davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
a SCHOLARS LIFE.
THE PRISON WITHOUT A WALL. BY
Ralph Straus. 12mo. PIP 3fl. Henry HoIt
e 60.

THE PRISON WITHOUT a Wall. Ky bE
Ralph Straus. 12mo, PIP 3ii. Henry Holt
& Co.
word in advance about the capital
study OF child, life in the early pages
of this admirable novel. They are worth
reading for their own sake, these studies
of contrasting character at the begin
ming. of .he rebelliOus, self-reliant slrI
who should have been the heir of the
old house Of Bohun, and Of the dreamy,
timid boy who feared to face life. SO
Svlvanus de Bohun became scholar IN
stead OF 4 great landowner leaving the
management of his estates 10 others.
And Cambridge became his prison with
ont walls. There he wrote the first two
volumes of His Social History OF Rome
which carried his name TO the utmost
corners of the world Of scholarship.
Then. when he began his third volume
and faced the Infamous expresses OF the
decadence. he discovered that ne khe"
nothing of woman. or of women. OF ol
life And he discovered also that' III
bie ipnorancc of the world, he had been
fecced for years by the man who hau
been his brave spirited. dead sister
husband. Sylvanus left his prison 10
Gather the knowledge and experience
that books would not give him. not even
the library of the Vatican. and he fouhd
happiness. and wife and sorrow anu
trouble. and defeat. But the prison WAS
still there. ready to welcome MN pach
q. ,.oitinp his return 10 write that tnlrd
volume OF his md0h"W op"S'
The story Is told by ono VINO knows
hoth the world and its whirlpoos ana
the quiet Of academic groves. u mas
genuine literary quality and the qnai''S
of tho understanding Of mon and women
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

mination to form the decorative system
which obtained in Europe from the TENTH
to the twelfth centuries. The leading
cha. .cteristic Of the art of the irish
mcnasteries was not pictorial but pure
ly ornamer tai:
In it's disposition of lines and masses.
it's deXterous manipulation OF q rev forms
ana ColorS 10 form patterns oI enuIsSS
riety, il has never been surPaSSeu. an
other marked feature OF the Celtlc ScnooI
is the adaptation of decorative motives
which belong primarily ana proper! 10
work in three dimensions-the alled' YET
essentially distinct, arts OF basketT!' met
al work and sculpture
During the seventh and eighth CEN
turies illustration in France, Spain, Ger
many and Lombardy produced crudely
colored. distorted shapes and ornaments,
from which Gothic design later derived
it's grotesques. Charemagne. dreaming
OF Il revived Roman Empire, set about Il
renaissance of the art under classical
influences. TO which were added those Of
Byzantium and ireland. Carolingian
illustration was decidedly initiative, and
gave rise to several schools, that IT
Utrecht being responsible, the author
states. for the Introduction Of free
hand or outline illustration, which new
departure may perhaps he said not 10
have been illumination at all.
There arc many blanks in the consecu-
tive history of the art. owing To periods
of war and destruction that have left ~"
traces f its work at certain periods
The invasions of the Danes. for instance.
destroyed all specimens of the fusion 't
Celtic and late Roman influences thai
must have taken place in English eighth
century illumination. The new school
of Anglo-SaXon miniature. derived from
the Continent. begins, so far as extant
MSS. are concerned. with King Athel-
staus Psaltcr.
Tho earliest German manuscripts rep
resent the decay Of the carolingian style.
France. which had Jagged behind for
many centuries. suddenly took the 'ead
Of Europe early in the thirteenth con
turv and held il through two hundred
and fifty Years. her work being linked
with that Of the FleminEs. Italy never
reached pre-emincnce in illumination.
Even during tho Renaissance she pro
duced very little that was not marred nv
exuberance Of ornament and ill-harmo-
uizcd color schemes.
There is 4 chapter on the Apocalypse
in illumination. and note on the vari-
ous kinds Of liturgical illuminated MSS.
The author appends comprehensive
hibliography. There are nifty plates
The frontispiece is reproduced in colors
and gold.
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

