New-York tribune., 1902-04-21
NEW NOVELS.
STORIES OF AMERICA AND ENGLAND

popoTHy SOUTH BY George Cary Esgleston
Eesssn; The Lothrop Publishing Company
ilroy l3Ino. PIP. ssi- T. Y crowen & Co
MICHAEL ROSS. MINISTER; BY Annie e p
Holdsworth. l2no, pp. SSl podd, Mead % "
Mr. Eeeleston has written in Dorothy South"
an agreed bic love story of ante-bellum Gays III
Virginia 1t is plausible nearly to the end, hut
tbe conclusion is so lame and inconsistent as
TO destroy the faith in its hero that had been
SO carefully and solidly built up. Dr. Brent was
called from certain scientific researches that ne
honed would be of far reaching benefit to the
world. by the death Of Virginia relative, who
was inconsiderate enough to make him heir TO
q. rich and valuable estate. AS the doctor was
,,ossessed of a competence already. he was much
anaoved and when he went TO Virginia 1T was
with the avowed purpose of assuming the DUR
dens Of landed proprietorship only long enough
TO enable him to Law them down conscientiously
and return 70 his laboratory again This highly
commemorative plan fell through because the
scientist was 90 unfortunate as to fall in love
with wilful. splendid Dorothy South He rec
ognized the experience a calamity from the
very first and after he had been made guardian
of the girl he loved he sent her TO Europe TO give
ber chance TO find herself" and fall in
love with somebody else This plan has been
known to work admirably in certain cases but
il failed this time. Probably DR.. Brent would
have been heartbroken if il had succeeded So
he yielded TO the arguments of another woman
who secretly loved him, and allowed her to per
suade him that Dorothy not the girl TO hang
as a milestone around his scientific neck, but
would, the contrary, be constant and sym
atbetic stimulus to the benevolent activity that
be had mapped out for himself. But Dr. Brents
worst fears were realized, and, what is worse
he did not seem TO care. He declined to go back
tn his great work in New-York- He had con-
cluded he said, that the rearing Of his two chill
dren was even nobler work Thus great
scientist was presumably lost in the making or
a. good father. There may be those who VIII
think as did Dr. Brent, that the gain counter
balanced the loss, but in the eyes Of most read
srs the hero will shrink visibly on the last page
The most remarkable characters in The 81
lent Pioneer" story Of Daniel Boone. are
mare and dog, who prove invaluable AIDS 10
a desperate lover In his chase after a band Of
Indians who have abducted his sweetheart.
Never were two such wonderful animals The
mare would come at call from any distance,
lcneel to be mounted recognize enemies at sight
and fight them with teeth and hoofs with the
strength and effectiveness Of ten men She is
never spoken to except In heroic language, and
would doubtless have resented any other form
az address Her master would be killed without
her and IL there are any more than usually
persistent Indian pursuers Olaf, the hound. al
WAYS finishes them off. Daniel Boone furnishes
valuable aid also to the pursuing lover he
sllks for many pages, and it Is q shock TO con-
template his language, which is always in this
style: ''Gyar; Thet wuz er fight! kr mans
done well when he whups one Nv them prutes
but when he lays out two he's plum hero
Jee-ru-sa-lamI Wouldn't j er loved ter been
-r1o,,+ ier n
hides?" The great Kentucky woodsman may
have talked in this manner. but If he did it is
scarcely kind to tell people about it. The mare
and the dog and the lover perform miracle after
miracle for the recovery OF the abducted Esther.
but the author hardly persuades us that the
miracles are worth while.
The hero of Michael Ross was the possessor
Of a most unfortunately constituted mind He
was Young and enthusiastic clergyman, filled
with an ardent desire to be of use to the world
in general and to his people in particular, and
IT is likely that he would have realized this
ambition had Ii not been for his love affairs.
He fell in love with a married woman before he
knew that she was married but when she came
to him for advice he urged her not TO leave her
aged and cruel husband After that Michael
appears to have thought that it was his sole and
only business to keep the octogenarian alive as
long as possible, because he loved the wife and
would be miserable as long the old man lived
When the husband got typhoid fever and ac-
commodatingly died, instead OF seeing therein
the hand Of Providence stretched out for his
benefit, Michael gave himself up to despair and
self-reproaches because down deep in his heart
he knew that he desired the mans death He
had no responsibility for il, and did what he
could to prevent il, but he regarded himself
q lost soul for all that, and when his new chapel
burned down. just as he about TO occupy
it he took it as a sign that God would not
cept his ministry. He married the widow, how
ever, after determining to punish himself by
not doing So because he happened to meet her
at a railroad station Here again, thought
Michael was seen the hand Of Providence The
historian Of Michael's troubles has curious idea
OF some English types Of character. 1t
is impossible to accept them accurate. for
they can be explained by none of the broad
principles that underlie human conduct every.