The Washington times., 1901-11-03

4
| fish with the attributes of human in
| telligencee and speech, l have at
tempted to give to the subjects of
| zoology and ornirhology a real and
living interest. l have sought to
| make heroes of some of the characters
| and villains of the others
| There is one feature of this work which
! is especially interesting; it deals, as Mr.
| Grinnell explains. with creatures which
are easily studied by most of it's readers;
| and that is certainly an advantage. New
| York: Frederick A. Stokes Company.
$500
The New Americans" is book by Al
| fred Holder. who, under the name of
| Francis Walton, collaborated with JOSIAH
| tIynt in the production of Powers that
| Prey" and it is a study of American life
| conducted along somewhat original line.
| The methods are more akin to those of
| the dissecting room than to the photoGra-
| piers. AIr. Holder is not content with
picturing his characters, or even with
an1lyzing them; he reduces them to the
| last elements of their being, to find out
what they are made Of. This, in coun-
try with inhabitants as complex as ours,
is no small task
The book is clever: there is no possible
doubt about that. Its only obvious fault
thor has not much use for pronouns; he
| prefers to repeat the noun. As for syno-
nyms, he has no inclination whatever to
use them. For example, we have SEN
tences like this
He regarded them as singular ex-
amples OF wanton subtiety; 1t needed
wanton subtlety to go astray."
Or this:
They We're dead on the surface at
least. the rest Of them; they lived If
they lived at all, inside an inch of
sheil. Whatever fire of passion they
might possess was dying fire: they
We're dying from without inward; all
Dut Cecii, who died from within out
Ward-who had died long since. she
sometimes fancicd."
OF course, repetitions like this-there
are fve forms of the verb Ito die in as
many lines-such tricks of writing are not
crimes, but they are mannerisms. and il
Mr. Holder should ever become n really
great man he might find it to his interest
to cure them. Aside from this, the style
* good. The plot is complicated enough
to make it interesting and one main OBJ
1ect of the author seems to be to prove
that women have no business in any of
mems affairs, to which argument many
OF Mr.. Holders countrymen will assent
that in country like this. where every
thing is more or less chaotic. where
women inherit the tradition of independ-
enee and originality. and where they are
at least as well educated as the average
man, but without his gradually acquired
experience in practical affairs, the fem
inlne actor can get the stage manage
ment of political campaign, or anything
else, into a glorious mix: and that, some
times, with the best intentions in the
world. In his attempt to prove this very
obvious thing. however, Mr.. Holder has
himself gotten slightly entangled. The
woman whom he introduces as the exem-
pihcation of his theory is really impossi-
bic. She is represented as having tho
straightforwardness and energy Of n
man, with the subtlety of woman and
the malice of fiend, and such ladies do
not go walking about in real life. In fact,
the masculine type of woman is anything
but Machiavelli
Mr.. Holder is at his best. as regards
his women characters. in the portrayal of
type to which he is used Mamie the
conventional. emotienal, yet clever little
wife of hts hero. She alone Is quite hui
man and does not need to be explained
His Isabel seems to need a key: and his
Cecily is not interesting enough to be
worth one. Falling into the error of lau-
thors who allow themselves to become
enamored of their heroes, he has also
made his Alan Windet figure who rather
strains the cTedulity of the reader Cecil
Windet, the father, is thoroughly well
drawn; he is a type composed of few
simple lines; he is easy. So is Dora Girls
pin well drawn; she is the sort of woman
In fg Ilsrt 1r-itb
exceptions, the book is a complicated at
tempt to realize certain conceptions which
are wrecked by the authors earnest wish
to teach lesson. If he could only con-
fine himself to human nature, il IS posi-
BILE that Mr.. Holder might write 4 much
better novel than this.
But his aphorisms are almost worth the
price of admission by themselves. Here
are some Of them:
"A mans rule OF honor might be his
own; might be unrecognized by any
human being save himself; but so long
as he lived up to il. without sophisti-
cation or quibbling, he might stand
erect and answer detiantly any trum-
pet-call and any champion that fate
might send
They had both ceased to be content
of late years, hut agreed each time
they met that two dscOntents together
are less than either taken separately"
He had become expert in diminutiye
passions, and in the aspects of things
to which diminutive passions attach
themselves he had cut himself off from
everything in which passions not di-
minutive take root; he had exiled his
imagination and Intelligence when he
had supposed himself to be exiling
only his body
The main use OF universities is to
afford young princes Il place of retire
ment in which to learn in private the
difference between soap and pistache;
the published curriculum is but a
harmless necessary blind"
This last sentence is a variation Of
something said some years ago by Kip
ling; and by the way, when Mr. Holder
quotes from that author he really should
not quote from memory New York: the
Macmillan Company. $3.50
THE New Method of Health Culture"
w +. Forest, NJ. D., is a little book in
tended to teach people hCw to take care
of themselves in such a way as to pre-
vent the development of disease. or ar
rest it when it has begun. Hot water and
exercise are the main agents relied upon
for the preservation of health by the
author of this work, and while, like some
other folk with a hobby, he may go a lit
tie too far. there is no manner of doubt
that his methods would relieve innumer-
able people, particularly women, who are
now dosing themselves to death or look
ing forward with more or less dread and
discomfort to visit from the surgeon
There are in the pages of this small work
some spirited protests against the abuse
of the human body in ways common to
self-styled civilized people; and it would
be a good book TO put in any public Ii
brary. or on any private bookshelf
LNeM Nnrk: The HehlNl-CmltlIrn on