New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-01

Illustrations and Decorations by Thomas Fo-
garty. 12rno, pp. AIT. The Macmillan Company.
THE wOoDCARvER. OF ,LYMPUs. BY NJ. E.
Waller. limo, PIP. I'll. Little. Brown IL co.
Mrs. Martins book has q title which is some
how not inviting to the reader; but before he
has turned many pages he is conscious that he /
has come upon an uncommonly entertaining |
study Of racial character. This is not the first !
time in which the Pennsylvania Dutch have !
appeared in fiction Theirs Is in many respects
a primitive type appealing as "easy material"
to the story teller But Mrs Martin is not an
ordinary novelist; she has produced shrewd |
and searching piece Of portraiture which really |
ought not to Join the tumbIing flood Of novels |
which every season sweeps into oblivion The |
rustic community with its narrow religion, its /
imperious greed its iron creed Of household rule
is drawn to the life, 1t has its redeeming soft |
nesses to be sure. Even the british tyrant, !
Titles father, whose soul is absorbed in getting !
and saving money. has now and again mo- I
ment in which little light Eliminates his dark
ness There is a gentler side too, In the uucouth
country doctor who Is poor little TITLES good
genius. and at the end helps her out Of her
slough Of misery. The author In short, does
not make the mistake Of hating the hateful per-
sonages Of her drama She metes out to them
a justice enforced by an artists conscience
and only mobiles her rule OF truth perhaps In
making her heroine a trihe too perfect In
painting people from the outer world-the two
teachers. for example-she is somewhat less sue.
Cessful, but this IS detail which does not much
trouble the reader.
A crisis in Titles life is her conversion to thu
New Mennonite faith-a defiance Of his win
which rouses the eVer-ready cruelty IN her
fathers breast:
TITLES quiet and dutifui demeanor almost dis dis
when af foVrn
Q CLOCK. she returned from a walk to her Aunty
was even greater than his anger.
them was a most comical transformation in their
ia9eb T 6sn o around her with sh[eks Of
she wore and the prm little three-cornered cape
the vanity of woman's anuring form
Mrs; Getz. mechanically moving about the kitchen
sou. now. get religion. Tilie?''
Yes, ma I've gave myself up
.. mere q N you come by the plain dressr
Her father followed her in from the porch and
the Kitchen The children scattered at his aD-
You go upstairs and take them cIo'es on" he
S0mm IA ts5L II amt leavin you wear EN- one
n have no no. others her to put pop TILE gently
sence Of fear which pulled e and banned S | him an
where's your others, them
use EN- on Manda and Rebecca.'
Then you walk yourself right back over to the |
hotel and get back Off OF her and let them
cloes you got onl Go" He roughly pointed to
She wouldn't give EN- back to me. She'd know
/ hadn't ought to yield up to temptation, she'd |
Clo'es"
You tell her If you come back home without 'em,
shed say my love to Christ ought not to be so
weak but l can bear anything you want to do to |
me, pop. She had to take awful lot off of |
gTanpop when she turned plain. Pop" she added |
giVin way; I'm standin' firm to serve C'hristr'
Wen see Oncetr' her father grimly answered;
Str1ding across the and taking his strap from
It's corner In the kitchen cupboard he grasped
And now for the first time in her life his wife
interposed a word against his brutality.
In establishment he turned to her She was as
pale as her stepdaughter
Jake! II she has got religion, youH have awful
bad luck IL you try TO get her away from itT'
Il amt sayin she can't get religion IL she
wants. To be sure, brung her up to be Chris
tian. But 1 don't hold 10 this here nonsense OF |
turnin' plain, and toie her so, and she's got to
obey me, or III learn herr
you'll have bad luck II you whip her fur some
pin like this ehre." his wife repeated. Don't you
mind how when AuDty En- turned plain and grant
pop he acted to her ugly that way, it didn't rain
fur two weeks and his crops spOt and he
she warned him. III you the strap fur somepin |
like what this is, what you'll mebbe come by yetP'
och. you're foolsh!" he answered. but his tone
not confident. His raised arm drupDed to |
his side and he looked uneasiIy into TiIIe's face
while he sti kept his painful grasp OF her shoulder
The SOFT bright eyes of the young girl met his |
not With defiance. but with light in them that !
somehow brought before his mind the look her
mother had worn the night she died Superstition |
was in his blood. and he shuddered inwardIv at his
lncanAy sense or mystery before this unfamiliar.