New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-09-09

virtues. and In all that is best I'm him he 90
very human 1t is therefore not strange, during
late walk, when We bid good night and good
by 90 the darkening downs, that it grieves US
little 70 find SO estimable an insect in such a
plight~
II Is presumptuous. perhaps, to say of a book
stu new that IL is in fair way 10 become a
classic, but one can hardly restrain this pre-
sumption In taking up the new edition of .FGIiz-
aoeth and Her German Garden" What cap
tFating book it is-hOw merry and gentle and
sunny, how whimsically wise and tender! There
Is real humor In these pages, and for that rea
so1. II for other, it deserves to live. The new
chapter describing the authors pious pilgrimage
TO the garden OF her childhood is iniInitable in
its way, and should not be missed by any ad-
mirer OF this most winning Elizabeth Quaint
and pathetic is the story of the child garden in
which. being a sunless corner nothing came up:
and fun OF characteristic color is her little
sketch OF the last days of her grandfather, a
German noble OF the old school:
In his last years. when my grandfather man.
aged the estate, and he only lived with us and
criticised, he came to have the reputation of an
oracle, The neighbors sent him their sons at the
beginning or any important phase in their lives
and he received them In this very arbor, admin
isteT1ng eloquent and minute advice in the deep
voice that rolled round the shrubbery and filled
me with vague sense Of guilt as played. Sit
ting among the bushes playing mudied games
for fear OF disturbing him, supposed he must
be reading aloud, so unbroken was the mo-
notony OF that majestic roll. The young
used TO come out again bathed in perspiration,
much stuns by mosquitoes, and looking be-
w1dered; and when they had got the i'm
preston made by my grandfather's speech and
presence no doubt forgot all he had said with
wholesome QuickneSS and set themselves to the
Interesting and necessary work OF gaining their
own experience Once indeed, a dreadful thing
happened. whose immediate consequence was
the abrupt end tn the long and close friendship
between us and our nearest neghbor His son
brought to the arbor and left there in the
Usual way, and either he must have happened
the critical half hour after the coffee and be-
fore the KreuzZeitung. when my grandfather
Vas accustomed TO sleep, or he was more cour
ageous than the others and tried to talk, for
very shortly, playing, usual at hand, l
heard my grandfather'S voice, raised to an
tent that made stop in my game and quake,
saying with deliberate anger: "Hebe dich veg
won mir Sohn des Satans!" Which was all the
advice this particular young man got, and which
he FASTENED to take, for out he through
The bushes, and though his face very pale,
there was odd twist about the corners of his
mouth that treasured me.
This must have happened quite at the end of
my grandfather's life, for almost Immediately
a1terWard, as II now seems to me, he died before
he need have done because he would crab,
dish that never agreed with him, in the face
OF his Doctors warning that II he did he would
surely die What Am l to be conquered by
crabs?'' he demanded Indignantly OF the doctor;
for, apart from loving them with all his heart,
he had never yet been conquered by anything.
Nay, sir, the combat is too uneQual-dO not, l
pray YOU try il again." replied the doctor But
my grandfather ordered crabs that very night
for supper, and went in to table with the shin
ing eyes of who is determined to conquer or
die, and the crabs conquered, and he died. He
a just man." said the neighbOrs, except that
nearest neighbor, formerly his best friend, and
might have been great had he so chosen. y
And they buried him with profound respect, and
the sunshine came into home life with
burst and the birds not the only creatures
hat sang, and the arbOr, from having been
temple Of Delphic uttera1ces sank into home
fer SlugF-
Long may EliZabeth's identity remain secret
for our part would be content if it were
never known It is enough that We have her
charming altogether loyable boOks-the least
her readers can do for her is to accord her in
gratitude the anonymity she desires.
There are some pleasant passages in Mr.. lie
GaIienne's account of his travels through the
English countryside, But half a dozen swal-
lows more or less, do not make a successful
summer, and this book is the whole, a fail
ure II Is highly artificial a thing Of studied in
tention- Il wears the air Of having been writ
ten to order and IS guilty of painful straining
Of metaphor and forcing Of effect The author
IS most cCunendable when touching upon some
literary subject, ard be viii be wise if he leaves
Dame Nature to worshippers Of her own choos-
ing He has not reached even the misty out
skirts Of her temple.
KIPLINGANA.
NJ Edgar WaIlace's poetic address as Tommy