The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-25

| C2ily.
| vogel's color became that Of the phitewashed
wall; his body seemed to shrink into the floor;
his knees qusked; his hands we're casped' as II IN
| PRAYER. The blsck cats purred about him unno.
| ticed; the curse of the seventh daughter passed
| unheard; his eyes were fastened upon his shadow.
which stood in silhouettelik relief the blank
wall.
"If you don't pay me what is due me- threat
ened the woman in The most impressive voice she
| could command, Il will order the shadow 10 INT
| after you until the end. 1t will follow you when
| you awake and will stand over your bed
| when you are asleep. ! am fat. am Gimme! !
cheat cards! weed, am iT'
Noeels teeth chartered; he maundered some
| words that were as indistinct the babble OF a
babe, He felt in his pocket mechanically, dropped
| lis dollar and a half on the floor, and ran from
| In the hallway he cursed and howled in a man
ner that the seventh might have envied; but at
| that particular moment the seventh daughter en-.
| WED nobody; she lay back in her chair smothered
with laughter, patting her cats affectonateiy with
her left hand, juggling the silver with her rght,
| and blinking az the parrot which was tans1al-
| ing Nogels German curses into Dutch.
Another chapter in which some telling
work is done is that which describes the
| experience of the old musician and his
| wife when they go to live with their elder
| daughter. who has married well-to-do
| but close-fsted carpenter There Is more
| human nature in this little book than in
( most novels of the day, eIt the author S
! style is better suited to short stories than
| to the more ambitious form of novel, and
it is to be hoped that his neyt work will
| be a volume of brief romances as delight
full in their truthfulness, pathos, and hui
NOR as Poor People" Boston: Hough-
| ton, Mifiiin & Co. S1.50.)
'Enoch Willoughby," by James A. Wick
ersham. is a story of old-time Quaker life
| in the Middle West, and of the develop
ment of spiritualism in a certain family
| of Quakers. The author has evidently
aimed TO give faithful history of the way
in which spiritualists are made, and, so far
| as the psychology and character study OF
| the work go. he has certainly succeeded.
/ The types which he has selected for por-
| trayal are exactly those which, in primi-
| tive rural community, develop eccentric
religious views, and perhaps the shrewd-
| est touch in the book is to be found on
| the first page. when the author remarks
! that all the Willoughbys had streak
| of what is called queerness. Everyone
knows families OF this type. The queerness
| rarely goes TO the extreme of positive in
| sanity; it often gives some one member OF
| the family the independence, strength Of
| character, and power of concentration nee
| essary TO make reformer; but in one
| branch or another it is likely TO run into
some eccentric form of political, religious.
| or social conviction.
Considered as a psychological and his
torical study. therefore. the book is a sue
cess. There is no incident in it which
could not be paraleled over and over again
| in half the rural communities of this coun-
| try. But, measured by the standards of
| fiction, il is less satisfactory. The author
| has a provoking way of mixing up his
| lenses, and he does this quite as thorough
| ly as any man could under the limitations
Of the English language. He begins by
telling us the whole life story of some
character in the book and then goes back
TO deal at length with some incident in
the life of that person. referring casually
to things which happened to other char
acters, ano TO the death of somebody or
other. after which. he remarks. Peace be
to his ashes Later in the course of the
tale the person who has thus been disposed
of hobs up again quite serenely, and takes
part in some occurrence which concerns
another character. IL is confusing to the
average reader whose miEd has been nour-
ished on novels of the ordinary type. In
short, Mr. Wickersham knows how to de-
scribe a character but he ought not to try
to tell a story. because he has not the sto-
ry-teIler's instinct. However. "Enoch VIII
loughby' will have its place in the descrp-
tive fiction of today. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons. $500 .s1ea i5=ot
THE Prelude and the Play" by Rufus
| Mann. is about as unfortunate failure
as was ever endorsed by great publishing
horse for some utterly mysterious reason.
1t is supposed TO be a story of life in
university town, probably Cambridge. and
that is possibly the reason why all the
| characters talk in Hellenic English with
variations of would-b highfiown Ameri
can. They use more long words than have
been used in any one book since the days
of Transcendentalism, and combined with
these are colluqualisms which upset the
dignity Of several paragraphs. In addition
10 all this the book is permeated with
I deadly dizziness. Boston: HOughton,
Miffiin & Co. s150J
4 new edition OF Lying Prophets by
Eden Philpotts, has been brought out in
very attractive form. The strength and
charm of this tragedy Of Cornwall should
cause it to be more and more read in this
country as time goes on. tNsw York:
Frederick y. Stokes Company
"Mirry-Ann," by Norma Lorimer, is n
story of the Isle of Man. The character
drawing is fairly good, the interest well
3
people with whom one can easily become
! sympathetic. (New York: D. Appleton &
| Co. 81
The Boss of Taroomba." by E. W. Hor-
/ nung is story of the Australian bush
which seems to be rather a favorite hunt
! ing ground for nOvelists Just at present
I The heroine is an independent young wo-
: man. who owns and manages "A plantation
4 will try no her
wandering musician. The chief interest
| of the story. however. is that of adventure
rather than romance. and there are sew
/ eral thrilling episodes. tNew York:
( Charles Scribner's Sons. 20 cents.)
! ION Trial" is the latest work OF
| Zach a young woman who was hailed
/ some time ago as a new novelist of eX
/ traordinary power and talent. 1t is a
/ story of Exmoor, rather character study
! than romance, and the central charac-
ter is young fellow, son of a farmer,
/ who has in his nature a seemingly inc
radicable streak of crookedness. The
| book is made NJ OF the record of his
| struggles to overcome this tendency in
himself and his continual failure, with
! the tribulations brought upon other peo-
! pie thereby. II is not exactly a pleasant
| tale. though well written; and the Devon
| shire dialect makes 1t rather difficult to
read New York: Charles Scrbner's
Sons. $500
The Cambria Mask" by Robert w
| Chambers. deals with some Whitecapping
| raids somewhere In the State of New
| York. The hero is an eX-soldier and
entomologist, and the heroine, his as
| sistant. is the daughter of one of the lead