The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-08

farce, 1.-The Return of
Christmas" in his new
Harper collection of farces
entitled 1.-The Real Thing.
In it he satirizes the modern million
aire household, where the children
meet their parents so rarely that re-
introductionS are helpful, and the
butler, having received twenty-five
hundred-dollar check for Christmas
present. points out that two dollars
and a half should be added for bank
exchange Santa Claus arrives with
q suitcase instead of the regulation
jolly pack and offers the children his
gifts. What" asks Santa Claus,
would you think of an opera box.
Thomas, for thirty thousand dollars ?"
to which Tommy replies. I'D rather
have a music-box for. thirty cents"
The Bobbs- Merrill company re-
membered their friends on Christ
first James Whitcomb Riley book,
1.-The Old Swimming Hole" 1t is a
Photographic reproduction and is
naturally interesting.
ATTEMPTS to reproduce the effects of
one art in the medium of another nave
rarely beer successful. but In Mr.. GEO.
Alfred Williams paintings for Wag-
ner's Tristan and Isolde. recently pup
lished by Stokes. the peculiar nature
which it was carried out seem to have
overcome the difficulties Opera is
largely pictorial, and even the music
itself was made to suggest color att,
tude and distance. Wagners muslcal
symbols also are capable OF excellent
Interpretation in painting. In speaking
of his work, Mr.. Williams said: 1T Is
nv idea TO embody the general color
scheme of the opera as regards the
music and the Symbols. "A good eX-
ample is the fourth picture, very poor
w reproduced in black and white.
This shows the invocation to Night,
which affords the lovers complete proc
lection from the light OF the world anu
also as in the opera, SymbollzeS APP
uroachiug death The first rays OF
morning fall upon Brangaena, VINO is
warning the lovers of its approach.
II. & Andrews of Milwaukee, sporting
e6itor of the Evening Wisconsin, mas
published his 1916 Sporting Annual
Record Book, containing records OF all
running. bowling. athletic. baseball,
automobile and also aeroplane, etc. Inc
book contains many line ILLUSTRATIONS
of the worlds prominent ngnterS' anu
all the up-to-date records II IS now
the leading sporting annual of the coun-
try.
Miss Marie Van Worst was in Phil
adelphia during the past month, her
visit being timed to coincide with tne
simultaneous publication, in this city
and in London, of her new story, In
Ambush" Miss Van Worst comes from
her paris home to visit the land OF
her birth and to consult with ner
American publishers, the j. b. LIP
pincott company. She rs We'll known 10
ali readers of fiction and of the maya
zines. and her latest effort will add
70 her reputation as a skilled creator
of romance. The wide scope of the new
story is indicated by the fact that the
scene shifts from Alaska, where II OPP
ems TO Egypt, and thence to Kentucky
Tt is said that Miss Van Vorst's de-
scrintions of the Nile country. incidental
r., Der story, are extraordinarily graphic
and compare with those VINO nave ildue
this particular field their study
1,,.i+tenden Marriott, whose thrilling
novel ss,The Isle of Dead Ships" is at
tracing attention, has sailed all around
the Sargasso sea, in the mldole OIL
which the Isle is located He first
heard of it in sailors yarns Wnen q
er1v. but did not see it until eight years
later in 1893 when he was returning to
the limited States from the interior OF
South Africa. where he had tramped
1000 miles, and had just missed taking
mart in the Jameson raid on the Trans
80 =
was a passenger was blown well inside
the edge of the Sargasso sea and got
out again with considerable difficulty.
Only a few months later, as Assoc
ciated Press correspondent, Mr.. Mar
riott again passed the sea- this time on
the dynamite cruiser Nictheroy, which
had been fitted out in New York by the
government of Brazil to put down the
naval rebellion The Nictheroy had 80
tons of explosives and a mutinous crew
on board and when, while passing the
sea. several derelicts drifted past,
bound for the mass of dead ships in the
center. the sight reused reflections as
to what might be the fate OF the
Nictheroy if the crew broke loose or
the rebel battleships got a chance at
her. Five years later. just before the
Spanish war, Mr.. Marriott was near the
Sargasso sea once more. He had gone
to Cuba for Chicago paper and was
carrying rebel mail to Key West from
Gen. Gomez's camp in return for news
supplied him. His companion, Mr..
Crosby, was shot and killed, and he
himself was arrested butt nnanazsd to