longs to a clever japanese girl who is max
ing quite a stir in literary circles. AS
writer of bright stories depicting American
and English life in Japan, as it intermingle
with that Of the natives, Miss Watanna ha
opened up a new field in fiction and on
which her genius invests with a peculia
fascination. Her familiarity with the Japan
ese character and her mastery of the Japan
ese dialect are not surprising, but to fin
that the American men and women VIII
figure in her stories are as faithfully por
trayed as are the girls of the tea house !
quite remarkable. considering that the au
thor has not yet reached her 22d birthda
and has lived in America less than tw
years. Miss Watanna's father was an Eng
lishman, and she has had the advantages {
an English education. This talented youn
writer has now given to the public a vol
ume entitled Miss hume of Japan" a nov'
containing all the usual elements c
strength found in high-class fiction, an
some unique features which add an indie
scribable charm. A character more lovabl
than that OF Nume-San has never bee
contributed TO the pages OF English fiction
Rand, McNally & Co, Chicago. Cloth, sl.2j
The author of "Espiritu Santo" Is III
youngest daughter OF Richard II. Dana, jr