New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-24
FICTION.
TWO STIRRING NARRATIVES OF THE
SEA

BRADY Emo PIP 30 Charles ScribnerS 0ofS'
FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE SEA- BY cyrus rus
Townsend Brady l2mo, PIP H. 80 O"i'-''
Scri5uer's Sons.
pov 4 sketch BY Marie Coren. 12mo, PIP 3S-
PhiIadeIphia J. b. Lippincott Company
NEW RACE DIPLoMAT1sT, BY p %fnn slp 53hi
lard Waterbury. l2mo, PIP 00'
J. B. Lppincott Company
IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT sHAA Io.!Tfo 6y
Annie +. Hodsworth tGts, q 20
l2mo PIP. 255. Herbert > stone ~ 90
Among the new writers who nave salieu iil'O
nonularitv on the of romantlclSi" 10 nv
Rev. CYRUS Townsend Brady. unlike mus
tba nresent day romanticists however instead
of rushing off to fantastic Kingdoms solei me-
nv fantastic princesses and kings MI. biauS
,er,ai,s at home and proves that there IS plenty
Of romance in the history of his country fo'
tbis originality he deserves commentator ne
Sc clover too in choosing to exploit adventures
nv sea Writers like MI Brady MAKE '
less patriotic of us realize that our Navy Is no
new power In the Revolution anu 'ne
Of 1912 our naval officers and men sHo"eu '''
H., l,pa,v how to handle ship and a gun DIT
the same time. IT his two latest oooh9'
the Freedom Of the Sea- and 'lhe 1llp -
Honor Mr.. Brady does some very spi'ilec "i-I
o,aaaino work OF the two The Grip OF
49, ,,os the stronger plot-interest, and is
indeed = we'll rounded tale. For the freeuoln
etc descrintive passages and in the handllhS ol
the more dramatic of it's episodes. MI Brady
has not as vet acquired skill in dealing with
character; his figures are merely lay hsuies'
He fails completely, for example, in dealing VII"
so attractive a parsonage as John Paul Jones
in The Grip of Honor" With his women ne
falls into many a ludicrous artistic pluhuer-
However both these stories have plenty OF
shirt and they carry the reader along with
Grin e
Honor" is presented as a play, as it probably
will be next winter, may he sure that a
great deal will be made of the episode in which
the young heroine poses in a frame and is
mistaken for a portrait This is the kind OF
invention that some readers consider indicative
of genius; others inclined to consider 1t a
gift for comedy When Mr.. Brady has
written a few more books he will perhaps have
grown mistrustful of notions of that kind
They help to make book SELL but they don I
create regulations that last.
In Boy" Miss Marie Corelli has written a
tale that is very unlike much of her writing.
On the whole, it is wholesome and entertaining,
with fewer lapses of taste than one might ex-
pect. 1t shows that Miss COrelli could do very
good work if she only had herself and her gifts
better in hand. Boy" follows The career of
an English lad, which in it's general outlines
youths. He has a drunken father; he is spoiled
by a slovenly. weak minded and obstinate
mother; he falls into the usual money scrape;
he enlists in the army, and at the close he
gives promise of becoming a useful member of
society His fortunes Miss CoreHi discusses
with good deal of common sense though she
cannot keep from dropping into the preaching
habit and, now and then, from scoiding shrew-
ishly. one could wish, by the way that she
would not allow her precious hero to he called
boy" throughout the book 1t becomes ex-
tremely tiresome, like the repetition of a dull
joke It should be noted, however. that though
the youth is the pivotal figure he is by no
means the most interesting or the most sue
cessfuI character in the story The honors fall
easily to Miss Lefty Leslie. known as Miss
Lefty" one of the most Iovable old ladies we
have met in literature in many a day. 1t is
Miss Lefty who first tries to make a man of
Boy and she endures many a trial before
seeing any results In pursuing the history of
this character Miss Corelii WanGers away from
the main course Of her narrative into paths
much less interesting. They lead her to America
however, where we have a chance to see that
the writer has very high opinion of us and of
our country and of the way we live All this
is indeed very pleasant. But how much does
Miss Core!li really know about US as we appear
on our own turf? Those passages relating to
America are adrOltIy done, but they have a
VaguenesS that does not suggest act1iaI ohservo -