The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14
Minor Fiction.

| "A Maryland Manor Is a novel by
| Frederic Emory, and, as the title indi-
Gates. it deals with the plantation life of
| the South. The place is the tidewater
district of Maryland, the time that of the
| civil war. Unlike most such books, how
| ever this one contains little mention of
the war or of politics in general, and is
not partisan. Its interest centres in the
| play of emotion and the development of
| character.
| There is a plot which is constructed with
| considerable cleverness and the move
ment of the story is spirited. The heroine
1 is a charming Maryland girl, daughter of
! the owner of the Manor and the hero the
son of a planter, her old playfelow and
neighbor and not at all the conventional
! type of hero of a Southern novel. With
| out being so much of a departure from
| tradition as TO appear bizarre, Basil Kent
! is a Southerner of a new type in fiction,
| and one which is both manly and adnlira-
! BILE. Among the characters is the son of
an overseer who, by push, shrewdness,
! and unscrupulousness, has amassed much
/ property and wishes to push himself and
! his university educated son into society;
! and it is rather evident from the way in
which the author manages this character
! that he believes most thoroughly in the
old proverb, Blood will tell However,
| he is impartial; though the Iow-born up
! start is one villain, there is an aristo-
| cratic scamp of very much blacker dye;
! and the adventures who appears on the
scene under his protection is of as new
! type as the hero. The conception of the
story is extremely clever, and If the au-
| thor had been as careful Of his style
throughout as he is in some places the
when one comes across such page of
mixed pronouns as there is in the first
chapter it cannot but mar the general eff
feet. There are several paragraphs of
| sentences constructed on the plan of this
one:
From early childhood. he had suf-
feTed keenly from his clumsy efforts
TO use him as means of exploiting
himself
| OF course, with careful attention to the
! context, the reader can manage to dis
entangle these various specimens of the
! third person singular, masculine, and at
! tach each to its proper character, but as
| it stands it is more or less like Chi
nese puzzle Mr.. Emory should get
rhetoric and study that subject before he
writes another book. (New York: Fred
erick A. Stokes Company. $125)
The Curious Career of Roderick Camp
| bell by Jean n. Mcilwraith, is the
| spiciest. raciest bit of historical fiction
! which has appeared for a long while.
It is alive all the way through, and fun
of the Groom of the pipes, and the smell
of Canadian baIsam, and the CLINT of steel.
! There is something about the book which
is original, refreshing, and wholesome.
but one cannot quite determine what it
is during the reading The tale in itself
! is too absorbing.
| Roderick Campbell is not at all the ordi-
nary hero of a historical novel, and those
! who expect that this one will some day
be dramatized, with some one of the mat
inee stars Of the day appearing as Rode
| rick viii not live TO see their wish realized
If they live a thousand years. The Camp
bell of this story is Highland piper, fat,
unromantic, fifty years old, and of so
philosophic turn of mind that he fights
indiffercntly on either side of any cause,
and appears successfully for Prince
Charlie and for the King. His spouse is
a fishwife, and her tongue has inspired
him with a radical hate OF all women,
which he nevers gets over. This is pref
ty hero for novel of the Jacobte upris-
ing!
All the same, the taciturn Roderick
somehow inspires the reader with a gen
uine liking for him long before the tale
is done, whether he be marching calmly
into Manchester, with one camp follower
and tame blackbird, to drum up recruits
for the prince, all alone. before that royal
knight-errant's ragamuffin army appeared
on the scene TO dishearten the Jacohites;
joining the Black Watch to save his skin;
firing the stable of two Wing maiden la
dies, to save refugee from capture; or