The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-18

Henry, author of "Cabbages and Kings "The Four Million" The Trim med Lamp etc. published by the Nc Clnre O., New York; $1.50 at Judds
 This is a collection of nineteen stories, all good ones, all entertaining. MT. Henry's reputation as one of our best short story writers is well earned and Heart of the West will not be disappointing. The elements of the plots pertain to Western life and the stories are realistic and vivid In Cupid a la Carte" the reader gets the point of view of a railroad restaurant waitress, regarding man, mere man." She sees before her if she succumbs and gets married a never-ending suc- cession of meals which she must cook and serve. She therefore declines an offer of marriage because she says men have become to her absolutely nothing but something that goes in front of a knife and fork and plate at the table. I'll marry no man and see him sit at the breakfast table and eat. and come back to din ner and eat, and happen in again at supper to eat, eat, eat. :"
 The New York Times book reviewer says of the author and his new book; This facile reconteur hands out the strictly American brand. He is equal- ly at home in cowboy land or the Great White Way. If there is any slang which is outside of his vocabulary, it has sprung into being since Mr Hen " went to bed. If he has fault it is that he sets forth too opulent spread; 1 like rich parvenu's banquet Mme de Sevigne excused the prolixity of one of her letters on the ground that she had not the leisure to be brief MT 1 Henry might object that he cannot tame his geyser of chromatic rhetoric l to the dainty aigrette of the Union League fountain. However, a plethora of good things does not demand a jere- niad, although it may beget a cere- bral paralysis, Cayene pepper, honey and tempered steel are the figurative components of Mir. Henry's literary re- 1 ceipt and nobody be he a Gargantua
 
 these in large installments, One other l point Representative literary gour- met may make is that effervescent | sprightliness of wit delicious fantasy of expression quasi-encyclopedic grasp of classical lore, and fin de siecle srnartness of allusion in all of life's vanities do not fall to the just and unjust alike Would vaquero get as near to,it as the whirlpool of Squills and Chaly- beater?" Nearly all his men are ready, conversational spark lers, as insistently bright" as the dia- mond rings of a cocotte, Festina lente, o. Henry!
 ''Sed pardo majora canamus." The | supreme merit of having a point to his story, and deliciously pungent one, iS peculiarly MT. Henrys, and af- ter all that is the raison d'etre of the short story Moreover he adds lus- tier delight to the denouement by a sudden f1irt to one side, and presto 1 he has put in turtle and pulls out a humming bird! Only he who "sees in the green, the moldered tree" can i oADiAI liAA0NtSf VI tLL lilC lliItt-QudIItI | pole, the goal of this adrolt artist. Add also, that the soundest and tenderest sentiment, without the smallest slur of sentimentality, finds place in these crisp stories. Love, pathos, nobility, have due play Hearts and Crosses, g "The Princess and the Puma" The Reformation of Calliope" are exquisite. The Caballero's Way" is a fine speci- men of the vengefully tragic, Mark his-way and -him-to-the-b brain sort of thing.
 The one word of warning, the one his brother craftsman, who best rec ognizes Q. Henry's merit, gives with friendly earnestness is "Go slow. Don't 4 give such good measure of garnlsh- ing" Sometimes the bird tastes better than the sauce.