The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-20

MV - NV 'Hullil~ IN the ola
time stories tortured their capt., es
Mary j. N. Shrine in "Bill. cs
Mother fThe Century Company htr-
rows an unfortunate girl. To do this
she places her in various improbable
situations. Her heroine Is an Eng
lish country girl. a peasant, who goes
10 Australia as a lady's maid and
In emergencies shows resourcefui-
ness and nobility OF character. She
is married to a scamp who impersu-
mates another man. inds out his un-
worthiness. and when he is sent To
jail determines to save her boy from
him. II is somewhat Disappointing.
after following her ingenious pans
for eluding him, to have him dis
cover her at once waen he sets
about it. The girl is tortured by
being obliged TO keep her marriage
secret. then by the mans ~falseness.
after that by her fear of his finding
the boy and by her motherly devo-
lion. which is carried to the point Of
pretending tina; she is only his nurse.
When all these troubles are done
away with she is faced by the prob
lem OF her duty to her husband.
She is invariably sensible and likable.
however, the country scenes are
pleasing and the child business liz
pretty. The little girl seems rath. r
superiuous and We could wish that
The author would keep her craving for
melodrama under more control.
In the stories entitled Under the
IL - ITAI. -,..
which in the original was Parma
,aux q: Quelques Femmes." Pierre
Mile has caught something of Kip
lIng's spirit without sacrificing IN
any way the French feeling. and
Berengere Drill!en has turned them
INTO English capitally. The hero or
the narrator in all is a French colo
NAL soldier, a first rate equivalent for
Mulvaney, and the people and the
places are on the frontiers OF Fr nch
civilization. the outcasts. the half
breeds and the natives i'm the outer
most settlements in Africa and tho
Orient, fully as picturesque as Kip
!!nC's India. The author has made
the medium he has chosen his own
he preserves his Individuality and is
no imitator. There may he memo
ries of Maupaesant, but VI. Mile
seems - have seen with his own eyes
what the other magined. The humor
3 natural. the tragedy Is real and
not theatrical; it is n return to the
sound traditions Of French literature.
The colored c~aricatures by Helen
MCKie are very clever, but hardy in
hay m nv with the stories
There is much poetic description
and some vigorous character drawing
IN James Lane Aliens The Sword Of
Youth" CThe Century Company. but
hardly any story. The author takes
his time in painting the autocritic
mother left desolate by the loss Of her
husband and tall sons and slaves and
contemptuous of the understood boy
left to her. 1t seems a pity that she
should merely serve to emphasize his
strength Of purpose when he decides
10 do his duty. So w!rh the young
woman in her pretty costumes who
loves him; she is merely a foil. The
somewhat inarticulate hero. who has
been Inundated for = couple of years,
decides to Join the Southern army;
he still lives up TO his sense OF duty
in q peculiar way. II seems somewhat
egot!stical Of him to intrude his
private difficulties on Gen. Lee Just
before the surrender. II takes some
effort to appreciate him as the author
would have us. Mr.. Allen seems to
have forgotten that the war lasted
tust o years.
Curious impressions OF Philadelphia
society and It's manners will be formed
from Therese Tyler's The Dusty
Road" q. B. Lippincott Company
and the reader will be relieved when
the temperamental heroine is married
respectfully At the end. No man seems
decent to her save an old French
priest. and the women are no better.
She begins az a very young girl. the
daughter OF impecunions parents with
nigh social position and rich relatives.