The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-24
NEW ROCKS.
Satan In Name Only.

Frtunie Rivos's story Of Satan Sandere0n'
The Robbs-Merrill Company. Indianapolis)
vby the young rector described mt that
MONT should have been called Satan-a
terrible name still. though liberties have
been taken with II i'm a free and temerarious
age. We REID Of theR Row. Henry Sanderson
hero Ills athletic frame and clean CHS
elleI features made him a rare figure for
the reading desk. AZ his violin practice, the
cut e his golf f~annels. the immaculate
4 elegance of his motor car-even the white
csrnation he Affected in his buttonhole-
made him for the younger men a goodly
nsttern If the cloth; and 10 had speedily
grown 10 loo the fashion 10 hear the brilliant
Young minister. To memorize his classical
aphorisns OF to look up his latest quotation
froir Keats or Walter Pater.' Tha does
not sound much like a description OF the
head black angel. except perhaps that the
motor car or devil wagon may be held to
he = genuinely realistic touch. Heine has
N told ~ that the levi il amiable and charm
N ing. hut II will never I've believed that he
has got 40 far as to play land of course con-
verse about the great game. Even IL he
is d golfer we should think that he would
continue tn feel a disinclination for annels
a for this Satan's habits in literature. we
NAV we'll consider them to have been "foxy."
Il * fairly honorable to esteem the poet
Keats. and il il tremendously honorable to
ike Walter Pater. Truth Ia. this young and
brilliant minister was not Satanic really.
IN college he had tippled and played poker.
He had been at pains to he somewhat con-
sricnous in having his fling. He had been
the leader or abbot of a gay wild company
p Ironically called The Saints. To express
/ his w~ickedness at that time his comrades
had furnished him with the name of Satan.
! He was Satan Sanderson (see title) in his
| Young and devilish days. but afterward.
whom he had become a minister. he was a
thoroughly good and noble man. though
he did at times run his immaculate and
elegant devil wagon at more than the law
ful rate of speed. and though his ruby ring
she'd fires "A little too ruby in the eyes OF
some and his pipe and his golf fannels and
his dog Rummy irritated the more con-
sentative among his congregation.
The story has the fundamental OF its plot
in a certain unfortunate resemblance be-
tween Harry Sanderson and Hugh Stires.
Now Hugh was a real Satan, though he
never bore the name. We find him returning
home after a debauch and breaking in after
the manner Of a burglar on the night when
his old father, the rich and high tempered
David Stires. had been on the point OF dis
inheriting him. He climbed up a rose
trellis and entered his own room through
Ia window. IL was a memorable room. We
4 read: THAT chamber had been his
mothers. The Marechal Mel rose that
} clambered to the window sill had been
4 planted by her hand. In that room he had
4 been born. And in it had occurred that
sharp. corrosive quarrel with his father on
J the night he had flung himself from the
! house vowing never to return" He was
\ turning over no memories just now. His
! drunken mind was fixed upon one particular
piece Of business. We read further: HE
drew out the drawer Of a chiffonier. opened a
1 closet and gloated over the order and plenty
Of their contents. He made difficult selec-
| ton from these. and steadying his progress
| by wall and chair opened the door Of an
4 adjoining bathroom. Ii contained a circu-
lar bath with a needle shower. Without re-
moving his clothing he climbed into this.
. balancing himself with an effort. found
and turned the cold faucet and let the icy
water. chilled from artesian depths. trickle
over him in a hundred singing needle
4 points"
The transformation was immediate and
remarkable. at was a very different figure
that feentered the larger room a half hour
later from the sinking mudlark hat had
. climbed the rose trellis. The old Hugh lay
/ a heap of soiled and sodden garments: the
new stood forth shaven, fragrant with fresh
linen and clean and fit apparel. The maud
In had vanished, the gaze was unvexed and
bright, the whole man seemed to have set
! tied into himself, to have grown trim nom
| chalant. debonair He held up his hand.
talm outward, between the electric globe
4 and his there was not a tremor OF
I nerve or muscle. He smiled. No headache,
! M fever, no uncertain feet or trembling
hands or swollen tongue after more than a
week Of deep potations.'
Il is obvious that We are now ready for
something further. Hugh, bathed, sobered.
fragra II, will hardly stand here in the electric
light alone, enjoying merely his fresh and
soapv feeling. A sound in the hall. A
| light step approaching. The swish of very
! light d,apery. The figure Of a girl in the
doorway. Amazing hat she should stan
there with no sign Of embarrassment She
hai thrown IA crimson kimono over her
white n~ightgown, and the apparition seemed
to uart the dusk OF the doorway like the red
breast Of a robin. She held in her hands a
bunch of the pale Marechal Mel roses. and
Hugh eye caught the long rebellious sweep
of her bronze hair and the rosy tint Of bare
foot through the worsted meshes of her
rgh, Slippers" We were glad of an i'm
mediate explanation of her Indifference to
rhean several severe circumstances-the
4 Strong hight, her scanty attire, the presence
% tho Young villain OF the story. We read:
lor IN instant abe stood still as though
\ h~.'"u,ng. then entered and placed the roses
y . vase on the reading stan by the bed
4 sIo Hugh gasped. To reach the stand
n" girl had passed the spot where he stood.
hr' sho had taken no note Of him. Her
gaze had gone by him az II he had been
u empty air. Then he realized the truth;
Jes5ca Holme was blind" The thoroughly
VAN and frivolous character OF Hugh il
Impressed upon us at this point. He was
sorry that Jessica was blind, because he
would have liked her to see his purple tie
snl velvet smoking jacket. OF course,
1lnr'santly, with the keen sensitiveness Of
VI Tho Ind aIn fIY Nko ~ anrNahndxg