tion Of the great man OF business; n"
forcsaw correctly the destiny of the un-
settled rich acres Of the West. and made
himself one Of the builders OF IT'S fort-
unes II was h mastery financial
MANAGEMENT that enabled the Michigan
Central Railroad to weather the panic of
1851: it was his foresight that led him To
extend his operations thereafter
As citizen Forbes rendered signal
service during the civil War. 1t was ne
who planned secret reinforcement "t
Fort Sumter. which was frustrated by
red tape in the Navy Department. II
was he. as an old China merchant. famil-
lar with all the details Of the charterinS
and dispatching of ships, who secured Tor
the ssaChusettS troops the distinction
of reaching Washington first: and il was
he who proposed the plan To send som"
merchant untrammellcd by navy con-
tractors and such nuisances To England.
and there under guse of buying l"r
Siam or China. buy the best Of the war
steamers now under construction for he
rebels. Tie was Seietltu loi tue hIlSHl'h
but failed i'm the end. And last but ut
least, he was. according To his hioS-
rapher. the originator Of the New Eng
land LOYAL Publication League.
Mr.. Pearsons account Of Forbes s
genius for sound successful fnancierirg
i'm times Of financial stress is vivid AMI
interesting. He touches here and there
upon the strange conditions Of early rail
roading. and tells a humorous story also
Of the adventures Of the charter of the
Michigan Central i'm the Legislature Of
the state I'm 1915:
So ignorant were both the public at large
and the Legislators themselves concerning
railroad charters that the point on which
local interest centred was the danger tina,
the pagan capitalists of the Fast shoGld
attempt To run trains "on the Sabbath :,
and every day petitions bearing on this
point were received. When the time cam"
for voting on this saction amendments
were offered requiring that the corporation
should observe the other nine command
ments also. and that the directors should
attend church at least twice every Sun
day, and the section was laughed to de
feat.
In a simple. unassuming way this is 40
exceptionally interesting account of The
life and work Of d typical American man
of affairs and citizen Of the sterling old
tVpe
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
GARNETS IN SLABS.
'om The London Globe.

From The London Globe.
A garnet deposit of exceptional posi-
bilities has been discovered on an island
situated in st. Michaers Bay, southern
Labrador part OF Newfoundland do
mains), about thirty-five miles north OF
Belle Isle In the straits. Inc lslahd Is
about mile long, half mile wide and
two hundred feet i'm height. The Vein
is composed OF crystals of garnet about
the size of large oranges, with sufiicient
matrix Ga flinty quartz and mlcal To hold
them together over the south side edge
of the c}iff, which is almost perpendicu-
lar, the large garnets are prolusely ex-
posed down to about sea level This
shows that the supply is almost mex
haustible and that they can be quar-
RED at a minimum cost Ihis garnet
has been tested for abrasive work and
pronounced superior for that purpose 20
any found elsewhere II is also thought
that slabs of any size and thickness can
be cut and polished II so, II VIII be In
teresting TO building trades as they
would he exceedingly handsome dura
bic. attractive and new for both lnsids
and outside ornamental work
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
THE POOR GOvERNESS.

THE REAL MRS. HOLNER. by l.. NJ
Channon. Emo pp. ~ Doubleday.
Page n Co.
Hard has been the fate Of the gov
erness in English fiction these many
years. but her compensation has always
been correspondingly great in the end.
SO. while the reader will conceive a deep
and most laudable desire to drown ,he
purse proud spiteful, unspeakable Mrs.
Croome for her treatment of poor Mar
gerry Lennard. he-Or, rather, she, for
this is essentially story for women
will not lose hope of the outcome of it
all The author deserves this trust In
her sense of fairness and adherence t.
the tradition, for To- after many tribu-
lations Margery's sun breaks through
clouds Of unrelieved blackness and
brings her the happiness she deserves.
while Mrs. Croome and her arrogant
daughter pass under the shadow of dis
appointed ambition. II is all very oil
and very conventional, and yet Mrs.
Channon succeeds In enlistlng our sym-
pathy for her heroine, and In arousing
our antipathy against the girls enemies.
she piles on the agony-shipwreck a
long silence, an ambiguous position thar
cannot be explained it i3 all here in
abundant measure, ard it Is made 10 tell
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
AN EARLY HOMER CRITIC.
Andrew Lang on the Able d Aubignac'

