No More Learning

Many of the forty sketches have
Mºrtal Antipathy, A, the third and their foundation only in the author's fancy,
last of Oliver Wendell Holmes's but others are veritable history. It was
novels, was published in 1885, when he his object, he says, in describing scenes
was in his seventy-sixth year. Like the then almost unknown, to present a faithful
two preceding works of fiction (to which and living picture of that singular little
it is inferior), it is concerned with a cu- world in which he found himself, and to
rious problem of a psychological nature. depict its half-Spanish, half-Oriental char-
Maurice Kirkwood, a young
of acter, its mixture of the heroic, the poetic,
good family, suffers from a singular and the grotesque. The sketches revive
malady, brought on by a fall when a in the colors of life itself the splendid
child. When very small, he was dropped Moorish civilization of the Middle Ages,
from the arms of a girl cousin. Ever its industries, festivities, traditions, and
man


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
>
catastrophes. The author is steeped in days of a summer outing amid the Mas-
the atmosphere of Moorish Spain; and sachusetts hills. The theme is not new;
his book has hardly a rival in its appre- but in his treatment of it the author
ciation of the pathetic, grotesque, cruel, presents some interesting ethical argu-
tender, and wholly fascinating past of ments, by which the husband seeks to
Cordova, Seville, and Grenada.
blind himself to his own shortcomings,
ztec Treasure-House, The, by Thomas
and some touching examples of the young
Aztec
A. Janvier, is a narration of the
wife's self-control and abnegation. Inter-
thrilling adventures of a certain Profes-
spersed are amusing semi-caricatures of
sor Thomas Palgrave, Ph. D. ; an archæ-
the typical boarding-house guest,” the
ologist who goes to Mexico to discover,
flotsam and jetsam of vacation life.
if possible
, remains of the early, Aztec Country of the Pointed Firs, The, by
with Sarah in
breathless interest from incident to inci- 1896. Like her other works, it is a study
dent; and the mingling of intense pathos of New England character, subtle, deli-
and real humor is characteristic of the cate, temperate, a revelation of an artist's
author of «The Uncle of an Angel and mind as well as of people and things.
other charming books. Professor Pal- The homely heroine is Mrs. Todd, liv.
grave, in company with Fray Antonio, a ing at Dunnet Landing, on the eastern
saintly Franciscan priest; Pablo, an In- sea-coast of Maine, a dispenser to the vil.
dian boy; and two Americans,-Young, lage-folk of herb medicines made from
a freight agent, and Rayburn, an engin- herbs in her little garden. «The sea.
eer, — starts in search of the treasure- breezes blew into the low end-window of
house of the early Aztecs. The professor the house, laden with not only sweet-brier
goes to advance science; Fray Antonio and sweet-mary, but balm and sage and
to spread his faith; Pablo because he borage and mint, worm wood and south-
loves his master; and the rest for gold. erwood. ” Mrs. Todd's summer-boarder
What befell them in the search must be (Miss Jewett herself, no doubt) tells the
learned from the story. This volume, story of her sojourn in the sweet, whole-
considered either as a piece of English some house, of her many excursions with
or as a tale of adventure, deserves a high her hostess, now to a family reunion, now
to visit Mrs. Todd's mother on Green Is-
At the Red Glove, by Katharine S.
land, now far afield to gather rare herbs.
Macquoid. The scene this slight
The fisher folk, the farm folk, and the
but pleasant story is laid among the bour- | village folk, are depicted with the author's
geois of Berne.
Madame Robineau, a unique skill, living and warm through her
mean and miserly glove-dealer, takes her sympathetic intuition. The book is fresh
pretty orphan cousin, Marie Peyrolles, to
and clean with sea-air and the scent of
serve in her shop. The girl finds two
herbs. Its charm is that of nature itself.
admirers among her cousin's lodgers, –
On
one Captain Loigerot, an elderly retired Am
mos Judd, by J. A. Mitchell.
the outbreak of civil war in a prove
French officer, the very genius of rollicking ince of Northern India, the seven-year-
fun and kindness; the other a handsome
old rajah is smuggled away to save his
young bank clerk, Rudolph Engemann.
life, by three faithful followers, two Hin-
The chief interest in the story follows
doos and an American; and for absolute
the clever character-study of Madame Ca-
safety is taken to the Connecticut farm-
rouge, and the simple life of the homely
house of the American's brother. Under
Bernese.
the name of Amos Judd he is brought
Echo of Passion, An, by George Par- up in ignorance of his origin. The most
sons Lathrop, (1882,) is one of Mr. dramatic incidents of his life hinge upon
Lathrop's earliest works. The interest of his wonderful faculty of foreseeing events.
the story revolves around an accomplished In this story the atmosphere of a world
and fascinating Southern widow, Mrs. Eu- invisible seems to surround and control
low; a trusting wife, Ethel Fenn; and a that of the visible world; and the shrewd
husband, Benjamin Fenn, whose chemical and unimaginative Yankee type is skill-
information is more exact than his moral fully and dramatically set against the
principles. There is nothing intangible mystical Hindu character, to whom the
or echo-like about the passion depicted, unseen is more real than the actual.
which attains its zenith during the idle The story is well told.
place.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
279
partner, Mr. Narrowsmith, a miserly,
mean-spirited man; Mr. Barker, the Bach-
elor of the Albany, fond of muffins and
marmalade and eighteenth-century lit-
erature; and Mr. Owlet, a young clergy-
man with Gothic tendencies, a product
of the Tractarian movement. Their story
is told with much quiet humor, and with
an old-fashioned absence of haste and
absence of introspection, that makes it
cheerful reading.
