The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-23
AMONG THE BOOKS
'sMy Friend PrOsperO" Appears
In Book Form.
Romance by Author of sc The
Cardinals Snuff Box
DIALOGUE IS BRIGHT.
Interest Well Sustained
Throughout the Story.
Items of Interest for Lovers of
Current Literature.
DIALOGUE IS BRIGHT.

The first book of the 1904 season from
the press Of Mcclure. Phillips & Co,
and for that matter from any publisher,
is in the hands of the booksellers. It
Is My Friend Prospero." by Henry
Harland.
success as the author of THE Card
inaPs Snuff Box" though his 1.-THE
Lady Paramount" has also received
much more than the usual degree Of
approval from the reading public. It is
therefore quite natural that this. his
latest work. should have been awaited
with a great deal of pleasant anticipa-
ton
MY Friend Prospero" is an italian
romance written in the dainty. spark
ling y A that had much to do with
populal ling The Cardinals Snuff
Box The central figure is a young
Englishman, John Blanchemain. but
for the purposes of the story he is
ture of his hero: He was tall and
broad shouldered, but not a bit rigid
or infiexible-of a figure indeed con-
spicuously supple, sauve in it's quick
movements. soft in its energetic lines.
figure that could with equal thor
oughness be lazy in reDose and vehe-
ment in action.
His yellow hair was thick and fine,
and If it hadn't been cropped SO close,
would have curled q little. His beard
in small crinkly Spirals, did actually
curl, and toward the edge its yellow
burned to red. And his blue eyes were
so very, very blue, and so very keen
and so very frank and pleasant He
carried his head well thrown back, as
q man who was perfectly sure of him
self and perfectly unself-conscious;
and thus unconsciously he drew atten-
ton to the vigorous sweep of his pro-
file, the decisive angles of his brow and
nose. His voice was brisk and cheer
ful and masculine; and that abrupt
ness with which he spoke-which seem
ed as it were, to imply previous ac-
quaintance-was so tempered by mani
Test good breeding and so coiOured by
manifest good will, that it became a
positive part and parcel of what one
liked in him It was the abruptness
of a man OF the world, yet 1t was some
how, in its essence, bOyiSh. It express
cd freshness, sincerity, conviction, a
boyish wholesale surrender of himself
to the business of the moment; it ex-
pressed, perhaps above all, a boyish
thorough good understanding with his
interloeutor."
After such a delightful description as
this it may be anticipated that John
has wonderful career but he doesn't.
Like other men before him he decides
that he will never fall in love and ends
by becoming hopelessly afflicted and
the reader is left with the impression
that he eventually became a benedicI.
The reader is never allowed to lose
sight Of John. He is always in the
center OF the stage. This is the pub
fishers notice of the young man and
his love affair:
I'm the mountains of northern Italy he
meets q beautiful young woman quite his
match IN spirited, joyous fancy. Through
the accident of their meeting they keep
their names concealed from each other
In their love affair they exchange swift
thrust and parry, and John comes near
to losing her because he lets his poverty
seal his lips, but the generous old Lady
Blanchmain, in her old way, comes to his
rescue"
There is nothing particularly new in the
love story, but the reader viii find the
dialogue fresh, bright and ENTERTAINERS
and he will not regret the time he has
given to My Friend Prospero."
NY Friend Prospero, by Henry HarIand,
author of The Cardinals SNUFF Box
Frontisplece in color by Louis Loeb
Pages, 317. Publishers Mcclure, Phil
lips & Co., New York Price $50.