The times., 1901-06-23
Recent Fiction.


.Starboard Lights" by a. B. Hawser'
! Master. is a collection of whimsical
| sketches and stories of sea life, some OF
! them having decidedly the characteristics
of sailors yarns" Most of them are
/ funny. a few are weird, and one or two
| are pathetic. The humor is extravagant
and the style Is a mixture of the old salt
| and the trained newspaper man. Inc
| Cheerful Derelict" is a tale of fancitul
fun. worthy of Frank R. Stockton. Moth
| ing better has come out since the adven-
lures of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshlhe'
| "A Suppressed Sea Fight is an alleged
! incident of the Spanish war. 'Hennery
| and the Cannibals' is a piece of broadly
| farcical humor. "A Mystery of New YORK
Bay' is a spook story. So Is The Pro-
| fessor's Manuscript" THE Little Yellow
| Man is a gruesome piece of Long Island
lore, and its imaginative power and sug-
| gestiveness are as fine as anything that
has been found in an adventure story TINS
! season. THE Curse of the Seigneur Is
| another ghost story, not connected with
the sea; and AN Eight by Thirteen
Ocean is charming study OF a tiny
aquarium belonging to the author.
| This unpretentious little book has bet
ter stuff in it than there is in most of the
I
! trunpets have been blown. 1t deserves
the credit which belongs to all good work
and the reward which comes in doing
| better. A quotation from the last of the
! sketches, that of the aquarium, will show
the clearness and picturesque quality OF
| the authors style, which loses nothing
! even when dealing with a comparatively
insignificant subject
Day after day the sun glowed into
the water. Soon 1t was so clear ana
| flashing that the most carefully nj
tered liquid would have looked uuii
! beside it. Then delicate tracings or
green appeared on the stones and in
the corners. Algae. SO minute that
the feathery spears could be seen only
| with microscope, so dainty that they
covered the pebbles like velvet, were
set growing through the chemistry of
the sunlight.
there was a white speck that moved.
! So tiny was il that only careful watch
ing disclosed that il was a living crea-
ture. II thrust out feeler and began
to browse on the algae--a sea snail,
that had been clinging unseen to one
/ of the stones that were gathered on
the beach. A few days afterward a
splash of white on a fiat stone thrust
out a strange, beautiful bunch of
| feelers, which soon were working
busily tanning the water and creating
little whirlpool to bring food 70 its
!
derful busy little feelers they were,
too-a transparent ocean hand, with
fingers finer than hair.
Clearly the house was in order and
ready for occupants. Another bicycle
ride to the beach, few hours of
''scapping" in the grasses with
shrimp net and there came to the
tank two fierce little blue crabs as big
as a thumb naH a handful Of black
snails, small mussel, and four le-
bias. iridescent gems of fish. gold, and
| emerald, with crimson-lined eyes For
the bottom, TO glow like fire among
! the green plants, came fronds of
bright red solieria, with round, fieshy
. brancheS-deep sea trees, that made a
little ocean forest.
'aThat was in October. and the CRATE
full creatures have made the window
beautiful A lacework of translucent
| green has crCpt over the glass sides
that get the sun. In every crevice on
the bottom there lies a soft cushion of
1t. over 1t, as cattle move over a
meadow, the black sea snails move and
browse, eating clean, straight swath
as they go. They who have seen mud
fats around New York at low tide
when these sea snails cover them IN
thousands. probably will not think that
they enrich the aquarium. But they
do.
In the muddy shell is a creature of
most complex organism. AS it erawls
IN the side of the tank II spreads out
its fiat, white foot till the animal
seems only blotch on the glass. Gu
riously. it slides up and down, with
out visible effort, till IL finds a feeding
place. Then two feelers. like white
silk floss. reach out to investigate A
long thin grey proboscis-a tiny ele-
plants truuE-follows them with a
scythe-like motion, and instantly
> little circular patch is mown out or
the green pasture. Let danger threat
en-, and the dainty machinery disap-
pears, the clinging foot is 6rawn in,
E and the little fellow hurtles down to
$ the bottom TO lie, Stimulating a stone.
. until the coast is clear"
, The person who, after reading this char
s ter, does not wish for an aquarium Ju:
r like the one described, must be singularl
), devoid Of interest in natural histor.
e (New York: Quail & Warner)
"a State Secret is a book of short stt
ries by 3. NJ. Croker Like the oth'
o works of Mrs. Croker. this book dea
u with ordinary Scotch and English life a
3 though there Is a spice of the extraord
e nary in a ghost story entitled AN Une1
II pected Invitation" CNew York: F. !
Buckles & Co s1.25)
IS Among the multitude Of books. goo
T bad. and Indifferent. which reach the r
= / viewer in the course of q season, the
= are apt to be few which stand out fro
h the crowd by reason of some distinct al
= more or less impressive individualit
?. Such a book is "The Inheritors." by j
l. se7h Conrad and Ford NJ. Hueffer. 1t
Y impressive because it is original. II
T theme is new and it is handled in ali u
e conventional yet not at all crude fashio
n The previous work of Mr.. Conrad h
e been of a kind 10 inspire his readers wi
st more or less faith in him, but there W
-e a vagueness, a lack OF grip, about mo
is Of it. which was disappointing. Wheth
.e the partnership into which he has enter
IN in writing this novel is responsible (
f. the change or not. he has made this bo
1t anything but indefinite 1t is clearcut a
J. hard as Sheffield steel.
Y, The theme is ali but mystical, and CT
D. tainly ultra-imag aginative; 1t possesses
le element OF the bizarre. The hero. who
al not very heroic, is a clever young man
- letters who, at the beginning Of the boz
le is down on his luck" He falls I'm wi
IL a strange young woman, who explains
ne him that she belongs TO a new race cal
cd THE Inheritors"-a people who inha
is the Fourth Dimension, and are going
az inherit the earth because they have
al weaknesses and no emotions to prev'
n their carrying out the great impersoi
OF plan of things. This girl assumes
IL position OF the hern's sister. for her o
" ends and Is instrumental in starting
c. political salon which ultimately ruins