“It was
now verging to the season
which in Catholic Oxford is called the
Feast of the Nativity, but by Protestant
England is still named Christmas,- the
of pudding and pantomimes,
mince-pies and maudlin sentiment, blue
noses and red books.
. . Now young
ladies were busily exchanging polyglots
and pincushions, beautiful books and
books of beauty, Olney hymns and Char
pone's Letters, with cases and boxes of
twenty kinds.
. . Folly in white
waistcoat was now quoting old songs and
dreaming of new monasteries, as if it
was a whit less difficult to turn a mod-
ern Christmas into an ancient Yule than
to change a lump of sea-coal into a log
of pine. ”
season
CO
*oming Race, The, by Edward Bulwer-
Lytton. This is a race of imagi-
nary beings, called Vrilya or Ana, who
inhabit an imaginary world placed in a
mysterious subterranean region. They
have outstripped us by many centuries
in scientific acquirements; making the
great discovery of a force, «vril,” of
which all other forces are but modifica-
tions. They possess perpetual light; they
can fly; and produce all the phenomena
of personal magnetism. They have no
laboring class, which has been super-
seded by machinery; there is absolute
social equality; the ruler merely looks
after a few necessary details. Intelli-
gence supersedes force. Women are su-
perior to men, their greater power over
the force «vril » giving them greater
physical and intellectual ability; still the
more emotional and affectionate sex, in
courtship they take the initiative; they
are second to men only in practical sci-
In philosophy and religion there
is unanimity: all believe in God and
immortality.
The discoverer of this
kingdom is a New-Yorker, who tries to
entertain his hosts with a eulogy on the
American democracy; but this form of
government, he learns, is called Koom-
Bosh (Government of the Ignorant) in
the Vrilya language. The finding of
this new world gives rise to many spec-
ulations on human destiny. The entire
devotion of these wonderful beings to
science means the disappearance of all
the arts. There are no great novels or
poems or musical compositions. There
are no criminals and no heroes. Life
has lost its evils, and with them all that
is worth struggling for. Everything is
reduced to a dead level; everywhere
ennui seems to reign supreme. This
story, published in 1871, was a skit at
certain assumptions of science; but its
cleverness of invention and brilliancy of
treatment, added to the craving wonder
of humanity as to what its evolution is
to be toward, gave it a large popularity.
ence.
Сер
"eur d'Alene, by Mary Hallock Foote.
Like her (Led Horse Claim and
(The Cup of Trembling,' this is a story
of the Colorado mining camps, full of
realistic details. Its situations turn upon
the labor strife between Union and non-
Union miners in 1892, which forms
the sombre background of a bright lov-
ers' comedy. There is a thread of serious
purpose running through it,-an at-
tempt to show in dramatic fashion what
wrongs to personal liberty are often
wrought in the name of liberty by labor
organizations. The best-drawn character
in the book is Mike McGowan, the hero's
rough comrade, a Hibernian Mark Tapley.
If the love passages seem at times over-
emphasized, the author's general dialogue
and descriptive writing have the easy
strength of finished art; and her evident
familiarity through actual acquaintance
with the scenes described, gives to her
work much permanent value of reality
aside from its artistic merits.
Bachelor of the Albany, The, by M.
W. Savage, a leisurely novel of
English middle-class life in the thirties,
was published in 1847. Its plot is almost
as rambling as that of Pickwick,) be-
ing merely a comfortable vehicle for the
presentation of the characters. These in-
clude a typical English merchant of the
old school, Mr. Spread, and his healthy,
handsome family; his former business
Ave
verage Man, An, by Robert Grant, is
a New York society story; a novel
of manners rather than plot, concerning
itself more with types than with individ-
uals. Two young men, both clever and


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280
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
of good family, educated at Harvard with moral by showing how one deception
an after-year of Europe, settle down in leads to another, and finally envelops
New York to practice law. One of them, the whole life in deceit and wretched.
Arthur Remington, is content to win a ness. A mere statement of the plot is
fair income by hard work at his profes- of no interest: the value of the story is
sion, and finally marries a poor but charm- in its humor and its knowledge of the
ing girl, who has always represented his human heart.
ideal, and who refuses a millionaire for Among the characters are Cecilia; her
his sake. His friend, Woodbury Stough- mother, Lady Devenant, a spirited so-
ton, eager for money and fame, dabbles ciety woman, and a very kind friend to
in stocks and loses most of his small Helen (the heroine); Miss Clarendon, a
fortune. He marries for her money the blunt, outspoken woman, and a modern
beautiful uncultivated daughter of a rail- type to find in an old novel; besides
way king, who loves him devotedly, and Lord Beltravers, a false friend of Gran-
to whom he is indifferent. He is elected ville Beauclerc, the hero. Helen) was
to the Assembly as a leader of the better published in 1834. It was the last novel
element in politics; but his ambition to Miss Edgeworth wrote before her death
get into Congress leads him into such fifteen years afterwards.
double-dealing that the Independents
desert him, and he is overwhelmingly Her Dearest Foe, by Mrs. Alexander.
Wefeated. On the eve of election, also, The scene of this story (perhaps
his young wife learns of his infidelity to the best by this prolific writer) is laid
her, and leaves him. The story is slight, in and about London, at the beginning
but the portraiture of a certain phase of the present century. Mr. Richard
of New York fashionable society is vivid, Travers, a middle-aged merchant seek-
and the study of the inevitable deteriora- ing rest, goes to the little town of Cul-
tion of life without principle is searching lingford, and there stays with a Mrs.
and dramatic.
