Evening star., 1909-04-24
BOOK REVIEWS.
SPECIAL. MESSENGER. BY Robert w.
Chambers. Illustrated. New York:
n. Appleton K Co.

SPECIAL, MESSENGER. BY Robert w.
Chambers. Illustrated. New York:
n. Appleton < Co.
rHE exploits of Special Messen-
ger" the name given by Mr..
Chambers to attractive
young woman serving spy
for the federal armies during the
civil war. have been printed from time to
time in the periodicals. and are now as
sembled as continuous narrative In book
form. The detached episodes, of which
The chapters treat separately, have prac-
tically no inter-relation, but so definite is
the character of this resourceful girl as
set forth by the master craftsman, that
the reader forgets the lack of plot and
sequence. Mr. Chambers briefly notes
that some readers have positively declared
Relle Boyd, the famous Confederate scout
and spy, to have served as the original of
Special Messenger" adding succinctly:
1T is not uncommon that the readers of a
book know more about that book than the
author" He contriveS to give dis
tinct romantic interest to the career of
the beautiful spy by bringing back into
her life at the close of the book a man
she thought was dead. Mr.. George Gibbs
illustrations are exceptionally spirited and
artistic.
DRAGONS BLOOD. BY Henry Milner
old NJ. Brett New York: Houghton.
Miffln & Co.
No doubt with reference to the Boxer
trouble of nine years ago Mr.. Rideout has
written this vivid story of adventure in
China in manner to convince the reader
of direct acquaintance with conditions
in the celestial empire. The social DESC
lation of trading town to which a young
German Is sent as agent is dramatically
reproduced. Around the little colony of
europeans gathers a storm of native
hatred The Well-meaning endeavors of
teachers. misSioners and nurses are mis-
interpreted by the Sword Pen," satur-
nine leader of the secret forces of assas-
Sination. German who has married a
native wife. "A social outcast, gives the
warning and preparations are made bare
ly in season to defend the little colony
from the attacks of the mob. Mr.. Ride
out describes the siege with brilliant,
swift strokes and adds a keen human
interest to the narrative by his masterly
character drawing. The story must be
regarded as representative of a phase of
china that is now passing, if it has not,
in fact. fully passed.
THE GREAT WET WAY. BY Alan
Dale Illustrated by II. B. Martlu
New York: Dodd. Mead & Co. Wash
ington: Brentano's.
The author of this clever book of hu-
panorama has made he declares ssome
nifty trips across the Atlantic ION all
kinds of steamers and with all sorts of
people 1t rs doubtless we'll known that
he is one of the most prominent of the
New York dramatic critics, and he puts
his witty. incisive style to good purpose in
describing the many varieties of passen-
gers and their traditional vagaries His
twelve chapters headed as follows:
The Queer Things We See. the Room
mate. Partakins of Nourishment, Who's
Who on Board. Nal de Mer, Children on
Board. Flirtations. Patriotism. Tipping.
Nervous Passengers, the Concert, the
custom House. Mr.. Martins iIlustra-
uons are In sympathy with the text
Everybody who has ever been on board
chip will keenly appreciate the humor of
this dlvertinS volume.
THE LANDLUBBERS. BY Gertrude
King. Illustrated by Frank Stick.
. New York: Doubleday, Page & CO.
y young school teacher from Carson
vile. H.. is passenger on transatlan-
tic liner which in a fog rams an iceberg
and is abandoned by all on board save
herself and young man, whom she
knows only as an inebrfate. In this ex-
ceptional situation romance is entirely
proba BILE. even in view of the young mans
bad habit. Tragedy develops. Two of
the passengers return to the derelict hulk
in the small boat. from which all others
save themselves have been lost one by
one, and then the situation on the wreck
becomes complicated. They drift into
The SarSasso sea, and then out again into
the open ocean. and are finally picked up
by a tramp just before the derelict sue
cumbS to the sea. The story is not par-
tlcularly convincing as "A probable hap-
pening. but ii is nevertheless we'll told
and Will offer entertainment for a couple
Of hours provided the reader is not in
sistent upon likelihood
MEXICAN TRAILS; Record of Travel
In Mexico. 1904-01. and Glimpse Of
the Life of the Mexican Indian. BY