New-York tribune., 1901-10-27
LIGHT FREIGHTS BY W. W. Jacobs With
Illustrations. Emo, PIP. go Dodd, Mead & Co.


selves for while the author has more than one
capable rival she has communicated ALWAYS to
her work a certain individual quality All this
has prepared US TO look with special interest into
her new book, a novel of Colonial times. The
Tory Lover" does not quite demonstrate that
the author has been we'll advised to make the
transition from a field in which she moves with
the ease of perfect familiarity to one in which
she is practically stranger. Though she has
written novel before this one she has been at
her best in the brief commemoration of episodes,
in the delneatiOn Of a single type involved in
some small situation. Compelled in the writing
OF this book TO spread the action over a good
many pages, she has been at loss for material
and fills UP with talk long stretches that ought
to be filled with incident. There is some excite
nnent, it is true. The hero begins by rousing the
wrath of his neighbOrs in NewEngand through
allowing them to believe that he is faithful to
Tory principles. Then to please the heroine he
ships in the Ranger. accompanying Paul Jones TO
Europe on the other side of the water he gets
into trouble not of his making. is un-
Justly suspected of treachery and ultimate
ly lands in a British prison. Miss Jewett
succeeds in interesting US in these matters, 5ut
only mildly; her plot is thinly constructed. md
she has failed to breathe into It the ebullient
spirit necessary to conceal its attenuation. on
the other hand there is a winning simplicity
and freshness about the book; the author could
not help but lend 10 ii something Of that sincere
and appealing tone which distinguishes her best
work. She has strayed from her true inspira-
ton. but she has carried with her the charm Of
her individuality as a writer.
The author of The Black Tortoise" writes Of
a Norwegian Sherlock Holmes. detective who
is called in to investigate burglary falls n
love with a niece Of the owner Of the house.
and presently finds himself confronted with
situation in which his beloved drives him quite
distracted by seeming to be guilty of a serious
crime. Mr.. VilIer uses all the latest expedients
Of the novelist Of crime \ photograph plays
an important part in the narrative. Since he is
scientific it is surprising that he has
burglar proof building Of size erected
within thirty days in the garden of old Frick.
from whom the diamond ornament known as
the Black Tortoise is stolen; but perhaps IN
Norway the builders do these things In
the elaboration of his plot the author is. the
whole. exceedingly ingenious. He produces a
knotty problem for our bewilderment, and keeps
pretty we'll puzzled until most of the chap
ters have been read MeIodramatic in some of
its phases. The Black Tortoise nevertheless
proceeds along fairly credible lines. and the
story is told in natural. effective manner.
new book by Zack is a joy If the epthet
Hld4 bc uScu NIlttt uCllOn OF cruel SaQnt IS Is
concerned. Tales of Dunstable Weir is a joy
because it is a genuine book because the author
of it has her finger the heartstrinss OF
human beings and knows how to establish a
bond of sympathy between her characters and
her reader which all the protests in the world
against unnecessary pain cannot invalidate
Besides Miss Keats is willing to let the human
spirit smile through its tears At the bitterest
moments If the humble tragedies with which
she deals her hUmor bubbles up and keeps the
balance true. 1t is a curious streak of humor
seeming less the quality Of an author. acting
upon her material than the essential Whim-
scality residing in that material The fun is
not hers, she tacitly says but the fun that her
hardWorn peasants make with inviolable
gravity, relating their sad experiences in words
chosen at once with such absurdty ana such
good faith that they provoke not laughter but
the tenderest and most compassionate of smiles.
Sometimes the knife goes with such ineXorable
force the bone that one almost winces.
"Crookse' and The Sisters hauntngly
poignant the sort OF stories that seem to throw
4 shadow across life. But il is a shadow that
is worth while, nasmuch it is bound To
quicken sympathy for unhappy souls. The
book is full of that dialect which Zack employs
with such artless precision and suppleness that
il completely justifes itself y work of art is
this book. of art nourished by real knowledge
of life.
Mr. Jacobs has hit upon happy title for his