Aylmer, a widow with one daughter.
Mr. Travers is charmed with Culling-
Ironmaster, The Le Maitre des Forges. ); ford, and revisits the place from time to
time. Eventually he falls in love with
as novel and play, in English as well as
Kate Aylmer, and marries her after the
French, been persistently popular; and death of her mother. Subsequently he
in all the history of French fiction, few
makes a will in favor of his wife, which
books have sold better. Ohnet wrote
also disinherits his cousin and former
the story as a play; but no manager heir, Sir Hugh Galbraith. After the
would accept it until, after its success
death of Travers, his widow succeeds to
as a novel, he redramatized it. It is a
his estate; but is not long left in undis-
dramatic love story, whose characters are:
turbed possession, as Mr. Ford, a clerk
Claire de Beaulieu; Madame de Beau-
in the office of her late husband, pro-
lieu; Gaston, Duke de Bligny, a merce-
duces another will in favor of Sir Hugh.
nary lover who breaks faith with Claire
Mrs. Travers is obliged to give up her
for the sake of a fortune, and engages
property and compelled to support her-
himself to Athenais, the daughter of
self. She settles in the village of Piers-
a rich but vulgar manufacturer; and a
toffe, which is picturesquely described;
rich young ironmaster, Philippe Derblay,
where, assisted by her friend and com-
of plebeian birth but excellent character.
panion Fanny Lee, she opens a small
Around this small group of actors moves
fancy-goods shop. Sir Hugh, while hunt-
an energetic drama of baffled hopes,
ing in the neighborhood, meets with an
disappointed ambitions, tribulations that
accident, and is taken to the house of
purify, and final happiness. The book
Mrs. Travers, of whose identity he re-
has little literary merit; but the rapid-
mains in ignorance, as he has never
ity of its movement and its strong sit-
seen his hostess before, and as she had
uations have given it a secure, if tem-
assumed the name of Temple upon leav-
porary, place in French and English
ing London. Sir Hugh falls in love with
approval.
his charming nurse, and upon regain-
Helen, by Maria Edgeworth.
This ing his health, proposes marriage to her;
old-fashioned novel describes the but is rejected, as she believes him to
social life of England about the middle have had a hand in defrauding her of
of the nineteenth century; and draws a her property. Not long after this, Mrs.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
281
swears
warn
sus-
Travers, or Mrs. Temple, is enabled to noble of the province, the dreaded Vi-
prove that the will in favor of Sir Hugh dame de Bezers, known from his armor-
is a forgery, for which the clerk Ford iai bearings as the “Wolf. ” She prefers
is wholly answerable. Sir Hugh again the Huguenot Louis de Pavannes, and
offers himself, and this time she accepts
Bezers
to have his life. To
him; afterwards revealing her identity,
him, the country lads Anne,
and rejoicing that she has an oppor- Marie, and St. Croix journey to Paris,
tunity of heaping coals of fire on the only to fall into the power of the terri-
head of her dearest foe. »
The story ble Vidame. The plots of the Vidame,
flows easily and pleasantly, the pictures the struggle of the boys, and the dangers
of town and country life are natural and of M. de Pavannes, are
woven with
entertaining, and the interest is thrilling effect into the bloody drama of
tained to the end. It was published in the Massacre; and the sinister figure
1883.
of the proud, revengeful “Wolf,” with
his burst of haughty magnanimity, lin-
Captain Gore's Courtship:- his nar-
rative of the affair of the clipper
gers long in the memory.
Conemaugh, and the loss of the vessel
Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures
The Countess of Warwick, - by T. Jen- of, by Samuel L. Clemens (Mark
kins Hains, was published in 1896. The Twain), was published in 1884. It is a
book might have just come into port, sequel to, and follows the fortunes of,
so redolent is it of the sea. It describes the leading characters of the same au-
the wooing of one William Gore, formerly thor's (Tom Sawyer); from which it dif-
captain of the Southern Cross, then mate fers in tone and construction, touching
of the Conemaugh.
On board this ves- now and again upon vital social ques-
sel, as passengers, are a trim young lady tions with an undertone of evidently
and her mother. When the good ship is serious interest. Its humor, while less
taken by pirates, Gore wills to remain refined, is quite as bright and sponta-
and run the risk of identification with neous as that of its predecessor, though
the black flag, rather than desert the its popularity has not been so marked.
woman he loves. He has the reward he
The story traces the wanderings of
deserves. The book is written in a clean- «Huck) and Tom, who have run away
cut, crisp style, and is a thoroughly good from home; and tells how, with their
« book of a day. ”
old friend the negro Jim, they proceed
Captain of the Janizaries, The, by
down the Mississippi, mainly on a raft.
James M. Ludlow.
This book, pub-
The boys pass through a series of ex-
lished in 1886, is a story of adventure in periences, now thrilling, now humorous;
the second quarter of the revolutionizing
falling in with two ignorant but pre-
fifteenth century.
It is rather a series sumptuously clever sharpers, whose buf-
of vivid pictures and spirited incidents foonery, and efforts to escape justice and
than a connected narrative, and tells of line their own pockets at the expense of
the return to Albania of Castriot, called the boys and the kindly but gullible folk
Scanderbeg, who had renounced Islam; whom they meet, form a series of the
of his warfare with the Turks, the heroic
funniest episodes of the story.
