Yet he has
ersedge and the Perrys are staying, she his own queer, warped code of ethics;
meets an old friend, Anthony Hammond, and when he is stricken down by a knife
who tells the story,
Hammond finds in a street row, dies with a lie on his
out that Leversedge is suffering from an lips to shield the culprit.
ersedge and the Perrys are staying, she his own queer, warped code of ethics;
meets an old friend, Anthony Hammond, and when he is stricken down by a knife
who tells the story,
Hammond finds in a street row, dies with a lie on his
out that Leversedge is suffering from an lips to shield the culprit.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v30 - Guide to Systematic Readings
146 (#182) ############################################
146
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
are
Child
inevitable end. This was one of the first Luther and Friedrich next enter an Au-
books on New England life Miss Jewett gustinian monastery, where they struggle
wrote; and it was published in 1877, when hard to destroy their worldly ties, Fried-
she was only twenty years old. The book rich being especially beset on account
has done for the region it describes some- of his love for a young girl named Eva.
thing of what Irving's writing did for Rising rapidly, the two friends
the Hudson River.
intrusted with a mission to Rome. The
hildren of the Soil, a novel of mod-
,
lives of the easy-going monks distress
them; finally the selling of indulgences
ern Polish life, by Henryk Sien-
brings Luther to outspoken denunciation
kiewicz, was published in 1894. The
of the abuses of the Church. In this
plot centres itself in the career of Pan
Friedrich supports him, and both are ex-
Stanislas Polanyetski, a man of wealth
communicated and thrown into prison.
and education, who at the age of thirty
Luther escapes, and appeals to the peo-
«wanted to marry, and was convinced
ple with his new doctrine that personal
that he ought to marry. ” The story
responsibility to God is direct, without
opens with his business visit to the
mediation of priests. This teaching is
estate of Kremen,-on which he has a
proclaimed broadcast, and Luther be-
claim,- the home of a relative, Pan
comes an object of fear to Rome; but he
Plaritski, and his daughter Maryina. He
lives to the age of sixty-three, and dies
falls in love with Maryina; but the re-
a happy father and husband, having es-
fusal of her father to pay his debt to
poused Catherine von Bora, a former nun.
Polanyetski causes misunderstanding be-
Friedrich, after many hindrances, marries
tween the latter and the young girl, and
Eva. The book is written with an effort
they are alienated for the time being.
Their reconciliation and marriage are
after the archaic style, and has much of
the simplicity and directness of the old
brought about by a little invalid girl,
Litka, who loves them both, and who
chronicles. Its point of view is that of
evangelical Protestantism, and it lacks
wishes to see them happy. After his
the judicial spirit that would have pre-
marriage, Polanyetski conceives an un-
sented a true picture of the time. It is
worthy attachment for the wife of his
friend Mashko, but finally overcomes
interesting, however, and has proved
a very great favorite, though accurate
temptation. The book closes upon his
happiness with his wife and child. There
scholarship finds fault with its history.
are interesting side issues to the story,
involving questions of property, of the Nick of the Woods, by Robert Mont-
gomery Bird, M. D. This is a tale
social order, of marriage. The work as
of Kentucky during the dark and
a whole, although realistic,
sane in
bloody” days, and was especially popu-
spirit, genial and broad in its conception
lar about the middle of the nineteenth
of life and character. Maryina is one of
century. A play, founded upon this
the most finished of Sienkiewicz's types
narrative, was received with boundless
of noble women.
applause, held the stage (a certain
Chron
hronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta grade of stage) for many years, and
Family, by Mrs. Elizabeth Charles. was a forerunner of the dime novel in
These chronicles, dealing with the period stimulating an unhealthy desire among
of the Reformation in Germany, are boys to run away from home and go
written chiefly by Friedrich and Else, the West to kill Indians.
eldest children of the Schönberg-Cotta From that fateful day in his boyhood,
family. Their father is an improvident when he saw his home destroyed and
printer with eight children to provide for. his relatives and friends brutally butch-
Martin Luther, adopted by their aunt ered by red fiends, Nick devotes his life
Ursula Cotta, is prominent throughout. to revenge. Eventually he kills every
The chronicles open with the efforts of member of the band of Indians that
Friedrich and Else to understand the desolated his home, while hundreds of
Romanist religious life, and their brave other savages also fall by his hand. He
efforts to hold the family together. The marks each victim by a rude cross cut
family, which is very religious, sends the upon the breast. The red men look
eldest son, Friedrich, to the University of upon him as the Jibbenainosay, an Ind-
Erfurt, where Luther has already shown ian devil; believing that such wholesale
great promise. In fulfillment of vows, slaughter, by an unseen and undetected
## p. 147 (#183) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
147
foe, must be the work of supernatural
powers.
