The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-05-18

mat and Die Ehre'' have b9en more successful than any of the others, out side Of Germany, simply because they are the most general in their applicl-
 tiOn. It is not only in the old world
 that there is conflict between cOnser- vatiye and radical ideals. The political significance of Sudermann's works
 counts but for little here. It is upon
 their dramatic interest that they must depend, and that is not always superla- tive. As for the so-called problem el- ement in them-a vile phrase-that is of small importance. The case might be different if instead of describing condi- tiOns he pointed out some feasible meth cd of amending them. But in this re- speet he follows the example of all oth- CT dramatists of his school in using ex- fstent social evils as a means of theatri-
 cal sensation, without attempting to point the way to a cure. Herein lies the faiss pretenee of the high value as- cribed to Mir. Pinero's later plays by
 some of his most ardent eulogists, and on this point Mir. Hale speaks with re- freshing discernment and bluntness. He says that ''his plays are not ser
 mons, nor polenics, they have no argu-
 ments and no prefaces. They are sim ply plays, and for the moment, at the theatre, they are remarkably good ones." That is judicious and just yer dict. MT. Pinero is a master of stage
 craft, an adept in devising most effec-
 tive and fairly logical situations" thrilling theatrical moments, as the re- s,fsS cling premises, His most successful
 work, for instance, his Second Mrs.
 Tanqueray'' is founded, first, upon the
 untenable proposition that such man
 of the world as Tanqueray is carefully described to be could, after long refiec- | ton, deliberately marry such woman as Paula, and, secondly, upon the
 strained coincidence of his daughter be- coming betrothed to one of Paula's for mer lovers. The story is as improbable | as it is sordid, is not recommended by
 any particular literary skill in the rela- l ton, and closes with crude melodra-
 matic expedient, which is not reasona- ble when considered in the light of Paul | las character. AS a social study it is I equally futile and disagreeable, but it would be absurd to deny it's great clev- erness as theatrical, or it's value as commercial, enterprise. MT. Pinero has great abilities, and of late he has em- l ployed them, perhaps unconsciously, in catering to that depraved taste which finds qualification in the contemplation | of the grosser details of the shady side of life. It is to be hoped that the fail-
 ure of "A Wife Without Smile' may induce him to try new tack.
 | Dramatists of the Day is for sale by
 the P. P. Judd Co.,; price s1.50 net.
 l The many friends of Reginald Brett, Barrister Detective, the creation of
 Louis Tracy in "The Albert Gate Mys- tery," and also in ."The Stowmarket
 Mystery" will be pleased to learn that
 he also figures in The Strange Disap-
 pearance of Lady Delia," which will be
 published shortly.
 Irving Bacheller has forsaken the
 shores of Sound Beach on the Con
 necticut side of the, Sound for the depths of the Adirondacks, where you take a canoe from the nearest railroad lstation, miles away, where the trains
 only stop on signal and are padded into the depths of the forest, where he
 has a rough stone house, with wide fire-pIaces and a general air of sylvan
 quiet and remoteness. Here MT. | Bacheller will spend the summer at
 work on his new novel which the Har- lpers are to publish in the autumn. The novelist brags about his trout streams and the number os deer that
 may be seen on a mornings walk. The new story should be filled with the att lmosphere of the woods.
 | A new novel by William Dean How els is promised by the Hampers for
 some time early in June. No one will be surprised to learn that it is a novel l of New England life. The feminine pro tagonist, they say, is a young woman | with somewhat advanced-not to say serious-views of her function in the
 world. She is educated" of course,
 and is 9 lecturer in a western college; besides, there's an Englishman in love with her. Her problem is to reconcile her aspirations with the Englishman's S. and for the better solution of that pro- blem she visits 8 matrimonially ingen- ious aunt of hers Gin New England) and nests people and encounters ideas. MT HoWells admirers do not need to be I told how he deals with such material.
 "The Breath of the Gods is the title lof a new novel by Sidney Mccall, au- thor of Truth Dexter announced for publication in May by Little, Brown and Company The four years that have passed since Truth Dexter cap Itivated the reading public the talented lauthor has devoted to the writing ot "Tfe Breath of the Gods,'' and those
 who have read the manuscript of the new story assert that the heroine, 6
 Japanese girl, is an even more fascina- tting and subtle delineation than the
 character of Truth Dexter. The setting
 of the background, partly in Washing
 ton, and partly in Japan, gives scope for the authors brilliant pictures an6
 syn1patIhetic interpretations of nature.
 T Mcclure Phillips and Company have Ipostponed until June the publication
 of Booth Tarkington's new noveleitte
 "The Beautiful Lady" and Dr. Feli1
 Adler's Religion of Duty" edited ant | ar rra ,1oed hy eslia " Snrap,1e