The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-20
CIRCUMSTANCE. BY S. Weir Mitchell

CIRCUMSTANCE. BY S. Weir Mitchell.
The Century Co., New York.
DR.. Mitchell terms his new book Cir
cumstance'': ana it is hard to say that
he was not inspired when he named it.
It is purely circumstantial; it is con-
glomeration Of events which have TO
particular excuse for existence in the
form of fiction. which begin nowhere and
lead nowhither. DR.. Mitchelis chief ana
pet character is an adventuress-one Mrs
Hunter. She is strictly, conventional, eX-
cept that she does not smoke cigarettes.
An adventures Who does not smoke ci-
garettes is an anomaly in fiction. and
thus far Mrs. Hunter IS original. Other
wise, she is very bad indeed; 1T is even
stated of her that ..she had no belief in
doctors-bad or good" and one can read
lily understand how this was a damnlng
circumstance in the eyes of DR.. Mitchell
and is put in the book in order to show
the total depravity of the lady in ques-
ton. She has, however, redeeming
trait adventuresses always do have re-
deeming traits. and generally this con-
sists in love for a brother or sister, In
Mrs. Hunters case it is the former, and
the brother is. of course. scapegrace
The lady ambles through the story, max
ing herself and things in general as dis
agreeable as she can. which is the way
of adventureSSeS in fiction from time I'M
memorial. OF course. there is the eXcep-
ton of the old man whom she fasclnates.
who in DIR. NIitchell's book is named
Fairthorne and whom she tries to poi
son at the emo. However, Mr.. Fairthorne
dies just as he is about to drink the pol
son. which is considerable of him. but
seems to serve no possible purpose in the
story.
The remainder of the personages are
only TO be described as deadly dull, and
in their depletion lies. as we think.
charge of SANDER against DR.. Mitchell.
since he claims that they are representa-
tives of Philadelphia society There is
no special story. the book being entirely
fashionable in this respect We have
never heard DR.. Mitchell accused of any
especial elegance of style and he has in
circumstance" given no ground for such
accusation. +. l.. NJ
A1ARNA'S MUTINY. BY Mrs. Hugh
Fraser Do0d Mead & Co., New York
..Marna's Mutiny' is a story of Japan,
but it is very far from being Japanese
story The characters are European,
and except for mere mise en- scene. the
reader would rarely realize that he is
reading Q wor. of fiction that pretends
to deal with another civilization than
that which is familiar to us. This is no
detriment to the interest of the novel:
rather, we mention it only to prevent pu-
tative readers Of the book from Icing
affrighted by the thought that they are
to be given wearisome descriptions or
life ana manners among the japanese.
'sNIarna,s NIutin,'' is rather above the
average novel of the day. Marina, the he
roine of the story. is a bright and oe-
ter1rined little body, whom we soon learn
to like for herself and whose occasional
vagaries of act and speech we readily
forgive Betty. however, is decidedly
! 1,,1 limo
few Beetles, though very rarely one
who after years of attempt at Self-Sale
to a sufficiently high bidder. retained the
capacity for true feeling, as does the Bet
ty of the story. kilmorack. the chie1
male. character of the novel, ls-oh, Well,
he is a man drawn by woman. ana
therefore entirely out of drawing when
if comes to the suhtleties of delineatlon:
b11t he is no worse than the average OF
such portraits, and will be accepted by
most women readers at least. as being
true to nature. The rest OF the charac-
tiers are slight and make little impress
sion: though we fancy that Mrs. Now
BRAY was rather a favorite creation with
the author. We like the book as
whole. contrasting it with others of great
er pretensons which we have read TINS
autumn and we recommend it to such OF
our readers as read entirely for amuse-
ment. .. ~.
THE STRIKING HOURS. By Eden
Phillpotts: Frederick a. Stokes Com
pany New York.
"The Striking Hours" is a volume of
short stories. or rather sketches. most
Of them told autobiographcally by one
of the actors in the incident described,
and all but one written in the dialect pc
cuiar to the part of Devon which is the
scene of the story. The book takes its
title from quotation from DR.. Martin
eau. God has arranged thee chro-
nometry of our spirits that there shall be
thousands of silent moments between
the striking hours and the applicability
of the title is at once discernible. There
are fourteen tales in the collection, vary
ing greatly in merit and interest. but all
possessing a certain charm which is diff
fcult of definition. Perhaps the best
of the collection is that called The Red
Rose" but "Ano+ her little Heat tn Hound,
and THE DEVILS Tight-Rope' are all
most as good in their varying ways.
Mr.. Phillpotts stories are all of a quiet
type. even though some of them deal with
battle. murder. and sudden Death. The
patlos of the book IS. as a whole, better
than the humor thereof. but the latter
quality is by no means lacking and is
not of the bludgeon sort that wearies