The author has been taken to task by
critics who complain that he pictures
the red man upon a plane far below
that of the noble savage described by
Cooper and others. Bird replies that he
describes the cruel, treacherous, and
vindictive Indian as he exists, and not
the ideal creation of a novelist. Ex-
perienced frontiersmen, with practical
unanimity, indorse the estimate of In-
dian character presented in this book;
but it must be said that neither portrait
of the North-American Indian does him
justice. Perhaps some educated Red
Man will one day draw the picture of
the frontiersman. ”
advanced modern woman. The heroine,
Evadne, finds herself married to a man
of social position whose past has been
impure. She therefore leaves him, to
the scandal of her friends. An episode
called The Tenor and the Boy, bear-
ing little relation to the main story but
pleasing in itself, is then interpolated: it
narrates the love between a male church-
singer and a lad who turns out to be a
girl, one of the twins in disguise. The
character of these twins, a pair of pre-
cocious, forward youngsters, boy and girl,
is sketched amusingly in the early por-
tion of the story. After the separation
from her husband, Evadne leads a life
of protest against society as it exists,
and her sorrow and disillusionment prey
upon her health to such an extent that
her complex nervous system suffers from
hysteria. Dr. Galbraith, the physician
who narrates this phase of her career,
becomes her husband; and in his pro-
fessional care and honest love Evadne
bids fair to find both physical and moral
peace. The novel is too long, has grave
faults of construction, and contains ma-
terial for three separate stories and a
tract on women's rights. But it was at
once recognized as a sympathetic pres-
entation of some of the social wrongs
of women.
East Lynne, by Mrs. Henry Wood, ap-
peared in 1861. Its scene is laid in
the England of the present time. Lady
Isabel Vane, early orphaned by the death
of a bankrupt father, who has been com-
pelled to sell East Lynne, his ancestral
home, is loved by both Archibald Carlyle
and Francis Levison; the former as noble
as the latter is base. She marries Car-
lyle, but is persuaded by Levison that
her husband is unfaithful to her. His in-
sidious slanders so work upon her mind
that she presently elopes with him; but
being at heart a good woman, she leaves
him, and after a few years obtains an en-
gagement as nurse to her own children.
She returns disguised to her old home,
where her husband has married again, and
where she becomes the devoted attendant
of the young Carlyles, The dénouement
clears up her husband's apparent infidelity,
reveals Levison to be a murderer, and
discloses to Carlyle the identity of Isa-
bel, whom he has thought dead. Her suf-
ferings break her heart, and upon her
death-bed she receives his full forgiveness.
The plot, though impossible, is well man-
aged and made to seem credible, and there
are several strong and touching situations.
The dominant tone of the book is distinctly
minor. Although it has little literary
merit, it secured immediate popularity,
has been through many editions on two
continents, and proved extremely success-
ful as an emotional drama.
Miss
(iss Brown, by Violet Paget («Ver-
non Lee”). The object of this satir-
ical novel is to expose the falseness of
the æsthetic ideal and its tendency to
debase all who follow it; and it aroused
the indignation of all the «æsthetes. "
Miss Brown herself is a girl endowed
with great beauty, who is discovered by
Mr. Hamlin, an artist and poet of high
reputation. At the time when he finds
her, she is a nursemaid in the family of
another artist in Italy, belonging to the
same school. Mr. Hamlin determines to
save her from the commonplace career
before her. He therefore settles on her
a fourth of his income, leaving her free
to marry him or not after she has been
educated. She goes to a school in Ger-
many, where she receives instruction in
the usual learning and accomplishments.
