New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-03-12
FICTION.
Neao Stories of Love. Mystery
and 1dUeRturf.

THE ISLE or WHISPERS. b Z. Law
renee Dudley 12n1e PIP. 2e7, The
Houghtou Miflin Company
THE KINGDOM OF SLENDER SWORDS.
By Halle Erminie RiDes, iIius s@2 rms
dianapois. The Bobhs-Merrlll COM
pany-
THURsToN or ORCHARD yALLE,Y. By
by w Herbert runton 1emo PIP. sos. !
The T. A stokes Company.
THE SCREEN BY Vincent Brown l2rao, /
pp 800, Z. p. Dutten & Co.
An APPRENTICE TO TRUTH. By Helen
Huntington 12no, pp. 4o5. G. F. Put !
nam S Sons.
Mr. Dudley's book is a most satlsfac-
tory tals of shipwreck. mystery, danger, |
adventure, derring do, hairbreadth es-
capes crime and love. the old materials
being handled with such an ingenieusly
novel twist that the result is something
worth reading TO the END. The story was
suggested to the author by the vague
logical tradition Of q NO Mans Land
somewhere off Nantucket. Hence The
Isle of Whispers which is peepled by as
choice a gang of blackguards as ever put
out TO sea in a motor boat to board
yachts. rob summer homes along the
coast and keep in touch with all sorts of
deviltry ashore. \ Wall Street man
cruising in these waters in his schooner
is trying TO make New Bedford in fog,
as affairs urgently demand his presence
in New York; instead, his yacht is run
on te-the rocks of the mysterious island,
and strange things begin TO happen. The
pirate chief. being an up-tO-date man of
business, believes him to be fraudulent
bankrupt and asks half of the money he
has ''salted away" But before even this
a young woman-aii that such q young
woman ought 10 be in q story of this
lzind-has made her appearance. Hence
forth ali is plot and plottings. and counter
plots and plottings-attempts TO
make the financier join the band, and eff
forts on his side 10 escape, MS forced
participation in jewel robbery ashore,
repeated explorations of "A cave TO find
the way to freedom. and so. and so on
all according TO the old, tried, ever de-
lightful formulas.
Miss RiVes's story cf modern Japan
has been carefully planned to bring out
strikinGly certain japanese virtues whose
fame has been made familiar to us by
many students of the Did civilization of
the East that will probably continue
to underIy the new for many years to
come. A people does not easily change
Its phsycholQgy with its fashions and its
ways Of doing the material things Of life.
Much space is necessarily devoted TO
description. but the story does not suf-
fer from this, for the plot is We'll con-
structed. and grows in interest as it
is unfolded. The chief characters are
americans. the diplomatic set at Toxic.
some tourists, and a vilainous Caucasian
of mysterious origin. The patriotism Of
a japanese girl, typical of her nation,
fois his plot by n sacrifice that throws
INTO bold contrast Eastern and Western
IDEAS Of duty ard virtue. For the rest.
there is the obligatory love affair and
:, surprise for its heroine Baron Ma kino
furnishes an introduction. in which he
touches for the accuracy Of the aL-
thor'S view of japanese traits Of char
actcr and rules of conduct, which are
illustrated IN episodes. some Of which
naNc no connection with u bearing on
the ploi. Il am he says. most gree
sight into. and the Just apprecia ton
of. the japanese spirit displayed 10y the
author. The local coloring, the
moral atmps phera constitute an amount
Of useful and authentic Information"
In "Thurst0n of Orchard Valley" Mr.
Bindloss returns once more to the en-
pirc builders Of the Northwest whose
Jaede I,a I,,-cS ~ re in I;c gtorisc
He has told " of trappcrs and cattle
kings, but this time he takes Us to Brit
ish Columbia md the settlers, the CON
G1erors Of the soil who are the real
founders Of new communities Thurston
il II north country Itnelish,nan with
nothing but an engineer education TO
help him start on the road 20 success,
but resnuTccfulness and logged persist
encc complement the equipment and sec
him through. 1t is a tale Of strong men
and giant tasks. of a struggle with
nature defending her wilderness, but
also. ~ tue development. with COM
petitor, VINO are unfair ana freacherous
The plot reaches from England into the
new settlement, carrying thither tie girl
who had refused ThDrstou IN tie day OF
his financial ruin. and tho man she had
preferred 80 him. The figures arc
blocked in large to lit the scenery and
the tasks. The romance Of the builders
% the West IL ever withdrawing further
from us, northWest~ard to the last
frontier bordering Oh the Arctic Circle
With W. It has already receded into the
past ~e haze even stopped writing
novels about il The turn OF Canada
has come her tales will gradually take
! their places beside our own on the shelf
dcV afed 20 the grilA facts and the glow.
! Ing fancies n the upbuilding Of a con
/ tiHeht.
The English press, SO The publishers of
! "The Screen" inform the American pub