The sun., 1905-10-14
some New Fiction,

Mr.. Oscar King Davis, well known AZ
war correspondent in the Far Fast, makes
his first long essay in fiction pure and simple
In The Emperors Wish Appletons). 1t
/. u love story on perhaps conventional
lines, but Mr.. Davis's newspaper tuining
stands him In good stead. He writes clearly
and directly, never swerving from his point
and carrying his reader along with him,
and he succeeds In demonstrating very
emphatically the spirit that bas helped
Japan to victory. II is an interesting story
both in itself and for the light it throws on
recent events.
1t is quite feat that Mr.. Stanley Wey-
man performs in holding the readers inter-
est in -Starvecrow Farm (onsmans, Green
4 Coz. The story preserves the unities
of time, place and action. to be sure, for
it turns wholly ON extricating the heroine
from the mess in which the author has
placed her. She is a nice, attractive girl,
with something human about her, IN marked
contrast to the assorted puppets that the
author makes use OF to torture her. Inc
reader will feel sorTy for her from begin
ming to end, even il he smiles at much OF
the melodrama. Mr.. Weyman has taken
pains with his tcsnery and his historical
environment but his strength Ii IN adj
venture, 40 that Windermere and the Lake
poets seem dragged in by the hair, and he
surely cannot hope to get people excited
over the Cato Street conspirators. His
narrowing Of deluded young girl is what
gives point to the tale, and that holds the
reader and makes him forgive many faults.
Following on a very good volume OF
short stories, Mr.. Henry Wallace Phillips's
plain Mary Smith" The Century Coz
is something of disappointment IL IS
all artistic blunder as well, because IL
smudges his fine and original Red SAUNDERS
That person is, unfortunately, the narrator
of the longer tale. There is hope so long
as he sticks to the scenes OF his boyhooo'
and there are incidents that are consist
ent with his previous character; then the
author takes him to sea, for no reason that
we can fathom, and subsequently lands
him in Central American revolutions With
neither ground does the author seem to lie
oyerfami.iar. so that while there is excite
ment and 20 enough to keep the reader
attentive. he must regret Mr.. Philiips's
departure from the field he has mastered.
II il trial too, for those who have learned
to appreciate Red Saunders to meet him
woman's guide to happiness,
Immoral and harmful to the weakminded
as Mr.. f. W. Hornung's first Railies stories
were, they were at least clever ana some
ingenuity was shown in the perretration
of the misdeeds. The new string OF stories
called "A Thief in the Night" Charles
Scribner's Sons), while built on the same
general plan shows decided falling on
in inventive power. Queerly enough Mr'
Hornung, like Sir A. Conan Doyle IN the
Sherlock Holmes revival seems to take
in the new stories much more interest IN
the interlocutor than In his hero. Both
authors seem to he fighting for time with
interminable talk by Bunny or Watson
before coming to the story, which when 1t
does come, is generally disappointing
With the little parodies in MRS. Rallies
(Harpers), the genial Mr.. John Kendrick
Bangs shows how much more clumsily
than Mr.. Hornung he can write. The humor
of the tales is exceeded only by the good
taste.
Travellers who have really seen Spain
will regard Mrs.. Gertrude Atherton's Curl
GUS combination of guide book end ro-
nance called "The Travelling Thirds"
(Harpers) az n libel on the Spaniards Per-
ha aps Californians may look on her remark
able heroine likewise as a libel on the Cali
fornia girl There lie plenty Of melodra-
matte excitement In the tale. certain
amount of sightseeing and incidents of
travel and sprinkling Of opigrammatic
remarks intended to shock, Of course, or
it would not be Mrs. Atherton. Authors
must produce potboilcrs ct times, no doubt.
Thi, book has the appearance of one, but
it az least has scme interest.
rather cmasouated Jack London will
be found in Tales of the Fish Patrol Mac
millans). The stories appeared in Pc
riodical for youth shat takes care to print
nothing Objectionable, Mr.. London, when
no is himself is nothing II not realistic and
vigorous in language. Rcstra int ia felt in
all these tales Of interfering with illegal
fishing by Chinese and Greeks and Italians;
they are well told but the adventures are
not always exciting, and somehow it Is n
little difficult to get worked up over the
criminality Of uni ceascd shrimp nets or
oyster dredgers.
MIR. Allen French, who has done good
work with Morse stories, joins the ranks
OF the sentimental natural history writer's
in THE Reform Of Shaun" Little, Brown