The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-11-17

party of girls in Europe Miss Thorne
found in the old attic relics Of former lux
ury and worldliness, in the abundance of
old lace and fine dresses while the whole
house was perfumed with lavender. Her
aunt had left her money! for household
expenses and directions. to light a lamp
and place it on a stand 4by2a certain win
dow every night. Miss Thorne discovered
that she was enveloped in mysteries, and
the gradual unfolding Of these is the
stimulation of deep interest in the story,
which reveals a disappointment in love
and its affecting sequel, and a very charm
ingly- told love episode,ssin which Miss
Thorne herself figures conspicuously.
There are many tender and beautiful pas
sages in the story, and the smell Of Law
ender pervades the. very book itself
through the power Of the imagination.
FUEL OF FIRE. BY Ellen Thornycraft Fow-
Ter, Author of Concerning Isabel Carnaly,'
etc. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. Min
neapolis: w. Donaldson & Co., Price, $3.50.
Miss Fowler is g. most excellent story
teller, whether writing society novel or
a quaint tale like "Fuel of Fire. in which
is related the experience of the old Eng
lish family of Baxendale, upon which a
curse rested because anciently the heads
of the house opposed the marriage Of the
heir to the daughter Of a forester and
Before she died she uttered curse upon
the Baxendales for their foul deed, and the
curse stuck, and Miss Fowler very effect
lively shows how into modern times the
terms Of the curse were fulfilled even to
the burning of the ancestral home. The
curse actualized, Miss Fowler makes the
story end in sunlight. A new family home
was built and the author, at the close,
effectively details the closing phase of a
strong case Of love.
S. Meldrum.' New York: Dodd, Mead & Co
Minneapolis: ". Donaldson & Co. Price,
$3.50.
This is Scottish love story, but, fortu-
nately, there is no need Of a glossary, for
the author kindly writes In straight Eng
lish. The story is we'll told. although
slightly tiresome in places. There is an
elder and a younger Charlotte and the
narrator is a lawyer who ardently loved
the latter and was repealed from the
father, Rob Quick, who is characterized
as rascal and deserved it.. for he was
smuggler, eluding the vigilance of the
coast guards. The peculiar difficulties
which made young Charlotte hard to con-
quer are very interestingly detailed in the
latter half Of the book and are exciting
enough to thrill the heart of even a stolid
reader especially when he reads of Char
lotte's fight and the pursuit by her lover
and the latter's misery until he actually
found and conquered the little beauty and
took her In his arms and kissed her.
ALADDIN o'BRIEN. BY Governeur Morris, Au-
thor Of TON Beaulng." New York: The
Century company. Minneapolis: n. Nc
Carthy. Price, $125.
The author of that fine story, ''Tom
Beauling.'' will disappoint nobody who
reads this new story. for the interest
deepens at the start with the account of
the youthful Aladdin and his little girl
friend Margaret losing themselves on 4
| river, being unable to manage the boat
they were in. After while. when Mar
garet grew into comedy maiden, she was
beloved by Aladdin and another man.
Then the civil war came and broke rudely
upon the billing and cooling of lovers and
the story deals with battles and blood and
heroism, including Gettysburg; after
which there is an interesting scene in
which Margaret is seen in hospital tent,
bending over the wounded Aladdin.