The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-03-08
BOOKS AND AUTHORS,
81 COMMENT AND GOSSIP
""Some Truths Of History '--"Thc Order
Of the Prophet How to Gesture
Tho Six Best Selling Books Mrs
Tylcr's Novel Of THE Pace
That Kills White
washing Of Benedict
IN Arnold A Girl
Of Virginia."

Co., OF New York. and for sale BY the
I'm Bell Book and Stationery Co. sl.5o.
VERONICA, ono Of the earliest Of the
spring season publications. Is book
which Is decidedly out of the common.
It Is emphaucally the history of q wo-
q mans life, and but little else is takon
into account in It's makeup, tho mascu-
i line element being introduced in rather
q sketchy and underlined manner.
Veronica is q Southern girl, born pre-
gumably on a Louisiana sugar plnnta-
ton, the daughter Of q scholar and q
hrealncr; a girl left orphaned at an early
pge, and q child who is also a dreamer
BY parental Inheritance. Her homo Is
with her aunt, Mrs. Tresivant, and
4 though there Is never any active disagree
ment between the two, the reader in
( fers that there is but little sympathy
nnd no love lost between them. AS
veronica grows older she develops q
beautiful voice and passionate love or
mature. IA E4
Haven McCandish, New Yorker,
whose father has bought plantation
adjoining Mr.. Trisavant's, appears after
time upon the scene and meets tho
girl in the full flush OF her griish
! beauty. He hears her sing. straightway
,magines himself in love with her, swcars
thermal devotion, and begs her to be his
Eife.
Innocent. unworthy and confidinE, We
ronica gives him her whole heart, not
realizing that her lovers nature and her
own are by no means in accord, and that
the difference in natural tendencies, as
well as those produced by tho influence
of environment and tradition, must ever
cause future divergence In thcr case
instead OF closer union. When his South
.ern visit is at an end, young NIcCandlsh
returns to his alma mater to complete
his law course, and to take a pro-
fossional position that will enable him to
marry.
From the moment of his departure
, differences begin to creep in. Veronica
remains absolutely faithful, but with the
man old influences assert themselves and
family opposition to his betrothnl com
4 bines to weaken his allegiance. When his
lady love comes to New York to develop
her voice Mr., McCandishs Indifference
loads her to break all ties between them
and reclaim her freedom. At what cost
to herself she does this may be inferred
from the fact that she rushes Into n
second engagement to prove her lndif-
ference to the man she loves, and Is only
brought to her better self by a sharp
attack of illness. She makes amends then
by confessing her fault and asking for
giveness Of a friend she might otherwise
have deeply wronged.
i Art claims Veronica next. She goes
abroad, becomes a great singer, and
after eleven years returns to her old
home In Louisiana. Here she again meets
her fate and becomes the wife Of John
Stanhope, the third man who crosses
her path as lover. lie is hopelessly
III when she marries him. and dies soon
afterward. The book leaves Veronica
beside his grave, where she has taken up
the burden - her HE once again.
The author" III depicting her heroine,
has evidently tried to create q feminine
nature entirely free from materlalsm
and altogether true to itself ana its own
high standards. The motto OF the book
is sentence from Marcus Aurelus,
which says:
Whatever any one does or says, I
must be good, just as If the gold, or the
emerald, or the purple, were always
saying this: Whatever any one does or
says, must be emerald, and keep my
colour"
Miss Austin. In her dedication, de-
clares that her novel is addressed to the
woman whose desire has been to keep
bright the Immediate jewel Of her soul.
and to all like her, dwelers in the green
country .of the spirit. where there Is no
+ frost, nor fading. nor falling Of the
leaf"
The reader will best Judge to what cx-
tent, though, and in Veronica Miss
Austin has attained her ideal The char.
Voter makes familiar impression. just
: Us If the original from which the picture
IS drawn were an old acquaintance some.
how. Perhaps, when the real identity
]s disclosed, if it ever Is, every ono Will
wonder over having not more fully recog.
nized It.
A. NJ, TYLER,
EDUCATIONAL WORKS. Published by
the American Book Company, New
. York Just received.
We have received the following tex
books from the American Book Com
pany: .Franklin and Grecne's Selection,
From Latin Prose Authors for Sigh
Readers" by Susan Bradley Franklin Phi
D., and Ella Katherine Green, A. D..
instructors in Latin at Miss Baldwin!
q