The Washington times., 1901-10-13

| develop a mania for killing everyone
who might possibly intend to endanger
his own safety. A strong ruler recognizes
| strength and respects it in others; the
| weak tyrant trusts nobody. understands
nobody. and oppresses wherever he dares,
New York; l.. Appleton & Coz
Recent Fiction.
The First Men in the Moon by II. G.
| Wells, is a fantastic creation of much the
same sort as those with which the writ
er's previous work has made us familiar.
There is less human interest in it than
in The War of the Worlds" and less
symbolic meaning. In fact, il is possible
that this latest work was intended sim
ply as fantasy and has no other sig
nificance.
There is the same spccious realism
about it as about When the Sleeper
Wakes especially in the opening chap
ters, but a great deal of it is like a bad
dream. The man who tells the tale
meets, in the first chapter, the inventor of
| a mysterious substance called Cavorite,
| out of which is constructed a car which
| eventually takes the two explorers TO the
| moon. Mr.. Wells has conceived the
| notion of making the inha bitants of the
moon a sort of magnified and highly de-
veloped insect specialized TO suit the diff
| ferent trades and professions which they
are called on to FILL There is a hint of
| satire in some of his descriptions of these
creatures. much the same as the satiricaI
quality in Swifts Voyage to Laputa -
| For example, here is a report from Cavor
of the methods taken to develop mechan-
| les among the Selenites:
The making of these various sorts
of operative must be very curious
and interesting process. | am still
much in the dark about it, but quite
recently came upon a number of
young Selenitos confined in jars, from
which only the fore limbs protruded.
who were being compressed TO become
machineminders of a special sort
The extended hand in this highly
developed system of technical educa-
tion is stimulated by irritants and
nourished by injection, while the rest
OF the body is starved. Phi-oo, un-
less / misunderstood him, explained
that in the earlier stages these queer
little creatures are apt TO display signs
of suffering in their various cramped
situations, but they easily become in
durated to their lot; ana he took me
on to where a number of flexible
limbed messengers were being drawn
out and broken in 1t is quite unreas-
enable, / know, but these glimpSes
Of the educational methods of these
beings have affected me disagreeably.
hope, however, that may pass off
and / may be able to see more OF the
aspect of this wonderful social order.
That wretched looking hand sticking
out of that jar seemed to appeal for
lost possibilities; it haunts me still,
although, of course, ii is really in the
end far more humane proceeding
than our earthly method of leaving
children to grow into human beings,
and then making machines of them"
Altogether, this book may give some
nervous people a tendency to nightmare,
but 1t is less blood-curdling than scien-
tifcaly ingenious and interesting. On
dianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company
Annie Deane: A Wayside Weed" by
A. F. Slade. is a careful and faithful bit
of character study, set in a plot Of alb
sorbing interest. The scene is laid partly
in Berkshire and partly in London, and
the heroine is a country girl. without
money, education, or training. Perhaps
nothing could better show the change
which is taking place in the attitude of
intelligent people toward certain social
problems than the fact that book like
this could be written and published 1t
it is not problem novel; and it is free
from cynicism. 1t belongs to the un-
classified, as a great deal of individual
and original work does in these days
1t is a fact. acknowledged with more or
less sentimental fervor, that the earthly
salvation of a woman who has once lost
her good reputation is all but impossi-
BILE; that everything and everyone she
knows will naturally conspire to prevent
her from leading decent life thereafter, !
if she happens to be poor 1t
is also fact that a great many such
women would be good If they had the
TO stand up against this super
incumbent mass of society. 1t is third
truth that when they do behave them
selves society does not know quite what
to do with them. Nest people blink the ,
problem by persuading themselves that
there are no such girls.
The author of Annie Deane," however,
seems 20 be persuaded that there are; and I
the heroine is one of them Some readers /
of the book may declare that she is i'm
possible, but not many; the realism of .
the picture is too pronounced. 1t is a
fine bit of character drawing, and the
plot, while 1t dwindles by comparison
with the more prominent element of the
book, is well constructed and worked out
(New York: Brentano's. sl.5O)
"a Nest of Linnets." by Frankfort
Moore is story dealing with the gay
scenes of Bath in the days ghen Richard
Brinsley Sheridan was one Of the gallants
who frequented its streets. and sweet
Betty Linley one Of the reigning bellies.
Sheridan is the hero of the novel, and
Betty, or Betsy, as Mr. Moore calls her,
S the heroine The chief interest of the |
look for many people will lie in the his
orical characters introduced. Mr Horace
Nalpole, DIR. johnson, and Dr. Goldsmith
ire to be found here, as well as the
charming Mrs. Arlington, who plays not
Inimportant part in the development of
he plot. Decidedly more heroic than the
zero is Mr.. Walter Lcng, a chivalrous
.lderly gentleman who plays the part of
pest friend and guardian to both the
overs. tNew York: d. Appleton & Co
i 800
THE Tempting of Father Anthony" by
George Horton, is not quite as ambitious
rs his previous novel, Like Another
Helen and is. possibly in consequence
# this, much better piece Of work. 1t
s frolicsomc bit of comedy. the scene
# which is laid in modern Greece. Faith
II Anthony is the son of a village priest
md aspires to be n saint. like his patron
lis youthful endcavors to fill that role
ire highly amusing, and his methods re
mind one somewhat Of the famous band |
Il robbers led by Tom Sawyer. There are
cVeral interesting genre pictures of |
modern village life in Greece, the more |
because the field which Mr. |
iorton has chosen is very nearly new. |
nd evidently "a 9poiIi9r tp him I1Hbi,at.,. |