The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-27

f1dIphr q bTCS. yISJ.l
THE Sea-Farers," by Mary Gray Morri
son. is said to be the authors first book
| and it is original and individuaI enough
to cause that fact to have some interes
for the reading public. The material j!
| unusual in type and handling. for though
| others have written of New England sea
port towns, not many have found Just tn,
| characters there which are described il
this book. There is a wild flavor OF ad-
venture and romance about the book
| which verges on the improbable; certainly
| the career of man who. born the son of
| New England merchant, runs away from
home and becomes pirate captain, /:
! rather more melodramatic than that Of
| most men along the Massachusetts coast
| The chief excellence IN the work lies il
certain descriptions and character sketche!
scattered through it, The delicacy and
imaginative powc: Of these is shown nota-
bly, in two passages, one of which gives Us
a glimpse OF the heroine:
The women were fair in a style which had grad
ually become in the Eastern States the type o
lady: spare OF figure, contracted of waist, dainty
OF appetite, with fitting rose color in their soft
hne-skinned faces. pouring the innocent upwell
lngs OF their hearts through the small pipes o
sentimental songs to guitar accompaniment. Til,
mo-: of them went wonderingly 10 their grave
with quick consumption To such texture out
wardiy had the women of the stnlwart race o
Eng ish PuIitans come when half century was
,,er. Cold. strain, and repression had attenuatec
the broad figures aid shrunken the rude vitality
10 this. The intellect in New England
had not wasted with the flesh. Up sprane among
the people then the giants of the country's lit
eraturc and the mind of New England was lift
ing to them; its body, long bent with toll, stood
up released, Strengthened itself, with outspread
arms, and cried aloud .At las;!'' An integrity
lal ,pf fad Wit rad ,l,air
cheeks. refinement of inner life which the Puri-
tan self-questioning had left as an inheritance, 4
new sense Of freedom and shy JOY in life, mark
&c those years when with the loosening bondage
OF material things the spirit in many ways was
straining upward. Clumsy and mistaken many OF
the Efforts were, but it is a noteworthy period to
anyone who feels that nothing is interesting
In this world as the upward movement of souls.
Barbara was a daughter OF her age, and was
as ready as he. mother to Danish the claw-foot
sofas and straight back chairs TO the garret's
dust. She was ashamed OF her rounded figure,
and the cheeks, in which heat and excitement
this evening had deepencd the color to a rich
crimson, and she looked with admiration at her
fragile friends who followed their mothers to
take her hand slender girls with pure eyes and
thin white shoulders, bare above their lace
berthas.
And here is a scrap of description of
Robert Temple:
He moved with singular grace which to
many had something terrible about it. No
ever heard Robert Temples coming; ears of
civilized life were not quick enough for that.
II may have been due to some peculiarly in the
placing of his feet, but the movement. was not
stealthy, since ii was evidently neither ac-
quired nor intended by him, and was probably
the result of his unusually acute sense Of sound.
His reputation for seeing at the back of his
head was probably due much to his ears as
his eyes, though these were keen beyond the
habits of his fellows.
Moreover, the eyes of this curious man
were yellow, his hair was a yellow name.
and half his actions are those of q savage.
The creation of a type so peculiar and so
difficult to portray is in itself something
of an achievement but the reader will be
tempted TO wonder why the novelist should
have brought him to so tame an end as that
which overtakes him in the last chapter.
One might as easily picture jaguar haul
ing vegetable cart as such man as
Temple restored to conventional life. The
llot of the book is weak, and II is possible
that the author would be more successful
in short story. New York: Doubleday,
Page G. Co., sl.o0.) an.
Stanford Stories is book OF sketches
Of college life, by Charles X. Field and
w. H. Irwin. AS the title indicates, they
deal with the history of that California
which is nicknamed by those
who love it the Youngest and Best" The
college spirit is there in full force, and
plenty of human nature as well; and there
is an additional interest in the fact that
the "co-edr figures in many of the tales
1t is probable that co-education is more
and more successful in California
Than in any other place, and Stanford Uni
versity seems to be a living proof of the
good of it, if these pictures of the life
there are correct.
There are thirteen of the stories in all
brief, breezy, and vigorous. The style is
good, and the subjects as varied as posi- |
Die. The first of them "A Midwinter Mad |
ness is one of the best, being an account |
If the way in which a clever freshman. |
member of the college mandolin club, fell |
n love with pretty Los Angeles girl. and |
played he was Ill In order to avoid moving |
IN to the next town after the close of the |
,lub's engagement; how two other fell
ows. susrecting the truth, tried to turn
he joke on him, and how he and icircum-
tances and the young lady working to-
,ether, made the joke OF no effect. Another
mischievous conceit is "A
long Cycle and a Puncture." which con-
erns college coQuette and her deep, dark
cheme of revenge on the youth who had
lighted her. The Initiation Of Dromo'' is
rollicking bit of comedy. and For the
AXE of Argument" strikes a somewhat
lore serious note, while losing nothing OF
he whimsical fun Of the others.
The appearance of these various books
college verse and stories is good sign,
or 1t indicates that the literature OF the
uture is on the way. and that students in
ollege are getting some training which
ill assist them TO make it what 1t should
@ The authors of this book are still I'M
ergraduates. and it ought to have sale,
OF only among the alumni and alumnae OF
hat institution, but in other colleges The
Illustrations, photographers OF college
lew. are attractive, and the dedication is
graceful little bit of verse, n part as
FLOWS:
To the newest horn Of the sisters
At the end of the races march,
In her quaint old Spanish garment,
Pillar, and tile, and arch
Awaiting the age that halows,
Her face to the coming morn,
Whose scholars still walk in her cloisters,
Whose martyrs yet unborn.
II looks as IL California would make n
lace for herself in literature, even greater
nan that which she has already won The
lyalty of the native OF the Pacific Coast
)r his golden country must have some
1rt of literary result il the future; and
lis is enc of the etraws which show the
irection of the wind. lew York: Dou-
eday, Page & Co. s1-25)
THE Burden of Christopher" by Flor
ice Converse. author of Diana VictriX,"
a novel dealing with the labor question,
,mewhat on the same lines as Margaret
Henry Worthington. IDEAL
t." In the present work, however, there
rather more ideality, and. on the whole,
ore optimism, and each is too thorough
individual to admit of any real rcsem-
ance.
Christopher is young shoe manufac !,
rer who inherits factory from his faith :
dntorrn To run an tho nrinni | .