The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-03
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.


ground Of literary criticism, despite the
| present diversion Of interest to Mrs. Hum
! phry Ward owing 10 the publication Of
| her latest and by far her greatest novel.
! w. c. Brownell. speaking Of Mr.. James In
| the April Atlantic and Of the -serpentine
wanderings" Of his style, says that TO the
majority Of intelligent and cultivated
readers, whose appreciation constitutes
| fame, the great mass Of his later writings
is Of a difficulty TO conquer which requires
an amount Of effort disproportionate to
/ the sense OF assured reward, and that the
chances are accordingly that he will occupy
the very nearly unique niche in the history
Of hctlon-hard by that Of Mr.. Meredith,
perhaps-of being the last as we'll as the
first of his line. He has host Of imitators,
1t is true; he has in a way, founded a school,
but as yet this has produced no MASTER
pieces Prof. Phelps Of Yale, speaking Of
Mr.. James in a recent lecture, frankly adj
mitted his own inapdtude for following the
tortuous windlngs Of the novelist's thought,
and said that reading q James novel was
like looking out Of tenement house win
dow when nothing was happening
The first biography ever written that
CONTINUES lls IbSlLdl DoJOlid lLlo pOI bdA1 VI
the grave Is entitled John Mccullough.
Man, Actor and Spirit The author,
Susie @. Clark, claims that the book is an
authentic portrayal Of the mortal career
Of the eminent tragedian and the Voice OF
a loved friend speaking across the silence
Of the immortal realm in which the oon-
tinuity Of life Is proven and an account IL
given OF his endeavors 10 uplift humanity
There is a real Finsrty, although Charles
D. Stewart, the author Of The Fugitive
Blacksmith was not aware Of IL until
recently, when he received a letter from
Mr.. T. j. Finerty, who lives in Texas and
like the quaint character in the book, he
keeps a railroad sand house and looks after
the filing Of -th' hoomps on tn hacks av
locomotives" He has read The Fugitive
Blacksmith and he writes: In reading the
story / was like the Finerty. very Interested
/ would forget all about Finerty until he
would butt In. can't nee how the book
would fail 70 entertain any one. II Is
oomical" Which Is the best criticism OF
the book yet submitted. 1T is oomical.
A Mortgage on the Brain Vincent
Harper's new book to be published April O.
nromiaes to be q scientific sensation. II
deals with dual personality and hypnotic
suggestion. and the principal character
ia a beautiful English woman whose brain
is tenanted by an unwelcome personality,
which she banishes by a remarkable scien-
tiae experiment The author il a New
Yorker who has been q sort OF citizen OF
the world for some years, and this Is his
first book.
The Ku Klti1 Society at Columbia Uni
versity in New York, which recently came
into prominence over the hazing Of King
don Gould. was based on the original Ku
Klux Clan which figures so prominently
In THE Clansman.- Only two copies Of
the original ritual are in existence. and ons
Of these il In Columbus library. Nj Dixon
IA making a play, in which this society will
figure prominently, from The Clansman'
ard sThe Leopards Spots The play
will b produced in the autumn.
The long deferred authentic biography
~ Robert Stephen HHwker some time
Vicar OF Morwenstow which John Lane
il publishing Is Of important literary in
terest even to those who have not already
come under the spell Of the Vicar-poet.
Hawker was an eccentric genius, whose
mind took color from its wild and romantic
environment in Cornwall which in his
youth was the haunt Of smugglev and
wreckers Their traditions and stories
he has embodied in his volumes Of verse
and essays. He is known particularly
for the song he wrote around the old re-
frain which sprang up and passed into a