The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-11

The book will be an especially delightful
gift to any boy fond OF out-of-door life
and should be In all juvenile libraries
though it is not primarily intended for
youthful readers. The simplicity of the
style. however makes it suited to them
while the raciness and vigor of the tales
will be acceptable also to adult nature
lovers.
Mooswa. the hero Of the book, IS, as his
name suggests. big moose and he is a
real person, like the Black Panther and
Baloo Of the jungle. So. too. are Carcajou
the wolverine, and Black King, the fox
and Pisew, the lynx, and Umisk, the eau
tious and shrewd little beaver. There is
bear in this boob, too, and his name
is Muskwa.
The interest Of the tales lies largely in
the thread of the story, and hence their
charm cannot be reproduced by quotation
but the opening paragraph of the first one
shows the authors power Of description:
The short, hot summer, with its long drawn ont
days full of coaSng sunshine, had rpened Ma
lures harvest OF purple belled pea-vine and
yellow -bossomed gaillardia, and tall straight.
growing oosc-weed; had turned the heart shaped
leaves of the popars into sov,rcigns that
fell with softcned clink from the branches to
EARTH waiting for its brilliant mantie-a fairy
mantle all splashed blood-red by crimson maple
, woven in woof of tawny bunch grass and lace.
. fronded fern.
A word should be said of the illustra-
tions. by Arthur Heming. The author has
been rarely fortunate in having secured
for him picture maker SO thoroughly
competent. The portraits of the charac-
! tiers, human and animal are perfect.
tNew York: Charles Scribner's Sons. s2.)
Another Powell with great deal of ar
! ustic temperament about it is Olive Dea-
trice Muir's book entitled with Malice
Toward None" The heroine, Laura Nor.a.
is known throughout the story as Lal, and
the salient points about her are her nlir
and her emotions. both of which are rath-
/ er inconveniently abundant. Yet in spite
of the manifest crudities and numerous alb
surdities Of the book 1t is not possible 10
laugh over poor Lals story. She is the
one real person among them ALL and ar
dent, sensitive. imaginative, impulsve as
she is. she and her tragic fate take hold
OF ones heart. The redeeming feature OF
the story, which makes up for its bad art
is the authors evident earnestness in
drawing this one character.
| AS for the other characters some OF
them are decidedly unpleasant in rather
nasty way. anil some Ct them are obvi-
GUS caricatures of real people. The book
\ Is likely to cause som. comment in theat-
rical circles from the fact that it is per-
fectly evident that the author intended to
put prominent tragedial into ii in a
most villainous role.
The actor is represented as man with
temper which is quite impossible, all the
minor vices and most of the major ones,
and touch of insanity withal. Other
| actors are easily recognizable in minor
| roles, and the hero himself Is almost GER
| tainly drawn on the model of well-known
young actor. Altogether, the author came
as near to calling names as she could and
escape libel suit. When a lady author
represents her heroine as resenting an in
| suit from the villain by catching up dish
| OF grease-paint and breaking it over his
head, and when the villain is drawn from
life, situations are likely to be strained
| both in the story and in the society which
| 1t is supposed to portray. II is quite evil
dent that when Miss Muir wrote this book
she was on the war-path. And the title
does not exactly apply to her, though it
does to her heroine. Chicago: Rand, Nc
Nally & Coz
more charming book of one-act plays
was probably never written than this by
Evelyn Grcenleaf Sutherland entitled "Po'
White Trash" The title is somewhat I'M
fortunate, for it leads one to suppose that
here is another volume of the cracker"
dialect stories with which we have been
surfeited. But 1t is nothing of the kind.
1t Is collection of little dramas, each
dealing with different subject and each
as clever in its way as 1t is possible for
such things to be. They are not only act
able, but they are thoroughly readable,
which cannot be said of all such produc-
tions. One cannot help seeing that there
is opportunity for plenty Of business. yet
the dialogue is so charming that the bust
ness does not make the play.
The first, which gives the book its name,
deals with the poor white" people Ct
Georgia, and 1t is almost the only ore
which has a touch of tragedy. The others
are mostly delightful bits of light comedy.
The second, In Far Bohemia is little
love-idyl bordering ON the pathetic. THE
End of the Way is sketch with only
two characters in it, Will Scarlet, of
Sherwood Forest. and Lady Jacqueline
Werewood. 1t is dainty bit of word
fencing, with a chance for some pretty
acting "a Coincide Royall'' is a laugh
able little comedy of the time of Queen
Elizabeth, with that irascitle lady her
self for one Of the characters, and for a
heroine pretty yokel of a waiting maid. |
Perhaps the cream of the collection is
found in "A Bit of Instruction. and there
is stronger dramatic interest in 1t than
in most of the others.
man comes. unlimited, to the rooms of
popular actor. after the play. with the in
tention c. discovering the feelings enter
tanned by the actor toward the clubman's
cousin, who has fallen in love with this
particular matinee idol. His ostensible |
purpose is to get some hints about the i'm
personation of Ferdinand in an amateur
production of 1.-The Tempest" Incidental
ly the clubman is made to feel like q fool
ftnly ha
to be both a gentleman and man of In
telligence and a strong sense of humor. |
The dialogue is sparkling from beginning
to end. and the little sketch would be an
excellent one for production by amateurs. |
especially at a college entertainment 1t
should. however. be given by professional
actors If the full delight of 1t is to be felt.
"a Song at the Castle deals with Irish
life, and AT the Barricade' is sketch
of the time of the French Revolution.
"Galatea of the Shop is comical
little fantasy with talking roll for the
heroine. This book ought to have a wide
success whether the plays which it con-
tains become popular favorites or not. II
will be valuable to all amateur dramatic |
clubs, for some one of the plays would |
surely meet the wants of any club in ex- |
istence. The themes are sufficiently va
ried to allow wide choice, and while |
some of the sketches require rather ella |
borate costumes, others could be gotten |
up with the simplest OF properties. (Chi- |
cago: Herbert S. Stone & Coz
miscellaneous Books,
'.Short-Story Writing" by Charles Ray
mond Barrett, assumes to be "a practical
treatise ON the art of the short story de-
signed to present concretely the rules of