The times., 1901-05-05


then there is some love making. There is
love making, after a fashion all the way
through the book, but usually the reader
is unable to determine whether the char
( acters are in a romantic mood or are sim
ply being rude to each other in a jocular
| way There is one man among the char
/ acters-only one-who. as we are given to
| understand, is a person of character and
/ heart, and he and the Objectionable Bob
, by Floyd are left at the end of theromance
! to dance stag dances, because the other
two young men have secured the two
I girls, one of whom (Spriggy) happened to
! be in love with the Admirable CTichton
! aforesaid. while he himself was in love
/ with Clip. This key to the plot is fur
nished in the interest of the reader who
| may attempt to get through the volume.
! 1t will save trouble. But, at any rate,
] this work will prove to even the youngest
and most unsuspecting amateur author
that something is needed to make novel
besides the bare bones of a Howells plot.
| one Conan Doyle catastrophe, small talk,
! and slang. (New York: Harper & Bros.
S1.5o)
''The Ways of the Service" is a book
of stories by Frederick Palmer illustrated
by Howard Chandler Christy. They deal
with army and navy life in the Philip
pines. and the book has the distinction
of being the first of its kind. 1t also bears
some marks of haste or at any rate of a
nearness to the events which prevents
the author in some cases from getting as
much of a perspective as might be de-
sired. However there is good stuff in it,
and it is fresh and breezy in style, and
interesting in subject matter.
The tales are eight in number, and about
equally divided between grave and gay.
Ballard" the first and longest deals
with q type new as yet in fiction-the
| half-breed Filipino woman. Maria Var
kom daughter of a Russo Spanish father
and Filipino mother, is very well drawn,
| both in the text and the pictures. The
Romance of Private Saunders is a bit
of good comedy, and "A Battle and a
| Quarrel" is a capital bit of character
| study with a comedy element of the
more serious kind. LAS Man TO Man" is
a war story Marrying Out of the
| Army and The Tanning of the Captain"
are social studies of army life of the
same sort as that Of Private Saunders. In
most of these society tales one Mrs
Gerlison. a sort of American Mrs Hauks
bee, figures, and the last of the romances
In the collection is called Mrs. GerlisoB' s
own Story. and a very good story it is
though perhaps a little bit strained in its
sentiment and pathos. There is also a
slight element of improbability some
where. One can hardly imagine the wife
Of a reprobate Of exactly Gerlison's type
figuring very largely as a chaperon for
young girls, especially to the extent of
their making her house q refuge in time
Of trouble.
The best work in the book. however, is
to be found in the story entitled Against
His own People IT is a clever study Of
a non-cornmissioned officer, who has in
him a streak Of Indian and Mexican blood.
and is thereby induced to desert the Amer
lean army in the Philippines through the
influence of a half-caste Filipino woman.
The story Of the man, told by himself, is
as brilliant and truthful a bit of psychol-
ogy as can be found in recent magazine
literature. The part Of it which deals with
the actual desertion reads as follows:
'.Then Brsher. the second lieutenant,
Just out Of civil life and no good, swore
at me d good deal for his own mis-
takes That's another thing that amt
the way it was at the posts. where the
colonel wasn't too busy to keep an eye
out. It's the thing, some think, to
swear at sergeants up there. This par
ticular time he ripped me up like ! was
Injin n Greaser. who know what
growin' an riot is. but don't know
what discipline and order IS, rose up
and made me feel II / couldn't stand
II any longer.
Ten minutes after that the woman
came slippin' up. Shed overheard the
lieutenant cussin' me out She just
leaned over me and talked. / can feel
her breath on my cheek yet. She told
me she knew ] was like herself She
could see fl IN my face. WASH all
4 IL. ~ oil HFaFfaf
was Outcasts. They wasn't meant 10
serve white or black. but TO pay the
world the revenge they owed II for
maxim EN- mOngrels ] must come
with her I'd be general-we'd rule
together.
I can't explain. ] dunno how it
happened. ! went That's the whole
thing I went sneakin' cross the fields
with the rife the Guy ment give me
went gainst my country after twenty
five years in harness. She was takin
me TO Das Marinas, where / was to
drill the Gugu army. That first night
we slep at CaVite NiejO. Toward
mornin' ] woke up with the Injin n
Greaser all out o, me. II wasn't too
late. ii | could dodge the Gugu pa
trolls, TO get back and explain how I'd
been captured and escaped. ] got out
o the door. but / hadn't got to the
road when the woman stood before me,
mockin me with her smile.
You walk your sleep, eh?' she
says, though l could see she knew
what was thlnkin about. She
talked and talked, and the Greas-
er n Injin heard and come
back II wouldn't have done any
good if I'd gone on. She was prepared
for any backslidin and had establish
ed guard all round. The Greaser n
Injin had me for good then. The next
day / was at Das Marinas and they
made me full colonel and rigged me
out in a captured Spanish uniform,
which is a great treasure with them.
! didn't tell EN- my real name There
was just nough white man left in me
for that ! took my gran mothers
name Dark Cloud. My grandmother
] can member her sittin' in a shack
mumblin' fortunes for peso apiece
TO the Greasers.
Bout this time the woman and !
was married by a Gugu priest. AS We
come out o. church with a crowd ana
ali the nXins. / noticed an Old Spanish
padre on the balcony. smilin at me-
smile with jaws set and eyes half
open. Twas plain 'nough he'd seen
some o. the world besides the Philip
pines The Gugus held him prisoner,
but they was half 'fraid of him He
spoke 70 me Ia the lingo of the Mexi-
can border. which the girl couldnt IN
de.stand.
.You-you- You mongrel, he says
who broke the white mans faith. was
your mother an Apache or a Yaqui?
1T seemed as II he'd come all the
way cross the seas to say that to NE.
God a Almighty, How il went homei"
The cleverness of this little study Is
undeniable. and the man who could dc
this, and the story of Ballard" may do