The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-06

Of his hall dozen stories from Paris
and others from Chicago. The title is
misleading. for love has little to do with the
tanRles Mr.. Herr!ck contrives. They seem to
be troubles such as people who do not do
much thinking get into and continue In. be-
! cause they have little character: tho sort OF
things that NJ. BourRet and his school try to
pass of as studies in psychology. In "A Pen
sion Love Story though bohemian young
women OF eminent responsibility drop into
| young mems bedrooms to read poetry to them.
love is kept carefully in the background. while
| a young man interferes unlimited In the stupid
mess into which a young woman has got her
self. and. though he succeeds In extricating her.
is not thanked for his pains. The characters
and their methods are alike sinRularly want
ing In dellcacy. The scene is laid in Paris.
though the story is dated Chicago. which may
account for the authors placing his PEN
sion. in which respectable people board.
In one OF 1.-THE few patches OF central Paris
where IL is unsafe to walk in broad day
light. and for making the French boarding.
house kcerer say. lies Amfricdines dchctsnt
| chooses CONNIE ca :" and "brdr." referring to
her garden. The garden. by the way. con-
tanned an extraordinary historical curiosity.
"Marat. 80 one said. was brought here from
the Ruillotine by some accident but MI. Her
rick does not tell us whether 1t was before or
after the interview with Charlotte Corday. In
"A Marriage by Proxy" he has come for once
on q bright idea. and forgets himself and his
little Alterations OF style In the fun OF telling
It. There is a typewriter who writes verse on
her machine in the story. and who says:
Perhaps the machine isn't good for the pooms:
they are generally queer. but I have published some
OF them In the religious papers. and one in the Cen
turn. I will read you some in the evenings when
you are lonely.
Mrs. Wilfred Ward tells us that she has spent
seven years in writing "One Poor Scruple; a
Seven Weeks Story" IonRmans, Green h Co...
and that tthe suggestion of friends she prints
It now. The book 10 written with a serious
purpose. though we fail to eee what that pur-
pose Ia or why it should appear now rather
than at any other time. To be sure. II turns
about the question OF divorce. but as both the
author and the heroine are Catholics. the
question that is troubling a good many Angli-
| cans should not affect them. while the Catholic
| view OF the matter can hardly be expected to
influence opinion in the Church OF England. A
Catholic woman Of the world. not through love.
but for the sake Of cutting out another woman.
determines to abandon her religion and to
marry q Observation-Disclosures. She Ia held back at
the last moment by the vivid presentation OF
the fact that she will be damned by her con-
duct and will therefore never again meet in a
, future life the baby she had lost and loved. As
a Catholic she can at no time have had any
doubt az to the criminality OF the action she
plated nor as to the penalty reserved
for It. OF course. IL she had been made an
Anglican. there would have been sufficient
room for doubt In both respects to make
Mrs. Wards book serve as a plea on one
side OF the question. The book ia we'll written.
A common. II unpleasant. side OF British social
life is shown up pitilessly. and the characters
Of the women seem drawn from life. The au-
thor's truthfulness In observation leads her.
perhaps unconsciously. to expose tho singular
~narrowness OF life in English Catholic circles.
where converts even are received as unweloome
guests. The story will provoke discussion and
is well worth reading.
A love story In the unusual setting Of a fight
for a Western railroad between two rival cor
porations is told in The Short Line War" by
Merwin-W Webster (Macmillapsl The author
has succeeded in making the struggle for the
control OF stock. with Its political. judicial and
violent incidents. interesting from beginning
to end. and has made the love episodes At in
naturally. 1t is a brigh. book and worth noting
for summer reading.
II proof were needed that 1t Is Rudyard Kip.
linR's eyes and pen that give value to accounts
OF life in India. 1t will be found in "On the Edge
Of the Empire" by Edgar Jepson and Capt. d.
Beames Charles Scribners Sonsl. stories OF
military and departmental life and Of Hindu
traits. often containing rough material that
might have been made much OF by competent
hands. but which are drearily uninteresting as
they are told by the authors.
BY Way OF Cape Horn Four Months in a
Yankee Clipper" by Paul Eve Stevenson u. B..
Lippincott Company. processes to be a diary
kept day by day on a voyage undertaken by
the author and his wife in a sailing vessel
going from New York to San Francisco. For
many days such a record in the natural course
could present nothing more than statements
about the weather and the ships run. but the
author is an enthusiastic diarist. though not a
nautical man. and employed part OF the time
that hung heavy on his hands in filling
up the pages that would otherwise have
been left blank with information derived
from various sources. whether pertinent
or not. Occasionally he copies out a poem or
writes 1t down from a memory that cannot al
ways be trusted, as We infer from the incorrect
German ascribed to Heine. There are rumi-
nations. too. on many Indifferent matters tina.
help to swell out the diary to over 400 closely
printed pages. The author observed much
barbarous treatment OF the crew on the part OF
the officers. which he prudently confded to his
diary alone. Only a strong love Of the sea will
enable the reader to wade through a passen-
gers view of the petty Incidents OF a long sea
voyage.
1t was Mr.. W. D. Howells. we believe. who
introduced the fashion. since followed by many
ambitious young women. OF utilizing a sum
mer's visit to a country or seaside resort in
making studies. moro or less careful. and not
ALWAYS welcome. OF the natives" One such
study led to an award Of damages for libel to a
" native" who considered that he had been
held up to the ridicule Of his townsmen. To
this class OF literature must be added now
The Professors Daughter" by Anna Far
auhar doubleday & Mcclure Company. ap-
p~arently a romantic study Of a New England
fisherman by a summer boarder. in which tho
dialect will be sought by the reader as an
escape from the uncertain English OF tho rest
Of tho narrative. and Sand m Bushes" by
Maria Louise Pool Herbert S. Stone & Co... an
account OF a horseback ride around Cape Cod
Bay by two young women. in which hoydenish
conduct and talk and rather vulgar horseplay
take the place OF humor.
Under the unpleasant title THE Maternity
of Harriott Wicken " Macmillansl Mrs. Henry
Dudeney works out in sordid detail the laws OF
leredity. according to the conventions accented