The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-24

w oAS GhNA w.
on prehistoric man and on skull history.
His effort to do justice to the Celtic side OF
British history deserves all praise.
vincent Brownie New Book.
Vincent Browns 'The Sacred Cup" 70. P.
Putnam's Sons), Is a nov presentment Of
the old problem. the betrayal Of innocence
the eelhshness Of man-worked out by in
geniously oontrasted characters to a very
practical and curious conclusion. The
players In the game are a cynical old Bishop,
an idealistio village vicar, a devoted con-
| sumptive sister, a degenerate brother, an
ambitious and cowardly betrayer and a
woman of strength, tenderness and poise.
! The character OF the story is English, the
dominant quality f~rankness, with no modli-
| cation Of delicacy or reserve. Everybody
plays with cards up, consequently there is
no p except on the one issue-what
the heroine will do about it.
One of the village girls, a servant at
the vioarage, has died in giving birth to
a child without revealing the name Of the
father, save to her friend, the consump-
! tive sister. The story becomes the gossip
of the village. Everybody talks about
it as indifferently as they would discuss
Ull6 IdNCp Vi tho "VoOLlSi AiS
converses on the subject with her lover,
who is, unknown to her, the father of the
child, and with the Vicar. The worldly
wise Bishop rebukes the idealistio Vicar
for keeping the child in his house in the
hope that the guilty father will confess
everything and assume his responsible
ties. The ~consumptive sister talks about
it with the Vicar. In fact, nothing else is
talked about in the book at all until the
Vicar refuses the sacred cup to the guilty
man at the communion rail ip the presence
Of his betrothed wife and of the Bishop,
who lie indignant that such ar impractical
affront should be offered to the most gen.
erous patron in the parish church. The
| oonsumptive sister dies, her secret untold.
The degenerate brother shoots himself,
the Vicar resigns his living and takes the
unfortunate baby. which has been the
storm centre OF the tumult, out Of the way.
The heroine splendidly condones what she
cannot forgive and is married to the guilty
father by the Bishop himself. The guilty
father seems to be the only one who scores.
Perhaps such a book is worth the I'M
pleasant half hour We may spend studying
It's clever character drawing, but to the
average reader it seems a lamentable ga cri-
fee of a fine woman to an unworthy mans
selfshness. even in a book. In real life
the woman never could have made it. She
would have married the Vicar.
Margaret POtter's Book of Russian Life.
Margaret Potter new novel "The Genius
is the work Of a careful and conscientious
craftsman. 1t gives evidence OF wide
reading, exhaustless research and an in
n.;ko z..oa;k, Por talyipn noinc Tn char
aoter and quality the book is serious, digni-
fed and convincing. That it suffers by
inevitable comparison with the great Rus
sian masterpieces of which it seems a tran
cript, carefully revised. an echo true in
tone, but small in volume, cannot be denied.
Miss Potter's book is distinctive in it's deli
cate analyses, sympathetic interpretations
and fine miniature painting Of character.
1t has the quaint precision OF a foreign
tongue spoken accurately. but with an
accent. The Russian names which prove
stumbling blocks to the reader in the novels
of Turgeniev and Tolstoi are even more dis
turbing in this story, which is not Russian,
but about Russians. The plot is not a big
one, as is characteristic of Russian stories.
The story is based upon the life of a
famous Russian composer and is the first
novel of a projected "Trilogy OF Destiny
which the author intends to link together
by a supernatural theme. Ivan Gregoriev's
father was a powerful Prince ostracized
by society, feared and hated in the official
world of intrigue and diplomacy. His
mother was a fragile. dreamy blue blooded
Princess married for her dover, OF gentle
birth, but hated by her husband for her
inability to keep her place and force his
In the scornful ranks OF the class to which
she belonged. The boy, believed by his
mother to have been sent in answer to many
prayers, grew up in isolation in the dreary
palace wherein his father plotted vengeance
against the society which disdained him
and where the mother lived in morbid fear
and dread, seeing visions and hiding the
sorrow Of her heart. The torture Of his
life In the Corps des Cadets. his impetuous
and chivalric conduct in his regiment Of
the Imperial Guard which led to his social
downfall and separation from his father.
his oetracism. isolation and morbid bit
terness-all deliberately related as a pro-
logue to and preparation for his career
as a musical composer. The chapters
relating to that phase Of his life are the
most important and interesting in the
book, introducing the two Rubinsteins,
Nicholas and Anton L~echetizsky and the
ooterie of artists and music lovers among
whom he worked and wrote.
The story is a study in temperament.
The eternal feminine" has little to do
with it save as an inspiration to those pro-
found emotions from which sound the mu-
sician's grandest harmonies. The denoue-
ment Is a tragedy morbidly melodramatic
and theatrical, needlessly prolonged and
weakening to the general effect Of the work.
The book is published by Harper 4 Bros.
Other Books.
n would remove some indefniteness IL
~ - aTLs r1o.a- r.,.-