New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-17

not until has closed the book that the in
trinsically, If unconsciousIy humorous aspect
of the little group Of heart tragedies forces it.
self upon the attention Perhaps 1t is the IN
realized appreciation Of this which saves the
story from becoming at any time really dolefuL
and, indeed, renders it thoroughly enjoyable in
spite of its minated and Ill mated lovers. There
is, besides, plenty Of wholesome conscious
hurnor in the odd types that Miss Brown IN
PRODUCES In her tale, None of them is
original in winsome uuaintness than the little
heroine, who. escaping from the uncongeniaI
employment of acting as assistant to a peri
patetic conjuror and teller, suddenly
finds herself transformed into nurse to an in
valid young woman Her simple faith. that IL
can not be happy here we will be hereafter,
suggests the title Of the novel and gives her
courage to bear Iffe's disappointments and to
help others bear theirs.
A much more strongly developed religious
principle forms the motive OF the story told by
Eugene Thwing In THE Man from Red Keg"
The virtue Of doing good to those who despite
fully use you and prosecute you is the moral
conveyed in the novel; and. while the effects on
the prosecutor not made clearly apparent,
the spiritual benefit to the doer of good is suf-
fciently emphasized. The scene is laid In a
Michigan town on the edge Of the lumber re-
gfon. and -the object of spiritual rnfnistra-
tons is the editor of a scurrflous, sensational
little weekly sheet, who depends for his living
on prosecuting his neighbors In his newspaper
and desptefuny using them in his various
bunco business enterprises. The hero is the
foreman Of the rival printing office an intensely
human young man, who is not called upon to
act the missionary In the novel, and who prob
ably would not have done SO IF It had been
demanded of him He has troubles Of his own,
and the activity Of the villain in keeping Kim
aware of them Is not conducive to thoughts
OF Christian kindness There Is abundance of
movement and action in the story, and num-
Der of wen individuaIized types. Some of them
are sufficiently contradictory to be extremely
natural and give the effect of having been
closely studied from living models II the in
fuence Of the authors early perusa1 of Sun
day school literature to the surface in
certain others, there is enough good red blood
In most of them to make them attractive in
spite Of that MIR. Thwing shows himself IA
rnfliar with the inside workings of country
newspaper Offices, and succeeds in conveying
pictures of two of them that are refreshingly
free from exaggeratfon. What he lacks IN sub
tlety and distinction he makes up for in &C
curacy and Yigor. He has written two good
stories, and the second is better IN many
spects than the first.
William Henry Johnson, the author of ISL
GaIahad of New France shows himself ignor-
ant of the true theory and real purpose OF tho
preface; for In his "foreword,'' he seeks to
explain to the reader how the events ne mar
rates IN his story might possibly have hap
pened He thereby betrays himself as conscious
of a fundamental weakness in either his plot
his characterzations, and puts the public on its
guard. With the clew that he furnishes. the
reader taking the author at his yalua-
ton soon detects the flaw that otherwise might
perhaps have been overlooked If a story is
skiIfuIly enough told to be plausible. no apol-
ogy is needed; and if it is not il would be wiser
not to publish it, or, at all events. not to sd
vertise its defects. With the greatest respect
for virtue and religion and for the high moral
aim the author may be presumed TO have in
view, it is not possible to say that his novel IS
plausible His hero is a young French s@snt
militant marooned on the Carolina coast in the
days of early exploration. and his heroine an