The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-05


then there is some love making. There is
love making, after fashion, all the way
through the book, but usually the reader
is unable to determine whether the char
acters are in romantic mood or are SIM
ply being rude to each other in a jocular
way. There is one man among the char
acters-only one-who, as we are given TO
understand. is person of character and
heart and he ard the Objectionable Bob
by Floyd are LETT at the end of the romance
to dance stag dances. because the other
/ two young men have secured the two
! girls one of whom (Spriggy) happened to
be in love with the Admirable Crichton
| aforesaid while he himself was in love
! with Clip. This key to the plot is fur
nished in the interest of the reader who
may attempt to get through the volume.
I 1t will save trouble. But, at any rate,
this work will prove to even the youngest
and most unsuspecting amateur author
| that something is needed to make a novel
| besides the bare bones of a Howells plot,
I one Conan Doyle catastrophe, small talk,
and slang. (New York: Harper & Bros.
sl5O)
'"The Ways of the Service" is a book
OF stories by Frederick Palmer, illustrated
| by Howard Chandler Christy. They deal
with army and navy life in the Philip
| pines and the book has the distinction
of being the first of its kind. 1t also bears
some marks of haste or at any rate of a
nearness to the events which prevents
the author in some cases from getting as
much of a perspective as might be de-
sired. However, there is good stuff in it,
and it is fresh and breezy in style, and
interesting in subject matter.
| tala iutf In, her nd alO
equally divided between grave and gay.
Ballard the first and longest. deals
with type new as yet in fiction-the
half-breed Filipino woman. Maria Var
koff. daughter of Russo-Spanish father
| and a Filipino mother is very well drawn,
| both in the text and the pictures. The
Romance of Private Saunders is a bit
of good comedy, and "A Battle and a
| Quarrel" is a capital bit of character
study with comedy element of the
more serious kind. LAS Man to Man" is
war story. Marrying Out of the
| Army and The Tanning of the Captain
are social studies of army life of the
same sort as that of Private Saunders. In
/ most of these society tales one Mrs
l-Gerlison, sort of American Mrs. Hanks
| tae, figures, and the last of the romances
In the collection is called Mrs. Gerlison's
| Own Story" and a very good story it is,
though perhaps a little bit strained in its
sentiment and pathos. There is also
! slight element of improbability some
where. One can hardly imagine the wife
/ of a reprobate of exactly Gerllson's type
| figuring very largely as chaperon for
! young girls. especially to the extent Of
their making her house a refuge in time
| of trouble.
/ Tha hast tn is
| to be found in the story entitled Against
| His Own People IT is a clever study of
non-commissioned officer, who has in
| him streak of Indian and Mexican blood
and is thereby induced to desert the Amer
| lean army In the Philippines through the
/ influence of half-caste Filipino woman.
! The story of the man, told by himself, is
as brilliant and truthful a bit of psychoi-
ogy as can be found in recent magazine
| literature. The part of it which deals with
the actual desertion reads as follows:
''Then Brsher. the second lieutenant.
| just out of civil life and no good, swore
at me d good deal for his own mis-
takes. That's another thing that amt
| the way II was at the posts, where the
colonel wasn't too busy to keep an eye
out. It's the thing, some think, TO
| swear at sergeants up there. This par
| ticular time he ripped me up like / was
a lazy niger in cotton patch. The
| lnjin n Greaser who know what
growiin an riot is bur don't know
| what discipline and order IS, rose up
| and made me feels IL / couldn't stand
| II any longer.
Ten minutes after that the woman
| came slippin' up. Shed overheard the
| lieutenant cussin' me out. She just
| leaned over me and talked. ] can feel
| her breath on my cheek yet. She told
| me she knew ! was like herself She
could see 1t in my face. wasn't all
| white, and people that wasn't all white
| was outcasts. They wasn't meant to
| serve white or black. but to pay the
world the revenge they owed it for
maxim EN- mongrels. must come
| with her. I'd be a general-we'd rule
together.
Il can't explain. ! dunno how It
| happened. ] went. That's the whole
! thing. ] went sneakin cross the fields
| with the rifle the GUY ment give me
! went against my country after twenty
| five years in harness. She was takin
| me to Das Marinas. where l was to
drill the Gugu army. That first night
we slep' at Cavite Viejo Toward
| mornin' ] woke up with the 1njin n
Greaser all out o me. II wasn't too
| late. If / could dodge the Gugu pa
trols, to get back and explain how I'd
been captured and escaped. ! got out
o the door, but l hadn't got to the
| road when the woman stood before me-
| mockin' me with her smile
" You walk your sleep, eh?' she
says, though 1 could see she knew
| what ! was thinkin' about. She
| talked and talked. and the Greas-
| er n Injin heard and come
| back. II wouldn't have done any
good il I'd gone on. She was prepared
for any backslidin and had establish
| ed guard all round. The Greaser n
| Injin had me for good then. The next
| day | was at Das Marinas. and they
! made me a full colonel and rugged me
| out in a captured Spanish uniform
which is a great treasure with them.
| ] didn't tell EN- my real name. There
| was just 'nough white man left in me
for that. / took my gran mothers
| name. Dark Cloud. My grandmother,
| / can member her sttin' in a shack
| mumblin' fortunes for peso apiece
to the Greasers.
| Bout this time the woman and /
| was married by Gugu priest. AS we
| come out o. church with crowd and
ali the iiXin's. ] noticed an old Spanish
| padre on the balcony. smilin at me, n
| smile with jaws set and eyes half
| open. Twas plain 'nough he'd seen
| some o. the world besides the Philip
| pines. The Gugus held him prisoner
| but they was half fraid of him. He
| spoke TO me IN the lingo of the Mexi-
can border. which the girl couldn't I'm
| derstand.
| - 'You-you-you mongrel he says,
| who broke the white mans faith, was
| your mother an Apache or Yaqui?
| ut seemed IL he'd come all the
way cross the seas to say that to me.
| God A mighty, How 1t went home!'
The cleverness of this little study is