Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-14
Other New Publications.

BILLY BURGUNDY'S LETTERS. ]. F.
TAYLOR & Co.. New York. For sale by
the Bell Book and Stationery Company.
Price IS cents.
This little book makes pleasant reading
for the autumn idler, who finds time
hanging heavily on his hands, but its
author cannot hope for lasting recogni-
ton Of the work. Indeed, he must look
for patronage from very limited class
of readers-the class who are now buy
ing the so-called slang literature.
BILLY Burgundy's Letters" if the truth
must be known, are poor imitation Of
the BILLY Baxter Letters" They re-
count the amusing mishaps Of a gay
absurd mistakes, and oftentimes is COM
elled to put his goods and chattels in
hoe" We have read too much Of such
dventures before, though George AIDE,
Billy Baxter" and Mr.. Cullen, Of the
Jew York Sun, have certainly produced
ONE very clever matter out of this we'll
hreshed material. Their brightness over
ONES our distaste for the things of which
hey treat. Chilly Burgundy is by no
leans SO, successful. While he is not
acking in ingenuity, one is ever CON-
nd the reader cannot fail to note how
loosely he is following the other authors
20 whom we have alluded.
a LITTLE COURT OF YESTERDAY.
By Minnie Reid French. Price, 81. The
Abbey Press. New York.
The scene Of this clean, wholesome story
is laid in Virginia and the novel deals
with a family, who. like too many in the
Old Dominion. dwell in the past and harp
on their importance in years gone by.
We have vivid picture of the Lemaine
household, and in meeting its various
members we see types who are frequent
ly found even in this practical day and
generation. The Lemaines are descend
ants of French Baron who came to
America and settled in this Common
wealth. In the fight of years the family
gradually lost ground but never did its
members cease to hold their heads high
or look down on those whose blood was
plebeian.
At the time when the story is supposed
to begin the Lemaines are very poor
and their struggle for existence is by no
means an easy one, but they still main
tain the old homestead with its price
less heirlooms. and bark back to the
days of their erstwhile grandeur. TO
fight the wolf from the door they keep
boarders. and it is about these boarders
and their doings as well as the Lema1nes
that we read. One of them, a healthy,
wholesome girl called Alice 10, is very in
teresting. She is the heroine Of the story
and wins our love from the start. Alice.
10 is not pronounced type nor is she
girl with an object but there is
something about her which appears to
every reader.
The story, which never lapses into any
very exciting situations, holds our at
tention throughout. for its style is good
and theresi is no little! thu1nor to be found
within its pages. 5s4s $50
Although Miss French is thoroughly
conversant with the ways Of Virginians-l
MOTTO say their weaknesses-she is never
offensive in her illusions. On the con-
trary. she seems rather to- sympathiza
with the class whom she depicts.
the authoressS was horn In Summers
county, West Virginia. November a.
1Si5: Ats16 she graduate from the Con-
cord State Normal School, hens, W.
Va, and war afterwards connected with
that~instttution as teacher. AS Minnie
Raid sha u known aSs = writer OF mn "a