The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-20
FICTION.

SHE STANDS ALONE. BY Mark Ash
ton. l.. C. Page & Co.. Boston.
Mr. Ashton has written an excellent-in
some respects an dmirable-work of its
class From a literary standpoint the
book has some dement's which are ia
tai to claim of high standing; it is at
times slow in narrative. tame in Incl
dent, and utterly inadequate in style:
but. such work as this cannot be viewed
only from literary standpoint Pur-
pose and tendency of thought must be
considered in q book which has evident
aim; and in these respects Mr.. Ashton.
with the exception of some narrowness,
deserves great praise. If there is but lit
tie depth in his thought, it is always
high and clear and the -"1gious por-
lions of the book are reverently and
quietly handled with no mint of sensa-
. tionalis,r, that bane of too many writ
ers of religious fiction. ''She Stands
Alone is very far from being on the
plane of Ben. Hur." with which it nat
urally comes into comparison; but it is
no less earnest and dignfied in treatment
than Wallace's masterpiece. Especially
good are the scenes which are laid in
Britain. though the chapter entitled "Eu-
phrosyne's Dream is the finest in the
book. 3. T. p.
THE CAVALIERS. BY George w. Ca
BILE Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
1.-The Cavalier is not good work; it is
eXasperatingly4 bad work. .EXasperating-
", because the story gives constant OPP
.portunty for#fexcelient results and eff
fleets, and there are occasional touches
which show ltow55AIr. Gable could have
written the book most admirably, if only
he had not been possessed of some de-
mon which nullified every conception
and brought. it to naught. And it is off
ficult to define the nature of the fault.
One feels that the story should be inter-
Eestng,. and yet it lacks interest; that the
characters are we'll drawn, and yet they
are vague and shadow: that the con-
versation is BRIGHT and clever. and yet
it leaves the mind perfectly blank of i'm
preston. Perhaps the trouble lies in a
sense of hurry and uncertainty: Mr. Ca
bic seems himself to have had no real
grasp of either his incidents or charac-
tiers. and SO is unable to give impression
of them to create any illusion The first
portion of the story is especially vague
to us. even incomorehensible: we could
follow neither conversation nor incident
with any grasp Of their relation to one
another.
The story is of q portion of the war in
Mississippi and the herO-though not he
who tells the story-is one Ned Ferry, who
is at the head Of an organization called
L Sliy , tcSoutS. VIC &c IVA dA,i W.
again told that these scouts are very re-
markable men: but they never do any
thing. so far as we can see. Ferry him
self is intended for a noble character:
and so he may be, if we could only I'M
derstand him. The other chief character
is a woman-Charlotte Oliver-a SPY. in
the service of the Confederacr. who is
beloved by Ferry and loves him in re-
turn. But she is unhaDoily married and
hence arise OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the ex-
act nature OF these complications is hid
den from us. There is plenty of fight
ing in the book. but it all seems pur-
poseless. Charlotte's husband. by the
wav. is twice supposed to be dead and
twice reappears: and his final fate is an
outrage unon the readers feelings and
creduity Mr.. Cable must do better work
than this if his ensmies are not to tr-
umph. NJ. c. P. A.