The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-12-08

to marry for money and then fails to
carry our her determination because she
finds that the thought OF doing so Is too
repugnant to her. This not especially
original idea has been amplified into
volume OF nearly 4ov pages; and yet, on
the whole, we prefer. our own statement.
Nor is this entirely vanity: for We gave
the story IN three lines, and MIR. Upton
committed his chief error in not doing
the same-aG then erasing the three
lines. King Midas" is very pretentlous
and equally tiresome. It is a musical
story: that is to say. the author tells
US much of the influence Of music upon
his heroine, and ever and anon prints a
line-somctimes a full pase-of music
which is supposed to have important bear
ing upon his story and its catastrophe
This may be deep meaning for some p2r-
sons. but we are not sufficiently learned
in music to appreciate It.
OF course tie book has some good
points; it were indeed a monster IL it had
not 1t is written with a. good purpose
showing through and it is intended to
V5ct,.gl q lesson of value. But these goo6
points are so completely overlaid by the
bad that they are hardly perseptible and
are certainly not effective. at, times
there is even a certain power in the story
but it is so hampered by melodraratic
expression that it has no power to move
or thrill. Mr.. Upton may do good Wo1s
some Gay; but that day is not yet.
t.. l.. NJ.
SONS OF THE SWORD. zsy Margaret
l.. Woods Mcclure, Phillips q C,m-
pany. New York.
We had thought that the Sapoleontc
theme in fiction had been CO nrlctely eS-
hausted but in Sons OF the Sword
Mrs Margaret l.. Woods has revived It,
the great Emperor being made to play
very prominent part in the romance,
which is tale of The Peninsular war.
There is much in the story that calls
for commentator lit has more interest
than is usual in women,s war-Stor1es, 2nc
it is generally written with some force
and facility. But the revival of the Ma
poeontc theme was D. grave cror- NO
modern work or fiction dealing with Ma
poeon has been in the least successful;
a few Of those written by olGer writers.
such as Lever, were at least not fiat fall-
ures, but even they can hardly De rank
ed as successes from an artistic stand
point The reason for tht. is easy OF
discovery With all the histories and
monographs which have been written OF
the great Emperor, we are yet profoundly
ignorant of him. Even the enormous
output of Napoleonic literature which oc-
currrcd during the last decade OF the
nineteenth century left US with no more
real knowledge of its subject than we had
possessed aforetime The cause Is evil
dent. Whether he were mostly good or
evil. whether he were nearer god or Ge-
mon. it is undeniable that Napoleon was
not only the greatest of all men, but
the most many-sided; and there has been,
and can be, no man competent to see
far less to understand. all the phases OF
his character and qualities. Thus we
have always imperfect pictures OF the
great Corsican. and we can never see
the whole truth. without grasp of which
judgment is always superficial.
The picture of Napoleon is entirely out
OF drawing Fancy the great Emperor
attempting to force woman who has
strayed into his apartment. and then. in
his impotent wrath at her escape, smash
ing a chandelier like an angry child.
Eliminate Napoleon, and the rest or the
book is not bad-thoush for the heroine,
4 refunded and good woman, to use an
exclamation as "Sapristi!' is curious, to
say the least. AS it stands, the book
is q failure.
-. NJ. 3.
:.
STORIES OF TIE. COLLEGES. By
Noted Graduates. J. 3. Lippincott
Company, Philadelphia.
AS is more than implied in the name,
"otorics OF the Colleges" is Z collection
of tales Of most Of the great institutions
OF learning in America. The stories.
which are nine in number, are told by
various writer's. more or less known to
fame. Owen Wister writes OF Harvard.
Richard EIolbrook of Yale, Burton Egberr
Stevenson OF Princeton, Francis
Churchill Williams of Pennsylvania, AL
bert Payson Terhune of Columbia, Gene
raj Charles King OF West Point. Cyru.
Townsend Brady OF Annapolis, James
Gardner Sanderson of Cornell, and James
Weber Linn OF Chicago. It is a pity that
the name Of Charles FlanGrau. the au-
thor Of "The Diary Of q Freshman" was
not included in this list. Mr.. Flandrau
is decidedly the best writer OF college
stories Of hi. day. But there are good
names and good stories in the book, ano
we must be content.
General Kings story OF West Point is
not as interesting as some that he ha.
told US in the past, yet it has merit. ant
Mr. Brady's tale, OF Annapois presents
two aspects Of a very doubtful question
the rightfulness of protecting. wrong
doors at the expense of ones own career
"a Lightning Change" Mr.. Terhune's
story of Columbia. has nothing to -ecom:
mend It, while MI. Sanderson's "The
Personal Equa ton a tale of Cornell
has decided merit in several ways. Alto
gether. the book is too Unbalanced fol