The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-04-02
LITERARY NOTES.

George Moore has written a drama
which promises to be the sensation OF
the hour among those who think while
they read THE Bending Of the
BouRh" will provoke as much discus
sion as an Ibsen play, and there are
not many of us who are clever enough
to settle all the points at issue. 1t is
brilliant piece of work, study of
life which contains the mystery of life.
IT has it's beauty and uoetry. and its
melancholy compromise with prose.
The mind Is shown vistas of color and
rhythm, but their harmony is always
just out of reach. The situations are
as discordant as those with which we
come in contact every day. and as diff
ficult to readjust without loss. There
is a peculiar charm in the character
OF the Intellectual hero, who has a ca
pacity for great work and the ambition
to achieve IL, vet feels himself impo-
tent in the end. His effort and his
failure have both something OF beauty
and one wonders after all which was
the best: whether the success lay in
the failure, or the failure in the sue
cess. II is through this mixture Of
qualities that Mr.. Moore shows him
self so consummate an artist and so
keen an observer.
Miss Anne Holdsworth has taken up
very serious subject in THE Valleys
Of the Great Shadow" as the name in
dicates. but she treats ii with kind
of light tenderness which makes it's
sombreness fascinating. The scene is
laid at watering place in the German
Alps. and the invalid life il deccribes
Is like nothing so much as certain parts
OF ships that Pass in the Night" 1t
shows, as even that romance did not
the sacrifices that grow out of the sit
uation and the sympathy that is awak-
ened In the hardest OF hearts. Several
little love stories grow up even in this
alien environment; and touched with
pathos as some of them are, they have
delicacy and warmth which atone for
the sadness. IL fact a popularity Of
the book is that in spite Of the sombra
background and the tragic situation,
there is an atmosphere Of cheer and
happiness which is rarely found even
| outside resort for invalids. The story
! has the same sympathy and tenderness
which characterize Miss Harraden's s
| success and it promises to be received
with the same enthusiasm.
Since The publication of Ramona
threw a new light upon the character
| of the American Indian, he has secured
definite place in the admiration of
the people. A novel which Miss Con-
stance Goddard Du Bois has "ecently
written will do much 10 emohasize his
| 10
Bronze" centers in the personality of
| an Indian who with every ADVANTAGE
| of education and encouragement finds
| that there is after all no place for him
self in the economy of Things. An alien
In one race. he returns to his tribe with
the ambition of uplifting and enrich
| ing it, only to find that with his own
! people also he is an alien. The story Of
| his love for an American girl and the
| wonderful sacrifice he makes for her
| happiness has a rare nobility. But his
exaltation is not without magnetism,
and one deoe not lose interest in the
man himself because of his loneliness.
The feature of McClure's for April
| is an account of the interior of China,
| especially with reference to its rich
promises as a market for America,
written by Mr. w. B. Parsons, chief
engineer of the American China De-
velopment company. from observations
made on his own Journeys, and illus
trated very fully from photographs
taken by him. In addition, the num-
Der offers, on the more strictly literary
| side, two excellent poems, a heroic
story of railroading and Indian fight
ing on the Plains, a story of English
prison life, love story having to dc
with a Pacific coast boom" and an
Atlantic coast maiden, and a humor-
Gus story by Robert Barr of "a scien-
tifc miscalculation" that involves. es-
pecially England and America. Near
ly all of the articles and stories are
fully illustrated.
1t is a peculiar kind of magnetism
that Robert Hichens achieves in The
Slave, but it is one of which no one
can deny the almost tremulous fas-
Gina ton. II the reader gives himself
up to it, it carries him through thu
book without pause or hesitation. II
Is like the effect of opium which dead.
ems the sense to things outside of it.
| self, and yet brings dreams and subtle
suggestions Of witchery. The woman:
passion for jewels seems abnormal ir
the beginning of the book; but as one
follows it. it grows to seem real ant
unacceptable until at last ii become!
the only real thing in the world. 1
is no small triumph to achieve thi!
result with so unusual and repellan
an emotion. The volume is handsome
ly published by H. S. Stone & Co.
Mr.. II. C. Chatfeld- Taylor has car
rjed off the prize for which many hav
been striving during the past few
months for the best serial submitted t.
the new magazine to be called TIL
Smart Set. It's title, THE Idle Born.
indicates the nature of its subject, bu
the author has treated 1t seriously an
without the fiippancy which man,
writer's consider essential In dealing
with high society That he has sue
ceeded in giving the picture of this life
however. The Smart Sets 81 900 rewar
is sufficient proof. \ paper with sue
title should certainly know when
comes in contact with the real thine
and in Mr.. Chattield-Taylor's epigram