The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-02-24
NEWS or TIE BOOK WORLD
THE UNEASY CHAIR

-------------------- yzEs
THE UNEASY CHAIR
the Prize to the Hardy" Mrs. Thomas
g. Winters Novel Of Minneapolis and
Minneapolls Observation-Disclosures Of fic-
ton IN Minneapolis have, in Mrs Thomas
G. (Mrs. Alice) Winters story, The Prize
to the Hardy, the opportunity Of expert
encing very novel sensat ion-that Of be-
ing, in a sense, a part of the story While
the scene OF the tale is nominally st.
Et1enne, no one who has been long in Min
neapolis will fail to recognize his home
city under the. Disguise and being among,
and familiar with, the places mentioned in
the course OF the story lends a realism
that simply makes the reader feel that
he is part Of the business" The
sensation is delightful one when is
added the exhilaration that comes from
the psychological suggestion that be-
longs to the season Of the story-thc
ozoniferous autumn. This suggestion
is doubly welcome to one jaded by try
ing winter. Mrs. Winters use also of a
phase of the new thought" mental
asceticism," as it is called by one of the
force Of both thought and action that
characterize the northwest, is a piece Of
inspiration. The effect is to heighten the
pleasure OF living for a bit in ones own
town localized and at its best, and to
intensity the story's interest.
This contrast of mental withdrawal
from the world with being a sane and
a aH part thereof comes out early in
the story and Is, in truth, the part OF
the story in which the author shows her
highest skill. " -.@-777 - -
! Francls Lenox, a self-reliant young man
from W1nterhaven, Me-, comes west to
: make his way. He calls on Nicholas
windsor, a millionaire lumberman Of ripe
years, and coined experience and common
!, sense, who In earlier years also came
from Wlnterhaven. Lenox is invited to
Wlndsor,s home for dinner the evening of
MS arrival. 1t falls out that he Is a
NTH guest to a dinner party of four that
the lumberman's daughter has planned.
! Inc other guests are Kemyss, Windsor
private secretary, who has asked the
daughters hand in marriage, in order that
ne may get the fathers wealth, and who
IS fascinated by the personal charms of
the other guest, Mrs. Lyell. Mrs. IIyell is
an 1ncarnate woman's- club" woman
who believes in the minds creating its
own environment and living above the
things Of the material world She so far
/ succeeds that her husband doesn't
count tho he ought to, and she lust
misses becoming a party to what would
| nave peen a society scandal. 1t is when
these characters come together that the
new thought and the old clash,
But don't You feel Mrs Lyell spoke with
the air OF one giving psychology lessons in
words OF one syllable" SHAT the world in which
we live is made by the thoughts by which we
surround nrrou our true inner selves? And since we
we think, doesn't it. behoove US to think only
Of beautiful and noble world?"
| And what about the millions of other people
whose bodies are SO placed that they can't
nrpof ia nay1tU nNh3
denly:
every soul must work out its own saliva
ton. 1 can't afford to defe my inner self by
| knowing anything about such a state of mind -
She drew herself up with a slight degree Of
stiffness. 49, 5g# #&% r.. a. b.. 49,
''That seems to me the philosophy of ircar-
nate selfshness,'' said Lenox sharply. = !"
The medieval ascetic hid himself from the
world and ignored the work that needed him.
This is the modern equivalent. You would
make hermit Of your mind instead of your
body; and by constantly affirming it, perhaps
you may convince the world, as he did, that
to be- self-centered is spiritual! and religious.
"That old belief, that the perfect life was
the life led by the soul disjoined from the
! body, has been outgrown among other childish
| things, and 1t Is return to medievalism to
| revive It," ii $&4
It is in scenes like this,So in later one
between, j Kemyss ysailes aAfrs. Lyell, that
Mrs. Winter, a. 1ready astated, sketches
her truest pictures WHEN it comes to
incidents like her forest fire, she falls
short somewhat of the requisite swiftness
of action and is chargeable with some
slight confusion in the sequence Of events.
The plot, if a realistic segment Of life
such as is common to the northwest may
be called a plot. is consistently carried
out, and the prize goes to the hardy, of
Tx, oh oto,,- Il yt,ocr Trc
ter has done her best work in the '1um-
Der king" One cannot, however, identify
his model. Doubtless he is composite
study. Mrs. Jyell comes next as bit
Of sketching. The reader suspects that in
! Mrs. Lyell the author is aiming shaft
at type of clubwomen that have a few
things to learn before they will perform
their whole duty to society. But the slip
shod Mrs Lyell, Fastening off to a club
lecture, seems hardly consistent with the
carefully gowned Mrs. Lyell of the dinner
party, the Mrs. Lyell of the ''chiffon high
er life," as Windsor calls her. Such flaws
as those named leave the impression
merely of lack Of care in finishing and
polishing; they detract little from the In
terest in the life that is portrayed, and
northwestern people will quickly recog-
nize that life as of a piece with their
| own.
The Bobbs-Merrill Company, indianapolis.
|
! The publication Of the "Letters Of Henrik
Ibsen'' recently announced by Fox. Dufield 4
| Co., has been unavoidab1y postponed until the
end of March the early part of April The
difficulties of the translation, together with
the extent Of the correspondence. which is
much comprehensive than was at first
promised, have made a later date of issue i'm
perative.
Poe Manuscript Sold for 81 ,ooo.-A man
uscript copy of Poe's poem, "Ulalume. .
all in the poets own handwriting, sold for
81, 900 at the second days New York sale
of the Mckee manuscripts and portraits.
A daguerrotype of Poe fetched S21.
THE MAGAZINES --
? Joseph w. Folk, the Lawyer.-We have
heard SO much of Joseph w. Folk of Mis-
souri, as a fighter of corruption and cor
ruptionists that we have almost wholly
overlooked his qualities lawyer. In
fact only by Inference do we know that