New-York tribune., 1908-01-25

makes Mr.. Curtin's volume particularly valua-
| bic
/ BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
Current Talk of Things Present and
to Come.
We are glad to welcome a new and cheaper
edition of Miss Gertrude I1owthan Bells fas-
/ cinating book of travel, The Desert and the
! Sown' 1t should have a multitude of readers
and it should live among those few records of
wandering which never grow stale. There is
not a page that bores in this description of a
/ journey
/ That Just divides the desert from the sown
The Death Man" is the grewsome title of
/ BENJAMIN Swift's' new novel The hero is a
public executioner and the story is said to turn
on the mans relationship to the place in which
he lives.
Mr.. Henry Holt spent a part OF last summer
in travelling in the Far West and has described
his tour in a series of papers which will appear
IN "Futnams Monthly" These articles of the
veteran publisher understood to be exceed
ingly unpretudlced and picturesque.
It is announced, by the way, that "Putnam's
Monthly" and the Indianapolis magazine called
The Reader have effected combination, and
the March number of the periodical will be
issued under the imprints Of the Putnams and of
the Bobbs- Merrill Company. This association
will bring into the New York magazine more
fiction than it has presented in the past; and
the Western writer will be more in evidence in
its pages.
The publication Of The Life and Letters of
John Delane" and the change in the ownership
OF The London Times the great paper which
he edited for thirtysix years. occur almost
simultaneously. Europe had long recognized
The Times" as a power-.they say that Bona
parte once actually proposed to sue it for libel
in the English courts and that Guzot, unable
to placate it, sought revenge by OBTAINING its
Indian dispatches their way France.
The paper pushed TO its greatest height
Of influence and reputation by Delane 1t has
often been called the "Thunderer" that 1t is
worth while to note that the word was not
originally meant TO designate the paper itself
but one of its leader writer's. Captain Edward
Sterling. The London Chronicle" thus recalls
the circumstances in which the name was first
applied to the paper
Two ladies' of Kew splashed with mud by
iIl-behaved horseman. and The Times" taking
the matter up in leading article. vigorously de-
nounced the rudeness of the rider, alleged TO be
the Duke Of Cumberland. on the allegation prov
way OF apology. in which occurred the phrase We
thundered out" and such grandiloQuence happen
followed as a matter of course.
In the latest instament of her "reminiscences
Ellen Terry writes of a delightful speech made
in spontaneous fashion by Henry Irving and
ends her note thus: When Irving was thrown
doh !,
than when he prepared speech, and his letters
prove how finely he could write Those who
represent him dependent in such matters
the help of literary hacks just ignorant of
the facts"
Another Frankenstein is the hero of
German novel. Seine Excelenz. der Automat.'
Frithjof Andersen a Swedish technical en-
gineer endowed, says the Berlin correspondent
of The London Tribune with the knowledge
OF all the ages as Well as with a keen and
poignant wit has spent ten years Of his life in
the production of a perfect Android mechan-
icaI figure provided with every possible human
gift except that which is more than human the
soul
The result is outwardIy quite indistnguishabe
from a human creature Every mechanical inven-
The Androids conversation is !. miracle Of society
0 esGSG SGTa ppSF boz 1he the
s.bonron5' of the machine Finally the inventor
has enough Of it. The satire is too mercieSs, too
complete and he goes up 10 the Androld 10 turn
the screw which will shatter il to pieces before
the well dressed crowd. and reveal the society
darling a a piece of sheer calculated mechanism
There follows a curious passage wherein the in
endeaVors to convince the Android that the
satire OF mechanical society Is sufficient, and II
is time for the machine TO disappear. And here,
so perfect is the mechanism, he is met by the
Android with string of brilliant logical replies.
convincing arguments that the continued existence
tor realizes that his wit is defeating him, and
ne determines TO resort 10 Drute lorce
The Android however. srnites the inventor 10
the ground and stalks out path Of aston
ishing success" It is wound up to run for ten
wears or until ii is stopped by some external
agency: and for ten years it goes on its hu-
man" way:
From this point the book becomes poignant,
sometimes brilliant, satire modern machine
made and machine worshipping society, on the cult
az imagined Authority and automatic genius. the
Android prodigiously successful. acquires
wealth. influence, popularity, and at last title and
an The inventor sinks lower and lower,
losing honor. peace and possessions And at iast
the autona ton makes love, mechanical love and
successful love to the inventors fancee. The eX
posure the dsillusionment Is too complete. and In
one last horrible struggle the master proves his
mastery. and the machine is dashed In fragments
af his feet. a somewhat wordy Introduction It
ia expained that the mission OF the book is to hold
a mirror TO modern Phillstin5m to vindlcate the
real humanites Perhaps that was all The mech
AaSsm y aAcsovtnctng though ne TECHNICAL knoW-