New-York tribune., 1902-06-08

loses sight for any serious length of time. But
even so, the book remains portrait rather than
novel The purpose of the action in it is not
half so much to unfold a story to display
character We do not find fault with Mr. Wister
because of this We merely descrIDe mis- work.
If We were to find any fault at all 1: would be
with a certain element in his conception of the
art of portraiture. He blunders where even
more noted writer's have blundered before hln'
in concentrating all the high lights on the hero's
best traits. Inevitably the reader finds himself
wondering if the hero has any bad ones, or,
rather if he is capable OF showing less
than the most consummate resource We are
ready to grant the Virginian many virtues as
Mr.. Wister chooses to give him, and still believe
in him But that he is practically never at a
loss that his restraint and cleverness should
carry him from one triumph to another, leaving
him kind of Admirable Crchton even when
he nominalIy suffers disaster, almost shakes our
belief.
Almost but not quite. We regret the his
tronic note which occasionally jars upon our
taste as the result of this lapse in art, as we
regret it in some of Bret Hartes best stories
We wish the Virginian were not invariably so
competent, just wish that Jack Hamlln,
for example, would not always carry himself
with such exquisite aplomb. Just as Bret
Hartes characters sometimes exhibit not their
natural manners, but mannerisms which serve
as labels, the Virginian is more or less artl-
fcialIy ticketed. In his case it is a faculty OF
silence that Identifies him, and that is one with
which even the most skilful of writer's must hho
1t difficult to deal. The trait which made Moltke
unique is dangerous one to ascribe TO cow
boy in a novel; not that the cowboy may not
possess it. but that it's spontaneous and natural
treatment opens pitfalls before the novelist
However if we pause upon any defect IN Ihe
Virginian,' It is only because We take 1t serl-
ously because y ara Jealous for the per1ectloh
of work so strong and so full OF 1nd1Vlduallty- D.
If Mr. Wister is unfailingly sympathetic it is
partly because he has so true sense OF hunor
He may make his hero inordinately clever, but
he could not make him prig if he tried. The
book breathes throughout spirit OF humanity
It is full of the vitality of living men, and
through it there blow the winds of nature, upon
its pages is the scent of the plains and the
woods Then too, the whole narrative is hit
off with a light touch. Here and there are some
moments of painful, even tragic tension ana III
the exploitation of these the author discloses not
only genuine emotion, but faultless tact Inc
episode of the lynching and that OF the last
and most exciting encounter between the VIZ
ginian and the enemy with whom he is obliged
to reckon from almost the first chapter in the
book are related with really striking discretion.
The lynching especially is treated as we believe
no other living writer could have treated ii, in
a tone which is as far removed from that OF
sationalism as the most fastidious critic could
desire But the bulk of the book CLEANS with
the most artless humor. Mr.. Wister has packed
within this volume what we would call all the
anecdotic driftwood of the plains, if it were not
that his innumera bic stories have the freshness
of altogether successful inventions He shows
US every phase of the cowboys daily life; at
card games in the 'bunkhOuse," at a barbecue.
and so on and he is constantly offering his IL
Illustrations in a form which would make them
hardly less delightful if they were detached
from the context The Virginian, accomplished
in all things is a master of humorous narrative,
and we are vouchsafed some irresistible speci-
mems Of his art. We tempted to quote from
them and to cite certain other anecdotes set
down in this book especially the one of the cow
boy who went hunting owl eggs with botanlst
from Boston and his wife, with phenomenal re-
suits But we leave the reader to find these
gems. for himself. He will not be able TO skip
in his search for them. Tine Virginian,' as we
have said is interesting from beginning to end
Whoever reads the first page will find 1t next 10
impossible to put the book down until he mas
read every one of the five hundred and four IN
the book and then he will wish there were more
of them.