Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-01-17
COMMENT And CRITICISM.
They never taste who always drink;
They always talk who never think.

The genial "Autocratn remarked one
morning at the breakfast table that
Conversation which ia suggestive
rather than argumenlutive, which let's
out the most of each takers results Of
thought, is commonly the rleasantest
and most profitable. v M
There is much wisdom In this OBJ
ervation, and one who takes pleasure
In conversational intercourse alas
there are very few Of him, and recog-
nizes with Puhlius Syrus that
Speech Is mirror OF tho SOUL
cannot fail to accept 1t with grateful
ness commensurate with its truth,
giving as It does concrete expression TO
principle of verbal communication
that is at once the delight and the
profit In the interchange OF ideas by
word Of mouth. Many of us have had
occasion to know that 1t is in the
Charybdis Of insufferable contention
and reiteration the would-he converse.
tionalist is SO often wrecked; though
there is another feature OF CONVERSE
tion equally liable to abuse indeed,
probably more SO, and that IS the
matter OF detail. We meet with tire.
some liberties in this direction in
novels more frequently than elsewhere,
Notwithstanding that from time i'm.
momorial-to crib favorite expression
Of Mr.. Andrew Lang mo- elists have
recognized the danger of dwelling at
too great length upon descriptive and
explanatory minutia ip the oonversa.
tional bouts between their imaginary
characters. But very few have been
able to avoid vt altogether. even where
there was the possession of exceptional
skill in literary construction. The
temptation is to burden conversational
remarks with material that properly
belongs to the authors descriptive
accompaniment. 1T being much more
difficult to write straight narrative
that Will not be tiresome, and inglaft
upon 1t appropriate conversations. than
to let the characters talk out the whole
thing
There are some novelists. however,
who err IN the opposite direction. In
their anxiety TO eliminate burdensome
detail they overlook the requirements
OF common sense Aiming at sug-
gestivenees they fall into unintelligible-
ness. And therein lies the trouble with
Mrs. Flora Annie Steel and "The
Hosts Of the Lord"-.or, If / had had
the privilege of naming that book, The
Hosts Of Obseurity and Fiddle de.
tee This is the way it begins:
Understand or course you don't.
don't, though I've bean here two
years. And what's more don't want
20, retorted rather understood Eng
lishman, whose white drill suit made
him look like stem to the huge inush-
room of pith hat which he wore.
Despite this protection his face WAS
brown exceedingly and iaintly wrinkled
through sheer exposure to sun bright,
sun dried air. The fact enhanced the
monkey type OF his features, and made
his clear, light-blue eyes-so set that
they we're shadowless below and cav
ernous above quite aggressiyely
cool, inquisitive, intelligent.
so long as We dou't understand
them," he went on, land they don't
understand US. we jog along the same
path amicahly, like well 4 like the
pilgrims to the cradle OF the gods,
and the telegraph posts to the adjutant.
generals office UP the road yonder-aud
I'll trouble you to cram mure space
than that between two earthly poles
No! IL is when We begin to have glim-
| merings that the deuce and all comes
in" He paused in the molten gold OF
sunlight, &c.
Now where is the sense in all thisY
What is the understood Englishman''
talking about and where is he talking.
or course, those who make it bust
ness TO read Mrs. Steel's novels will at
once divine that this stem to a pith
hat is in India, but how about the
uninitiated? | fancy they will read
such chapter headings as "A Shadow"
Under Currents, THE Worlds
Desire" Failing Stars" "OuJ of
the Past p" Wheels within Wheels, /"
AT the Gates 'Oh! Dem Golden
Slippers ~ Echoes" 1.-THE Pivots of
Lite" Dawn" and give up in hope
less despair of ever fathomlng the in
tricate depths OF her melodramatic and
inooherent text.
The scene is laid in Eshwsra, where
40 advance detachment of the Hosts
OF the Lord -Sahib--presunably the
British Empire-are digging3 canal,
| or reservoir, or lake = for the life of me
l could not make out which-some.
thing in the digging line, at ali events.
as there is reference to Fifteen nun.
| dred sooundrels" kept at a constant
| digging for the double purpose Of
digging and keeping their minds off
| the enjoyments that might follow a
mutiny. There is also another ubioot
in keeping them a.digging, but that il
not clearly brought out. The principle
characters are a missionary miss, a
half breed misc, married woman, a
society cad 10 a dashing uniform, a
native officer and his dirty mother, a
handsome young baronet, an eccentric
priest, srndry Indian servants, and "A
pretty good sort of doctor the afors
said stem to pith hat. These are the
leading actors In love story, an assas
sination, and Jail breaking. One
gathers from the mass Of faulty de.
scriptiou and random conversation that
the married woman falls in love with
the cad while her husband is Watching
the fifteen hundred scoundrels dig, that
the cad carries on a siokening Irritation
with the half-breed girl and holds in
eliminating meetings with her in a bal
cony, where she is shot IN srror by the
Jealous native officer who had Intended
to Kill the cad, that the handsome
young baronet persnades the missionary
mi to discard her missionary lover to
whom she had become engaged In d
moment of religious enthusiasm, and
that, finally, alter death bed marriage
between the cad and the half-breed
girl, mutiny, a spectacular sword
| duel between the priest and the native
| oft1cer, in which the latter is appro-
priately killed, there is an end, nm
happy for everyone save the missionary
miss and her baronot
Now what lovely tale! Yet, Mrs.
Steel has many admirers. Well, SO has
Mrs. Atherton, for that matter.
1t would be unjust, however. NOT tn