New-York tribune., 1909-09-18
Romantic Tales by 20" and Others,
and Russian Tragedy.

THE MEN OF THE MOUNTAIN. BY y 4. SIocHS a
Bro Bros. mus A''1' --'''' ~
THE SEVEN WHO WERE HIa HANGED; ;.rsAsiafiGn STGFg;
by Leoh9 i -AnuI S Herman bernstein. 12mo.
pp isO. J. s. Ogilvie Publishing Company
THE LEOPARD AND THE LILY. BY Marjorie Mario I.
Bowen. l%mo' PIP W. ''-'
II has been said in times past that % was
one of the followers of Stevenson or II MOI d
r,rofessed disciple. at any rate a writer cieaiiS
influenced by his romantic contemporary. we
wonder if Stevenson himself could have pro-
duced a tale like True Tilda,' comedy 50
whimsical and debonair, SO workmanllke' anu
vet so bravsy sglow with the warmth OF a lee
IMPROVISATION on the whole it is doubtful
The smell of the lamp would have got into his
rages Stevenson was clever enough TO 90 al
most anything but he did not know how 10
rollicl for that is process upon when cleNer-
ness puts blight. His imagination look per
hans finer flights than those of which q Is
capable; he had in richer measure the tenpeFa-
nent OF the artist. but by the very nature OF MS
beinr he was denied the uproarious high spirits
IN which the author of True Tilda'' is won't TO
revel Why then drag in Stevenson? Be
cause this book provokes the reflection that 1t is
the kind Of thing he would have delighted In If
only he had had the faculty Of letting himself
60 There is a StevensOnian Oddity about 1t,
suffused and governed by a broader and simpler
spirit There is a curious fidelity TO the bed
rock Of human nature perpetually active IN
s'Q's' makeup, a matter f-factness underlying
his widest excursions. and this trait IS the more
engaging and persuasive because it is touched
sn its turn, by something like poetic feeling.
Going about his fantastic business. he remem-
hers how sweet the world is. and how sound,
when all is said. is the heart of mankind. You
can hear him singing right merriy,
Gods in his heaven:
Alrs right with the world
His heroine is the queintest little waif imagt-
nable a child knowing no home save the tent OF
a travelling circus. possessing neither father nor
mother. but blessed with precocious wits and
couaforted beyond telling by the devotion Of
CSodolphus. a dog. Tnda is kicked by a pony
and left by her fellow vagabonds in the hospi-
tai at Bursheld In the bed next to hers lies
woman dying. This patient, toos is friendless.
and when IN the wanderings of her last hours,
she reveals a passionate desire to see some one.
presumably her son, the bruised but nearly
healed Tlda goes forth 10 search for the lad
You would say that her success and the Incl
dents marking f. were merely preposterous If
any hand but ''Q's'' were presiding over the ad-
venture. AS it is, he makes IT all seem the most
natural performance in the world. and when
rilda returns TO the hospital. leading Arthur
Miles Chandon by the hand, only 10 find that his
mother has died, the staggering campaign upon
which she then embarks takes thoroughly
plausible air. Incredible things occur. The
reader accepts them without a murmur.
Everything is against the children. Arthur's
reoapture by the rascally head Of the orphanage
in which he has been confined would appear 10
be as certain as fate itself. But ali manner Of
good angels drop out of the clouds 10 further
Tflda's Napoleonic retreat-a coal dealer and his
boatman, a. strOlling player and his wife, an
American artist. a griny engineer, and so on
through a truly amazing list; amazing, but al
ways true TO nature. save in the case Of the
painter aforesaid. 1t is strange 10 find an au-
thor Of so's" intelligence drawing one more Of
those excruciating calicatures which English
novelists fondly take 10 be portraits Of American
types. But il is easy 10 forgive him. one blot
cannot spoil a book brimming over with
amusement and charm, with such tenderness en-
tering into all its fun. How Tilda brings her
.self-assumed charge into port at last and how
she finds her own happiness there, not forget
ting Godolphus, the reader must discover for
himself. IT viii not be a task. II VIII be joy
Gus experience
Mr. Crockett's new story, the first he has pub
lished in a considerable period, has an historical
background. lie treats Of a family on the
Eranco-Swiss border, undsturbed by the larger
issues Of the war Of 1870 but cruelty harassed
by the obscure and episode transactions which
were kept up for year or so after the conflict
. had been settled. The Germans had not got
J safely home. The hidden sharpshooter was still
picking off from behind the hedge such indi-
Niduals as unlucky enough to possess no
ewes in the back Of their heads. Murder stalked
abroad in the countryside. and revenge swiftly
followed In the midst Of this turmoil Mr.
Crocketts hero moves with charmed life
when the book opens David AliX, the young
C1eneyan pastor is standing with his back 20 a
wall waiting for Prussan bullets to put an end
20 his existence. OF course he is rescued at the
last minute. and by chaplain who is himself
Prussian Whsn he takes his friend home with
him, It is also to be expected that trouble viii
follow. II comes. in quantities. The man who
has saved DaVid's life is shot on his doorstep
and put 20 bed under the same roof with men,
and women, thirsting for his blood. The tale
contains in fact. much that is dramatic and
startling but in effective contrast with all the
violence is Dayid's steadfast pursuit of his
peaceful duties. The sentimental developments
tOo remain in a more less idyllic key. The
Men OF the Mountain is a slight composition
but in its gentle romantic way it leaves a
pheasant impression
'fThe Seven who Were Hanged" s scarcely
a book TO be read for pleasure but il Is not a
book TO neglect. On the contrary this Russian
tragedy cannot but absorb the reader who ap-
prsciates a truthful analysis Of human misery,
set forth with a certain high-mnded sincerity.
The narrative IS one OF poignant realism framed
with dispassOnate feeling a powerful Russian
Official has been condemned to death by a group
OF consprators. The terrorists more especially
implicated three men and two women, are
seized and sent 20 the scaffold. With them go
two men found guilty Of other crimes. An
dreyev's book IS devoted 10 a minute exposition
OF the emotions OF these agonzed souls. There