The times., 1899-03-05
Minor Fiction,

1.-TWO Men O. Mendip," by Walter Ray
mond, is an unusually strong story of Eng
lish country life. The scene is laid in the
West country, and the contrast between
the wild miners. or growers as they
are called, and the peaceful farmers. is well
brought out. In one single respect the tale
is like Tess of the D'Urbervilles;" there
is the same hint of fatalism in the speech
and thought OF the people, a trait which
perhaps harks back to the old Briton with
his pagan ideas of the powers which gov
ern life. The two men of Mendip are
farmer. John Winterhead, proud, upright,
little stern, but genial withal, and the son
OF a miner, young Giles Standerwick. The
conflict between these two ends in a trag-
edy and in the catastrophe Winterheads
daughter, little Patty, is involved. The
story goes ON with the assured movement
OF natural law; it ends in death because it
must; there is no other way. 1t IS like
a record of mountain slide, or food; the
cause of the tragedy small at first, grows
greater, and finally the inevitable crash
buries Patty in the debris as an avalanche
sweeps away some frail woodland bios
som. Patty Is not quite like the ordinary
heroine in literature. She is an original
creation: small, dainty, eet-natured, low
ing; without pride or bitterness, she can be
Every character in the book is drawn care
fully and well, and the landscape is de-
scribed with vividness that makes one see
every outline OF the old buildings and we'll
titled English acres. There Is a descrip-
tion Of a marvellous cave in the hillside,
in which Patty and young Giles keep their
tryst, which gives a touch of poetry to
narrative which might otherwise be rather
grim and prosaic. Altogether few books
of so little pretenson are so thoroughly
well written as this. (New York: Double
day & Mcclure Company. $l.25)
"Ricroft of Withens." by Halliwell sut-
cliffe is a story of the moors, strongly
reminiscent of Lorna Doone." Mr.. SUIT
clife has dared a great deal in putting
forth story which so clearly challenges
comparison with Blackmore's great ro-
nance, but, on the whole, the later book
can stand the comparison. The story is
an interesting one, and well told, and not
nearly so long as the chronicle of Exmoor,
fortunately. The hero is giant farmer,
Christopher Ricroft, of Withens, and the
Doones of this tale are the Carlesses, of
Lonely Valley. who are known to all the
| country round as the Lonely Folk. There
is more of weirdness and less of downright
| terrifying brutality in this family's his
tory than in that of the Doones, and they
are on the whole, less formidable set of
people. The heroine, Jessie Thorne, Is a
| maiden of more than common grace and
spirit the daughter of a well-to-do farmer,
and her wit more than once plays an active
part in the development of the plot. The
arch villain of the story is Black Carless
most thorough rascal, who, of course,
gets what he deserves in the end. Perhaps
the most fascinating part of the book is
that which treats of a wild adventure un-
dertaken by Prince Charlie, and of his ia
nous march through England. The his
tory of this brave and debonair young chief
is rich in romance. which has never been
half exhausted by writer's of fiction; and
Mr. Sutcliffe is better fitted than most to
treat Of such theme. 1t might be well If
he were TO set seriously about writing a
novel which should deal with the career
of the prince more fully than this. but as
it is he has given us several thrilling chap
ters in which the peculiar charm of man
| ner possessed by the young nobleman is
well described There are several good
fights in the course of the story, and the
book is fine one for boys, though not
written for them especially. 1t has the
vigor and picturesque strength of zeal
saga (New York: d. Appleton & Co. s1.)
"Short Rations," by Williston Fish, is
series of stories of life in the United States
| Army. somewhat after the manner of the
| late Ii. 6. Bunner snort SKIES. lnere
| Is an introduction by Mr.. Bunner, which
| one must admit to be the best thing in the
| whole book Some of the sketches are
| brighter than other some, but only one or
| two are really funny. Perhaps the brightest
| is "Old Stag in Command" which will
doubtless be appreciated by many army
| officers and their wives. 1t is the story of
| captain who spent his life being moved
| about from one post to another, always
| in company with another captain just two
months his senior. The senior used
| to arrogate to himself all the authority,
while "Old Stag did most of the drudgery,
| All his life Old Stag-he gained that title
while still comparatively young-kept hop
| ing that he would be separated from that
other captain and given a command: but
| he never was-until his hair was gray and
his children grown. Then one day the
colonel in command of the post went away
suddenly and Old Stag was given the COM
| mand The reader may imagine with what
| satisfaction the new-made Colonel Stag
| gett calmly refused the use of the ambu
| lance to that former superior of his. II
was his first act as commanding officer of
the post Another good story is that of the
lieutenant who was seen apparently under
the influence of liquor one day. and ar
raigned for his offence. 1t appeared that