The Washington times., 1901-06-30

1 scorpion, the ZOOlacal nome VI
| cal power. These lights showed little
more than tiny bright sparks, which
were reflected back and forth in hewll-
dering fashion by crystal retiectors set
at intervals. At the lower end, or tail,
i of the scorpion Narda stood motionless
for some minutes over a strangely
formed brazier, like a great chaflng
dish Into this l saw her pour oil ana
water and several powders. but am
ready to swear, set no light.
''She passed swiftly around the room,
putting out all the lamps save those OF
the sign, so that the curious emblem OF
good and evil stood out ike spark
ling, living thing, while all around
the shadows hung heavy and seemed
to crawl forward, only to be driven
back by the sharp. flashing of the crys-
tai
I'VE watched Mazda moving in the
shadows, her long white draperies Gin
and indistinct; saw her shapely arms
raised and moving now this way, now
that, but of voice there was none.
Again came the slurring chime of
the disk hand, and we saw that it held
in the House of Scorpio. At the
sound Narda turned abruptly and
seated herself in the big cushioned
chair that stood isolated on its glass
castors at the head of the flashing
sign. We could see her dimly, and
watched her long. We saw her white
robed bosom rise and fall rhythmically
till she seemed to sleep; but the ser
pent in her hair stood alert, poised
and vibrating, Its sim mead uarllnS
. reStleSsly from side to side.
How long we sat ! do not know,
but to my tense nerves, at least, the
time and the silence seemed alike in
tolerable. There was no movement.
no sound save the occasional slur of
the hand on the disk, and this seemed
to jar the whole room, so intense was
the previous silence. The silence held
TIL the sheer monotony of the thing
quieted our nerves, and l, at least.
grew drowsy as 1 sat. | believe my
head nodded and my body lurched once
and then again, then something hor-
rible came and mixed wits my half
dreaming mind, and in an instant l
was awake and straining every nerve,
while Slape gripped my wrist till the
hand hung limp and numb with the
pressure. Then it came again, a whim-
periug cry, as of a little child wall
ing just beyond the light.
II had often heard of the child cry
used in the native magic, and had been
at a loss to account for it; but now,
when l heard the lonely sound sobbing
itself out in the shadows, like a baby
soul shut out of heaven and forgotten.
/ realized the power of the thing for
horror The sound seemed to come
from the brazier, and as we bent for
ward. gazing eagerly, we saw some
thing in that brazier that was not
there bef9re-Something vague, that
moved and Topped helplessly around;
and then again came the whimpering
cry
The eeriness of the thing is beyond
most imaginative creations, and 1t is
refreshing to find that Mr.. Kempster
makes no attempt to explain the per-
formance. CNew York: Quail & Warner.
S25.)
THE Abandoned Farmer" by Sydney
II. Preston, is book purporting to deal
with the struggles of a literary man to
Ta,-y In, ha fr1-s TSTieGV
the man, his wife, and his small son are
three nincompoops of a peculiar and dis
tinct species. The farmer Peter Way
dean, who runs the place, not on shares,
but for the produce-and bonus. is OF
another variety of the same species. The
characters are, altogether, a collection OF
idiots not to be matched outside John
Kendrick Bangs museum.
The hero of the book seems to be prin-
cipally engaged in turning round and
round before the reader and eXclaiming,
in the language of the Laird in 'Trilby,
''Voyla lespayce de hom ker jer swee!
The kind of man he is may be seen from
this description of his only and idolized
son:
Paul up to this time, fortunately
!. for our peace of mind, had been spared
the ordinary illnesses and accidents of
childhood indeed, so carefully had he
been guarded that at the age of six ne
had never tasted unboiled water, un-
sterilized milk or unhygienic bread,
and although he had learned to walk
upstairs by himself, had never de-
scended alone except when an anxious
parent stood breathlessly at the foot OF
the stairs ready to break possible
fall. An ordinary child might nave
rebelled or eYaded our watchfuiness,
but Paul was not an ordinary child,
and he was preternaturally anxious
to avoid danger and keep US up 10 the
mark. His active little mind ferreted
out supposititious disasters with
alarming realism until our nerves were
unstrung By the constant effort 10
guard against the possible calamities
that he suggested
There are enough parents Of this type
I'm real life without infiicting them upon
the public in books. This is cruelty to
animals (New York: Charles Scribner' S
Sons. sL25)
Gods Puppets is a story Of old New
York by ImOgen Clark. 1t is not of ex-
traordinary originality. but the plot is
new, the characters somewhat novel, and
the romance carefully worked out. The
heroine is an English girl, the beauty and
toast of the town, and something of q
madcap; the hero an English officer.
Sharing the interest of the reader is an
other heroine, Annette -Ryersson, pure
little Dutch girl, as fresh and winsome as
one of the flowers In her own garden,
and her character and that Of her faith
er, the old dominic, are quaint and touch
ing creations The atmosphere of the
time and place are skillfully reproduced.
One seems to be living in the New York
of the mid-years of the eighteenth CEN
tury CNew York: Charles Scribner' S
Sons. s1-50)
"Voysey," by r. o. Prowse, is story
of modern London life, with a decidedly
decadent favor about It. The hero is a
cad and the heroine Is whatever the femi-
nine of that word may be. Briefly, Voy-
sey is a literary individual with the ar
tistic temperament, and in search of
amusement he enters into liaison with
a limited uhe word is the authors OWN
middle-class Englishwoman. Emily's lin
ftations are indeed, the keynote of the
tale. They stand out all over it, and SO
do those of the hero, though of this he
is not aware. The book is squalid in its
sentiment commonplace in it's atmos-
phere, and generally about as unwhole-
some as a dissecting room. To realists
like Mr. Moore or Mr.. Gissing it may
possess the same charm which a skillful
surgical operation has for surgeon; but
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