The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-29
NEW BOOKS.
rhe Ptrate and the aquIre.

The opening chapter OF Emerson Clifford
Taylor's story Of The Upper Hand a. 8.
Barnes 4 Coz affords and promises inter-
eat and stimulates curiosity. Who was the
intruder who intruded upon Squire War
den in the quiet night season In the squire's
village home and conducted himself with
violent rudenesc in that famously we'll or
dered and Respectable presence and 'placep
snv reader will feel that urgent and not
necessarily culpable emotion described in
New England "a wanting to know as
he reads Mr.. TAylor's disturbing and omi-
nous first chapter. Well may IL be believed
that he sleepy hired girl received a shock
"a she opened the parlor door In the fresh
and sunlit morning and discovered the
squire sitting there with the heavy window
curtains drawn tight and the oil lamp odor-
ously burning. IL was plain that the squire,
this lofty and impeccable figure In the COM
munity, his spotless vilager and man,
was chargeable with the dark and almost
unthinkable business Of having been up
all night. He had what may be described
as a disarranged and stale appearance.
His unsha ven chin was sunk YEARLY upon
his breast. His eyes were closed. His hair
was disordered. His shirt was rumpled.
II tlAl W. RbN - 10 SN y " ASeA NeAN w INV
girl asked him IL he was dead.
II will be seen from so much how a mys-
te~v Of great interest may be established
hv an ingenious hand. We have not spoken
Of articles Of furniture overturned, OF a
weather stained trunk in the corner, Of q
tlmble- smelling OF rum on the marble
topped black walnu centre table. OF cigar
ashes scattered on the family Bible. of a
bent poker and a scorched place in the
carpet, OF a soiled cotton bandage. smelling
Of liniment, about the squire's wrist-we
felt that there was no need of the added
stimulation OF that richly potential list.
OF course the meaning OF it all was that the
pirate had a lived. There was a pirate-a
rolling. staggering, stormy old s~eafarer
with a famously kind heart. He righted
all the wrongs that the village had to COM
plain Of. 1t will surprise the Ieader-it
ought to surprise him-to learn that the
SQUIRE was not quite honest. He was not
four square to every village wind that blew.
When the strike occurred in his mill il wa
plainly to be seen how little the operatives
loved him. Their demands we're moderate
An Incl ease Of % per cent. in pay at once,
and the mill to be run on the cooperative
plan at the end Of the fiscal year. When
the squire heard them his secret evil nature
revealed itself for a moment. He tossed
10 the strike leader his weekly pay envelope
and said to him; Leave my premises this
minutel' The story say that his voice
branded like an non. One OF the stI ikers
shouted back. calling the squire a old
thief, and a woman spat s~cornfully in the
mill brook and called him an old miser.
They let the squire kno what they thought
Of him before they wen away for beer.
Il was true that the squire was saving,
true also that he had Incorporated
money. Our jolly old pirate found him
ont and made him disgorge. His method
was interesting. He carried about with
him always a strong mahogany box with a
slit in the cover and a ponderous revolver.
Every now and then he would call upon the
squire to put several hundred dollars in
the slit. II the squire objected he would
aim the revolver at him. II was only at
the end Of the story tina the we'll MIXED,
now thoroughly impoverished squire was
made acquainted with the humiliating and
absurd circumstance that the revolver was
not loaded.
1t may he thought what the squire's
to.ture amounted to, conducted as IL was
in this lingering manner, his intermittent,
instalment plan fashion. The wicked old
fellow (meaning the picate) kept at his
victim until he had gathered something
hike $50 900 in the mahogany box. The
squire hoped he would die, but this was not
likely. ConEenitally and as a result Of hIs
habits he was tough. Once he fell on a
fast RAILROAD train but he held on to his
box and lived. We have intimated. We
believe. that his object in life was the fulfil
ment Of just and generous purposes. Hav-
ing exhausted the squire and filed the box
he handed the money over to the lovely
young female to whom it proper y belonged.
1t seems the squire had forged a will. The
lovely young female turned out to be the
jolly old pirates daughter. When she had
got the box she married m artist. and so
was doubly happy. The old pirate thought
that his own company would not contribute
in q desirable name to his daughters
social opportunities, so he stole a ship in
Boston and scooted of to sea-. We like to
be thoroughly entertained by q work of
fiction and this one has provided us witha
distinctly joyous feeling.