The times., 1900-12-23
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| incident, and The story is well told. The
| hero, who tells the tale in the first per-
| son, makes himself interesting from the
1 FIRST, which is not always the case with
| tha hero of one of these romantic novels;
| the heroine has character as well as
! beauty. Among the minor characters are
a Partisan banker of extraordinary tai
! ents, two or three audacious and shire vd
| villains, and an irresponsible young
prince. New York: Harper & Bros.
| $1.5C.)
The Inn of the Silver Moon" hy Her
man X. Viele. is a fantastic little ro-
nance CT French life, piquant, bright,
and amusing from beginning to end.
/ There is nothing actually impossible in
1 it. though some of the incidents are GER
! tainly odd: but the charm of the book is
/ not SO much in the plot, though that is
/ good enough, as in the dainty finish and
! aptness OF the style. Two or three scraps
/ OF graceful verse add much TO the read
( ers pleasure. and it is perhaps enough to
! say that the book justifies IN every way
! the anticipations raised by its taking
e
| Chicago: Herbert 5. Stone & Co. s1.25.)
The Slaves of Society,"" by an author
/ who conceals himself or herself under the
mysterious title, The Man Who Heard
Something is a clever story of London
life. with all the epigram. cynicism. and
matter of-course attitude of one of Mr..
Morley Roberts or Miss Ellen Thorney
croft Fowiers romances. the outcome of
it, however. is more pleasing if less real
istie than that of their tales, and it is al
together an excellent piece of light read
ing not likely to bore anybody The situ-
alton with which the story deals is GER
tainly ratner odd. and one Is inclined to
wonder IL there are many marquises who
would take ii in just the matter-of-fact
way that Lord Severn does, but that is
minor point. Every character is individual
and interesting. and the plot, what there is
OF il, is well handled. (New York: Har-
per g. Brothers. S1.25.)
Breaking the Shackles," by Frank Bar
rett, is an English story with plot which
has at least the merit of originality,
though this does not strike one forcibly
until the denouement. There is a crime,
mystery, an innocent man in the peniten-
tiary and a devoted wife determined to
solve the mystery and set him free. With
the help of his best friend she succeeds in
doing so, and then the victim of miscar-
riage of justice obligingly dies and leaves
his widow TO marry the best friend. There
is certainly sort OF unusualness about
this situation, in a novel at least. (Bos-
ton: L. c. Page -& Coz
Anybody who is looking for q book that
is thoroughly disegreeable. from cover to
cover, may as well take hold Of Mr.. Ben
tamin Swift's latest novel, Nude Souls"
For great many people the title will be
enough, for although it is the business of
the novelist to know all about the an
atomy Of souls. he. like the artist, usually
prefers to conduct his life-class in pri-
Yacy. But the fact remains that that title
describes the book better than anything
else would, for to read it produces much
the same impression as going through a
medical museum. There are several diff
ferent kinds Of deformed moral characters
here on exhibition, and the authors view
of them all is neither affectionate, phari-
saical, condemnatory, apologetic, or sym
pathiZing, but simply scientific. He seems
to be acting as Snowman to an extraordi- |
nary lot of moral monstrosities, and occa- |
sionally begins sentence with confden |
tial well, then" addressed distinctly to
the reader.
Those who have read the previous books |
Of this author know what to expect Of him. |
A taste for Mr.. Swift can be cultivated |
like a taste for olives or teal cooked as |
some gourmands prefer it; and when one
has the taste one will like this book. But |
to the ordinary palate it does not appeal |
any more than statistics on typhoid fever |
or smallpox interest the non-medical |
mind. 1t is well written and the author |
has evidently done precisely what he |
meant to do; but II is, without being hor |
rible, weird, romantic, or alluring in any |
way, simply disagreeable. Chicago: Her |
bert S. Stone Coz
Norman Duncan's book of stories, "The |
Soul of the Street, has a somewhat un-
fortunate title, for ii surely should have |
been christened something that would in |
dicate the nature of its contents. 1t con-
tains picturesque sketches Of life in the |
Syrian quarter of New York, and the au-
thor is to be congratulated upon having
done a very good piece OF work of an en-
tirely new kind. Mr.. Duncan knows the |
Syrian quarter thoroughly-not an easy
thing to do, by the way-and he has got
ten into these fascinating little tales all
the excite Oriental charm OF that little |
foreign colony, which makes up part OF the
life of New York. One need |
not 60 to India to find curious and pic
turesque contrasts. Within a stones throw
Of buildings where people look with awe
Mrs Steel, there may be seen the Jostling
of Eastern and Western civilizations, and
characters as quaint any in Bombay can
be found in the queer. high-roofed tene-
ments. This New York newspaper man
has discovered the fact. and made his
knowledge profitable to the world
The stories in this book of his are
mainly character studies, with here and
there a thread of romance like the faint
fragrance OF altar of roses in the musty
atmosphere of a bazar. There is not
false note or a straining after effect any
where in them. For the Hand of Hal
eem' is an exquisite little love story, one
Of the best in the book. In the "Ab-
sence of Mrs. Halloran" is a choice bit OF
humor, and the mischievous fun. OF II is
a thing TO be enjoyed more tnan once.
But there is one character In the book
who is distinctly creation, and it is
with him that the authors reputation
will be identified. This is Khalil KlIayat
The gentle, simple. tender-hearted, fiery
spirited old scholar who wrote for the
paper Of Salim Shofi for the munifcent
sum OF 81 per week. Khayat may not
have been a personal acquaintance of
many of the readers of the tales, but his
type is known of all men, and this
Syrian variation OF It is peculiarly at
tractive and winning. The picture of
khayat telling the story of st. George
md the dragon to a typical Irish gamin
II New York tenement-house is one not
soon to be forgotten. II is to be hoped
hat Mr.. Duncan will in the future give
% the public more pictures of the life
which he knows SO well. and that he will