New-York tribune., 1901-10-12

with Portraits from Photographs octave. pp
37S. Harper & Bros.
The title of this volume would seem to prom
| Use narrative not altogether cheering But the
irresistible conviction of the reader he turns
from the last page is that while grief has had
its share in the history of the anonymous author
she has the whole. enjoyed life enormously
She has enjoyed it in the sense of taking the
good and the bad not simply with a brave spirit
| but with that keen zest for experience which is
one OF the happiest possessions of either man or
woman And her experience has been, above all
things, interesting; it has been more than that,
it has been exciting and romantic. The record
OF it begins a decidedly picturesque note.
The darling of her father French nobleman
rassionately devoted to sport, she introduces
herself TO the reader entering, against her
fathers wishes but strong in the pluck which
she has inherited from him. the inclosure in
which gigantic eagle is confined. We may
borrow her own description of the peisode:
Carefully and secretly approached my goal.
and, after propitiating "Fulvius'' with bit OF
raw steak-which l am sorry to confess, had
been brought thither in the pocket of my
knickerbockers-I vaulted over the railing and
walked fearlessly toward the great bird.
To my amazement the eagle dropped his prize
swapping beak and clutching talons. while his
yellow eyes turned a fierce red An unconscious
instinct of selfpreservetion made me cover my
ground; but did so IT flashed through my
little. active mind that was done for, and that
il served jolly we'll right too,
The report OF a gun, followed by q soft chok-
ing weight of warm flesh and feathers, that
covered me from head TO foot. the last I
knew. When L awoke from what must have
been a swoon I lay trembling my fathers
breast, and. looking up into his banched face
with a sense Of confusion that made my head
dizzy. murmured. feebly:
What is it ?"
II this ragment awakes expectation OF ex-
citing things TO come. a few words in IT also
pique curiosity. The authors reference to 'the
pocket of my knickerbockers' naturally calls
for explanation II is offered in the shape of
glimpse of the child's home life. with a father
who rejoiced in all things manly. and a Rus
sian mother who seems somehow to have in
spired so little sympathy in the heart OF her
daughter that the latter gravitated naturally.
even in infancy, toward constant association
with the handsome master of the house. OF
course. the innate disposition of Pierrot, she
was then called accounted for much facilitat-
ing the object of her father, who. at her birth.
disappointed al her that he appears
to have stolen some little consolation by at least
having her brought up a boy until the tenth
year Of her age. When the truth told to
her it almost broke her heart and, though this
is essentially a woman's book. written with
feminine emotion it is marked from beginning
would TO have been fixed in the writer's
nature during those early years. of free com
panonship with her father.
IT is plain that all her life long she has de-
lighted in the open air and in sport. She paints
the beautiful scenes of her youth with fresh
and vivid touch. and she relates her adventures
in a delightfully."- vigorous and animated vein.
With her courageous traits 1t is not surprising
that her narrative should contain spirited pct-
OF well of peace, in which she
figures with perfect harmony, nor does there
seem anything surprising in her story OF in
terview with the Car. in which her intercession
for two of her friends is finally successful
This whole episode is strikingly adventurous
and romantic. but MuZZi, as she was to the
Gar. and has evidently long been to her friends
sets forth her story with such obvious sin
cerity that il carries conviction The book ends
plane of sentiment, and with the implica-
ton that after much storm and stress the au-
thor has found happiness and contentment
The impression she conveys is that she has, as
the saying goes. lived a novel;. Certainly this
veracious account Of a diversified career is to
again a familiar EXPRESSION "as interesting
any novel;