New-York tribune., 1902-01-27

has gone into fifth edition.
The German Emperor knows his native poetry
very we'll, and is apt to make suggestive quota
tions upon OCCASION. Well aware of the sharp
criticisms lately made Of his ministers.
the Emperor sent the injured one the other day
his own portrait, signed by himself, writing un-
derneath the line from one of Burgers poems:
r'It is not the worst fruit that the wasps choose
put to attack"
The temperance Of Sherlock Holmes IN the
pages of the Strand Magazine" wherein, under
the title of THE Hound Of the Baskervilles,"
DIR. Conan Doyle is exploiting more adventures
Of his great detective has brought joy TO the
hearts OF countless readers. They are doubtless
impatient to possess the new work in book form,
and Will be glad when. as announced in The
Tribune the other day. the volume is brought
out in the spring. Since Sherlock Holmes is once
more on the carpet, so to say. there is a special
interest in the words about him and his creator
which Mr.. Mortimer Menpes embodies in his
War Impressions" the delightful volume which
the Macmillan Company has lately issued. We
quote them herewith:
There was also DIR. Conan Doyle, whose splen-
did work at LanGman's Hospital Bloemfontein,
will live forever in the minds of hundreds of
men. We talked of Sherlock Holmes which 1
was amazed to hear DR.. Doyle declare to be
not a good work Why, Sherlock Holmes was
mot man of flesh and blood. and easy to Gre
ate because he was soulless. One story by
Edgar Allan Poe would be worth dozen such"
Curiously enough, in real life the doctor has
capacity for detecting anything, and he was
quite amazed at my "cuteness' in discovering
a missing dot on a Y. Il. l. stamp. He told me
rhat the detective story he liked best was the
one about the serpent; he could not for the life
OF him remember its title. He has faith
whatever in the professional critic. He prefers
the child's views. fresh and sincere. Il want
the boy critic he exclaimed the boy who will
nlsa1 hon md cal rot
read il through twice and call it 'ripping'-thats
the person 1 want to criticise my work And do
to the most a boy of fifteen was THE
Cloister and the Hearth: yet curioUsly enough,
lit is the book that ] enjoy the most to-day
In talking Of books, plots and critics, Dr.
Doyle mentioned casually that he always fixes
stle end Of his story before he begins to write.
and he gave a very clever little illustration OF
the advisability of this course. Suppose you
know that a pin lies in a Japanese vase on the
TOP Of a shelf You weave an amazingly
exciting story round the finding OF that pin, and
would brave anything to find 1t: but II you
don't know that it is there, all brlgandeerlng
Is gone and you find yourself running into pillar
boxes and all sorts of quaint obstructions. DR..
CONAN Doyle IS tall, with heavy figure, fair,
hooking more like typical country squire than
a man of letters. He talks slowly and dellber-
,ately but the whole he Is cleVerer as listen
er than a talker. I should gather from What
i saw Of him that he is a man VINO would De
always misplacing things through want OF
method. For example. have seen him put
letter carefully into his breast pocket, ana Two
minutes later search diligently for IL In another
But the thing that strikes you most forcibly
when first meeting DR.. Doyle is the Dig heart
of the man.
The author of 1.-The Column" has written a
new novel which is to appear in the spring He
has taken up his abode in little seaside VIII
Iage. with the intention OF making literature his
profession.
Here is a bit of rhyme by Mr.. Kipling which
IS carved on an oaken mantelpiece in Mr.. Cecil
Rhodess beautiful house on his great fruit farm:
THIS Is THE BLOSSOM OF THE FRUIT
I cleared the land, set the trees;
led the water down the sluit
Earth gave fftyfold Increase
This is the blossom of the fruit
Nournful, indeed, is to be the fate OF rural
England. if we may believe the author of a
pessimistic article in 1.-The Nineteenth Century
The ideals Of the middle class have changed, he
declares.
II is not so long ago that it was the dream
Of an active mans life to spend the evening OF
his days In the country. He looks upon it now
as the worst OF exiles. Take the sons of the
country clergy. Most of them embrace some
active career. How many of those VINO reallZe
a small competence return to spend II IN the
country? Perhaps one in a hundred. Look at
the army and navy. Retired officers used TO be
familiar figures in our villages. Watering places
1aI-e svvaIlowed them UP. What becomes of the
well pensioned officials. cultivatee and superior
class whom India is perpetuay returning in
SLao, e ,,seTTI iifa IN England? Theyldrft
together in places like South Kensngton or
Cheltenham. Their culture produces no crop
and their superiority elevates nothing. And all
the while rural England is perishing for the
want Of like these. men capable or illuIIfa-
ting with unselfshness and lofty purpose the
night of brutal materialism that has fallen ike
q pail upon our country villages.
The manners OF Australia queer, it ap-
-,ears-~atrocious" is the word which Ada Cam
bridge the novelist of the region, applies to
them "If" she says in THE Empire Review,
-'you are trying to make your way in a crowd
.a,eing we will say a woman with a baby in your
arms-you will not for moment expect
strange man to step aside to let you go first He
would not dream of opening door for you or
helping YOU with parcels. In festive assemblies
from a Government House party downward. the
Ars+ thing the smart ladies do after bowling TO
their hostess is to march straight TO the refresh
rnent department, and there struggle for food
a,a dr,nl, until they have cleared the tables
Al one of our late royal functions the public
all invited guests-began to eat up the supper
az q O'clock under the very noses Of the duke
and duchess On the cards Of guests invited to
the review It was notified that lunch would be
served at l o'clock; but when my son ana
sought our marquee at the appointed hour the
lunch was gone-quite according to our anticipa-
lions l have often wondered at these strange
,abits of a people essentially generous and kind
and think have found out the secret 1t Is
merely the national sentiment, the Australia
Gov Australians principle logically carried out
Ne first
.rrbe Failure of Success" which Longmans
Green & Co are about TO publish. is "a story or
high life In England, by Lady Mabel Howard
who wrote The Undoing of John Brewster.