Tom's
defense of Sfetigrade, and the siege and
and Huck's return up the river puts an
fall of Constantinople. It also describes
end to the anxiety of their friends, and
vividly the rigid training of the Janiza-
to a remarkable series of adventures.
ries, the sensual life of the harem, the
The author draws from his intimate
dissensions among the Christian allies, knowledge of the great river and the
and the fatal decadence of the Greek Southern country along its banks; and not
empire.
only preserves to us a valuable record
of a rapidly disappearing social order,
House of the Wolf, The, (1889) the
but throws light upon some questions of
first of Stanley J. Weyman's histori-
cal romances, deals with the adventures
moment to the student of history.
Mr. Clemens here exhibits some of the
of three young brothers (the eldest of
gifts of the earnest novelist, in addition
whom, Anne, Vicomte de Caylus, tells
to those of the consummate story-teller.
the story) in Paris, during the Massa-
fre off St. Bartholomew. Catharine, the Flint, by Maude Wilder Goodwin, is a
cousin of young
character study. The author traces
sought in marriage by the most powerful the influence of heredity on a descendant


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282
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
a
of the Puritans, one Jonathan Edwards canism. Just what the secret is of Dr.
Flint, who has entirely abandoned the Claudius's power with Russia, we are not
faith of his ancestors, and yet in all the told; but Mr. Crawford lets us infer that
crises of life is swayed by inherited Puri- he is the posthumous son of some Euro-
tan instincts. He even follows the old
pean potentate. The Duke and the court-
experiences of conviction of sin and con- eous Horace Bellingham know who he is,
version to a higher life; but the agencies but the reader's curiosity is not gratified.
are quite modern and non-religious, while
he never abandons his skeptical views. Foe in the Household, The, by Caro-
line Chesebro'. A story of the Men-
The principal characters besides the hero
are the heroine, Winifred Anstice; her
nonites, a religious sect of America,
whose strict doctrines preclude marriage
father and little brother; Miss Susan
Standish,
Delia Rose,
an eccentric New England
except among themselves.
the daughter of the good bishop, breaks
spinster; Dr. Cricket, a Philadelphia
her vow
in order
physician; and Nora Costello, a captain
to marry Edward
in the Salvation Army.
Rolfe, who is temporarily dwelling at
Emerald, the home of the Mennonites.
The marriage is kept secret; its only
Dr. Claudius, by F. Marion Crawford
witness being Father Trost, a Methodist
(1883), was the second of Mr. Craw-
ford's novels, following a year after its
preacher, and the bitter enemy of her
father's flock, who leaves the neighbor-
predecessor Mr. Isaacs. Unlike the lat-
ter, it contains no element of the super-
hood immediately after performing the
natural, and is merely a love story of con-
ceremony to take up his home in the far
West. He returns after many years, to
temporary life. Dr. Claudius, himself,
when first introduced, is a privatdocent
hold over Delia the terrible weapon of
her secret. The strong interest of the
at Heidelberg, living simply, in a state
of philosophical content. He plans no
story is developed from this point : the
change in his life when the news comes to
moral anguish of the wife, Delia, the
him that he has inherited more than a
tyranny of Father Trost, and the do-
mestic affairs, complicated by the pres-
million dollars by the death of his uncle
ence of Delia's child Edna, afford
Gustavus Lindstrand, who had made a
theme of unusual strength and fresh-
fortune in New York. The son of his
The power of doctrine to warp
partner, Silas B. Barker, soon arrives in
Heidelberg to see what manner of man
the judgment, and the unerring result of
youthful error and weakness, are pow-
Dr. Claudius may be, and persuades the
erfully worked out; the very simplicity
blond, stalwart Scandinavian to go with
him to America: securing an invitation
of the story rendering its moral teaching
more effective.
for the two on the private yacht of an
As a study of character
and of the hidden springs of human
English duke, whom he knows well.
Be-
action, and as an example of reserved
fore leaving Heidelberg, Claudius has
fallen in love with a beautiful woman met
power and dignity of treatment, the
by chance in the ruins of the Schloss.
book takes high rank. The simple life
of the Mennonites, who order their ways
Since she is also a friend of the Duke,
Barker is able to introduce Claudius to
after the pattern of the early Christians,
and the bareness and hardness which
her. This Countess Margaret, with her
companion, Miss Skeat, is asked to cross
starve poor Delia's soul, are well indi-
cated; while the character of Father
the Atlantic with the Duke, his sister
Lady Victoria, Barker, and Claudius. Mar-
Trost is an admirable study of the Prot-
estant Jesuit.
garet, though an American, is the widow
of a Russian count. Claudius is not Ernest Maltravers (1837), and its se-
wholly disheartened, when, on the yacht, quel Alice; or, The Mysteries
she refuses to marry him. But in Amer- (1838), by Bulwer-Lytton. In the pref-
ica, she succumbs to the romantic sur- ace to the first-named novel, the author
roundings of the Cliff Walk at Newport, states that he is indebted for the lead-
and admits that she loves the philosophical ing idea of the work — that of a moral
millionaire. Claudius then starts off on a education or apprenticeship - to Goethe's
hasty journey to St. Petersburg, where (Wilhelm Meister. ' The apprenticeship of
he obtains from the government the re- Ernest Maltravers is, however, less to
turn of Margaret's estates confiscated on art than to life. The hero of the book,
account of her brother-in-law's republi- he is introduced to the reader as a young
a
a
ness.