From The illustrated Londoh News
I, old davs. Holywell street. no"
erased used To be the hunting grounu
~ the poor book-loVer. have speht
,bor,. many grimy afternoon turning
o,.or the books in the boxes, ana heNel'
think. found anything desirable eA-
cent a cut-doWn cory ot 1IasnaM
"Steps to the Temple with the sisn"
,rre of a Mr.. Collci a friend OF Cra-
shaw. .,. ,.aI,,oIess
,ld French books. mostly Of the seven
teenth century. which might throw
II. hi into holes and corners OF He III 'he
time Of Moliere. ..u;,d
Vow there is a book of that perlou,;
"Coniectures Academlques sur lIlau(' .l,.
,-15 anonymous which any man may
rerhaus find on any stall AT the mo-"
crate ransom of fourpence II any nan
does find it. let him be advised ana pus
Il, The eruditc GeOrg Finsler, III Oh
ns.,,, .coptributed to a learned German
serial saws that he has only been aple 10
boar of a single copy, which is IN the
pihIiothaoue Rationale at Paris. Inc
hook to be sure is not coveted by COIL
mon collectors. but if Herr Flnsler can
only hear Of a single copy, II Is Nel!
rare and it is also a work Whlch great
libraries. and every one VINO stuales tne
history of the Homerlc question: "oulu
like to own and read.
The unnamed author was the ADpe
d'Aubignac. Molieres senior. ana klhd
of butterfly of letters. Nothing came
aniss To him he wrote plays. and songs
and novels. | daresay, but he was also,
as far as such a man at that date could
be a classical scholar. In 1864 he wrote
his book to prove that, as to Homer.
there never was no such person. ana
as TO the "Iliad," it was made by COM
piling a lot Of popular songs. DAubig-
nae wrote in 1861. died in 1916. and MS
manuscript was published without his
name. and left to neglect. i'm lilo. Ihe
ideas of the able, new in his day, lay
dormant. and the famous Wolf pub
Iished them. and shook the learned
world. about 1896. | think. The abbe.
inst like our modern critics, found
heaps OF discrepancies in the Had,
which could only be explained as the re-
suit of a clumsy compilation of old
songs by many hands. Some of his dis
crepancies are still popular. as such,
with the critics-as a matter OF fact,
they are not discrepancies at all, but
that is another story. The question Is,
did Wolf-really very great scholar
plagiariZe his ideas from the poor. for
sotten clerical butterfly Of letters with
out acknowledgment? Herr Finsler and
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
JOHN MURRAY FORBES
A Chapter of the Development OF
the West.
An AMERICAN RAILROAD BUILDER:
J0IJN MI-RRAY FORBES. BY Henry
Greenleaf Pearson. l2mo PIP VII lSo'
Houehton Mifflin Company.

