The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-24
BOOK NOTICES.

THE Middle Course" by Mrs. Poult-
ney Bigelow, illustrated by c. B. Car
rier. The Smart Set Publishing Com
pany, New York. Cloth, $3.50. 1.-THE
Middle Course" concerns itself with
a beautiful London society woman
whose husband is unsympathetic and
even brutal and who becomes sensa-
tionally involved, although innocent,
with much lionized sculptor through
a jealous woman's malicious gossip.
By this story Mrs. Bigelow at once
attains a very high place as a writer
of smart fiction. The heroine was a
woman who had fed her mind on Wis
ions of love-" innocent enough, but en-
ervating and dangerous. There is an
accurate description of New York in
the story: "A place that is not over
comfortable for the rich and quite i'm
possible for the poor. One musts be
either millionaire or a pauper to live
there. What strikes me as remarka-
BILE, whenever l go back, is the num-
Der of well-dreSsed women. Hardly
any one looks dowdy, and yet one
knows that they are not all rich. You
can't conceive how grotesque it is to
see women in beautiful gowns hang
car, liable to be sent at any moment
into the laps of strange men, who do
not get up to give them a seat" 1.-THE
Middle Course" is a story of very I'M
usual obstacles to a happy union be-
tween two lovers. The problem is a
pretty one and is well worked out.
1.-THE Man In the Camlet Cloak"
Carlen Batesson. Published by the
Saalf1eld Company. Cloth, $3.50. The
story is laid along the Ohio frontier
in the days when Aaron Burr was al
legged to have been working out his
conspiracy for the establishment of an
empire in the West and the entire
story is interviewer with the reputed
acts of Burr, BlennerhasSett, and Gen.
Wilkinson. The plot hangs around an
attempt on the part of the Vigilants,
the organized force of the colonists,
to offset the Burr conspiracy, to gain
possession of a code of signals in the
hands of a beautiful woman, unused to
the rough pioneer conditions and rear
ed in an atmosphere far different
from that in which she is working
The precious code is finally gained
through a woman offering it volunta-
rily to her frontier lover in a moment
characters introduced are clearly
drawn, sharply distinguished, and are
natural and life-like. The story moves
rapidly and is replete with stirring in
cidents sufficient to hold the interest
of the reader from start to finish. The
illustrations by w. Herbert Dunston
are excellent and aid in grasping the
incidents which the book portrays.
~ A -
South" Conner l.. Peek. Published by
the Broadway Publishing Company,
New York The story is WOW
en- together from incidents oc-
curing in the South just pre-
ceding, during, and Immediately fol-
lowing the Civil War, and sets forth
in a clear way facts connected with
slavery as it existed before the war
and the conditions in which the freed
men found themselves when peace and
emancipation had been established.
The writer was born on a Georgia
plantation and is thoroughly acquaint-
ed with all the facts which are set
forth in the story. The incidents and
facts, are treated in a fearless, out
spoken way, and the characters intro
duced are clearly and Enthusiastically
drawn. The serio-comic negro sketches
make most interesting reading, and
the vernacular and idiom introduced
are the same as were and are in use.
The story was written more to bring
out the real facts than for the sake of
the story and though there is enough
of the story element to make the book
exceedingly interesting, yet never for
a moment does the writer lose sight of
the facts which he is DESTROYS of put
ting before the public. The characters
are types of the classes existing at the
times in which the story is laid and
the book is one which will give the
reader a clear insight into the real
life and history of those troublous
times The book is richly illustrated
by s. Mary Norton.