The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-27
1DA. G)CTOB.E,R q 1901
ceIlent one and win repay reading.

cellent one and win repay reading.
UP AND DOWN THE SANDS OF GOLD.
BY Mary DevereuN. Little, Brown q Co.,
Boston.
Up and Down the Sands OF Cold is
the rather quaint title given by Mary
Devereux to her latest book The book
holds some characters who are as quaint
as the tlrle. among them is Captain Jack,
a strange but lovable child, whose
broken, or rather, de1or1ned.s EnSlish-he
is OF foreign deScent-makes his queer re-
marks all the quainter. Then there Is
Uncle Billy, Il genuine old New England
salt whom the reader is sure to find de-
ilshIul company during the time of &C.
Guantance The Look is a story of life
IN 6 New England coast town, and has
bu. a scnler thread of nara tive to hold
together the character sketches which
make un tho main iaterest oe the novel
There is a love-story, with the usual com
phcittions, and there is the not unfamiliar
incident of a man loving a woman while
he Is himself loved by one of far higher
and inner nature than the one to whom
he gives his heart; but the re is no great
interest to be found in these things. DR..
jasper, the man who loves Loleta, is a
Very colo rless individual, and it is a puz-
zle to discover in what consists the charm
which he exercises over two such women
as Loleta ana Margaret: but he is no less
true to masculine nature than are most
Of the male ceeations of women writers.
margaret, on the other hand is a lovely
character, pure. strong and wise; and
how any man. in his sober senses, could
pass her by for Loleta is a problem which
only Miss Deveroux could solve. The au-
thor. Of course. knew her people better
than we can hone to know them; but she
has not always impaired her knowledge to
FER readers in suc', manner as to enable
11s to see her personages as she sees them
T. T. NJ
THE MORcEsONS: TEMPLE HOUSE,:
Two MEN. BY Elizabeth stoddard
Henry II. Coates & Company, Philadel-
,ltia
/ The first thing that strikes the reader
as he enters upon perusaJ of these re-
published words Of Mrs. Stoddard is the
curious STYLE in which they are writ
ten. It is cold to frtsid;tv, and this
though the novels deaf with human pas
sion-not erotic passion, b, understood
but the love of men and women at its
warnest and highest. But the pas
SION never, makes It's al lett III TIE : ~ ie
of presentation. This is abrupt, at times
so vagran1 as to be obscure, and always
burdened with unnecessary detail. Again.
the stories which are tod il. these nor
els are in themselves hardly worth the
telling-they are tame ana lifeless. But
and the but is an important one-the
characters redeem these faults OF con-
struotion. Not that these characters
are as strongly inCiy :dLai as those, for
oya milo ,s
Stoddard in some way reminds US; but
thsy are purpOseful, masterful, compeli-
ing attention All! respect for their mean
ing and III ,usft. They are not always
natural, even though. taken together.
they illusrs>a . phase OF New England
life that hts Passed away but once exist
ed: they do Il OF always give sense of Il
Illustration aid we too often feelthat tthas
were not rcas to The author; but they
have power which makes them able for
4 time to dominate our thoughts and per-
haps even oul needs. They live in our
Impressions rather than Cur imaginations,
but they iva :. st,erroEs life and induce
an effect which nay he for good or ILL.,
according as we perceive ard sympathize
with the ln.cat of the writer, but which
il in an: case st'o:ls and lasting. Those
who enjor novels which compel thought
should ga, me wtrSs CT Mrs. Stoddard;
they will lin / food rot a little.
II. G. M.
MISTRESS BRENT by Lucy Meacham
Thrusron. L;:tle, BE wn & Company,
Boston.
"Ye scare me not! says Mistress
Brent. to Governor Calvert, brother OF the
proprietary lord of Maryland, when the
said Governor attempts to dissuade her
from her slightly idiotic project of going
into the wilds and there managing her
own demesne; an dttis speech can be
taken as a sample of the style of the
book throughout, the book in question
being Mistress Brent and the writer
Lucy Meacham Thruston. Miss Thrus-
tons conception of conversation IN the
middle of the seventeenth century IS that
..ye' and thou" were used interchang-
ably, While you was avoided as If 1t
were productive of pestilence. Moreover.
Miss Thrustons ladies say BeshreW
met wfl9n they are talking to gentle
men, ana generally conduct themselves
in speecn as if they were mounted OIL
linguistic stills from which they darsd
not descend Tor an Instant however
in this latter respect the male charac--
tiers of the story are quite the equal OF
the Womei in the same scene-on the
same Daga indeed-in which Mistress
Brent makes the speech quoted at the pc
ginning of this review. Governor Cal
vert ask 1: What could these DO an the
fierce bear cant upon thy doorstep as
he did o'en last winter to settlers ca
bin on the ST Georges and seized the
babe w.liia the hall?" The Governor
right poss.Ely have put his query IN
less involved manner, but 1t would nave
been difficult for him to improve upon II
from the standpoint of archaism his
question, as it stanus, is not English; but
It IS. unauestionably Old English and a
specimen Of which Chaucer or even MT.
Hewlett might be proud as genuine an
tique.
Miss Thruston's book tells a story
which. if it were not hopelessiy marred
by the manner of telling, would be not
embarrassing. II she will learn to write
uninvolved and justified English ana
will concentrate her attention upon the
development of character and story IN
stead of affectations of diction. she may
yet write a book which will deserve
praise istead of blame.
BOOK NOTES.