The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-26
SOME OF THE new BOOKS



A volume of excellent verse is that pub
lished under the title, 1.-The Call of the
Sea-" by l.. Frank Tooker. The title poem
has color and Imagination and produces
unique emotion both of form and spirit The
book as whole does not lack either color
or spirit, and IS in line with the best verse
that is now being made. Much OF Mr..
lockers work has appeared I'm the Century
and several of the poems have been In
cluded in Stedman's Anthology 1.-THE
Road We Came was read by Mr.. Tooker
at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the class
of 1877 OF Yale. There is not trivial poem
in the volume. Published by the Century
Company.
Lady Blanche Lindsay is known in Eng
land a versifier of simple grace and re-
finement. But little more than this can be
claimed for her. The poetry in "a Christ
mas Posy" Is conventional in form but col
orless In substance. The chief merit OF the
work of Lady Lindsay seems to be that 1t
furnishes medium for expression OF that
Christian faith reverence and general ele-
walton of thought that is common and al
ways admirable in women of devoutly re-
ligious character. AT Eventide" is I'M
questionably the best poem of the collec-
ton, but the promise of its first stanzas Is
broken by the turn given TO the latter TOUR
lines OF the e1gntn StanZa. WHICH tne dutnOt
follows in spirit to the close. The natural
and mystic aspects of eventide in this COM
bination destroy the organic unity or the
poem. AT Eventide" is too long TO be
quoted. A feature of the book is the in
clusion OF the original texts and transla-
lions of early French noels, Provencal
noels and German carol. The publishers
are Kegan, Paul, Trench. Trubuer q Co..
London.
Doubleday, Page & Co. have put out in
neat volume the libretto of Gilbert,s Pa
tience," or "Bunthornes Bride" The text
OF light, graceful verse and prose dialogue
furnishes a pleasant evenings entertain
ment for home reading. Librettos have not
been popular with the general reading pub
should not be, especially If they have as
much literary worth as has the text or
Patience" The story is a satire on the aes,
thetic craze in England. which originated
with Du Mauriers pictorial satires i'll
Punch. Its capacity for amusement de-
Ponds upon a legitimate and facile fun
growing out of the ridiculous devotion OF
group of girls for the posing aesthetics.
whom the group considers the height OF
manly ideals. Though the opera Is about
twenty years old. it has many qualities OF
permanence and is in no way out OF date.
None of the poems in 1.-The Solitary
PATH" by Helen Huntington, is strong.
The verse included in this volume belongs
to the poetry of ennui and longing. TO
those who have Joy and confidence in life
the book will not appeal. THE Closed Ac-
count" is a summary of the weak spirit of
the taken COlleCtlVely. n weaker
spirit would be hard TO imagine.
God, deliver up the arms
You furnished me at the start.
The arms to conquer a nightly world;
Here is the cowardly heart.
Here is the feeble woman mind,
And the body, frail and small,
Here are the senses, subtly keen;
i render account or ALL
Here Is the pride which made me fight,
And the charm which wrought me VICE.
Now the account Is ended, God
Into my grave go.
Nixon Waterman has made collection of
Jolly and touching verse for those who are
more pleased with humor and pathos tnan
with high artistry. Domesticity. country
life and character. childhood, youth and
love, ever popular themes, are sympatheu-
cally and wholesomely sketched in poems
that will please the masses. Mr.. Water
mans verse has had such wide newspaper
circulation, and thereby has added so much
cheerfulness to the everyday grind, that
the new volume, I'm Merry MOOD, Is nkely
to have a large NUMBER OF buyers. roroes
& Co., Boston.
cupid Is King" by Ray Farrell Greene;
is composed of the clever society verse
that has appeared over Mr.. Greene's sigma
ture in Life, The Smart Set. Munsey's and
other papers and magazines Mr. Greene is
decidedly one of the cleverest OF writer's or
his class though his cleverness is confined
TO the thought rather than to the meter. In
this he differs from the English and CONT
mental writer's of such verse, whose clever
ness is largely metrfcal. Mr.. greene
Cupid Is always most immature and boy
ish. This book will be best appreciated by
the undergraduate and his young friends.
Published by Richard o. Badger Boston;
syVhimlets" is the improvised name of a
book of pictures and rhymes by S. Scott
Stimson and Clare Victor Dwiggins. The
matte verse in expressing wit Each page
has a drawing and clever four or six-line
stanza. Henry T. Coates, Philadelphia.