The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-07-29
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES.

The Hearts Highway" A romance of
Virginia in the seventeenth century, by
Mary Z. Wilkins. Published by Double
day. Page & Co. For sale by A K.
Derge &, Co.
Since DR. Mitchell discovered the ro-
mantle possibilities of the revolutionary
period, and gave Hugh Wynne' TO the
puDllc, there have been written dozens of
novels dealing with American history. The
latest, The Hearts, Highway comes
from the pen of Mary Z. Wilkins. and is a
story OF Virginia life in the days immed-
lately following the Bacon rebellion and
the Navigation Act In opening the VOlUm :
the reader wonders if there Will be found
mere the portraiture of microscopic detail.
and the Ions drawn out analyses Of more
or less undressing characters TO be
found in Miss Wilkins remarkable studies
of New England life. The hero Of the
story, Harry Wingfeld. is necessarily
gwen TO lntrOspection, since he tells the
tale himself, but the book and the people
IN 1t are OF different mold and dwelling in
more stirring times than those of the
authors earlier stories
Mistress Mary CaYendish is a charming
inquire entering the pages of the story
clad in a "tabby Detticoat of a crimson
color, and a crimson satin bodice shining
over her arms and shoulders like the
Miss Wilkins gift for description, and
again in the lines THE broad back of his
scarlet coat, rising 10 the tr0t of his horse
clashed through the soft gOld-gTeen mists
the hlare of a trumpet"
The figures stand out boldly from a
background of plotting and suffering and
misunderstanding, and while the move
ment is stirring, the development of per-
sonality makes the strength of the story.
"Besieged by the Beers" by Z. Oliver
Ashe, NJ. d. Published by Doubleday.
PaSe d Co For sale by A. r. Durge &
This volume contains a diary of life and
events IN Kimberley during the siege, and
the author says in his dedication: u
OF ever publishing it" Dr. Ashe was, per
maps is, surgeon to the Kimberley hos
pltal, and he writes with a frankness and
ease and freedom from effort after effect
mat give to his narrative a deep and
permanent charm. In following through
the pages the reader sees and feels the
horrors of that memorable siege with a
ciearness and reality that rarely comes
through written words If DIR. Ashe had
peen more of a rhetorician he would
DOUBTLESS have given US some fine writing
and spoiled the effect of his simple story,
IL Is as intimate a tale as that of Pepy' 5
OF the thoughts and happenings that fell
10 the lot OF a manly man going about his
daily duty with no idea OF special merit
on his part. In one place he says: TAX
ing II all around, 1t was not pleasant work
going TO see patients when the firing was
on; but II the enemy were firing in one
quarter one had TO leave those 2atients
until they had slowed the gun round a bit
TO another part, thus lodging the expOsed
sections as much as possible" He speaks
OF the servant who drove for him and
says, he never flinched or hesitated
wherever he had TO go, though he ad-
mitted he was often badly scared That
was precisely my own feeling. 1 was
badly scared most of the time, but the
work had 10 be done" Here is a bit of
description: Smelling is bad enough in
the day time, but if it is not too close YOU
know you are all right and relax; but at
night hrst you hear the bugIe, and you try
10 sit tight and pretend you don't notice
1t; then comes the boom and whiZ, and
YOU nave 10 pretend harder than ever.
Even when the shell bursts and you know
that that one al least has not got you,
you don't feel happy during the next
minute or two, for the splinters fly SO that
there is plenty of time for you to con-
graduate yourself on escaping the shell
and then get your head caved in by one
of these after-thoughts.
In the course of the pages the details
of the privations of The siege, the shelf
ers contrlVed from the shells, the refuge
in the mines, Cecil Rhodes himself, and at
last the relief. are all told in the same
simple fashion, and make up a story OF
singular power and fascination.
The first installment of a new novel by
Sarah Grand is one of the weeks fea-
lures of HaIper's Razar. The omnipresent
| Chinese is presented TO the women in a
paper by Madame WI, wife of the Chi.
neSe minister.
The Literary Digest for the week has
various phases of the Chinese difficulty
discussed in its different departments
The Present Ebh-Tide of English Litera,
ture' is the leading article in the letters
and art section.
The opening number of the Overland
Monthly for July contains an interestine
account of the Santa Lucia of Santiago
de Chile, that remarkable pile of rock in
the center of the city, transformed into
the most picturesque pleasure ground in
the world The rest of the magazine is
largely given up TO fiction.
Colonel DENLY, minister to China for
twelve years. has an interesting paper in
| the current Golfers Weekly on ..Pekin
the Imperial City" illustrated with some
new and valuable photographs The
| !, $50 Cuban school teachers studying for
the summer at Harvard have a page OF
Illustration and an article descriptive OF
this gift of Harvard to Cuba.
- <39