The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-22
FICTION.

\ number uf Russian stories that it
was our duty to read lately were dark
encd by psychology of the deepest dye.
In two of them all the chief characters
committed suicide after "A great deal OF
exceedingly weird mental suffering.
All Of them illustrated the extreme
trouble that may come OF a too deter
mined attempt to clear up the funda-
mental mysteries. The feeling excited
by these records was not desirable-it
did not dispose the reader to be Eager
for more of the same kind. 1t il agree
able in a volume made up Of our tales
by Vladimir Korolenko, hitherto un-
supplied with English dress. now fieX-
IDLY and effectively translated by Ma
rian Fell (Dufield and Company. to
md entertainment that is sufficiently
strange, but not so sombre.
In "Makar's Dream here We have
Q Christmas story. Makar lived in the
far forests of Yakutsk. On Christmas
eve, desiring vodka, he harnessed up
his old piebald pony and drove In the
moonlight TO a Tartar inn. where he
rot q whole bottle OF his desire. He
drank 1t on the premises. ignoring his
promise TO his wife to bring ii home
ana give her a share. The bottle fin
ished. the Tartar innkeeper kicked him
out into the That Is the way
with Tartar innkeepcrs they lack
suavity. The picbald pony took Makar
home. On his bed. after his wife had
beaten him. he had "A dream. He died.
He went ~ among the dead. His
Journey to n far and ominous place
was thoroughly orange. lie was
Judged. There was a scale with n
golden bowl at one end and IA wooden
bowl at the other. His duh sins
dropped heavily into the wooden bowl.
II nc had not beer permitted to burst
into a sudden surprising %eloQuence
matters might have one very Ill with
him. AS II turned out. the judge wept
and the golden bowl filled UP in al
Enthusiastically p~reponderant manner
After all. it did not much matter that
Makar's powerful and aggrieved wife
thumped his inert back until it was
black and blue.
In 1.-THE Murmuring Forest" We find
q wicked cd Count brought TO book
The gray old lihertine should have
been more careful of INDUCING himself
in the forest solitudes. The tale called
I'm bad Company" relates the expert.
ences of a centleman's little sol
among ~ou,casis. and The Day oi
Atonement" tells how the devil carried
Off a Christian as we'll as a jew. They
are excellent tales, and among theiI
good qualities they do not omit to bt
amusing.
Notable Jewish Tales.
As remarkable "A set of stories rs
has appeared in English in severa
years. both for the power and th'
artistic restraint with which they ar,
written and the subjects they dea
with. is Samuel Gordon's God'S Rem
wants ,E. y. Dutton and Company
tales Of Jews, principally in the land
where they are outcasts. the Polisl
provinces ruled by Russia, Prussia AM
Austria, though some are in Londo,
and New York. In each the autho
has a definite story to tell about som
Jew; the incidents of Jewish life o
customs T. taken for granted an'
90 fall into their proper places: III
acts of oppression, Where they occur
are also taken for granted an
are on that account all the more i'm
pressive. They are stories OF accom-
plishment. a few tragic. many dra
matic. some with humorous touches
but all with the tragic background q
oppression and injustice endured Il
silence. The authors style IL wonder
fully vivid; II makes his stories stan
cut from the common ruck.
An Amusing Masquerade.
It Is the lightest kind Of farce the
Alice Duer Miller has evolved in Com
Out Of the Kitchen tThe Centur
Company, the kind that can be pu
on the stage with slight alteration
II tho reader will accept the situation
preposterous as it is, he will EMO
the nonsense, which is constant
bright and sparkling. An a%ristocrati
Southern family, two men and tw
girls. decide % masquerade as SCI
wants in order to secure a rich an
amiable youth as a tenant One gil
u abnormally beautiful and a COO
Of genius besides. She draws her mas
ter and his male guests into I'll
kitchen. ridiculous mishaps upset tn