The Saint Paul globe., 1902-07-12

lists dabble in religion, SCIENCE and So
cial philosophy, of which ha considers
them profoundly ignorant. He does
not believe in reforming novelists. nov
| elists with purpose, hphilosophizing
story writer's, or, indeed, in any but
those who tell their story in straight
| forward manner. Mr.. Lang is oddly
behind his time if he does not know
that there is no better way to reach
the largest crowd in the shortest time.
with ethics, morals or philosophy, than
by clothing ones ideas in fictional
| form. Those who know say that the
novel today has the greatest influence
of any form of literaturestha it reaches
more people and moulds their thought
| more surely than in any other way.
-ThesBook Lover.
The Red AnvIl-A Story of ffty
years ago by, Charles Reginald Sher-
Lock. Published by Frederick A.
Mr.. Sherlock has written a book Of
much merit under the title of "The Red
Anvil" bringing into action people on
both sides of the slavery question. The
scene, a rural station in Central New
York, is so-called station on the I'm
derground Railroad" in use in the Civil
war, period, to take negroes from the
South to Canada.
There is in the novel a clever portrayal
of a sturdy character, an itinerant picture
taker whose lovable qualities are con-
tinually under the cloud of his professed
aversion to the negro. with whom the
mass of his fellow citizens were in un-
The style of the book is vigorous, and
the author plainly a man of ideas.
The Story Of the Art Of Music-By Fred
erlck j. CroWeSt Published by d.
Appleton & Co. New York.
An excellent book to put into the hands
OF students and also for those who. wish
a 1a6c Aft &c,
est OF the arts" to their store of general
information is Frederick J. Crowests
STORY of the Art of Music" just pub
iished. Mr.: -Crowest will be remembered
as the author of another little Volume
The Great Tone Poets"
With his conclusion in regard to the in
1uenee OF modern composers on the art of
music as given in his latest book, many
OF his readers may not agree. All, how
eyer, must agree in their estimate of
the value of the volume he has placed in
the hands of the reading public. For the
book gives succinctly facts that the intel
llgent are interested in learning and are
very willing to learn, provided they do
not have to pursue several volumes in
order to place themselves in possession
of such facts. Mr.. Crowest has condensed
his facts into a tiny book yet so wise a
selection has he made of materials of
fered that the book suggests no lack of
comprehensiveness. So
The writer begins his book with a de-
scription of the first rude musical instru-
ments concerning which history furnishes
any information. Contrarysto the opinion
held by many writer's ON musical sub
jectS Mr.. CroweSt does not believe that
the earliest music was humanity's cropping
effort to voice a worthy praise of the in
Unite. On the contrary, 4he asserts that
1t was merely the humans effort to i'm
itate the various sounds of nature. When
! man found that he could not only initiate
those sounds, but evenJ improve upon
them, they began to voice for him his
finest feelings. Mr.. CrOWeSt gives a
brief history of the beginning and growth
of the art of music in the five great ma
tions of ancient times. the Egyptians, He
breWs, Assyr1ans. Greeks and Romans.
In this is included the history of the origin
Of notation. The earlier composers are
then taken up, brief sketch of their
lives given and their influence on the de-
velopment of music traced. The modern
| composers, are treated In precisely the
I'm my opinion says Mr. Crowest in
his Introduction, "the last word in music
worth hearing has been spoken for many
a long period" This estimate of the
ability of composers that the near fu-
| ture will produce is similar to the esti-
mate Mr.. Crowest gives of the value of
| the work of the living and dead modern
| composers. He asks the question, Have
| modern musicians improved upon the art
of music as they received, ,a,it?,' and then
"All of US have listened to Wagner,
Raft, Dvorak Rubinstein, Liszt, Brahms,
| TschaikOWsky, he continues, yet if we
! except Brahms we can find nothing gen
timely new in them. They say merely the
old things over again in their various
| manners and according to their national
| characteristics. Their music lacks the
| master ring" In reference to Wagner
! he says that it seems improbable and i'm
possible thatsthe great tone refOrmer will
prove to be an epoch maker in music's
| history.
AS we said in the beginning. all may
not agree with the conclusions of this lit
| tie book but all will appreciate the value
| of the musical facts so suceinctly given.
l
Hafiz-A Story of Adventure and Ro-
| nance by Estelle Hampstead Manning.
| Published by the Neale Publishing
Company, Washington, D. G.
Miss Manning announces that her
story is told from old family love letters
written during the exciting events of the
baronial feuds of 1874. The tale is one
Of war and love, with much of horror, and
here and there a thrill, but in truth, a
dreamy sort of novel which one lays
| down after reading and wonders If he
| has just come out of a trance.
| LATE BOOKS AND MAGAZINES.