AN AMERICAN RAILROAD BUILDER:
JOHN MURRAY FORBES by henpSy nnaSy
Greeneaf Pearson. l2mO, PIP VIII i'"'
Houehton Mifflin Company
This brief biography Of an honest en-
orgatic vet conservative American hnan-
cier and railroad builder of the middle q
the last century is based to some extent
on it's subjects own Letters ana heHl-
niscences." published more than de-
ado ago The biogra pher lays stress
upon the part played ny John Murray
Forbes in the development OF the ran-
road system Of the Middle West as pres'-
dent of the Michigan Central Railroad
from 1876 to 1850 and rs director ana
president of the Chicago. burlington d"
Quincy from 1851 TO 1881.
John Murray Forbes, the son OF
supercargo and the descendant OF a ram
ilv long connected with Bostons mari
time commerce. was born at bordeauN'
France. on February %, 1915. but edu-
Gated I'm this country. He received his
business training in China. in the oiilces
Of the house Of Russell e Co. but far
more during his secretaryship to the
Mandarin Houqua. the head of the hohg
which controlled the foreign trade 'f
china. and through which the diplomats
affairs OF the empire were conducted ~
that time. Young Forbes made a Tor
tune i'm the Orient before he was twenty
five. returning to this country TO interest
himself in railroad building. From hrst
70 last his connection with this growing
industry was n purely financial one. he
possessed in high degree the imagina-
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
PAGE FROM \ BOOK OF HOURS.
(From an old Milanese illumination In
illuminated Manuscripts.

cause. at that period. the Illuminated
manuscript had become an article o.
commerce in that country, being KEEP
in stock" to use term of the contem-
porary book trade, for the convenience
of chance patrons. Hence the quantity
of French fifteenth-century 'Livres
d'Heures" offered at almost every sale.
Only European manuscripts are con-
sidered in this volume, the transition
from the classical to the later styles be-
ing traced. first of all. at Byzantium'
where the art reached its perfection III
the tenth and eleventh centuries. TO sur
viye thereafter only as an influence in
Western European work. The formative
value of this Byzantine school. in which
the Greek pictorial tradition may be
plainly traced, combined with Celtic illu-
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
llLUM MINATI0N
A Brief Survey of a Vanished
Art.

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS. BY j..
a. Herbert. illustrated The Con-
noieseurs Library" Svo, PIP. Xiii, 3'6
G. =. Putnam's Sons.
Mr.. Herbert's compendium Of the his
tory Of illumination on vcllum is well
adapted to the needs Of the student II
the art. in the proportion of the space
if gives TO the successive stages Of its
development. Beginning with brief
reference to the illumination on papyrus
in ancient Egypt, the author discourscs
at length on the classical Greek and
Roman, and the earlier Christian MSS,
dealing more briefly with, for instance.
so familiar branch Of the art as the
late French ffteenth-century work, sur
viving examples Of which abound be-
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
A LINK WITH ROBERT BURNS.
Ff0m Tho LOndon Standard.

From The London Standard
a chair made of oak taken from the
foundation of Ayr. Auld Brig has just
been presented To- the Provost Of the
town TO be used as the official ProvGst's
chair. For almost six centuries the oak
lay under the river and formed part of
the foundation Of the brig made famous
by Burns. IL was recovered during the
recent preservative operations, which
have been carried out for some time
and I'm which Lord Rosebery took great
interest II has been stated that the oak
was lald In the river bed before the days
OF Wallace and Bruce. and perhaps be-
fore Scotland got its neW standard from
William the Lion
one authority gives the date of the
erection OF the Auld Brig as the reign
OF Alexander III, and ii is said To have
Deen built by two old maids named
Lowe. No public buildings are moro
celebrated than The Twa Rrios'' ~
Ayr thanks to Burns The old Erection
satisfied the townspeople, though bnt
poor. narrow footpatb q, a,r..
Nhere iva wheelbsrrows trembia -
they meet "'pit "hen
lhe new bridge was built In 1855 I'm,
t"e decorated abutments of the arches
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
Literary News and Criticism

understand that which an acto- is not eX,
pecied to hear. although he is close oehind
the one who is speaking? Absurd.
"i he grow very warm while thus eX-
messing h:s feelings. and as 1t was impos-
sibie to make him hear a word, Boiicau
tried TO arrest his attention by repeating
over and over again i'm loud tones, La
Fontaine must be a pretty rascal great
rogue" But La Fontaine took no notlce
nj ali this abuse. At last they. all burst
ont laughing. and this interrupted his tram
Of thought. iii
"What a. @ you laughing att he said.
Boileau replied gravely: Fancy. Wa5
abusing YOU at the top of my voice ana
YOU never heard me- although ] am near
enough to touch YOU and you are dStQiI ~
ished that an actor does not hear an dSlue
that another actor utters on the boards
Tho Dowager Duchess Of Orleans dying
in 1872, La Fontaine forthwith louhu
another guardian angel in Nine DE Id
Sabliere. This lady left him well pro-
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

