The Washington herald., 1907-05-12
NEW BOOKS OF THE SPRING
Novels Memoirs and Books Account of His Arctic Voyage
New Stories by ZaneWil.

Doubleday, Page & Co. washington;
BrentanOs)
Military Memoirs of a Confederate"
by r. p. Alexander. This is not. as its
name might seem to indicate, another one
Of those stories ceiling OF the trials OF
the COnfederacy during the civil war Il
Is a critical narrative Of the principal
battles OF the war. from the ConfedeBte
point of view, ard that iIs author is a
competent critic may be judged from the
fact thar he was a brigadier general in the
Confederate army, and chief Of artillery
IN Longstreets Corps. Gen. Alexander
is not al all backward with his criticisms.
and having seen the game from the other
side. what he has 20 say about some
OF the Federal movements and about the
Federal commanders should be Of intense
interest On Gen Mcclellan particularly
he is severe. deeming that while he had
40 superior Ia organizing an army he
was quite CD IL 10 command in battle.
In descriDing JacksOn's valley campaign
he also takes occasion 10 criticize stone
wall Jackson. believing that he seldom
( took fun advantage Of the opportunities
that came to his hand. He thinks that
during the whole OF the seven days cam
paigl Jackson was not himself. ne was.
/ as ne describes it, under a spell"
Among the battles described are Malvern
Hin. Second Manassas, B0onesboro. and
Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg or Antietam.
Charlottesville Gettysburg. Chickamau-
ga, the Battle Of the Wilderness, the
movement against Petersburg. the fights
iu the fall Of 1854 and the final surrender
of Lee.
One very interesting incident narrated
/ by Gen. Alexander is that Gen. Lee told
( him that he felt that the only dlgnitied
course for President jefferson Davis 10
i pursue was to 20 To Gen. Grant and take
I the consequences Of his action. Gen. Alex
auder hurried 10 Washington Ga. iu the
I hope Of repeating Gen. Lees advice to
/ Mr. Davis, but missed him by twenty-four
/ hours. Says he; 1T was the disc ppoint-
ment of my life, ever though ia later
years and after the death of Nh. Davis
/ Mrs. Davis had assured me that nothing
could have ever induced him 10 thus
/ abandon the cause Of the Confederacy.' p. .
/ The book is one that should be Of great
benefit 60 military students. K Is written
absolutely without prejudice. and con-
siders the movements of troops. and the
/ mistakes Of commanders simply as moves
/ IN the great military game. That there
/ is no bitterness in this Confederate gene
raj heart. may be seen from his preface
which he calls, The Point Of View %
/ Here he says:
One thing remains to be said. The world has not
/ stood stl in the years since He took up arms for
I what deemed our most invaluable rght-that Of
/ sef-governnent We row eajoy the rare privilege
Ct seeing what we fought for IN the retrospect II
( no longer seems desirable. It would now proge
only curse. We have good cause 10 thank God for
cur escape from It. not alone fer cur sake f,it for
of rafr IA 90
Had cur cause sueceeded, divergent interests must
soon have further separated the States into groups
and this continent would have been given ever to
divided nail0nailtes, each weak and unable 20 COM
mand foreign credit Since the days Of Greece, Con
fcdeates hare only held together against foreign
enemies, and in times Of peace have soCn disinteg-
rated Il is surely not necessary TO contrast what
I would have been our prospects as citizens 0f spch
States with our condition now as citizens Of the
strongest richest, and-strange Tor Us to say, Who
once called ourselves conquered" " ard our cause,
/ lost freest nation on earth.
The statistics OF our commerce, our manufactures,
and our internal Improvements are an oblact-lesson
8f the truth OF old AesaB's fable pointing cut the
increased strength OF the separate sticks When bound
together into a fagot That the whole civilized word
/ shares with in the faT.reaching blessings and
benefits Of civilization. wealth, and political
power, is manifest IN building the Panama canal
and again, in the treaty of peace between Russia
and japan, negotiated through the influence of oti
President These are but the rstfruits OF what The
future viii develop fer our Union is not built to
perish Its bonds were not formed by Deaceable
/ agreements in conventions, but forged IN the
white heat Of battles. in war fought out TO the
bitter end and are for eternity.
CNew York: Charles Scribner's S0ns.)
THE Mayors Wife," by 6nna Kather-
inc Green, is another one Of those stories
by the author OF the LeavenwOrth case,
which made her famous, containing the
/ elements OF mystery and crime which
hold the reader who cares for this sort
of thing in breathless interest, The story
/ is told in the first person by a Miss
Saunders, who is asked TO take a position
as companion to the wife Of Mayor Pack
ard. who is running for governor. Miss
Saunders is hardly in the house TO assume
her duties before she is involved in mys-
terry There is a mysterious ghost-strange
messages in cipher--a cipher which fails
utterly to yield to the same treatment
that applied 70 the cipher In Poes, THE
Gold Bus" and the mystery grows deeper
and deeper and more interesting until its
solution In the final chapter. "Th'
Mayors Wife is a much more interesting
book than Mr. Green has been turning
out recently; il is a return to her earlier
and more natural style, and will probably
find many readers. indianapolis; The
BObbs- Merrill Coz
with the Tourist Tide" by Arthur B
Cooke. describes in rather informal style
a summer tour through some of the fann
liar tourist paths of the world. II begins
with an ocean voyage by way of the
Azores and Gibraltar. leads through Ma
pies 10 POmpeii and Rome. The author
takes you with him 10 Pisa and along
the famous roads OF Florence: he takes