The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-04

the small tail-piece OF the volume. row
OF squashes converted into the semblance
OF geese. is a particularly happy conceit.
New York: The Macmillan Company.
r sl.50)
"Dr. Berkeley's Discovery" is the work
OF Richard slee and Cornella Atwood
Pratt. and one of the remarkable things
about it is the absence OF awkwardness in
the collaboration. 1t reads precisely like
the work OF a single author. and it is i'm
possible to say where either OF the two
writer's has contributed an individual
touch. This is one of the few cases in
which collaboration in novel writing seems
10 have turned out well.
There are practically but two charac-
ters in the book. DR.. Berkeley and his
wife, though Madame du Poizat. the wife's
aunt; DR.. harrington. the doctors friend,
and Hauterive. the volatile Frenchmar,
who contributes to the denouement. are all
portrayed with realistic distinctness. The
book Is not. however, what would be called
a realistic novel; its atmosphere is rather
that OF idealism. but idealism permeated
with scientific law, or what appears to be
such. To a scientific man 1t would prob
ably seem utterly absurd, to the average
reader 1t has deceptive, air Of actually.
DR.. Berkeley is a middia-aged man with
an absorbing passion for science-that is to
say, laboratory work dealing with the ex-
animation of animal tissue under the mi
croscope, He has become convinced that
1t is possible to reduce to Photographic
form the impressions upon the brain cells
which we call memory. During a brief res
pite from his work he meets, wooes and
weds Aline Lefevre, French girl with an
| English education ardent, sweet-natured,
| ri TO in ~
| way. Then he relapses intc the absorbing
| work of bis life once more. promising him
| self that when he has mace his discovery
| he will allow himself some months OF nat
ural human happiness. The plot here be-
comes absorbing in it's interest. while the
character OF the doctor is brought out with
rare skill. The attitude maintained to-
\ ward this oddly constituted hero is that of
sympathetic but thorough understanding
| and a certain reserve. We are allowed to
| study DR.. Berkeley and his peculiar do
| nestle relations for ourselves. The last
pages Of the tale are intensely dramatic.
New York: G. p. Putnam's Sons. SIPS
Paper, 80 cents.)
"A Rational Marriage" by Florence
Marryat. is a story of English life in GER
| tain advanced" circles. The heroine. a
and less common sense, conceives the idea
OF entering into a rational marriage, in
which, she and her husband shall continue
to live In separate establishments, aud
their union be kept a profound secret from
everyone. The reason of this is cranky |
old grandfather, who has threatened to cut !!
the young lady off with a shilling IL she |
marries during his lifetime. Joan Trevor, |
being, as has been said. somewhat strong |
willed and independent supports herself by |
work as stenographer and private secre- |
tary. and has little apartment, without |
servants. in which she lives quite by her |
self The project of the secret marriage |
is therefore feasible after fashion, but |
it turns out to be extremely inconvenient. |
and source of much embarrassment and |
modification, both 10 the girl and her |
lover. There is a certain skill in the tell
ing of the story, but the characters are rot |
impressive in any way, and the idea ap-
pears TO have been borrowed from w. PETIT
Ridges novel. "A Clever Wife" in wnich
the rational marriage notion was han
died with more cleverness. II not pore
realism. New York: f. VI. Buckles C
Coz
''Paleface and Redskin, and Other Sto-
ries for Boys and Girls by F. Anstey. is
not, as the name would seem to indicate,
made up Of tales of Indian fighting, but it
is much better than most stories of that
nature. The unpretentious little tales of
this book are apparently the work OF the
authors idle moments, and might well be
slightly polished prescriptions of stories
improyised for live, impatient, Unsuitable
little story-lovers. Most Of them are very
clever. and all are amusing. The first one
OF one Clarence Timing. a boy with supe-
rior airs and a domlneering temper
There is just enough of improbability in
the AFFAIR to make it spicy, and plenty of
human nature besides. The other tales are
more frankly extravagant in their fancies.
and some of them are evidently sly satires
on old fables. For instance, there is a
story of small and priggish girl called
Priscilla. who was always giving people
advice after the manner of the Sunday
school books, and who had "seen quite
early In life that her mission was to re-
form her family and relatives generally"
The little sketch of Priscilla's character is
given with a demure fun that is quite as
delightful as Mr.. Gordon Browns clever |
Illustrations:
So Priscilla persevered; sometimes with merely
shocked glance Of disapprOvsl, which she had
practiced before the looking glass until she could
full little hint. Don't you think. dear p1pa?'' ,
she would say softly, a Sunday morning, don't
YOU think you could write your newspaper article
on some other days it work Of real neces- =
sity?' Or she would ask her mother, who was
certainly fond OF wearing pretty things: ''How
much bread for poor starving people would the
price Of your new bonnet buy, mother? | should
20 like TO work it out my little slate"
Once when, great treat, the children were al
owed TO read 'Ivanhoe'' aloud Priscilla declined
70 participate until she had c0nscientiOusly read
Up the whole Norman period in her English his
DRY; and another occasion she cried bitterly
IN hearing that her mother had arranged for them
% learn dancing, and endured bread and
water for entire day rather than consent to
cquire accomplishment which she feared, from I
What she had read, would prove On the I
ecOnd day-well, there was roast beef and York. {
hire pudding for dinner, and Priscilla yielded; Z
nut she made the resolution-and kept it. too T
hat if she weIft 10 the dancing class she would /,
rmly refuse to take the slightest pains to learn
single step. n
There is more of such sly fun in Tom Il
ny's Hero" which has artfully masked "
moral to 1t. Two or three other stories are 4
simply fanciful tales OF Toyland and the s
,nimal- world. in which children delight to 4
believe. or pretend they believe-and the
wo things are practically the same to the 4
arly English mind. Mr.. Anstey has writ :
en- a book which will add to the Joy OF
10Th children and grown people. (New 7
FORK: D. Appleton & Co. S1.50.) 7
Literary Notes. -
THE Reign OF Law is the title of Mr. T
ames Lane Aliens forthcoming novel. 1t T
S a story of the Kentucky hemp fields.
Prof. G. E. Woodbury. Is preparing to s
ring out a collection OF his literary es-
avs, gathered mostly from the pages of +