a
-
1


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
283
man of wealth and education just re- versations of his characters. They talk
turned to England from a German uni- like soldiers,” in a brief plain speech.
versity. Belated by a storm, he seeks For that very reason, perhaps, they are
shelter in the hut of Darvil, a man of natural and human. The author has
evil character. Darvil has a daughter depicted army life in the West with the
Alice, young and beautiful, but of unde- sure touch of one who knows whereof he
veloped moral and mental power. Her writes. (The Colonel's Daughter) is pre-
father having planned to rob and mur- eminently a soldier's story, admirably
der Maltravers, she aids the traveler to fitted in style and character to its subject-
escape. Moved by her helplessness, her matter.
beauty, and her innocence, Maltravers
has her educated, and constitutes himself Bondman, The, one of Hall Caine's
her protector. He yields at last to his
best-known romances, abounds in
passion, and Alice's first knowledge of
action and variety. Stephen Orry, a
love comes to her as a revelation of the dissolute seaman, marries Rachael, the
meaning of honor and purity. From daughter of Iceland's Governor-General,
that time she remains faithful to Mal- and deserts her before their boy Jason
travers. By a series of circumstances is born. Twenty years later, at his
they are separated and lost to each other, mother's death-bed, Jason vows venge-
and do not meet for twenty years. Mal- ance upon his father and his father's
travers in the mean time loves many house. Orry, drifting to the Isle of Man,
women: Valerie; Madame de Ventadour, has married a low woman, and sunk to
whom he meets in Italy; Lady Florence the depths of squalid shame. Finally
Lascelles, to whom he becomes engaged,
the needs of their neglected boy, Sun-
and from whom he is separated by the locks, arouse Orry to play the man; he
machinations of an enemy; and lastly,
reforms and saves some money. Sun-
Evelyn Cameron, a beautiful English girl. locks grows up like a son in the home of
Fate, however, reserves him for the faith- the Manx Governor, and wins the love
ful Alice, the love of his youth.
of his daughter Greeba. The youth is
Ernest Maltravers) is written in the sent to Iceland to school, and is commis-
Byronic strain, and is a fair example of sioned by Orry to find Jason and give
the English romantic and sentimental him his father's money -- a mission he is
novel of the thirties,
unable to fulfill. In trying to wreck, and
then to save, an incoming vessel (which,
Christie Johnstone, by Charles Reade,
unknown to Orry, is bearing the aven-
was published in 1855, three years
after Peg Woffington' had given the
ging Jason from Iceland to Man), Orry
is fatally hurt; but is saved from drown-
author his reputation. It is one of the
ing by Jason, who learns from the dying
best and most charming of modern sto-
man's delirium that he has rescued the
ries. It depicts a young viscount, rich
father and missed the brother whom he
and blasé, who loves his cousin Lady
has sworn to kill. Throughout the story,
Barbara, but is rejected because of his
his blind attempts at doing new wrongs
lack of energy and his aimlessness in
life. He grows pale and listless; a doc-
to revenge the old are overruled by
Providence for good; and at the last, no
tor is called in, and prescribes yacht-
longer against his will but by the de-
ing and taking daily interest in the
velopment of his own nature, he fulfills
lower classes. » The story, by turns
pathetic and humorous, abounds in vivid
his destiny of blessing those he has sworn
to undo.
and dramatic scenes of Scotch life by
the sea; and Christie, with her superb
physique, her broad dialect
, her shrewd Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush, and
sense, and her noble heart, is a heroine
The Days of Auld Lang Syne, by
worth while.
Ian Maclaren (the Rev. Dr. John Wat-
Reade's wit and humor
permeate the book, and his vigorous eth-
son), are companion volumes delineating
Scottish character and life among the
ics make it a moral tonic.
lowly. Both consist of short sketches with
Colonel's Daughter, The,- an early no attempt at plot, but interest attaches
novel of Captain Charles King's, to the well-drawn characters. Domsie,
and one of his best, — was published in the schoolmaster, bent on having Drum-
1883. The author disclaims all charms tochty fitly represented by (a lad o'
of rhetoric and literary finish in the con- pairts » in the University: Drumsheugh,


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
nesses
with a tender love-sorrow, and a fine pas- unique inhabitants of the Tennessee
sion for concealing from his left hand mountains, human nature enough to fill
the generous deeds of his right; the a dozen strong books. While the general
Rev. Dr. Davidson, long the beloved min- characteristics are the same, her stories
ister at Drumtochty; Burnbrae, with apt are all unlike. His Vanished Star) deals
comments upon men and events; Marget with mountain schemers and «moon-
Howe, whose mother heart still beats warm shiners,” and matches town knavery with
even after her Geordie's death; «Posty,” rustic cunning The plot rests upon the
the mail carrier; and Dr. Weelum Mac- effort of one Kenneth Kenniston, who
lure, going through field and food at the owns a tract in the mountain country,
call of duty,- these with many others are to build a summer hotel. He is inde-
drawn with a quaint intermingling of fatigable in his attempts; but as a hotel
pathos and humor. The church life of would kill the business of the “moon-
rural Scotland affords a rich field for the shiners,” his tricks are met by equally
powers of the author.
unscrupulous tricks on their part. The
entire story is given to the contest of
Hoosier School-Master, The, by Ed.
ward Eggleston, first appeared seri-
wits between the whisky distillers, -
ally in Hearth and Home in 1870. It
who are "jes' so durned ignorant they
don't know sin from salvation, nor law
narrates the experiences of Ralph Hart-
sook, an Indiana youth who in ante-
from lying,”—and the schemer from
bellum days taught a back-country dis-
civilization with legal right on his side,
trict school in his native State.
who is powerless to remove the squat-
There is no attempt at complicated
ters from the land which is legally his.
