The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-11-10
FICTION.
THE RULING PASSION. BY Henry Van
Dyke. Charles scribner's Sons. new

THE RULING PASolS2S' - 80, \, -
Dyke. Charles Scribners SONS. ~"
York.
In his latest work, ."The Ruling Pas-.
sion,, Dr.. Van Dyke shows the same 1's
qualities which have character1z!eeo lall
that he has previously done ana ,ne re-. re-
suit can therefore call forth only tne
most unstinted admiration. II cotlipaii.
sons must be made, we lli-e the eieil
stories which are contained In the DOCK
less than any other of the authors work;
but that is rather individual preferences
than criticism. And when we seek 1ur-
the. comparison, and place the oooh ne-
side the work of others and not py 5the
Wcrl, of it's author we have nothing out
praise to award it. The stories are lull
of Dr. Van Dykes splendid vlrility, Keen
insight, fine generalization and lsuDtie
meaning. He himself says in the pref 10
his book, "A Writer'S Request to his
Master g Lord, let me never tag q NOR
al to a story, nor tell a story Wlthouu. a
meaning Surely the prayer has tnuS
far been granted. DR.. Van Dyke IS heF-
er guilty of; open and wearlsome rloraliZ Q,
ing in his stories; but yet are thes iuii
of meanings which make for the: hlshest
of all morality. Each contains a lesson,
to be needed or neglected as the reader
will but always of value if it tall on
open ears At. once pure and strong, MS
stories are presentations Of aspects OF
life in some phase which carries sl'letti'.
ing and SO are of worth as well as OF
interest And this latter quality zlhey'
possess irps full measure. Especially 40
we like the one called "A Brave Tear earL
bu. all are so excellent that to. seiect
any for praise is to do injustice TO the rest.
They are not perfect: they have faults
perceptible to the eye of one VINO HAS
read the short stories of the sreat M ~:
tiers in this department of letters; out IN
reading them we lose sight. OF All laul:s
and see only their. beauties and ithelr
high purpose. And this. we 1ancs, WIZ WIZ.
better please their author than would any
praise of his art as art. Q. n =.
1t is always pleasant to welcome our
old friends in a new dress; ano+ 1t was
with genuine pleasure that we looked over
the new edition of Amos judd the pop
ulai story by J. A. Mitchell, the eoltoI
OF life Not only was the story wei
come, thus again after many days putting
in renewed claim for notice, but the
c1ise in which it is issued was a. dellght
to the eye. Neatly bound and printed on
excellent paper. it is embelllsted win
seven colored illustrations by A. j. hel-
Ter, which greatly add to the ATTRACTIVE
aprearance Of the book. The new edl-
tior is in every way worthy of the story
itself; and this is no light praise.
We imagine that IneTe are 1e"
readers who are not acquainted with
"hmos5 Judd'.-that queer combina ton of
the natural and the impossible. lftJther9
remain any who do not know it, let them
hasten to change their ignorance 1hto
Knowledge, Amos Judd will we'll re-
nav the reader for. the short tlne--dl
too short-which it consumes IN the r1eau
ing. It's fantastic incidents are told win
such an air of truth that they almost
1x-jfh hem. and The ScdR-
edy with which the story closes Sppeals
to IFS as real There is good humor OF
III, ouiet sort in the book: and there is
also some very real Dathos, though TINS
latter quality is less IN evidence, WI.
Mitchells story is sure to retain us pop,z
ularity, not only for its own 1nerl!s poe
for the charming dress i'll which It mas
heen sent forth on its new visit to our
homes.
THE, RED CHANCELLOR. BY Nllllan
MaEnay, Brentanos, New York.
..,ri,e Red Chancellor by Sir William
Narnav. is one of the many stories OF
adventure which have for their scene d
kingdom of prncipalty which IS NOT On
the map It is a very good 1dea, ihoush
a. little overdone; it permits the autiior 70
crafty the popular taste Tor GOSSIP o.
Kings and princes and still subject himself
to no perlI OF offense to the rulers, OF
earth Mr.. Anthony Hope was the orig
inator of the idea. at least in its. present
aspects; and while he may thereby nave
conferred no benefit upon literature, he
has assuredly given cause to many less
original writer's to bless his name. Sir
William AIagnay-after whose name is
placed on the title.page of his book the
magic word Bart thus at once estab-
fishing claim to attention from Democrat
ic America-has given us a book Which is
of about the average OF unexcelience
among stories of it's class.
The Red Chancellor is the practical rul-
err of a small European principality, and
he is a very dreadful fellow indeed. He
poisons people whom he does not like.
quite in the Borgian style, and makes
himself generally unpleasant by other
kindred methods. Anyone who gets in