New-York tribune., 1901-12-01


,1Ps v1GGs OF, THE CABBAGE PATCH % BY
Alice Caldwell Hogan 12mo' pP i'' nc O@"
tury Company.
STORIES FROM NC McLUREsi5 1n si Mcclure, noHura Phil
lips K Co.
When Miss Silberrad published The f-nchanl-
cr" her first book, it was plalh lid' d ne"
nlent deserving of encouragemcht'' hau i'
,pon the horizon of current fiction Nhei' 'ii
ter a time The Lady of Dreams apPeaieu' -
caused some dubiety among the au'hof 'u
,oirers as to whether she was going to make the
nast of her gifts not Now, IN 1rlhCe9"
t,,,cl, q" che reassures us The book is almost
.,s good as The Enchanter.' II it is not quite
so good it is because Miss Silherrad Allows hei
self to drift and then, into ra'hei a.
fetal and affected ways For eNilihlie, SLY ~
describes the heroine, who is stli II. her teens
she stood a little brown figure IN the loheis
5 har whole soul going out to the great
mother Earth her heart filed with PaSaoi,''
inarticuIate gladness. % God" she said no"
Good how good IT all isr Now, we refuse 10
believe that little girls, no matter no" ei"S.i
a,5 clover ever indulge n such soliloquies- "A
1;t.la sansa of hurnor would perhaps nave SdEeu
Miss Sflherrad from This false touch ana 4 le"
others like it. But she can conquer hei Wv"
literary indiscretions princess fuch' III Sl'''
Of IFS blerrfshes gives US an extremely Fi'iu anu
attractive portrait Of n most oflSli'hl 49,
1ady pT ti''i7''
scene would deny her this title, for her uh-
conventional ways to them merely SHOCKING
-. Miss ciIIerrad and her readers know bel-
+.r They nerccive that the somewhat hoEdeh-
ish Wilhelmina, otherwise known as Bill may
do reckless things, may soil her garments o'''
her work in the garden, and may use Siue'
s,racb h,1t is at bottom a girl of genuinely
sweet and even noble nature The b"oh has
something of a plot, involving the disentansie-
rlent of certain properties from legal conp!lc%t-
tions and the shifting of certain sums of money
from various hands to various others Bill
in the long run, finds herself in distinctly o'i-
ferent situation from that to which she seems
at first destined to be assigned. Still, the merit
of the book resides almost entirely In us poF-
traiture of personality worth knowing. N
this regard Miss Sberrad seems. on the "hoIe.
10 have recovered the aptitude and the sym
uathv which she first disclosed. and we look ior-
ward with renewed confidence TO more interest
ing work from her hani-
The two rather long short stories selected for
the second volume in that series Of TRANSACTIONS
from Signora Natidc Serao which we believe
il is the intention Of her American publishers
to put before the public are in some respects
more acceptable than the novel given in the
initial volume. The Land Of Cockayne,' i'm
pressiye as il was in it's veracious transcription
Of certain phases Of Neapotan life. was op-
pressive through its extreme sombreness and
squalor. The Ballet Dancer" and "on Guard
are both intensely sad stories. but somehow |
they are more human; reads them with |
grave sympathy, but docs not feel the Pre- s
sure Of pain unnecessarily inflicted. The first
Of the tyo tales treats Of poor dancer. plain
and not more than ordinarily competent III her
profession in whose heart only good and
COURAGEOUS sentiments cherished, but
who is driven by circumstance and weak
ness of will into unfortunate paths, EN-
actly what her end may be Signora Serao leaves
US to infer She does not paint whole llf"s
history in this narrative, she simply gives US
elnnpscs into a bitter experience of type,
and 50 leaves it. SO far ii is carried, the
record seems profoundly true, despite the melo-
dramatic note which it is abruptly broken
Off and it is profoundly interesting. "On Guard"
is a wofully pathetic story. Tho scene is laid
in an Italian prison and the chief actors are a
young parricide, prison governor remarkable
for his humane principles, his timd wifc-who
shrnks from the doIefuI implications Of the life
going on about her-and their ang child be
tween whom and the murderer aforesaid a
curious affection springs up. The child dies
and the convict meets terrbI" fate 1t is all
heartrendingly sad; but this story, like the
other in the book is nevertheless worth
reading.
Mrs. Wigs Of the Cabbage Patch" sketches