Two beautiful mountain girls play into
plot, the interest centring in the provin-
the hand of fate; but they serve to tem-
cial manners and speech of the rustic
characters, who find in the young school-
per the belligerent air. Miss Murfree's
master almost the only force making
glowing descriptions of mountain fast-
are rich in color, distinct, and
for progress and culture - crude though
it is. Though inexperienced, Ralph is
individual, and afford a striking back-
manly and plucky, proving himself pos-
ground for her psychological studies.
sessed of qualities which command the
respect of the difficult patrons of the Hog
ogan, M. P. , by Mrs. May Laffan Hart-
primitive country school.
ley. In tracing the political course
With a keen sense of humor, and
of a young barrister of Dublin, we have
a veritable panorama of Irish life in the
fidelity to detail, the author describes
the unsuccessful efforts of the hitherto
early seventies. The career of Hogan
incorrigible pupils to
himself is very disappointing. At the
driv out the
teacher; the spelling-school, and how the
opening of the story he is a promising
master was spelled down; the exhorta-
young lawyer. Later, through the in-
tions of the Hardshell » preacher; the
fluence of a stock-jobber and an old lord
whose interests he is to further, Hogan
triumphant rebuttal of a charge of theft
secures the election to Parliament from
lodged against Ralph; the sturdy help
one of the southern counties. Having
which he continually gives to the dis-
become dazzled with speculation, he in-
tressed; and the final success of his love
vests all his little wealth in stocks; and
for Hannah, a down-trodden girl of fine
when the broker absconds with the funds
spirit, who begins really to live under
of the corporation, is financially ruined.
the new light of affection.
With its companion volume, (The
Hogan loves Nellie Davoren, one of the
few admirable characters in the book;
Hoosier School-Boy, the novel occupies
but while in London he falls victim to
a unique field; describing the manners,
the wiles of a superannuated belle, mar-
customs, thoughts, and feelings of a type
ries her for her property, and finally
full of interesting and romantic suggest-
iveness, humorous, and grotesque.
secures the position of secretary to a
governor in the South Sea Islands and
His
is Vanished Star, by Charles Egbert goes to reside in Honolulu.
Craddock (Miss Mary Noailles Mur- While we trace with regret the tortu-
free). Miss Murfree is one of the few ous and downward path of the barrister,
American writers who have possessed we are treated to
some very realistic
themselves of a distinct field in litera- descriptions of all classes of people and
ture. She has found in the uncouth and conditions of life, from the nuns of St.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
285
are
Swithin's convent to Saltasche the bro- There she meets and loves Jim Dev.
ker swindler, and from the Lord Mayor ereux, a handsome, manly young farmer
of Dublin to the wretched tenant of of the better class. Her beauty wins
the peat country.
also the of a richer man, Mr. Sat-
The scenes are crowded with characters terthwaite, who, as the purchaser of the
as numerous as those in Mrs. Rafferty's estate of Rosslyne, supplies the English
ultra-fashionable drawing-rooms, and as element of the tale. But convinced that
diversified as the motley crowd on Kings- Helena's happiness lies in Devereux's
town Pier. There are the wild and reck- hands, the Englishman generously puts
less college fellows, the giddy devotees himself aside; and when Jim and Helena
of fashion, the dissolute military colonel turn their faces toward the New World,
squandering his wife's money, the distin- it is he who bids them «God-speed ”
guished clerical magnates, match-making from the steamer's deck.
mammas, and gossiping spinsters. The Among the minor characters which
political state of affairs is freely dis- illustrate Irish social conditions
cussed. We are admitted to electioneer- the noisy, vulgar Perrys, and clever
ing assemblies, and listen to the stump Madam Reilly, whose conversations with
orators; in the crowded ball-room we Mr. Satterthwaite enable the author to
overhear the side talk of dignified func- discuss at length the social and political
tionaries and their conservative opinions problems of the country.
The story
on the question of Home Rule, Tenant gives a vivid picture of Ireland as she
Right, and minor agitated measures; and is, - poverty-stricken Ireland with her
following Hogan in his campaign, we untamed Celtic heart, beautiful even in
listen to the rant of a Yankeeized Hiber- her ruin, and pervaded by a wild ro-
nian loudly proclaiming for an Irish re- mantic charm.
public. Altogether we have to thank
Mrs. Hartley, who was a native of Dub- Beyond the Pale, by B. M. Croker
.
lin, for a most skillfully delineated por- The scene of this story is laid in
trait of her countrymen as we find it in Munster, Ireland. The heroine is Gerald-
(Hogan, M. P. ,' the first of her novels. ine O'Bierne, better known as Galloping
Jerry, the last representative of an old
Hono
ſonorable Miss Ferrard, The, an and ruined race. At her father's death,
Irish romance by May Laffan Hart- the great estate of Carrig is seized by
ley, London, 1877.
