The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-12-01
G. Bernard Shaw. Herbert S. Stone

A new and revised edition OF Cashel
Byron's Profession" by G. Bernard
Shaw, has just been issued. The oook
was originally published some fifteen
years ago, and then attracteu some at
tention in America, though it fell rather
fiat in England, Notwithstanding the TACT
that Stevenson thought well enough OF 1t
to make fun OF it. tt is question
whether the republication is a good, thing
for Mr.. Shaws reputation Cashel
Byron's Profession" is a book which It is
| a little difficult to understand Super
fcally, it is the story of a young. fellow
OF good birth who, by force of circum-
stances, became a prize-fighter, rose to
eminence in his profession" met very
unconventional and rich young woman OF
| the Upper Ten fell in love with her
and finally won her in despite of his pur-
suits, though partly by grace Of his in
heritance of a title. This is the outer
! aspect of the story: but it is difficult to
decide how far Mr.. Shaw meant to be
taken seriously. There is no doubt that
the book is largely a satire; but there is
a provoking seriousness about it at
| times, which seems to imply that III some
portions of the story the author was in
earnest. Mr.. Shaw has given us in the
new edition a preface which contains &
great many words and tells us very lit
! tie; and this seems to be his purpose.
The book stands to US altogether as 4
conumdrun, but it is one switch we hard
| ~ think worth much trouble in solving.
| It is clever in parts, wearisome in 9TH
| ers, and the cleverness Is hardly suftr
GENTLY compensatory for the wearisome-
ness. J. H.
THE PORTION OF LABOR. BY Mary
T. Wilkins. Harper, & Brothers, New
| York
1.-THE Portion Of Labor" as its name
implies, deals with the lot of the work
ing classes. The scene is laid in a New
England manufacturing town, and there
are many characters from different
grades of life. All are equally wooden
| and some are fortunately impossible. Ell
len Brewster, the heroine, is the daugh-
ter of wcrkingman. and is herself a
| working girl for time. She is through
out stacy ana unreal. and the sympathy
which the author tries to awaken for
Ellen is not forthcoming She is loved
| by two mer-one a factory hand and the
other the son of the owIer of one of the
| mills. .'Ec latter becc mes himself a
| master, and his reduction. Of wages-for
| a cause hich is best left to the discov-
| cry of reaGers-brings about a strike. in
which Ellen is the prime mover. How
ever, all things are patched up at last
and Robert, the young, man OF means.
weds Ellen. There is not much, of a
story in the book. and the 'cfaracteriza-
| ton is amateurish in the extreme: the
whole thing reads like maiden effort.
But we know that it is not that, but
rather Miss Wilkins matured style. We
| wish that she would return to "the days
of her youth. NJ. c. P. A.
LOVE sIDYLLS. BY S. r. Crockett.
Dodd, Mead & Company, New York.
Whatever be his fault as writer, Mr..
Crockett is always entertaining. He is
dreadfully prolific, and facility of pro-
ductiou nearly always results in weart-
someness to the reader if not in weari-
ness to the author; but MI. Crockett
seems to have found the secret of how
to write novel monitor Whereabouts
and yet make Their, all alive with In
terest. His stories are generally excit-
ing; but their merit, as it seems to US.
lies in their exquisite love-sceres. AS a
love-maker-We mean, of course, in fic-
tion-we have no knowledge Of his actual
ability in this direct.on-Mr. Crockett is
hardly surpassed by any writer of whom
we have knowledge. His scenes of love
are always full of sentiment, yet are. never
sentimental; and to keep such scenes full
of the one quality yet free from the other
is a matter of no small difficulty. In
his latest work, Love Idylls," MIR. Crock
EFT. because of his ability in this respect,
might be expected to be at his best. We
do not find him so, though he is Very good
indeed; but it looks to us as if when he
deliberately set himself to do that which
he does so admirably as an incident of
his work Mr.. Crockett became a little
embarrassed and over-conscious. He does
not write with his accustomed dash aud
freedom; he seems to be seeking after
a goal which evades him, aud this elusive
ness of purpose results in a certain vagt a-
ness of outline instead OF the bold Strokes
with which our author usually paints.
Nevertheless, Love -IGylls'' is an ex-
ceedngly pleasant book. Mr.. Crockett
depicts widely varying phases OF love.
and his stories, of which two are oflength
sufficient to entitle them to be classed as
novelettes. are told with much Of the old
charm. OF his characters. Little Ger
tru6 Richter, the heroine OF 1.-THE Count
and Little Gertrud." most pleased us;ebut
perhaps the longest of the stories, 1.-THE
Fitting Of the Peats.'' IS the best in the