The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-24
some Recent Fiction.

Some Recent Fiction. Y
Given a hero born in Ireland, educated
IN Paris and adopted as a citizen of the
United States. fighting for freedom in
Canada, and there is sure to be plenty doing
that is dramatic, perilous and unexpected.
Il is with such . hero, a young volunteer
in the struggle Of French Canada for indie
pendence in 1887, that Mary Catherine Crow
lev deals in her romance OF old Quebec, In
Treaty With Honor little, Brown Il
Coz. The heroine is ooquettish and coura-
seous. The friend who shares the hard
ships and prolongs the suspense is Of noble
birth and generous devotion. Adventure
follows conflict and miraculous rescue sue
ceeds deadly peril in breathless sequence
tn a happy finale. The prison lifeof the hero,
Nal Adair. and the escape from the citadel
are founded upon actual incidents in the
life Of DR.. Edward Theller. The tale is
told with the dash and spirit which dis
tinglished the authors first story "A
Daughter OF France" and will appeal with
interest 10 lovers OF adventure and war;
fare in fiction.
Mary Inlay Taylor's story OF "The I'M
personator" is occupied with the doings OF
Washington society in general n the
affairs Of Miss Mary Lane in particular.
Miss Lane is a young person Of unverifable
parentage, an adjustable conscience and a
talent for pretence. Her friend, a Paris
art student, being invited to visit her
wealthy aunt in Washington, sends Mary
Lane to take her place, where, after the
manner OF story book girls, Mary finds a
long needed father among the Ambassadors
and a noble lover among the politicians.
For the rest there are the usual motoring
and tea drinking, scandal and flirting
which 20 to make up the society move OF
the day. The book Is published by Little,
Brown 4 Co.
John Dorm, Promoter il a Chicago
story Of love and finance. II is brisk and
breezy and chaotic. The author round up
a Virginia black, nanny, an Indian chief,
aGerman baron Jewish rabbi, a Southern
beauty with a talent for business. a Northern
broker with utopian ideals, a playwright,
a ca~rtoonist, a gambler and several other
types, and sets them OF at top speed, regard
less OF the time limit, to reform frenzied
finance and to save the forest lands. One
Of the interesting incidentsls which reveal
the character OF the heroic Promoter Is
the fact that he bought a set Of plates OF
''PIutarch's Lives" and had thousands OF
copies printed for distribution in a settle
ment of newly arrived immigrants. IL the
promoters of whom Charles Eugene Banks
has written be the prototype OF his class
IN the future, no one but professors OF ethi-
cal culture will be capable of taking charge
Of Industrial corporations or eligible for
places in brokers' Offices. John Dorm.
Promoter" is published by tie Monarch
. Book Company.
As a study OF Breton character and
customs Gray Mist by III author of
The Martyrdom Of a Empress is an
elaborate and conscientious appreciation.
As a novel it is wordy, overwritten, en-
numbered with unesseDtial details and
Interrupted with Breton words and phrases
which require translation in f~ootnotes and
disturb the progress and effect of the
narrative. In short the writer has crowded
the material for two books into a single
volume, which il in consequence overlong
and tedious in spite of the picturesque
ness and novelty of its setting and incidents.
A Breton fisherman finds a child floating
in the sea and brings him up in his own
cottage in the place OF the son he has lost.
The child remains in ignorance Of his par
entage until all the necessary arrange
ments for a tragic denouement are COM
! pleted by his marrying his own sister and
becoming the father OF her children. A
the main incident OF the plot is said to be
founded upon an actual event, and az truth
Is stranger than fiction, 1t might be possible
10 bring up a waif like that in a gossipy
fishing village, but the foundation seems
Insecure for the complicated superstructure
OF the story. (Harpers)
Jewel Weed il an appropriate title for
Alice Ames Winters new book, which
should be thrown out and forgotten along
with others Of its type made up Of society
gossip and political scandals evidently
cleaned from the column Of sensational
journals. Its pictures Of life are distorted
and absurd and too crudely overlooked to
do any mischief save in the small minds OF
vain and foolish girls like the silly Lena
puincey Of the story, who mounts from
The depths OF sordid poverty to high place
4. on the social ladder by the charm OF a pretty
FACE. To ignorant readers such things are
always interesting to encounter in fiction
slnco they never happen iR real life. The
book is published by the Bobbs Merrill
Company.
A melodramatic variant OF the old theme
\ which has inspired 40 many tales Of wild
adventure, the transmutation of the baser
metals into gold, is presented in The Gold
Worshipp9rs,' by Henry Burland C. W.
Dillingham; Coz The book IL evidently
symbolic and has an ethical purpose under
lying It's sequence OF fantastic horrors-a
purpose which will scarcely appeal to the
class Of readers whose morbid appetite
Tor the gruesome and sensational il is we'll
arranged to crafty. To further divulgo its
Plot would be to rob the o Of Its only
Claim to interest-the satisfaction Of curl
osity.