Mr. Hamlin himself instructs her in his
school of poetry, and writes to her long
letters filled with his theories on art and
life. Work as hard as she can, out of
her love and gratitude for Mr. Hamlin,
she cannot become the asthete that he
desires. After she discovers the true
He
(eavenly Twins, The, by Madame
Sarah Grand, published in 1893, is
the novel which brought the author into
notice and aroused great discussion for
and against the book. It is a study of the
## p. 148 (#184) ############################################
148
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
stands for maņliness rather than for con-
science, and Clara for incarnate good.
It is a book of profound interest and of
high literary rank.
Chevalier d’Auriac, The, by S. Leav-
character of Hamlin, the thought of mar-
rying him is revolting to her. She turns
for interest to her cousin Robert, a radi-
cal, interested in the welfare of the
lower classes. She now studies political
economy with greater fervor than ever
went to the art and poetry of Burne-
Jones and Rossetti. She sees, with de-
light, Hamlin's growing attachment to
another girl; but his failure to win her
results in his utter debasement. Miss
Brown then, in a spirit of self-sacrifice,
claims Hamlin's promise to marry her,
and allows him to think that she loves
him. The character of Miss Brown, al-
ways a noble-minded and simple woman,
is a strong and forcible creation, stand-
ing out vividly in the midst of her weak
and emotion-loving companions. (Pub-
lished in 1884. )
Cecil Dreeme, by Theodore Winthrop,
(1862,) by its brilliancy of style,
crisp dialogue, sharp characterization, and
ingenuity of structure, won an immedi-
ate popularity. Robert Byng, the hero,
returning from ten years of study in Eu-
rope, meets on shipboard a remarkably
accomplished and brilliant man, Dens-
deth, to whom he is much attracted,
while conscious at the same time of an
unacknowledged but powerful repulsion.
Byng settles himself in rooms in Chrys-
alis College, a pseudo-mediæval building
which houses an unsuccessful university
and receives lodgers in its unused cham-
bers. On the floor above Byng is Cecil
Dreeme, a mysterious young artist, who
is evidently in hiding for some unknown
reason.
Densdeth takes Byng to renew
an old acquaintance and friendship with
the Denmans, a rich and important fam-
ily. Mr. Denman and his only living
child, the beautiful Emma, are in deep
mourning for the younger daughter,
Clara; who some months before, when
about to be married to Densdeth,-a
marriage believed to be most distasteful
to her, - is believed to have wandered
from home while delirious from fever,
and to have been drowned. These are
the characters, who, with John Churm, -
an old friend of Byng's father, and a
fellow-lodger in Chrysalis, and to whom
the Denman girls have been like adopted
children, - carry on the story. A definite
plot is worked out with adequate skill,
but the strength of the story lies in its
fine insight and spiritual significance.
As Densdeth stands for evil, so Byng
Scene, France at the
end of the sixteenth century. The hero
tells his adventures as a soldier and lover
in the days of the white-plumed King
Henry of Navarre. He rescues the hero-
ine-a lady of high degree - from im-
prisonment and possible death, and wins
her love, though the King himself is a
rival for her favor. The Huguenot Henry
appears at his best in relinquishing her
to this loyal and valiant though modest
supporter, in his struggle for the French
throne as first of the Bourbon line. The
author, who is a British army officer
in the India service, weaves into the
romance many true names and historic
events, showing thorough acquaintance
with provincial French scenes of the pe-
riod, as well as with old Paris houses,
streets, and neighborhoods. He has
written also (The Honour of Savelli,
and other tales.
Chien d'Or, Le, by William Kirby,
was published in 1877, and is a
story of life in Quebec about 1748, at
the time that war was raging between
Old England and New France, as Can-
ada was then called. The Chien d'Or is
the name of the large trading-house of
the Bourgeois Philibert, a man much
beloved by the people, and one of the
leaders of the “Honnêtes Gens,” the
party opposed to the corrupt govern-
ment. This house was a formidable
rival of the Grand Company, owned by
the wealthy and dishonest government
officers under the Intendant, François
Bigot; who, clever but unscrupulous and
unprincipled, spends his time carousing
with his boon companions. Into this
dissolute company he draws Le Gardeur
de Repentigny, handsome and generous
but easily entrapped. The author gives
a vivid description of the corrupt and
dissolute viceregal court of Louis XV.
in New France.
