The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-03
NEWS OF TIE BOOK WORLD
THE UNEASY CHAIR

The Ghost Story of Today: Change
from the Malignant to the Benignant
Splrit.-It seems a piece of fantasy to
back from the beyond, to its earthly
play places to enjoy the companionship
of child of time, as ghost. Ghosts, we
have been taught by tradition, walk
chiefly at midnight. in darksome places,
burdening with their sorrows ncrtals who
are unfortunate enough to be sensitive to
spirit approach: But a child-ghost, play
/ ing with dolls-it is incongruous! Yet it is
not altogether so. either for the benignant
ghost, the friendly spirit of psychic re-
| search, has had an increasing place In
recent fiction; so why not the spirit child !?
So, at least, thought Frances Hodgson
Fauntleroy," when she wrote her latest
story, In the Closed Room. =
] The story is one in which the spirit Of
a child, not long dead is represented as
frequenting her oldttme earthly play
room to play with. the dreaming, spiritu-
ellie little daughter Of the caretaker Of
her fathers house. The author treats the
subject with great delicacy, and in Judith,
the caretaker's child, has drawn one of
l3those child characters which seem to
stand on the border between the material
and the spiritual and in whose eyes
abides a look OF wonder whenever they
thor tells Of the meeting Of the strange
/ playmates thus: ~, ~ r.
Her eye was caught by something lying on a
sofa-something covered with a CLOTH It looked
like child lying there asleep-so fast asleep
that it did not stir at all. - Judith moved across
to the sofa and drew the cloth aside. . With Its
head upon cushion was lying there a very
large doll, beautifully dressed in white lace.
its eyes closed and little wreath of dead
Howers in its hair.
ut looks almost as If it had died, too" said
| Judith. =''''s 50
/ She did not ask herself why she said "as If
it had died, too''-perhaps it was because the
place was go still-and everything far away
that the flowers had died in the strange little,
deserted garden on the roof ~ -. 80 81
II She did not hear any footsteps; in fact, no
4 ghost Of a sound stirred the silence she stood
looking at the dolls sleep--but quickly she
ceased to bend forward and turned round to
look at something which she knew near
her. There she was: and it was quite natural
that she should be there-the little girl with the
4 face like q: white flower, with the quantity of
FURNISHED, coppery hair, and the smile which
deepened the already deep dimple near her
mouth ~ -: e. t@71i go:
"You have come to play with me-, she
y said. :H*TH = tras ST. -
t It is, difficult to say how such a story
will be received It was apublished in Nc
. Cures Magazine, andewe: have heard nc
, adverse comment byN those who read II
there ItsEis "a STORY for7 mature readers
make a deep impression upon q child'E
: The book has been, saaintily and artis
tically made from every point Of view
Particularly pleasing are it's illustrations
in co1ors, by Jessie Wilcox Smith. =.
Mcclure, Phillips & Cos: New York. N.
t -.s2 Mccarthy, Minneapolis. = 49,.
Dr. William =. Rolf& makes short work O.
those who adhere to the Bacon authorship the
In s ne Dana
t.In the photography, which is necessarily 7
brief selection from material that would fill
y volume larger than this, Il have given fulle
: first folio. than have seen elsewhere. 1t will
v suffice, think; to prove beyond all questio
that the folio could not have been edited b.
Bacon, as the 'cranks'-1 cannot call Their
' critics-who believe him to be the author Of tn
4 plays have assumed -
Poems Of Childhood, by Eugene FieIe
with illustrations by Maxfed PARRISH
e There is combination to tempt the chile
: whether he be s or 80 years DID,. espe
: cially when it is added that Mr.. Parrish
n Illustrations are In colors and the boo
: from the publishing house of Charlie
S Scribner's Sons. Nothing need be said
it the Quality of the poems. There 1 al
n e'With Trumpet and Drum" tPittyps
d and Tippytoe,' ''The Sugar Plum Tree,
n "Cradlin' Doo," "Wynken. Blynken an
3 Nod .'The Little Peach, . "The Bott
!. Tree, :, "Seein' Things and many, man
others that have delighted readers d
it and young. THE eight full-page picture
it by Mr.. Parrish, show thoro synpatf
8 with the poems and their author Altt
g gether, the book is one The Uneasy Cha
ld would like to own a. copy Of. Because
r. that YOU will not say The Chair is in /
r. second childhood. 1t is not yet out of i
Of first childhood, tho its years are pilir
I'd up. But the poems are the kind to he
,s keep one forever young. and to have the
y in the form they are offered In the boz
re in hand is to make oe1ng kept young
IN easy as can be. -. t..# A- - .-ss
N Charles Scribner's Sons. New York. N.
" ,yof<or+b1,. NIfnpoo,,olis 80 10