New-York tribune., 1900-04-21
TRAVEL NOTES.


THE AMERICAN IN HOLLAND. Sentimental
Rambies in the Eleven Provinces of the Neither
Member Of the Nesheriandish society Of Of Letters
IN Leyden. svo, PIP. viii 4oS. Houghton' Mifiin
PARIS AS IT is An Intimate Account of Its
People Its Home Life m and its Places Of Inter
svo, PIP. X, 2s. Doubleday. Page Co.
Mr.. Grifis writes good travel sketches. In
the book relating his experiences in Holland he
makes the reader feel that he knows what he is
talking about. but his chapters are never over
weighted by erudition. When. for example he
visits Dokkum. in Friesand, the home land OF
Dutch ancestors, he notices things in the
language spoken there which have survived. in
form another along Hudson
But he does not press the point; he is careful.
rather, to communicate first Of all his pleasure
in what he has seen and heard. knowledge
of Dutch history goes with him he explores
the Dutch landscape and the quaint cities. and
whether he writes of Rembrandt of the Guilt
walton OF tulips. he contrives to give information
about the subject which is also in the nature Of
a personal impression. In his preface he
presses the fear that he may be accused Of
frivolty. but the truth is that the light and ami
mated manner in which he goes swiftly from
topic TO topic makes him all the more readable.
He has made no less than five journeys through
Holland and so this volume covers a pretty
wide field. After its discursive notes on all the
Provinces. II closes with some cleverly descrip
tive and delightfully."- sympathetic pages on the
inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina. The illus
trations are good half tones from artistic photo
graphs. Recent literature does not contain a
volume better adapted than this to the pur-
pose OF the traveller in Holland. who wants. in
addition 10 his guide book, work of more flex
ible and more generally suggestive character
When Miss De Forest is gossiping about the
surfaces of things in Paris she is entertaining.
1t is probable, also, that the quite uninstructed
reader who goes through this volume on his way
20 the Exposition this summer will find some
thing in the work which will assist him in ap
preciating certain characteristics and insttu-
tions Of the great city. Thus. he is not like
ly except in a limited number Of cases, to
much Of the innermost circle of French life, 1t
viii be good for him to read what Miss De Forest
has to say about the French home. She is well
aware that, after all, Frenchmen do not spend
every hour of their lives at the cafes, and she
gives some attractive illustrations of the quiet
and refined existence of the typical educated
burgeois. There are some judicious comments
also in the chapter on THE Charm Of Paris
and in that on the French Academy, and all
through the book there are little facts which
are useful just because they facts. But in
calling her work an intimate account of Paris
Miss De Forest goes too far. She very rarely
gets beneath the surface, and the
face she is sometimes misleading, writing with
the excessive enthusiasm which seems to be the
b6ne Of many foreigners who attempt to in
terpret the brilliant capital The press is lit
erature,' she says. ''and every other man you
meet is in some way man of letters" This
amusing deliverance occurs in a chapter on
The Men Of Letters chapter in which,
the author seems to have got beyond her depth,
she contrives TO say great many common
place things We may quote 'banap SEN
tence: "All NJ. de Heredia's literary baggage is
contained in 40 sonnets Of fourteen verses,
chiselled like antique medals with the ideas and
sonorous words full of coloring, so condensed
that they succeed in evoking immense epo-
pees.'" The shallow tone Of the book whenever
it attempts be critical is rendered the more
noticeable by the mediocrity of the style and to
make matters the volume bears all the
signs OF hasty production. It is badly punctu-
.ated and the spelling is often wrong. Some of
the little cakes made by the bakers de-
scribed having quaint old homes, when it is
intended say that they have quaint old
names and we are introduced to "Kants Gre
clan urn Miss De Forest. who is a clever
journalist within her limits. would have made
better book If she had taken greater pains
speaking only of matters with which she is thor
oughy acquainted and reading the proofs of
her publication with greater care.