The times., 1899-06-11

prophecy. 1t will be written by man who
understands the multiplex problem of the
life of today and has conceived remedy
for the evils that lthreaten US. But Mr..
Wells is not that nan. (New York: Har-
per & Bros. S1.5O.)
THE VOLTS Long Howl is the odd IL
tie of new book, of stories by Stanley
Waterloo This author is one of those rare
oreatures-a man who knows when he has
said enough about a thing and stops then
and there. lie is probably more clever at
that than any other man in America today.
There is not a word wasted in any one of
these brief sketches, and many of them are
so interesting that one feels disappointed
on turning the page and finding that there
is no more to read.
Two or three of the tales smack of ma
terial already used in "a Man and Wo-
man." and were certainly drawn from the
same soil. The most remarkable OF the
entire lot is AN Ulm," a weird, savage,
vividly realistic and ugly story of dog
and man. 1t is one of the best stories
by an American author since Poe's Gold
Bug" but it bears no flavor Of that writer.
1t is new. Nothing could be a greater
contrast to the cold-blooded savagery of
this than the tenderness of "a Murderer's
timent of THE Man Who Fell in Love"
and The Parasangs." THE Baby and the
Bear" is an idyl of forest life which is as
good as it is brief and there is rollicking
boyish fun in "A Mid-Pacifc Fourth" and
strong power of imagination in Christ
mas 200, 600 B. c." Two or three scientific
love stories have rather too much of the
Stockton flavor to be thoroughly original,
but altogether, this is book of unusual
int nd nff to-
tain ways. Stanley Waterloo is one of the
few American writers now living who are
| virile almost to ferocity without making a
pose of the thing. He represents the pio-
neer life of the Northwest put into book,
without the hide tanned or the brambles
| cleared. He is not afraid of anything, not
even of sentiment; he is not cynical and
| he is not conventional. The combination
is queer one, but Waterloo will some day
either write great book or pave the way
for another man to do so. Chicago: Her.
bert S. Stone e. Co. s1.25)
The comment which the blase reader
will make on a certain little book called
''The Dreamers," which has lately drifted
into sight, will probably be: John
Kendrick Bangs has been at it again. -
| The public has had a great many of Mr..
Bangs Welsh rarebit, and champagne
dreams, and his reports of ghostly revels,
and it Is beginning to think that there
ought to be limit to that sort of thing.
But Mr.. Bangs latest preparation can
not be taken as evidence that he intends
to cease seeing spooks and having tele-
pathic communications with live people,
1t is series of parodies in the authors
most usual manner. These are supposed
to be constructed by the Dreamers' Club
| which after eating various yillainous
| foods and sleeping on the experience
meets for the telling of dreams.
The recounting OF these visions Is al
ways somewhat vicious action in real
life. When, at the breakfast table, q
cheerful youth tells how he dreamed thai
he was at a fire AID trying to put out the
flames with soft soap, and that suddenly
he saw the young lady opposite, dressed
as a Chinese maiden and begging him tc
rescue her pet elephant, it does not strike
the intelligent people at the table as being
very funny. And a club established fol
the special purpose OF encouraging thai
sort of thing is a menace to the peace Of
a quiet neghborhood.
1t is well that the dreamers did not con-
tinue to dream after the first week or two
or there might have been more of this
book. There is an alleged parody OIL
James Whitcomb Riley which is villain
Gus, one on "a magazine poem which i.
more villainous, and third on Anthony
Hope and Mr.. Deoley combined, which
| ought to land its author in the house O.
| correction. OF course it is easy to write
parodies, but something ought to be dont
to prevent an able-b bodied man from earn
ing his living in that way during his en-
tire three-score years and ten. (NeN
York. Harper a. Bros, Sl250