The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14

biscuit soaked in pea soup, dog
body this with little molasses
added, and baked in the oven. was
dandy funk.
The value of this book lies mainly in
the accuracy of its account of the life
and customs of the forecastle. From a
literary point of view ii is not much.
Boston: Houghton, Miffiin & Co. sl.5O.)
Minor Fiction.
"a Maryland Manor is a novel by
Frederic Emory, and as the title indi-
Gates, 1t deals with the plantation life of
the South. The place is the tidewater
district of Maryland, the time that of the
civil war. Unlike most such books, how
ever, this one contains little mention of
the war or of politics in general and is
not partisan. Its interest centres in the
play of emotion and the development of
character.
There is plot which is constructed with
considerable cieverness and the move
ment of the story is spirited. The heroine
is a charming Maryland girl, daughter of
the owner of the Manor. and the hero the
son OF a planter. her old playfellow and
neighbor, and not at all the conventional
type of hero of a Southern novel With
out being so much of a departure from
tradition as to appear bizarre. Basil Kent
is a Southerner OF a new type in fiction
and one which is both manly and admira-
BILE. Among the characters is the son of
an overseer. who, by push, shrewdness,
and unscrupulousness, has amassed much
property and wishes to push himself and
his university educated son into society;
and it is rather evident from the way in
which the author manages this character
that he believes most thoroughly in the
n
he is impartial; though the low-born up
start is one villain, there is an aristo-
cratic scamp of very much blacker dye;
and the adventures who appears on the
scene under his protection is of as new
type as the hero. The conception of the
story is extremely clever, and If the au-
thor had been as careful of his style
throughout as he is in some places the
book would certainly be artistic. But
when one comes across such a page of
mixed pronouns as there is in the first
chapter ii cannot but mar the general eff
feet. There are several paragraphs of
sentences constructed on the plan Of this
one:
From early childhood, he had suf-
fered keenly from his clumsy efforts
TO use him as means of exploiting
himself
OF course. with careful attention to the
context, the reader can manage to dis
entangle these various specimens of the
third person singular, masculine, and at
tach each 30 its proper character, but as
il stands II is more or less like a Chi
nese puzzle. Mr.. Emory should get a
rhetoric and study that subject before he
writes another book. (New York: Fred
erick A. Stokes Company. $l.25.)
.srTsl.z
bell,' by Jean N. McIlwraith, is the
spiciest. raciest bit of historical fiction
which has appeared for a long while.
II is alive all the way through, and full
of the Groom of the pipes, and the smell
of Canadian balsam. and the CLINT of steel
There is something about the book which
is original. refreshing. and wholesome
but one cannot quite determine what 1t
is during the reading. The tale in itself
is too absorbing.
Roderick Campbell is not at all the ordi-
nary hero of historical novel, and those
who expect that this one will some day
be drama.zed, with some one of the mat
inee stars OF the day appearini; as Rode
rick will not live to see their wish realized
If they live a thousand years. The Camp
bell of this story is Il Highland piper fat
unromantic, fifty years old. and of so
philosophic a turn OF mind that he fights
indifferently on either side OF any cause,
and appears successfully for Prince
Charlie and for the King. His spouse is
a hshwife, and her tongue has inspired
him with a radical hate of all women,
which he nevers gets over. This Is a pref
ty hero for novel of the Jacobite upris-
ing!
All the same, the taciturn Roderick
somehow inspires the reader with a gem
uine liking for him long before the tale
is done, whether he be marching calmly
into Manchester, with one camp follower
and tame blackbird, to drum up recruits
for the prince, all alone. before that royal
knight-errant's ragamufiin army appeared
on the scene TO dishearten the yacobites;
joining the Black Watch. TO save his skin;
firing the stable of two Wing maiden la
dies, to save refugee from capture; or