DR.. Drerup seem To think that his con-
duct was not entirely sportsmanlike.
that he was somewhat on the borrowing
side. Not having seen the one known
copy of the abbe's book | cannot give
an opinion Wolf says that he had read
the work. and ii made me disgusted
with my own views, into sort OF like
ness of which man so fiippant and lg-
norant as the author had happened to
fall"
Finsler defends the able, as neither
nlppant nor. for his age, ignorant; but n
serious man. anxious 10 be confuted II
any one can confute him. would oblige
him by confuting him and all his gene
ration of academic vipers-if only |
could get a copy of his book. From the
quotations, given in German, see
whore we can get the better of the abbe.
But what he saws is really much akin
TO what Wolf won fame by saying In
deed. Herr Finsler thinks the abbe's
scheme in some points better than that
of the famous German. Both, think,
are bosh , ------------
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

ing to the old and familiar formula. but
the reader does not stop To consider
this. deeply interested as he becomes
from the very first in the development Of
the situation. Thereafter the game pro-
ceeds at an ever increasing space in tn"
'vastnesses Of the Andes, honest men
against villains. with the mysterious
third factor playing his own enigmatic
hand The woman's part in II all is
capital one. once begun. She story will
monopolize the readers attention to the
end
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

output when kept up year after year "
should be remembered that Mr.. b"''
loss does no other literary work. SUI
as short stories and articles for mas"
zines. and the like.
A Bulwer Biography. 49,,
The biography of Bulwer, the ho'e,'.
which his son. Lord Lytton C'oweh ~
edith'). began was never finished
now stated uhat Lord Lyttons SON.
present earl. is at work upon me"'V
of his grandfather Dandy ana 'pu',
ny of fashion as Bulwer was IN -
youth. he was man of genius anu -
career and his friendships ought 10 nv.
yielded much good material to the D
rapher. II is interesting TO con'e.'
what his life might have been y
stead Of marrying an emotional esV
he had married reasonable ana c'e'e'
helpmate, --------------v
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
La Foctaine: His Life and His
Works.

,vA< pE LA FONTAINE. BY Frank
'H-f Hamel With photogravure frontisplece
and sixteen other illustrations. SVo' PIP
$50. BTentanos.
comparatively little is known oil 'ne
man behind one of Frances greatest
poets. who bore the name OF jean ue Id
Fontaine. Still the little we do Kno"
agrees on the whole so thoroughly with
The traditions that grew up arouhd MS
person after his death that Mr.. Hame'
is amplv justified in drawing as freely
as he does upon these anecdotes III MS
character study Of the man. lie mas
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

reused the ire of the Auid Brig, ana III III
the poem it prophesies to it's rival ina. - u
would be "shapeless cairn peiore llu
Auld Brig had fallen. Thls propIiS5os
came strangely true. The new bridge
Welded to floods, and was replaced IN
1877. and even then was repaired in lo'9
and again in 1882.
When the oak of the Auld Brig was
recovered by the workmen it was beau
tifully seasoned, some parts being quite
black. The new chair Is carved in the
old Scottish style and bears an inscrip-
tiOn In bronze.
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