the mortgage-holders; and her mother, a
Helena Ferrard, or “Hel, the only penniless and silly beauty, marries Matt
remaining daughter of an utterly im- Scully, a neighboring horse-dealer, — a
poverished and fallen house, grows to match so far beneath her that the indig-
girlhood with the woods and fields for
nant county cuts her altogether. Scuily
sole teachers, and for companions her despises his stepdaughter till he discovers
three stalwart, reckless brothers, the that she can ride with judgment and
most arrant poachers for miles around. dauntless courage; whereupon he takes
With the one servant, Cawth, a virulent her from school, and sets her to break-
old hag, who is yet faithful to the fam-ing his horses. Her mother being dead,
ily in its degradation, Lord Darragh- she is bullied and abused by him and
more and his children «flit) from town his niece Tilly, a vulgar slattern: pur-
to town, from hovel to hovel, as their sued by Casey Walsh, jockey and black-
creditors or their whims urge; subsisting | leg; cut by the county, and adored by the
for the most part on the results of the peasantry. The Irish pride of race is
sons' questionable industry.
the main element of interest. The story
To «Helat sixteen comes
a brief
is bright, original, and very well told;
civilizing interval under the care of two while two or three character-studies of
maiden aunts in Bath. But the beautiful Irish peasants are portraitures that de-
half-savage creature, unused to restraint serve to live with Miss Edgeworth's.
of any kind, chafes and suffocates in the
rose-scented atmosphere of the home of ecilia de Noel, by Lanoe Falconer
these two old gentlewomen. Carrying a (Morwenna Pauline Hawker). The
few ameliorating traces of social train- scene is England, in recent times; the
ing with her, she runs away, back to heroine is Cecilia de Noel, an imperson-
the heather fields of Darraghtown, where ation of love and sympathy, whose power
her wild clan has gathered.
of goodness is put to the highest proof
Cecili


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286
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
come
on
by her ability to quiet a restless spirit in love with her, and persuades her to
that haunts the house of her friends Sir an elopement. After a brief dream of
George and Lady Atherley. The ghost happiness, she awakes to the knowledge
is used as a kind of touchstone of char- that she has married a cold-hearted, self-
acter. The book as a whole is a curious indulgent spendthrift; he makes her life
psychological study. At the time of its miserable until she dies at twenty-four,
publication it attracted great attention. leaving a boy of six, Archie, and a new-
born daughter, Diana. Meantime John
Dr. Latimer, by Clara Louise Burnham.
This is called “A Story of Casco
Tempest, the head of the family, whose
Bay”; and it contains many charming
whole heart had been given to Diana,
marries without love to perpetuate the
pictures of that beautiful Maine coast
and its fascinating islands. Dr. Latimer,
line, and to prevent the estate's going to
his hated and worthless brother. A son
a man of fine character and position,
is born, but he believes his silly and un-
beloved by all who know him, becomes
interested in three orphan girls, Joseph- loving wife to have been faithless to him,
ine, Helen, and Vernon Ivison, who
and after her death treats the younger
to Boston to support themselves
John with justice but without affection.
Nevertheless, in his will he makes this
by teaching and music. He falls in love
lad sole heir. Colonel Tempest disputes
with Josephine, the eldest, who returns
the will, but fails to impugn John's title.
his affection; and he invites the three
girls to his island home for the summer.
His rage and disappointment goad him or
to make a bet of £10,000 with a plausible
He has hesitated to avow his love for
scamp named Sloane, that he, Edward
Josephine on account of the difference
Tempest, will never inherit the estates;
of age between them, and also on account
the implication being that the obstacle
of a former unhappy marriage made in
to his inheritance is to be removed.
early youth with a woman who had first
disgraced and then deserted him, and
Many attempts are made on John's life;
whom he has long supposed dead. Her
and the Colonel, not knowing whose hand
thus strikes in the dark, becomes at last
sudden reappearance destroys his newly
almost frenzied with fear and suspense.
found happiness; he leaves the island,
John, as boy and man, has treated both
bidding Josephine a final farewell. Re-
Colonel Tempest and his profligate boy
called by the news that his wife has
drowned herself and that he is at last
Archibald with generous kindness; and at
last the Colonel is driven to borrow the
free, he marries Josephine. Helen and
£10,000 from John to buy off his invisible
Vernon are mated to the men of their
enemies. He succeeds in reaching two of
choice: the former to Mr. Brush, a Ger-
them, but cannot obtain the clue to the
man teacher; the latter to Olin Randolph,
rest. John falls in love with his cousin
a society youth of much charm and char-
Diana, a beautiful girl who has not only
acter, whose aunts, Miss Charlotte and
all the brains but all the conscience in her
Miss Agnes Norman, are characters of
family. Just as he is about to win her
interest, as is also Persis Applebee, the
doctor's old-fashioned housekeeper. The
hand, he discovers by the mierest chance
that the old vague suspicion is true, that
story was published in 1893. The island
he is not a Tempest, and has no right
so accurately described is Bailey's Island,
to place, name, or fortune. Tempted to
where Mrs. Burnham makes her summer
conceal what, without his confession, can
home.
never be known to any other human
iana Tempest, by Mary Cholmond- being, his better self constrains him to
eley. (1893. ) The clever author of tell the truth to the true Tempests, give
(Sir Charles Danvers? here attempts a up Diana, and begin life again. This he
more elaborate novel. It is a story of does: but before any step can be taken,
good society, wherein the motives potent Archie is killed in mistake for John by
in bad society - greed, envy, malice, and one of the confederates who had agreed
all uncharitableness — have (room and to make away with him in the interest of
verge enough. ” The head of the Tem- the Colonel; while that gentleman him-
pests, a family ancient as the Flood, is self is so excited by the news of his inher-
engaged to a brilliant beauty of seven- itance that he dies of cerebral exhaustion,
teen, Diana Courtenay.
