The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-04-15

will be found to be fabulistic rather than
symbolicaI. Symbolism, in order to be
as great as Mr.. Moore would have US
believe 1t, must be founded on abstrac-
tions-not on such concrete political mat
ters as the question OF home rule. That
he has chosen to make his drama hinge
upon such a specialized struggle instead
as he might well have done and still
have had an Anglo-Irish drama-of hav-
ing II turn upon the eternal conflict be-
tween the commercial spirit and the ar
tstic impulse is fatal to the influence of
the play as an actual drama. AS a read
ing-play also it is wooden, the endless
squabbles Of the aldermen of Northaven
being only relieved here and there by
some fine lines about the life of the spirit.
Nevertheless, we repeat, Mr. Moore is so
Interesting a personality in his Intensity.
talent and wrongheadedness, that II is
worth while reading even the stupidest
things he can write for the sake of find
ing out what he is thinking about and
what he Is supposing himself to do.
(''The Bending OF the Bough." BY
George Moore. s125. II. s. Stone & Co.
For sale by Lowman & Hanford)
+ 1. 4.
Miss wilkins new volume OF short sto-
ries contains five tales which are told
with all her wonted charm. delicacy and
insight Most of them will be familiar
to readers of the magazines, but all of
them are worth re-reading. zone Good
Time" Is perhaps the most human and
attractive of the collection. 1t relates the
experiences of a widowed mother and her
daughter from up-country, who 20 to
New York with fifteen hundred dollars of
life insurance money for the one good
time of all their cramped,, hungry lives.
They mean to invest the entire sum In
happiness, and calculate that 1t may take
year to do so. i, How the feat was ac-
complshed in a week. and how the money
went Is best told in Narcissa's own words.
The reader notices in this volume that
certain quality in Miss wilkins work
which recalls Hawthorne, an elusive.
bodiless, other-worldliness. seems to be
growing stronger. The little sketch of
Three Old Sisters and the Old Beau Is
especially marked by II. We serve notice
upon Miss Wilkins that her many adj
mirers have acquired such a pronounced
taste for her own manner and quality,
that they are not likely to be satisfied
with anything else than this, even though
they should be offered such an excellent
thing as a modern rendering of Haw-
thorne's note In it's stead.
c"rhe Love OF Parson Lord" BY Mary
f. Wilkinn Harper Il Bros. u.26. For
sale by Lowman a Hanford.)
+ + 1.
The author OF 1.-The Prelude and the
Play" is a new writer and one fun OF
promise. in that he discerns character
nta 4 "A kna
eye for situations OF strong psychological
interest which also have dramatic value.
He is slightly hampered by a diction that
Is to academic for "a popular novel The
style of the story is a thought too digni-
fed. too classical. to be used In writing
about everyday life and its complica-
lions, for these are things demanding the
crispness and vigor of the vernacular. 1t
Is as though the authors vocabulary was
that of an essayist rather than of a story
teller. However, this is a failing which
the writer can easily remedy II he will.
and II does not outweigh his somewhat
unusual merits.
The Prelude" refers TO the pre- matri-
monial experiences OF Alexandra Gordon
and George Talcott. and THE Play to
their lives after that event. including
Alexandra's acquaintance with jealousy
Europe, and an admlrIng italian prince
II is part of the authors cleverness that
he knows that the set OF experiences he
has outlined for Alexandra are In way
typical Tor all her SEX Europe. or some
expansion OF the aesthetic nature equiva-
lent TO II. happens 10 most women. while
jealousy and the effect upon character OF
an Rdmirer whose admiration must be
suppressed are only little less inevitable
than death and taxes
Much ~ the attractiyeness OF the book
which is built on large lines. Will be found