The San Francisco call., 1905-01-29

ernment of Servia to-day. as it did
two years ago, breathes through the
chapters of the story with realistic
taint.
Lame. the heroine of Miss Blissetts
tale, embodies the life story of Queen
Draga with a liberal dash of romance
thrown in. At first she appears as
beautiful, light-hearted child of the
people, living in the hum drum life OF
the poor; and while she remains thus
she catches the readers sympathies
quite completely. But when she falls
before the wiles of q young butterfly OF
the army and her home crumbles at
the shot of her husbands suicidzs-
pistol, then this tarnished girl, sudden-
ly turned woman of craft, becomes
scarce an object Of sympathetic regard
and her subsequent tortuous ascent to
a queens seat is made under dun
cloud of unholy intrigue and disgrace.
King Alexander the author paints in
kindly colors, attributing his fragrant
weaknesses to the influence Of evil as
sociates and neglectful early train
ing. Hardly the bullet t-headed degen-
crate of history is Miss Blissett's King
Vladimir. Much nearer to truth, prob
ably. is the authors conception of the
part Russia had in the violent unseat-
ing of the King of Servia; the record
OF crafty diplomacy and plottings on
the part of the Cars trusted servants
is a thrilling one as the author writes
it and one that must be disconcerting
to those high up in the Cars land If
ever The Bindweed'' comes under
their notice-which it probably will
not.
The Smart Set Publishing Company,
New York;
Delightful Dodd." by Elliott Flower,
is a character sketch, better than the
average. 1t is richly humorous with
out being grotesque. it's characters act
and speak with the naturalness of
everyday life; and in these two fea-
lures does Flowers book differ from
others of the ilk which are more carl
cature than character study.
Dodd, the central figure of the story,
is quiet Michigan farmer, who neither
beats another man in a horse trade nor
makes a clown of himself at a New
port palace He does not talk in dia-
ACNls IOI Ilc 4S ~ ldIii6T VI the
Middle West and dialect is not their
medium of conversation. What he does
have to say, however comes with the
homely directness and trenchant wis
dom Of Poor Richard himself His
saws are unexpected, unhackneyed and
direct to the point: they point a genial
and a tender personality and open UP a
way for their speaker close to the heart
of the reader. There Is not much of a
story in Delightful Dodd''; not much is
needed. The incidents of the light plot
hinge upon the affairs of Dodd's sum-
mer place for boarders and the troubles
that arise incidental to Its manages
ment, Throughout the whole story the
reader catches at the wise axioms of
the quiet. clear spoken proprietor and
has a good smile at their unfeigned
cleverness
When you're commercially sorry for
man." says Dodd on one occasion,
you're just sorry enough SOS not to
let it interfere with business. You say
Too bad about poor ola Jones', and
then you reach out for anything he
happens to have that you want, and
tell your lawyer to jump in ahead of
the other creditors"
IL. c. Page & Co., Boston; illustrat-
ed; price 81 50.)
In The Buccaneers Henry M. Hyde
has written a novel of what he aptly
terms the black flag in business"
Never, indeed, did Sir Henry Morgan
display less scruples in cutting a throat
than does the spider-like financier of
this story jim cutting a pocket. In the
present instance, however, it is more
than pocket that is looted; corpora
tions are wrung to their last dollar,
trusted employees are given the sack,
spies are posted upon a rivals business
and the rule of might is supreme.
Though the author has painted a black
enough picture of modern ''frenzied
f1nance"-biack even as that daubed by
Mr.. Lawson of Boston-his story is
convincing even in its seeming improb-
ability. All of the intricacies of busi-
ness speculation and commercial ri
valry are marshaled before the reader
in bewildering array. Event follows
event with startling suddenness. The
game of advance and check waged be-
tween the heads of warning corpora
items is mapped out to the smallest de-
tail. A love story. somewhat crudely
finished and unstable on its founda-
tions, is thrown in to satisfy the pub
lie taste
Funk & wagnalls Company, New
York; price 81 2O.)