The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-10

= HE growth of the short story has
been, in a way. to satisfy the
Americans desire for brevity and
to supply novel that can be read, as
II We're. While you wait. For this same
reason has sprung up a class of maya
zines like The Smart Set, Ainslie'S
and LippincOtts, which publish each
month a novelette, and innumerable short
stories which can be read in ten min
utes. So much is this tendency INDUCED
III that II IS affecting all magazines in
some way and even the sober and seri-
GUS KIND. which treat of scientific sub
JectS, are feeling this desire for con-
densatiOn and very long and ponderOus
articles no longer appear. Brevity is
the watchword and the last cry in
American magazine making, of which the
Booklover may be regarded as a fair
specimen. is given over entirely to brief
articles. largely descriptive of the illus
tratlOnS. Now, of course, we are all in
Clfned to believe that the latest thing
is the best in any line of work, but it
may fairly be doubted whether the maya
zines Of today are as worth while in
the minds of serious readers as those
OF ten or fifteen years ago. The Ameri-
can magazines have run so to illuStra-
ton and the short story that most OF
them are given over entirely to pictures.
The North American Review. which has
been regarded as serious, or at least has
always taken itself seriously, has yielded
to the common lot and now keeps
story running on its pages. To the man
who likes to read of national issues, and
of great questions of the day, the maya
zines have very much deteriorated, and
in order to keep in touch with impor-
tant questions he must resort to the Eng
liSh periodicals. In spite of all the
changes and innovations to be found al
F most everywhere, a few of the best
British reviews and monthlies have adj
hered to their old traditions and pub
lish no pictures or light fiction. OF
course, many others of a frivolous ma
ture have been inaugurated in London,
but the older magazines go on in their
conservative manner and are real re-
lief to the serious reader. In this cOun
try the reaction against pictures and
trashy stories is bound to come. When
it does the American who believes that
magazines are for something more than to
amuse for fifteen minutes, will come into
his own.
+ A book which will probably be eagerly
bought up when it appears in week or
two is whistler as l Knew Him. by
Mr. Mortimer MenpeS, whose portrait APP
pears on this page. The book is not eX-
actly a biography, but an enthusiastic
study of Whistler as a man and as an
artist There has been a tremendous
amount written and published about the
eccentric dEllSly WHO OlSu q lev AAlOAANAio
ago; much that is eulOgistic, much that
shows him to have been unbearable per
sonally to the general public, but once ne
made a man his friend he seems to have
held him firmly forever. Mr.. Menpes was
one of his particular friends, and his book
viii doubtless throw much light upon his
character and give the reader an in
sight into his life as an artist. Mr.
MenpeS is a writer with a power OF VIVID
description which will make his book
of great value to those who have for
long worshiped Whistler from afar. Mr..
Menpes is himself an artist pupil Of
Whistler, and in his volume are repro
auctions Of several portraits he made of
his master and friend. The volume con-
tains one hundred full page plates in
color.
Mr. Edmund Gosse. who has recently
bcen appointed librarian to the house Of
lords in succession to the late Arthur
Strong. was born in London in 1849, and
was the oldest son Of the eminent Zoolo-
egist p II. GOsse. He has served as as
sistant librarian Of the British museum,
and during that time spent two years in
travel for the purpose Of gathering lit
erary material He has always been
prolific writer and is well known in the
world of literature. His latest work was
a Joint one with DR.. Richard Garrett, and
the result is the illustrated History of
English Literature.
The position to which he has recently
been appointed carries with it a salary of
50, 900 a year and an official residence in
the houses Of parliament.
A Woman's Wildly Anne Warner. Lit
tie Brown & Co, publishers. For sale
by ST. Paul Book and Stationery com
pany.
A book from the pen of st. Paul
woman is always Of interest to people in
this city, although 1t cannot be said 1T is
a great novelty, for the West is full of
writer's who are becoming known. Anne
Warner. who is Mrs. French, has written
much for magazines during the last year
or two and has good style which shows
no amateuriShnesS. "A WOman'S WIFI is
her first long story, and is quite different
from the other things she has written,
different not only in scene and action but
in method and style, showing her to be
versatile genius. The heroine is ROSina,
a widow, as every well regulated novel of
modern days must have married leading
woman, but ROSina'S experience of mat
TimOny has not been very happy one,
and when her husband has been year or
two dead she starts to Europe with a
light heart a full purse and stern re-
solve to spend the rest of her days in
freedom. Before she has been a week in
Paris she sees a certain Won Ibn, com
poser of note, and she at once tells the
American man she has happened to meet
to present the foreigner to her. The re-
mainder of the story is told mostly in
dialogue between Won Ibn and herself.
She wanders all over Europe and he wan
ders after her. The talk is wonderfully
bright even brilliant at times, and the
characters are well drawn, standing out
from the canvas in quite an unusual man
ner. The writer gives us good descrip-
lions Of the beautiful scenes of Zurich and
Lucerne and the manner in which Rosina
we are not told her other name-falls in
love with her Won Ibn is very well done.
She does not realize this fondness until
q cousin from America comes over and
opens her eyes to the state of her own
mind, and the story ends as all proper
love stories should, in a marriage and we
leave Rosina with her will completely
Bubdued by the man she loves. Mrs.