The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-09-10

ES8A W&ES%| SzEaSa ton, we are sure
sAs@ soon to be left hope
&ss&8@%sW lessly uncertain as
GiIher+ $3.50 to whether our con-
ceptions of the great
are anywhere near the truth. Only
some commission or censor, having
authority to stamp with an official seal
what is known history can save US, and
that seems unlikely; so We are little likely
to be saved.
These reflections are suggested by Gill
bert Parker's A Ladder of Swords, which
Is IN large part a character study Of
queen Elizabeth. but not the less an in
teresting novel for all that The interest
is divided for the reader between the
wonderful queen and the love affair of two
Huguenot refugees, the happy outcome of
which hangs upon the queens whim, and
that OF course, Is resultant Of the va
rious forces in the queens character
brought to play at the crisis upon the
case in hand The question Isl How
much of the picture of the queen is fact
and how much fiction? How easy it would
be to answer, if attached to the book
as a preface of appendix, there were a
statement duly signed and sealed by an
authorized censor AS 1t is. We are frank
to say, we don't know, except that the
picture is not inconsistent with the
general impression we had Of the queen.
We can say, however, that Angelo and
who appeal strongly to ones sympathies,
and that the queens kindness to them
leaves with the reader a kindly feeling
for herself, whose heart, it seems, fire.
quently bade her do things against her
better judgment, but was usually over
ruled. 1t was overruled in the story in
hand, at least, for apparently the queen
was not far from a tender feeling for
Michel. the Huguenot soldier whom she
compelled to preach-as far as the follow
ing indicates:
De la Foret drew himself up with an iron
Will. No nobler figure of man ever essayed
to preach the Word, and so Elizabeth thought:
and she repented the bitter humor which had
set this trial as his chance of life in England
and his freedom from the hand of Catherine.
ever done, and she struggled with herself to
keep the vow she had made to the Duke s
Daughter the night that Angelo had been found
in De la Foret's rooms. He had been the i'm
mediate cause, fated Or accidental. of the des-
tined breach between Leicester and herself; he
had played significant part in her own life.
might compare with him, the form and being of
calm boldness and courage. She sighed, she
scarce knew why
The book, interesting as it is. is not
the equal of THE Right of Way nor
Is it, we believe, supposed to be. Never
theless, it is a book above the average in
it's appeal to the reader and skill in
workmanship. Something of it's method
of making is seen in the fact that it is an
elaboration of a long short story in two
numbers of Harper's Monthly of 1900.
THE HIGHWAYS.
When Nature held our woods in fee
When from the tangled thickets rose
The fawn, newborn, and every glade
Did her sweet citizens disclose,
Then were her highways beautiful y
For where her growths were overthrown
She sowed fresh life. and many bud
DIG for those deaths atone.
Now all her artless plans are Knocked.
Thru every byway, road and lane
We toll necessarily and spoil,
But do not build again.
And tired eyes grow wearier still
Where stripped and stark the roadsides lie
Gods pity that their robes of green
Man should to them deny.
Clinton Dangerfeld, in the September Cen
tury.
Richard Burton, formerly professor of
literature in the University of Minnesota,
Is the author of a book on the Literary
Leaders of America, which the Scribners
will publish at once.
None of the various authors Of books on
American literature, which in scope gen.
orally duplicate one another, has taken
the subject as Professor Burton has done
so that his admirable work has the field
to itself. Instead of review noticing all
the writer's and thus in many places be-
coming of necessity chiefly a catalog, he
has treated Of only the main figures; deal
Ing briefly with the others in an introduce
ton, a preliminary and closing chapter
The book while thus comprehensive in
form, is mainly biograp hical critical
and illustrated account of Irving, Cooper,
Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson, Bryant, Long
fellow, Holmes, Whittier, Lowell, Whit
man and Lanier. And it is these authors
we have in mind when we think of Amer
lean literature.
After an absence of twenty years Henry
James has returned to his native soil
where he will gather new impressions of
America into a volume to be published by
Harper & Brothers. Mr.. James is in ex-
cellent health and spirits, and expects
much satisfaction in reviewing new Amer
lean conditions, social and otherwise.
Things have changed considerably since
Daisy Miller brought it's author into pop
ular fame. Apropos of this famous story
Of an American girl, Mr.. James recalled,
in conversation with a well-known liter
airy man who met him on his arrival, the
treatment which the story met at the
hands Of publishers. It was first offered
to Lippincott's Magazine. and declined. To
this day. Mr.. James said, he has been
wondering why, for of all his works Dajsy
Miller makes perhaps the most popular
appeal.
Joseph Conrad's new novel, Nostromo,
will be published on Sept. Is by Harper &
Brothers. The boot. is said to be the
most remarkable work thus far produced
by this writer. It transports the reader
to South American republic. where the
Genoese sailor Nostromo has drifted by
the chances of fate and been drawn into
drama of deep significance. Nostromo
swaggers thru scenes of love making or
carnage or intrigue with equal sang.
froid. The Uneasy Chair.
BOOKS RECEIVED
A LADDER OF SWORDS, Tale OF Love
Laughter and Tears. BY Gilbert Parker
Illustrated by the Kinneys New York. uar