The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-09-05
The NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME OF THE LATEST BOOKS OF
THE SEASON.

sThe watchers of the TraiIs," by
Charles C. ID. Roberts-'Daphne and
Her Ladn-sA Forest Drama" by
Louise PendIeton-''The Motor Pi-
rate,o by G. sidney Paternoster-
John Lanes Canyasback Library of
Popular Fiction-Coming New Books,
Etc.
The Watchers of the Trails. A book
of Animal life, by Charles G. D. Rob-
erts, Boston; L. C. Page & Co. Price
$780, For sale by Judd.
In his latest volume of animal stories,
as in "The Kindred of the Wild" Mr..
Roberts shows his extraordinary
knowledge of and sympathy with the
inhabitants of the fields and the forests,
the waters Of lake and river, and the
heights of upper air. Mr.. Roberts says
frankly that the stories are fiction, but
that, on the other hand, they contain
nothing that, taking animal life into
intelligent consideration, might not
have happened without doing violence
to any law or result of actual observa-
ton. In the cluster Of twenty-five sto-
ries of which 1.-THE Watchers of the
Trails Is composed, the one thing that
Professor Roberts has avoided is the
endowing of the creatures Of the tales
with human achievements or processes
of reasoning which experience and OBJ
servation have not warranted. There
are no superintendent creatures
among his animals; they are simply the
average creatures of the wood, the
field, the streams, living the same sort
of life that others of their kin lived, do
ing no more and achieving no less than
others. It is very easy to infer from
the animals actions the mental pro-
cesses that prompt certain course.
Professor Roberts especial skill lies in
the way in which he describes these
processes, and the picturesque fashion
in which he portrays their setting Of
the book. The Brooklyn Eagle says:
''As bit Of literary construction, this
story, The Alien of the Wild" is Wor-
thy Of all praise. There is adventure,
pathos, a final, inevitable tragedy. The
whole story is told with simplicity, but
with much VICAR and force.
Into these tales the author has put
his woodland lore and the experiences
of his earlier years. Most of his boy
hood was spent upon the fringes of the
forest, with few interests save those
which the forest afforded" and the i'm
tiInacies of the wilderness were early
thrust upon him. Perhaps this is the
reason he is able to put into these tales
of the wild creatures something of the
mystery the elusive spirit the expec-
fancy which hangs about the forest
trails. He has been very successful in
endowing them with certain atmos-
phere and vividness that breathes the
very spirit of the woodland. Every
story In the volume gives the reader
an impression of solitude; you are alone
in the wilderness. Some of them are
wonderfully vivid, as for instance, 1.-THE
.,yIaugh in the Dark which has Curl
ous psychological quality, eerie, mys-
FERROUS and uncanny, like the hollows Of
the forest on a cloudy midnight, with
no moon in the sky.
Professor Roberts is, distinctly, the
most literary in his work, of all the ma
ture writer's; he Is also one Of the most
imaginative and vivid. 1.-THE Watchers
of the Trails is an admirable example
Of his work at its best. The book is
strikingly illustrated by Charles Liv-
ingston Bull and is handsomely made.
Daphne and Her Lad. BY M. ]. La
gen and Cal1y Ryland. (New York:
Henry Holt and Company. Price $1.5O.)
: {, Ias,, oefO
little love-story is Philadelphia and,
presumably. Richmond, Virginia. The
story is told in the correspondence of
two journalists, a man and woman,
conducting similar departments on two
dailies published in different cities and
who, until the end of their romance,
keep their identities yelled from each
other.
That man or woman may fall in
love with an idea created out of a series
of letters, with a love which shall sur
vive acquaintance, depends, of course,
Jpn how true to character are the let
tiers. In this case there is an aims
phere of sincerity in the whole cores
pondenee as convincing as reality it
sell. Especially is this SO in the
Daphne letters. The reader feels GER
tain that she is the sweet, brave, true
woman the lad believes her to be; and,
as promptly as he, he surrenders to her
charms. We know she is unhappy al
most at once; and we pity her and love
her at the same psychical moment.
The Literary World says: Not since
Herbert d. Wards Love Letters of an
American Girl have we read so de-
lightful a correspondence as this be-
tween Daphne and her lad-such real
sentiment so beautifully expressed.
We should like to know both of the
writers in real life; and, falling in this,
we offer our thanks to the authors for
giving us the opportunity to meet them
between the covers Of a book which
holds the mirror up to nature far better
than do most of the books of this kind,
issued in such prfusion within the last
few years"
a Forest Drama. BY Louise Pendle-
ton, with Illustrations. Published by
Henry T. Coates & Co., Philadelphia.
For sale by Judd.
AS the name implies the action of this
story takes place in forest which is