His younger
having in his delirium, revealed to Diana
brother, a handsome, fascinating, perfid- and John his wicked plot. Diana marries
ious, selfish army officer, falls violently John; and as she is now the only heir,
Diana


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
287
the secret of his parentage is never told. her a shelter and a home, half as com-
Thus analyzed, the story appears sensa- panion and half as guest. At the châ-
tional, which it is not. The children in teau Sainville she meets the head of
the book are drawn with a loving hand, the family, Madame Marceau's brother,
the characterization is as good as in Sir Armand de Sainville, a man many years
Charles Danvers,' the dialogue is clever, her senior; and the story henceforth be-
the general treatment brilliant, and in comes the story of the action of these
its charming refinement the story has a three lives upon each other. The most
place apart.
admirable of the minor characters is the
gentle old baroness, Aunt Radegonde,
John Littlejohn of J. , by George Mor-
the type and epitome of the old French
gan, (1897,) is a spirited succession of
gentlewoman; who adores Nathalie, but
Revolutionary incidents, beginning with
has no money to help her with, and
the bitter winter at Valley Forge, and
who cannot persuade the proud girl to
ending with the battle of Monmouth,
share her little store. The charm of the
where Lee's intolerable attitude forces
book lies in its admirable characteriza-
an oath from the commander-in-chief.
tions, its bright and natural dialogue,
It presents George Washington in the
and above all in its atmosphere of ex-
days of his trial, when the country was
quisite refinement, the breeding of an
doubtfully waiting for him to prove ad-
old race with traditions and instincts of
equate to its needs, when his suffering
perfect courtesy.
army was clamoring for food and clothes,
and the Conway Cabal was secretly, tryHºpe Leslie, by Miss Catherine My
allhe Sedgwick, (,) a of early.
is the calmly dominant figure of our his- colonial days in Massachusetts. Hope,
tories.
an orphan, is brought up by her uncle
John Littlejohn, a young patriot serv- Mr. Fletcher, and loves her cousin Ever-
ing in the American army, is mistaken ett; but in a moment of misunderstand-
for his uncle, a bitter old Tory; arrested ing he engages himself to Miss Downing,
on charge of treason; and narrowly es- Governor Winthrop's niece. At length
capes being shot.
His efforts to clear Miss Downing, discovering that he loves
his name, the exciting adventures he his cousin, releases him to marry the
meets in outwitting his uncle, and the impetuous Hope. Colonial dignitaries
beautiful but unprincipled Alicia Gaw, and noble women figure equally in the
the bringing a prize of British gold book, which makes a faithful attempt to
and British supplies to Washington, are present a picture of the life of the mid-
narrated by one Asa Lankford, a dumb dle of the seventeenth century in and
soldier who takes an active part in the near Boston. The story is very diffuse,
events. It is a book of clever plotting, is told with the long stride of the high-
of Dumas-like chances. The interest heeled and stiff-petticoated Muse of Fic-
lies less in the slight but pleasant love tion as she appeared in the middle of
story, than in the local color and vivid our century, and is more sentimental
presentment of an interesting period. than modern taste quite approves. But
a picture of manners it is faithful;
Nathalie, by Julia Kavanagh. (1851. )
This delicate and charming love
and its spirit is wholesome and health-
ful. In its day it enjoyed a very great
story, like the author's (Adele ) and
(Sybil's Second Love,' might well take
popularity.
the place of certain fashy novels of the Hour and the Man, The, the most im.
in the regard of contemporary portant work of fiction among the
readers. Nothing can be simpler than multitude of Harriet Martineau's writ-
the plot. Nathalie, a poor and charming | ings, is a historical novel based on the
young Provençal teacher, is dismissed
of Toussaint L'Ouverture. It
from the boarding-school where she is opens with the uprising of the slaves in
earning her bread, because a dissipated St. Domingo in August 1791; at which
aristocrat chooses to persecute her with time Toussaint, a negro slave on the
his unwelcome attentions. His mother, Breda estate, remained faithful to the
Madame Marceau, — more just than her whites, and entered the service of the al-
worldly-minded employer, if not
lies of the French king as against the
kind, and really grateful for what she re- Convention. The struggle between loy-
gards as the escape of her son,-offers alty to the royalist cause and duty to
as
career
more


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288
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
his race, when he learns of the decree
of the Convention proclaiming the lib-
erty of the negroes, ends by his taking
the leadership of the blacks; and from
this point the story follows the course
of history through dramatic successes to
the pathetic ending of this remarkable
life. The novel is a vivid page of his-
tory.
Joshua Davidson, Christian and Com.
munist, The TRUE HISTORY OF, by
E. Lynn Linton. (Final edition (6th),
1874. ) The name of the hero of this
story is meant to be read “Jesus Da-
vid's Son”; the word "Jesus” being the
old Hebrew word "Joshua, changed by
Greek usage.
The idea of the writer
was to picture a man of to-day, a man
of the people, repeating under altered
circumstances the life of Jesus, and set-
ting the world a Christ-example. The
work was planned on the theory that
"pure Christianity, as taught by Christ
himself, leads us inevitably to com-
munism”; and with this view the hero
of the story, who begins as a Cornish
carpenter, is carried to Paris, to lose
his life in the Communard insurrection.
He is represented as “a man working
on the Christ plan, and that alone; deal-
ing with humanity by pity and love
and tolerance,” living the life of the
crucified Communist of Galilee.