The times., 1899-11-26

ttItSI Is romantic tNeW 1Ork- ID. Ap-
| pleton & Co. $1.00)
Bearers of the Burden" by W. P Dru-
y, is collection of fourteen stories of land
and sea. They are grave, gay, pathetic and
adventurous, and deal with all sorts Of
types of humanity. There are more kinds
| Cf dialect in the book than the average
man knows how to talk and the writer
| mas evidently had a varied experience and
much enjoyment Of il, for there is nothing
| morbid in the yarns, though some of them
| are little cynical Most of them are pure
| iy adventure or character sketches, but one
or two have a psychological interest of a
weird and Hawthornesque character-if one
can imagine a Hawthorne not an American
! but an Englishman. The Man at the Win
dow is one Of these. 1t is more like one
of the Thirty Strange Stories Of II. G.
Wells than like anything else in current
fiction. There is good example Of the
authors style in the very first paragraph.
It reads in this way:
There was a crude and amateurish look about
the sunset that was irritating II suggested the
idea that for once in q way the great Master bad
| permitted a too ambitious pupil 20 practice his
| prentice hand upon the clean evening sky. The
1rst uneven wash Of saffron and orange was eyi-
| the horizon line big blIrs of purple from
fantastic cloud bank ut the top Of the picture.
Unless the Master himself should speedily come
round and tone this glaTng daub, plainly the
western sky would be irretrievably spOilt and the
sunset Of October Il become dismal failure.
Yet, IN spite of its unoveiuCss a Man
whose eyes held the reflection till they glowcd
like red-hot coals-was watching that sunset
Tor all he was worth.
Now, beginning like that makes the
| reader want to find out what happened
next. 1t is all just as well written as that
frst paragraph, and 10 an impartial eye it
must seem that that paragraph is very
cleverly handled indeed. A great deal hap
pened in the course of the story, which is
not long one; and great deal had hap
pened before that The book is worth
reading, if only for that one romance.
New York: G. P. Putnams Sons. S1.25.)
'Manders," by Elwyn Barron, is story
of the Latin Quarter of Paris, fresh, vivid,
and entertaining, though some of the char
acters hardly seem quite natural The cen
trail figure in the story is Marie, profess
sional model, but without all of the ira
ditional grisette qualities. She is Trilby
without Trilby's force of character-it is
the difference between a lily and daffOdil.
The hero is a Nirginian, Blakemore by
name without anything very distinctive
about him; he is simply a good average
American. Hardly less interesting than
Marie is Florence Storey. a thoroughly up
tO-date and practical American maiden.
But the small figure from whom the book
takes its name, Edouard Manders, son of
Marie by her marriage TO an Englishman,
is the really impossible personality of the
novel. He is sort of Fauntleroy, without
the boyishness Of the Burnett hero, and
with the addition of a wonderful voice.
The story reyolves about him, and some
times he himself gives a turn to the
wheels. But it is impossible that quite so
much character, determination, genius.
depth. and general queerness could be
combined in one child without making so
strong an impression on the biographer
that nothing else could have gone into the
book. If Manders had really been the
prodigy described he would not have been
so oyershadowedl by the other characters.
AS it is, he is simply a lay-fgure on which
to hang marvels
Some of the pictures of the Latin Quar-
ter are strong enough TO be interesting,
particularly those OF the studio and the
sketches of the old DANES, grissttes Of the
past, who move babbling about in the
character of housekeeper or messeng ger.
The book is fairly good and the author
may some day do something so much bet
ter that II Will be striking success, for
along with the crIdity OF this work there
is originality (Boston: L. @. Page & Coz
Bruno" is the story of a dog by his
mistress (Mrs Byrd SpiIman Dewey, who
loved him as she ought TO. Like all tales OF
this character, however crudely written, it
VIII at once engage the interest and sym
pathy of those who agree with Mrs. Dewey
that it is only lin our ignorance and vani-
ty'' that We speak of dogs as of ''the lower
animals" faithful dog presents the
nearest approach to utter unselfishness Of
which humanity has any knowledge Like
the author (Mr. Alfred OllivanD of what
should and viii eventually be considered
famous book-"Owd Bob, Son of Battle
Mrs. Dewey, in a smaller way, has done
the world a service. (Boston: Little, Brown
& Co. $100,)
'The Treasure of Mushroom Rock" by
Sidford F. Hamp New York G. P. Put
mans Sons. $1.25) is a clean, stTaightfor-
ward, and really interesting story for boys,
and if written by an Englishman, as the text
suggests, shows a commendable knowledge
of American conditions in the far West,
twenty-five years ago.
Averages" is smart story OF New
York society at the present time The
heroine is a neurotic individual who al
though drawn in detail, never becomes as
clear and well-defined a personality as her
weakling of a husband. The book teens
with epigrams and smart sayings, the best
of which would be effective if they were
not jumbled together with many more OF
inferior character. Eleanor Stuart is the
author. (New York: D. Appleton & Co.
S1.50)
Miscellaneous Publications.