Mr.. Watsons tales of adventure are
among the best of their kind IN current
fiction. He is not merely an aple con-
structor of intricate plots of danger ana
daring and treachery and mystery WIFI
the spice of romantic love; ne Is "'so
finished craftsman. whose WORK mas III
crarv quality. One can desire one can
home for no more engrossing ana ai'o-
gether satisfying book than this story "t
the great treasure of the Incas buried
in the mountain passes of Peru on the
annroach of PizarrO's fortune hunters.
The plot begins in London. with part OF
tho secret in the hands of two opposed
sets of men. with repeated attempts TO
obtain the cIew by theft and violence
and with the ultimate appearance on th2
scene Of still another man with kho"l-
edge Of the affair. This may be accord
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

once more. In this lies, indeed the
merit of the story. 1t is readable from
first TO last: it carries along the reader
until he is honestly glad that sun one
more downtrodden English governesS
has reached the peerage, where, IN cur.
rent fiction as in current life, the ladies
of the stage have almost crowded her
M
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
LITERARY NOTES.

An uncommonly interesting amateu,
performance was given the other even.
ing in the Arts Theatre Of the University
of Liverpool. Five of Walter Savag,
Landor's Imaginary Conversations
the "Tibereus and Vipania." Princes
Mary and Princess Elizabeth "Peleu,
and Thetis.'' Lady Lisle and Elizabeth
Gaunt" and Peter and Alexis" were
recited i'm costume. The accessor "a
were simple, nothing more than "A Gas.
sic altar or a table and chair being PRO.
vided. The curtain formed the bacA.
ground of the So enc. and the actors when
they had finished their dialogue retired
through il. The slight changes in staga
setting were made i'm view OF the audi.
encc. whose appreciation showed that ths
beautiful rhythm of Landor's prose il
richly effective when properly delivered.
An American Novelist.
Mr.. Burton f. Stevenson, whose clever
novel. THE Mystery of the Boule Cab.
met" was recently reviewed in thegs
columns, has had the journalistic train.
ing which is convenient asset for the
writer Of detective stories. Some Of il
was gained i'm connection with The Trib.
une. He was born i'm Chillicothe, Ohio,
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

and has been a the head of the Public
Library i'm that city for fourteen years.
That office gives him leisure for the pro-
duction of novels as we'll as Of volumes
useful to librarians.
John Paul Jones's Letters.
The letters of the famous American
captain are. it appears, extremely vslu-
able: at least there arc two of them held
i'm England at 500 each. They are ad-
dressed to jefferson. and one Of them.
dated 17S5, deals with the subject OF
prize money due to men who had served
on board his squadron, while in the
other. dated 1856. the writer denies that
he was privateer.
Religious Topics.
4 volume of Biblical and Theological
Studies and Discussions" will be brougn.
out by the Scribners next month. Th5
fifteen essays it is to contain are th5
work of professors in the Princeton
Theological Seminary. The papers take
a wide range: one Of them. which prom
ises to be of literary as well as theo-
logical interest. is Professor John De
Wits study of Jonathan Edwards
Oriental Art.
The book on "Epochs of Chinese and
Japanese Art" by Professor Feneliosa,
which was announced for publication
this spring will not be brought out un-
til the autumn.
Harold BindIoss.
Harold Bindloss. the tictional historian
of the Canadian Northwest divides MS
time between his writing desk and the
region from which he draws his char
acters and plots thus keeping fresh me
atmosphere and local color of his sto-
ries. He regularly turns out two novels
annually. maintaining in them a re-
markably even level of merit the aver
age Of their sales proving that he has
gratifyingly constant audience. While
two novels annually Is a pretty large
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
FICTIO
Some New Novels from Eng
land.
TIE INCAS' TREASURE.

TILL, pIc. FISH Bv H. =. Marriott Wat
son Frontispiece by f. NauX Wilson.
i2mo. pp 3l9 Boston: Little Brown
A. Co
New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
OUT OF GRUB STREET.

OLINER'S KIND WOMEN BY Philip
Gibbs. l2mo. PIP. 20 Boston: Dana.
Estes e. Go.