The San Francisco call., 1910-03-13
Sally Bishop: A Romance"

BY f. Temple Thurston. Published by Nit
chell hennerley. New York. Price 81 80.
E Temple Thurston has dedi-
Gated his novel sally Bishop" to Ger
aid du Afsurier and writes an explana-
tory and half apologetic letter with
ii. He says that he knows he will re-
ceive shoulder shrug smile at his
subtitle, "A Romance" and perhaps he
would have had such a reception had
he not written the letter. Here he
says that his reasons are beyond mere
cOntrariness.
The world of romance must be at
all times an elusive star-never ca
pable OF being put in the exact same
place on any ones calendar And to
me 1t conveys no fixed beginning no
liked end, so long as it possesses that
Quality OF dreaming imagination in the
mind Of the character with whom the
circumstances are first concerned All
that we know certainly OF life is
reality and OF all those myriad things
which combine to make up the one
great scheme, of which we know moth
ing, there is the quality of romance
free 70 any one who cares to let his
mind drift upon the sea of conjecture"
This was the case of Sally-she
made her dream out of reality-itseIf
1t is almost impossible TO conquer the
feeling Of rebellion which this book
creates in the mind Of its readers The
tragedy, the pity of il all and the lack
OF the necessity of it,
Sally Bishop is the daughter of a
clergyman who had for many years
been the rector in the parish of Calls
ham, His downfall is described in one
whole chapter which will be a delight
TO the irreverent reader and will
doubtless be deemed sacrilegious by
the high church readers and those of
orthodox tendencies. This chapter tells
OF an Easter Sunday service in Steyn-
ton conducted by the Rev. Samuel
Bishop in the absence of the regular
vicar. The bishop of the diocese was
there and so the Rev. Samuel was
doubly anxious to have things go
smoothly. In the rubric of the book of
common prayer are given directions
as TO the disposal of any consecrated
wine which may be left over after
communion. There 1t says:
1T shall not be carried out of the
church, but the priest and such others
Of the communicates as he shall call
unto him shall. Immediately after the
blessing, reverently eat and drink the
same"
The Rev. Samuel had consecrated
enough wine for SO people. and scarce
20 appeared. and try, as he did.
he was unable to find any one to
help him in drinking the remainder.
one must confess that the author has
written q most amusing chapter de-
scribing the panic Of the poor man and
finally his drinking the wine in des-
perauOn- Promptly becoming intoxi-
Gated. he is discovered by the bishop
and IN consequence loses his comfort
able living. ell for being such slave
10 Dc gma.
When the family becomes rather hard
Up Sally decides to work for her living
and. very much against the wishes of
her family, goes to London to study
typewriting When we see her again
she has a good position. She lives with
q girl friend, Janet Holland, an artist,
a singularly Unattractive girl with rad
ical ideas but a fine, big. human heart
She is true TO Sally through thick and
thin" and though we see all too little
Of her in the pages Of this book she has
a dominant personality and compels re-
membrance.
The author goes into many details Of
SallY's Iife-her bringing up, her friends
and a near love affair-in order TO give
z picture OF her morality. her virtue 1t
IS so perfect that we are almost as sur
prised as is Sally herself when she
yields 70 Jack Trail and consents to
live with him. Il is love only which
causes her 70 do this; love. too, of the
big, giving all, romantic kind, not to
be met every day in the streets. For
three years Sally devotes her life TO
him, and then he tires little and al
lows his sister TO put her meddlesome
finger into his affairs, ana tragedy re-
suits.
The book IS filled with ouotabIe
passages. chapters OF strong descrip-
ton, notably a description Of a prize
fight with bare fists. and bits here
and there OF writing almost too
good for the everyday novel. AS for the
story IL Will have its admirers and its
enemies, and they WILL each be uncon-
WINGED by the other. Tie hamboyant
paper wrapper is heartily condemned.
Nothing in the text excuses it The
book itself Is well printed and bound.