New-York tribune., 1906-06-09
FICTION.
Il Quartet of Summer NoUels.

Phillips. With eight Illustrations by e. NJ Ashe
12mo. PIP. pa The Bobbs Merrill Company.
ROCK IN THE BALTIC. By Robert Barr With
1SnIr 19mr Istrafons at sin in co9rs by Hermann Heyer
Association 1N0'''Oi' anu Newspapers
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. BY William Sage
12mo' pp 2s6 Little, Brown & Co.
WHERE SPEECH ENDS. Music Makers Ro-
PTeGde by by He5fT van aav 1 cha%sg maui sr with
t tratiqns 1 by = E NJ. Ashe, Frederic Dorr Steele
Sn9 & Co. LOUIS GupOn lZm0' pp- 2Sl' Moffat Yard
In The Fortune Hunter Mr.. Phillips occupies
himself with the romance of heroine of New
York's East Side. Hilda Brauner is the daugh-
ter of well-to-do delicatessen dealer on Avenue
A and she is sought in marriage by an honest
German-American in her fathers trade and by
a sentimental adventurer named Feuerstein, a
third rate actor in a German theatrical company.
The story of Hilda's infatuation and disiIlusion-
ment is told with directness but with sense of
personal detachment that fails TO arouse more
than clinical interest in her case" The author
writes with an aloofness that is almost irritating
in its tone of lofty condescension. The point of
view is entirely journalistic, that oe a man who
has admirably succeeded in piecing together the
incidents of d newspaper experience to make
what is known in the city room" as "a good
story" 1t is wOrkmanlike but without real in
sight or human sympathy.
However preposterous the situations that Mr.
Barr devises for the chief actors in his stories
his gift of clever characterization and sense of
humor are saving graces that carry the reader
gayly along to the Inevitable happy climax Not
otherwise is ii with his latest novel, "A Rock in
the Baltic" The title refers TO miniature Rus
sian Gibraltar, secret prison fortress popularity
supposed to be uninhabited islet until a
venturesome British naval lieutenant. Temporal
rily in command OF a cruiser makes it target
in great gun practice and eIicits a reply in kind
that threatens International complications 1t is
obvious that this dungeon rock, so dramatically
revealed should later confne the exuberant ac-
tiVities of the hero. The combined efforts Of
himself, fellow prisoner and his American
sweetheart to effect his escape form the more
striking features of the plot incidentally. the
author treats his readers to cleverly drawn
sketches of lie at Bar Harbor New York. in the
Catsks, and at St Petersburg, taking typi-
cally British -Russophobic view of Muscovite pO-
ltical intrigue and oppression. There is not the
slightest suggestion OF conviction in the con-
struction, and the tale is frankly amusing as
ii is undoubtedly eXciting-let US call it a COM
edy melOdrama. The heroine an American
seamstress. who suddenly falls heir to a fortune
and adopts the family for whom she has been
working. that of retired naval captain. and
whisks them off in yacht to rescue her lover.
is decidedly novel type and her bosom friend.
the captains daughter. is no less engaging.
The contest between the law and High IT,
nance" in the United States is reflected in Mr.
Sages novel. THE District Attorney" and is
given a dramatic setting in the relations existing
between the leading characters Richard Haver-
land, the son of a wealthy trust magnate. abhor-
ring his fathers financial methods and refusing
to participate in them. takes UP the practice OF
the law and marres the daughter OF a man
whom his father has ruined. Nominated as a
forlorn hope by reformers for the office of Dis
trict Attorney, he is elected through fluke. and
proceeds to make manifestations OF polit-
ical crookedness for which. unknown TO him. his
father is chiefly. though secretly. responsible.
Where Speech Ends" is a first novel. and
should be considered more in the light cf its
promise than of its accomplishment. The young
author has drawn his knowledge of collegians
and musicians for the material of his story but
ha has not enough experience of life 10 make his