The Savannah morning news., 1904-04-03
BOOK REVIEWS
AND
LITERARY NOTES

profession must be accepted as an ex-
cuse for his devotion to the woman.
The story win doubtless have much
vogue among people who find pleas
sure in reading OF the sO-called con
fessions" of women; but ii is not such
a volume as a father would give his
daughter as a birthday present. It's
literary merit is unqucstionable, but
not all well told tales are to be COM
mended to the general reader.
Tic Vineyard. BY John oliver Hobbies.
Cloth; PIP. 1922, New York; d. APP
pleton & Co. Price $3.50.
A new season without a new novel
by the always delightful and correct
Mrs. Cragie would be a dull season
indeed. THE Vineyard" is a good and
clever story. written and arranged
along the most approved lines. AT
the beginning of each chapter there Is
quoted a sort of text. TO indicate tie
spirit of what is to follow. Who in
vented this system is lost in the misty
mazes of the past, but 1t is still rell-
giously adhered to by many authors of
the period. Not that the top of-chap-
ter quotations are given any attention
whatever by the reader, but it looks so
literary and erudite to have them
there: and if a bit of French can be
thrown in, it is so much the better.
Mrs. Cragie's new story is, of course,
English, in which the schoolteachers
are masters" the trolley roads are
trans" and the clerks are "clarks."
But somehow or other we seem never
to tire of English fiction Cor English
clothes), even when there is a foreign
war raging to divert our attention. And
her people of the story are all correctly
intense, or interesting, or colorless, as
she chooses to have us consider them.
In short, The Vineyard" is a charac-
teristic John oliver Hobbesonian mar
rative; well told and interesting. but
without newness of conception or treat
ment. AS "A summer novel, in which
a dreamy, pleasing tale is expected,
The Vineyard" should prove popular.
BreVltles. By Lisle De Vaux Matthew
man; pictured by Clare Victor Dwig-
gins. Cloth: 100 illustrations. Phil
adelphia: Henry T. Coats & Co.
Price, so cents, net.
One hundred brilliant epigrams, il
Illustrated with one hundred no less
brilliant pictures. There is pungency.
the bite of tobasco, from first to last.
And yet, after all, a pleasant taste is
left. There is no malice. only sharp
wit in these "brevtes,' which are the
soul of wit. The handsome little book
is of a kind that one would like to
send as a holiday or birthday gift to a
bright friend of the opposite sex. There
would be no use to send it to a fat
headed person; the fine flavor would
be wasted And there is enough of sa-
tire on each sex to make the other
think it has the best of it, A melan-
choly reflection. upon enjoying these
scintillations. is that poor Matthew
man is untimely dead, and cannot
have the satisfaction of knowing how
well his fellow critics think of his
work. But the readers of his little
book may rejoice that he left en-
balmed in print enough of his wit to
sharpen theirs by attrition.
Seventy-Gve Years i'm Old Virginia. BY
DR.. John Herbert Claiborne, NJ A,
NJ. D. Cloth binding; illustrated;
PIP. 34S. New York: The Neale Pub
fishing Co., Broadway, Fifth avenue
and Twenty-third street. Price 50
net.
Seventy-f1ve years Of Virginia his
tory from personal knowledge! That
goes well back into the past; and the
Old Dominion, during those three
quarters of a century. played quite
conspicuous part in the affairs of the
United States. Indeed, it is not too
much to say that the influence of her
actions has been felt during that time
throughout the civilized world DR..
Claiborne is peculiarly fitted to tell the