The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-03
Minor Fiction.

Henry Iliowizi, a Jewish rabbi with a his
tory as unusual as his book. He passed
his boyhood in Russia and Roumania, was
educated at Frankfort, Berlin, and Bres-
lau London. and Paris, and became a
Jewish missionary in Morocco, where he
picked up the nine stories which make UP
the contents of this volume. They are an
added proof of the fact that only in re-
cent years have we gotten at the life of
the Orient, its strange, dreamy legends
and superstitions, its weird fancy. its half
mythical history, at anything like first
hand. In these stories the reader comes
very close to the original. Mr.. Iliowizi
claims to have gotten the greater part of
them from one of those wanderers to be
found only in the East, yakoub Masek by
name, ex-Parsee. ex-Buddhist, ex-Moham-
medan, with hay idea of becoming n
member of the Church of Rome The au-
thor says of him in the introduction:
Like Marco Polo. Malek was the most observing
of travellers. and his adventures embraced encoun-
/ tiers with monstrous brutes communion with
spirits in the desert of Cobb !airbreadth escapes
from cyclonio storms, shipwrecks, venomous rep
( tiles, cannibals. and handitti. In the Western
Hemisphere Mlek would pass for transcendcn-
tai spiTituaiist. claiming. he did to hold in
tercourse with the spirits of his parents, espc-
cialiy with that Of his father. One dark evening
finger. all dried and shriyeed. He had taken it
off steathily from the right hand of his fathers
dead bodv sttcs - -::it;Ires had denuded il OF
flesh, it being the religious custom OF the Par
sees to expose their dead to the voracity OF thai
carrion bird for which purpose, is well
known their towers Of silence constructed.
That singular rite has its origin in the Zoroas-
THAN idea that earth is holy and must not be
polluted by the decay of human iesh. As often
rs long 10 see my father. hold this bone closed
in NY right hand and shut my eyes, when 10!
! him rise from the realms of the invisible,
ready 60 communicate with ne in whispers aud
The to my soul. asserted the Oriental with
mystic glow in his eye.
The first of the stories is particularly in
terestinR as being a version of the story
OF the Wandering Jew. antedating by
some hundreds of years the Christian era,
and tracing the Jews crime to the making
of the golden calf worshiped by the chill
dren OF Israel. Every hundred years, it is
said. the culprit returns. a decrepit old
man. to the scene of his transgresson.
where he Is changed into youth once
more; and those who come in contact with
him. especially those who touch him. dur
ing his wanderings are likely to experience
some calamity. .'Sheddads Palace of
Irem' is a wonderfully weird and dream
like piece of fancy, and may have had its
origin in the mirage of the desert. In the
succeeding tales. fairies, genii, and de-
mons figure as they Do in the famous
stories OF Scheherazade. In fact this book
with its fascinating glimpses of the true
Oriental Imagination. may well be called
an appendix TO the Arabian Nights The
illustrations are thoroughly suited to the
text. philadelphia: Henry T. Coates &
Co. $500
MT
Newcomb, is a story of the airship of the
future and has an added interest from be-
ing the first novel ever written by man
with worldwide reputation as an as
tronomer and mathematician. The tech
meal descriptions save an air of realism
which would be impossible of attainment
by anyone except a man who really knew
his ground in all matters relating to cleo
trical devices and atmospheric conditions
Aside from this, the book is thoroughly
interesting In itself. The theme is not
new one-in fact, it has been handled by
all grades OF fiction writers at one time
and another-but this is certainly far and
away the best book ever written in this
line The plot is well constructed, the in
terest is sustained to the very end, the
descriptions are vivid. and the political
consequences of the invention, If made In
the circumstances described, are well rea-
soned out There is little character-draw-
ing In the novel, the interes- being mainly
such as attaches to a story OF political and
scientific adventure. The author seems to
have grudge against the New York
Herald reporters of which are made to
figure in the story in most unenviable
way. The Emperor of Germany is also
made character in the tale, and not
particularly dignifed one. The story OF
the disarming of the German troops and
the capture of the Emperor is one of the
best bits of work in the book. New
York: Harper & Bros. sl.50)
"Peccavi," by E. W. Hornung, is a pa
thetic, or rather tragic, stcry unrelieved
by any humor, and interesting purely as a
study of characteristic character of one
man. As such il is a strong and fascinat-
ing book. The scene is laid in an English
country village, and in the opening chap
ter the young, brilliant, and popular rec
tor is convicted of fragrant offence
against the laws of society. The author
has undertaken the daring project IF max
Ing this man not only acceptable to the
reader but hero; and he has succeeded
1t is essentially a latter-day novel for the
characteristic OF the HlOdtFn romance,
which differentiates ii from that of pre-
vious generation, is its exaltation of com
mon or unherolc or deeply SHINING charac-
ters. On the one hand. the novelist of to-
dav deals with the utterly commonplace:
on the other, with men and women who
have committed what society calls excep-
tinnal sins This is perhaps an outcome
of the new interest in psychological and
sociological problems, and of the broader
and more liberal ethical beliefs OF today.
In this ease the hero while he has COM
mitted one of those sins which ordinarily,
and Justly, make man an outcast from
decent society, redeems himself through
his innate honesty, his courage, and his
determination to atone for his sin in every
nossible way. The circumstances are also
mitigating factors in the problem. The
hook is thoroughly original. and the au-
thor has done we'll with his peculiar ma
teriaI New York: Charles Scribners
Sons. sl.50)
MRS. CLYDE" by Julien Gordon. is de-
scrtbed I'm the publishers note as. "a trib-
ute to noble woman" and book which
pictures life as 1t was and is in New