The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-05


late Col. Ingersoll, and a passionate
contempt for theological systems,
Christian tradition, the Bible Except
as a volume of literature). faith, prayer
and worship, j. w. Scholl has written
book of verse called THE Light-Bear-
er of Liberty" The Light Bearer is
the Col Ingersoll. to whom the longest
poem. from which the volume receives
it's title, is dedicated. This poem con-
cludes in the following style;
Thou. Titan, art the clear. white light
of it.
Long years among us deign, revered,
to sit,
And we will wreathe an amaranthine
To match the deathlessness of thy re-
nown.
Fancy Col. Ingersoll with wreath
encircling his absurdly bald head! The
| poems are curiously inflated and POM
pous. They seem to foam at the mouth.
Published by the Eastern Publishing
Company, 81 Court street, Boston.
"a Short. View Of Great Questions, ?
| by Orlando ]. Smith, is an ingenious
and plausible plea for TRANSPORTATION
as a tenable theory of man origin and
destiny The author points to the cat
| erpillar as a proof that the transmit
| grafton of life, If not of souls, goes on
in nature, and infers that if there be
a deafness principle in the worm, there
must also be one in man. The theory
of incarnation, he says, is nothing more
nor less than the doctrine of the COM
| plete immortality of the soul. 1t is no
new doctrine, thought or revelation, but
| the completion of the old belief, which
nearly all men have held in nearly all
| times Col r. G. Ingerson, to whom
the author submitted the advance
| sheets Of the book wrote: Dear Major
II have read the article-all of it-and
must say that you have stated your
| ideas with great force and clearness.
I think that the 33d chapter should
be the last instead of the Bath. The
| article would close in a grander way.
When l see you l will talk with you
about your philosophy. You have made
the best presentation that have read.
Yours always, r. G. Ingersoll."
The Brandur Co, 220 Broadway, New
York.
With regret one turns the last page of
Edgerton Castles latest novel, young
April" so delicate is it's romance, so
brilliant its episodes, so sparkling its
art and so exquisite it's diction 1t IS
| worthy of the part-author OF '''Fhe
Pride of Jennico," and he WHO knows
that charming book will not ask higher
praise for its successor. An English lad
| of spirit, who has always been held In
| over-strict restraint receives the news
| of his succession to his title while on
| the continent with his tutor. He VIII
| become of age in a month, and recog-
| nizes that then he must assume tne
responsibilities of his new rank. The
| intervening month he determines 10
| have for himself, and this is the story
! of that April folly and frolic, love ana
! discord, in which the Duke of Roches-
| ter became a man. The last chapter,
| perhaps the most bewitching in the
| book, shows his grace childless man
| of Al, an astute statesman of world
| wide renown, a great territorial ruler,
| and a profoundly unhappy man, IN
| whose memory that one April folly and
| frolic, JOY and bitterness, remains the
romance of his life. macmillan conf
| pany.)
In these days of devotion to the study
of children, the Autobiography of a
| Child" by Hannah Lynch, has the nov
! city ana unexpectedness of a work of
| fiction AS a relief from the sentiment
| atty ana IdQlSHl lUdJ dIldCllcS OAlSAA
| to this subject, practically and theoret-
ically, in this country, it is positively re-
| freshing. although pathetic, to read OF
this little Irish girl, whose mother hated
her, ami used to fell her to the floor
| with such rapidity and violence that
servants and visitors were led to inter
| fere, and was stripped naked by the
Ladies of Mercy 60 whose school she
i attendei 1, and fiogged till she tainted.
10 afa1
five years of atrocious acknowledgement,
thwarting and starving before return
| ing to her vacuous stepfather and cruel
mother, and at the age of IL her pa
| thetic narrative of childhood ceases, for
then her troubled youth began. Miss
| Lynch has written profoundly inter-
esting and moving work. May she fol-
low it with the autobiography of An
gela's youth. (Dodd, Mead & Co., New
York;
| w. H. Mallock was never known. to
put forth a dull work, but "tristram
Lacy; or, The Individualist comes dan
| gerously near it. That a second edition
| was announced by the publishers, The
| Macmillan Company, is evidence only
| to Mr.. Mallocks reputation as a
| clever writer, an agile disputant. But,
in truth "Tristram Lacy" is hard read
| ing, and when one has waded through
it's cumbersome satire, one is inclined
to ask Mr. Mallock and himself "Qui
bono?" Here we have a biting bitter
| picture of certain social reformers in
| London contrasted with a set of aim
less rather corrupt fashionables on the
one hand and an indolent young man
of lofty principles, noble ideals and a
large fund of common sense. One half
Of his characters the author persistent
ly and Systematically holds UP to ridi-
cult. and this alone would prejudice
the reader against the book. Mr.. Nal
lock has a down on his group of social
reformers; one and ali he makes them
| absurd. undignifled, fatuous; he is not
| willing to give them a chance; he Wor-
ries and harcies and nags at them IN
his eagerness to make them appear sill
| ly, and in the end he succeeds involun-
tarily in enlisting your sympathles FOR
them. The under dog always wins pity
and protection, you know. The novel
in question is like a rough cartoon in
caricature of life. Its whole art is so
hard. censorious, unsympathetic and
/ mordaunt that 1t repels instead OF in
viting, and leaves the reader distinctly
| dissatisfied.
| Ian Maclaren, his home-life in Liv-
erpool," with pictures of his house, his
church and family, is the ultle OF an ar
ticle in the Ledger Monthly for Novem-
Der. which all readers of this keen and
numerous portrayer Of Scotch character
! will enjoy.
sThe Seven Ages BY j. Hooper
IHamersley. Published by G. P. Put
i nam's Sons, New York and London
1 .As a work of art, this volume pre-
sents some real claims. The letter
: r,foce- ic 11prfaof ilIncfra ti0pc artiS-
tic 1t is a collection of charming
i verse. We must quote a few One from