The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-09-07
1.-THE UNSPEAKABLE SCOT"
Eoncin's France" the End Of the Trail. :
The Kindred of the Wild. - The
Courtship of Sweet Anne Page

why English newspapers arc so super
laiiNely lumpy and chumpy and no good
IN comparison with ours, which are turned
out by able men who will have nothing
but cieverness and capacity under them
Furthermore" says the author, Jour
nalism suits the Scot, because 1t is
profession into which you can crawl with
out inquiry as to your qualifications, ana
because it is a profession in which the
most middiing talents will take you
long way. The reporting STATS and sub
editorial STATS OF both the London and
provincial journals can, / think, boast
decidedly decent leaven of Scotchmen-
In Fleet Street, If you do not happen to
possess a little of the Doric you are
at some disadvantage in comprehending
the person with whom you are compelled
TO talk. hoo ARE We the moo? Is the
conventional greeting in most newspaper
offices. Also n large proportion of the
persons who come up the stairs on per-
sonal business which usually turns out
to be the personal business of the per-
ons. and resolves itself into a request for
reviewing. or an offer to do another
mans work at a cheap rate, are very
Scotch indeed: and while they drop the
DoIic word with fair success, they can
not for the life Of them get out OF the
Doric idiom and the Doric accent. Arm
ed with n letter of Introduction from Pro-
fesor McMoss-whom you do not know
and with sIleaf of dogs cared certifi-
Gates picked up at Scotch universities
they descend upon you with the air of
men who know for a surety that you are
dying for their services. and when they
go out, after wasting an altogether I'M
necessary amount of your time and tenn
per, it is with black looks and a burn
ing conviction that You refused to en-
ploy them because you know them to be
so clever that they might supplant you
i'll your own chair
The authors discussion of the 'hoot-
awa-mon'' kailyard authors, of the very
sentimental Thrums and Drumtochty
sort of novels. Margaret Ogilvy,'' THE
House With the Green Shutters" and
so on. is enliVening. not to say edifW
ing. He holds UP Burns as horrible
example jumps upon the Scot as critic,
as a biographer. as a man of letters and
in commerce. Speaking OF THE Scot
as a Dipsomaniac.'' he gets off the fol-
lowing stuff: Under the Inspiring tut
eage of the national band, Scotland has
become one of the drunlest nations III
the world. Among the lower classes
preponderating vice. In the rural dis
tricts whiskey is the only beverage that
finds any sort of favor. There is no
occasion of life which does not provoke
the average Scotchman to inhibition
Births. deaths and marriages are all
celebrated in drink. On Burns-Day
Scotland Tushes to the bottle as one man.
The same is true OF New Years Day.
and year in and year out everybody
tastes and tastes" and tastes from
morn to dewy eve. The land simply
seethes il whiskey and though you take
hold of the wings Of the morning you
cannot get away from the odor of 1t.
Whisky TO breakfast, wlliskey TO din
ncr whiskey TO supper. whiskey when
You meet a friend whfskey over all bus
mess meetings whatsoever, whiskey be-
fore you go into the kirk, whiskey when
YOU come out. whisky when you are
about 10 take a. journey. whiskey AL
along the road, whisley at the journeys
end, wfis5ey when YOU are well. wills
key if Uou are sick, wliskey almost as
soon as you are born, whiskey the last
thing before you de-that is Scotland =
And that is pling it on so thicl, that
ii loses all force. There is lots more
like this throughout the book and some
that is offensive and some that is anus
ing AT least, Mr.. Crosland might have
left of where the virtue of Scottish wo-
men was concerned. In the summing
ZIP of the book the author himself ex-
presses the gist of it in the caution. in
capitals: If, without serious convenience
TO yourself. you can manage to remain
al home, please do.
France BY Pierre Foncin Edited and
| translated by H. II. Kane. A NJ,
| NJ d. Authorized Edition. with a
preface by the author. The lnterna-
tonai publishing CO., New York.
| SIPS.
| This is marvelously complete l:stle
work. AS the Pays de France" it was
written by NJ. Pierre Foncin. especially
for the reading of foreigners, ana the
author is TO be congratulated ,pon The
success with which he carried out his
idea. Not only is the book a complete
history Of France, but it is so comp1ctly
arranged and Vet so Interestingly writ
| ten that the alien reader can read it
with both pleasure and understanding
The PAYS de France was prepared fl
! accord with the programme of :i,e Ali
4 ance Franchise. an association which de-
! votes Itself to encouraging he IL. rough
/ study of The French language and l:'era-
/ ture. and consequently. to spreading
4 abroad sound information in rega:1 Il
/ france anu iiei l'totLt. iiS '''iA'tA-iS-
4 courses established at Paris by the All
ance arc much patronized by Americans
NJ 4soncin.s little history is not unknown
therefore. among us. but its larger cir2n
4 lation in America would secure a still
greater, and desirable. sympathy betwae.
/ the two republics.
To the Ed Of tie Tail BY Frank Lew.
is Mason Hampton, Miflin and Co.
| Boston, Mass. S1.5o.
TO the End OF the Trail was writer
by Frank Lewis Mason. a mining engineer
whose professional life has been malnl,
spent ARID The scenes which he describes
II is evident that while the object of tht
story is "a entertain. there is d metaphys
ical side Tor those who choose to read be
tween The lines, The Characters ere real
i The rarouse 81 Tough Nut and his fellow:
efter tho successful exploiting of the Roy
al Flush. ingalls, in the gambling house
the woman called the Big Swede ant
Smutty Nike plotting the downfall of In
calls. the sailing of the Snow Flake ar
matters of daily occurrence in The West
though when chronicled at all they usual
" appear as isolated facts and not as far.
reaching factors in an almost endless