Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS,

| that 1t Is bold novelist, indeed. who at
| this late day essays a venture into that
| realm of romance. Comparisons are inevi-
| table and the standards of excellence are
| wei established ard high. Nevertheless,
! Mr.. Marsh has not only ventured, but has
succeeded admirably in producing a story
which holds the interest. He combines the
| adventure and the love motives IN man
ner somewhat unusual in this class of fic-
| ton. Three people are cast away on a Pa
| cific islet, two men and a woman Both
| men love the woman. who was met by
| them only on the steamship, whose wreck
| precipitates the situation. The men are
| admirably suited to make life comfortable
on a desert island. One Is an engineer who
| is naturalist who knows where to get
! foods and raw materials. Between them
they demonstrate that with little scientific
| and technical knowledge and an abundant
| flora and fauna luxurious civilization is
| possible even at the most remote outposts
of the world. But interest is not ali alb
sorned In the devices of the castaways:
| They are confronted with psychological
| problems greater even than the physical
| ones attendant upon the finding OF ma
| terials for the manufacture of a huge
American flag and the replacing OF shoes.
| out of all these trials they emerge triumph
| ant after a few years. and the outcome is
| happy and satisfactory. Not on the
| Chart will never supplant Robinson Cru
I
| excellent reading nevertheless.
! THE sUrroRs OF YvoNNF; Being Portion Of
| the Memoirs of the Sleur Castor de Inynes
| BY Rafael Sahatin New York: g. T. Put
MANS Sons. Washington; VIM. Baantyne *
Sons.
This story of the latter days Of Mazarin's
power over France is vividly alive with &C
ton and human nature. The spirit of the
| swashbuckler, "ruffer." or tavern knight,
pervades it. Plot and counter-plot, con-
spiracy and treaehery produce one acute
| situation after another, as love. avarice.
| hatred and fidelity form successive motives.
| while the Sieur de Luynes wins his way TO
! love and then incurs exile, with a clos
| ing promise of fortune and honor awaiting
! him in the days of MaZarin s downfall The
| story is above the average of the romantic
! novels of the period and its atmosphere
| is clearly enough defined to put it in a
| distinct classification.
LAFTTTE OF LOUISIANA by Mary Devereux.
author Of From Kingdom to Colony - etc IL
Illustrated by Harry c. Edwards. Boston: Little,
Brown Company.
Jean LATTE, the pirate Of Barataria is a
strange choice for a novelist in search of a
hero of fiction. All the historical and bio
graphical authorities agree that he was an
adventurer without the possibility of re-
demption, although Of engaging manners.
The author has painted his portrait as that
VI HCple character, ullSleu nN ClfCun-
stances into life of prvateering and slave
traffic-the charge Of piracy is Indignantly
denied-but eager for a chance at new
clean life. She has certainly presented an
attractive hero, who may be taken for
what he Is worth in the book without re-
gard for the contradictions of the records
beautiful sentiment is developed through
the medium of Lafitte's love for Napoleon
Bonaparte. and the reader is disappointed
that the novel does not turn more distinctly
upon this issue. Napoleon becomes merely
an incidental figure after his early services
in behalf of the young Frenchman who is
later the terror of the Gulf of Mexico. The
texture of the novel is very uneven, and the
action at times sadly congested. while in
other places the most trivial affairs are
spun out at length. Although the battle of
New Orleans is the dramatic and logical
climax of the story, il is dismissed with a
page of description. There is good material
In the life of Jean Laftte for a great r0-
nance, but this story falls short of such an
accomplishment
Everard Cotes tSara Jeanette Duncan, author
OF "A Social Departure, etc. New York: ID.
Appleton & Company.
Mrs. Cotes, better known as Miss Duncan,
has written heretofore usually from the
point Of view of Americans touring abroad,
especially in England. She now reverses
the process and gives a picture Of the mind
of an intelligent English woman visiting
America for the first time and closely OBJ
serving customs, manners, speech and con-
ventions. She and her husband are thrown
into excellent New York society and have
unusual opportunities for study. They
almost participate in two love matches,
which develop perversely, though to a sue
cessful conclusion. Comparisons between
the English and American ways of life form
the bulk of the narrative, which is hardly
novel, far from series of essays and by
no means a diary. There is no disposition
TO criticise except in the case of the meth
DDS of American railroad travel, which
are severely scored on account of the dirt
and noise Of the flight of the empire state
express" through New York. From the
ways of managing buffers to the proper
process OF courtshp the commentary runs
smoothly, at times rising to heights of posi-
tive brilliancy. One of the most amusing
episodes of the story occurs when the visit
ing English people solemnIy presented
by their hostess in New York with pair
of enormous candles upon retiring although
the house is ablaze with electric lights.
We delightful Americans are certainly
attractive in the eyes of English folks If
this production can be accepted as a cr-
terion of the prevalent British view of us.
THE PRINCE DE LIGNE. HIS Memoirs, Let
Translated by katherine Prescott wcrmeley.
Boston, Hardy. Pratt & Co.
The Prince de Ligne to whom this title
refers came of an ancient and distinguished
Flemish family. He lived to become the
most notable diplomatist and the most
agreeable man of fashion of his day-the
middle of the eighteenth century. Through
all the intercourse incident to a career of
fashion and diplomacy he kept the inevi-
table journal of his rank and recorded his
experiences, Impressions opinions and re-
Elections with amplitude worthy of a
better course. There are thus about twenty
large volumes from his pen, fairly descrip-
tive of French and Austrian court life in
the days of ]. ]. Rosseau, Voltaire, Marie
Antoinette. the Bavarian war, Frederick
the Great and finally the Empress Gather
inc of Russia and the Crimea. These have
been condensed by the translator into two
The work comprehends the best of the
princes observations in whatever form
they originally appeared and it reflects in
a vivid and attractive manner the color
the conversation, the customs and the en-
rushing current of deeper events. which in
na iona Lott dave