Damn
amnation of Theron Ware, The, by
Harold Frederic, appeared in 1896,
and is a brilliant realistic study of mod-
ern American life. Theron Ware, a hand-
some and eloquent young preacher, is
placed in charge of the Methodist church
at Octavius, New York State. Needing
## p. 149 (#185) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
149
summer.
money, thirsting for fame, and quite with her, and with whom she spends the
ignorant of his own limitations, he plans
Meantime Claude, having also
to write an epoch-making book upon found out the truth, falls deeply in love
Abraham. His damnation comes to him with her, and finally marries her. The
in the form of self-knowledge, through plot is so ingeniously managed that it
his acquaintance with a beautiful woman. seems entirely plausible; the studies of
The book belongs in the ranks of real- London wage-earners and London slums
ism, but of the true realism that is in- are faithful, without being too repulsive;
terpreted through the imagination.
and the tone of the book is cheerful, while
many social problems are touched in the
Chevalier of Pensieri-Vani, The, by
The
course of an entertaining story.
Henry B. Fuller. This story, the
(Children of Gibeon) has proved one of
scene of which is laid in Italy at the
the most popular of Besant's novels.
present time, is the record of the delight-
ful rambles of the Chevalier, a dilettante
in the fine arts, who finds his chief pleas. Children of the Ghetto, by I. Zang-
will. This book was published in
ure in exploring Italian treasures of lore,
1892, and is, as the author says, “in-
nature, and art. His title, “cavaliere,” he
tended as a study, through typical figures,
receives from the Queen in recognition of
a magnificent performance on the organ,
of a race whose persistence is the most
remarkable fact in the history of the
in the cathedral of Orvieto. This is Mr.
world. ). It is divided into two parts, the
Fuller's first book, written at thirty-two.
Its brilliant Italian atmosphere makes it
first of which gives the title to the whole,
and describes life in the London Ghetto,
delightful.
its sordid squalor and rigid ritualism,
Children of Gibeon. Walter Besant's combined with genuine religious faith
(Children of Gibeon, like his (All and enthusiasm. The wretched inhabit-
Sorts and Conditions of Men,' deals with ants, huddled together in misery, and
society in both the West and East Ends constrained to keep many fasts not pre-
of London, and their relations to each scribed in the calendar, are still scrupulous
other. A rich widow, Lady Mildred El- about all the detailed observances of their
dredge, adopts the two-year-old daughter religion, and bound by a remarkable loy-
of a former servant, to be brought up with alty among themselves. A good example
her own daughter. The children are of of their subjection to form is shown in
the same age, and look so much alike that the rigid but kindly Reb Shemuel, who
Lady Mildred conceives the idea of calling would give the coat off his back to help a
them Valentine and Violet, and keeping needy Jew, and yet could ruin his daugh-
them and the world in ignorance as to ter's whole life on account of an unim-
which is Beatrice Eldredge, the heiress, portant text in the Torah. The second
and which Polly Monument, the washer- part, (Grandchildren of the Ghetto,' de-
woman's daughter, a secret which is to velops some of the characters who are
be revealed when they are of age. At children in the earlier portion, and also
twenty they are introduced to Polly's introduces us to the Jew who has ac-
family; her mother being then in an alms- quired wealth and culture, while retaining
house, her brother Joe a plumber, Sam a his race characteristics. This division
board-school teacher, Milenda a sewing- of the book deals rather with the prob-
girl, and Claude a young lawyer and uni- lems of Judaism, both of the race and
versity man whom Lady Mildred has edu- of individuals. It shows the effects of
cated. Violet is filled with the fear that culture on different types of mind, and
she shall turn out to be the sister of these
gives us the noble aspiration of Raphael
dreadful people; but Valentine, who is Leon, the profound discontent of Esther,
sure that she herself is the real Polly, the fanatical zeal and revolt of Strelitski,
wishes to go to live with her sister Mi- and the formalism of the Goldsmiths,
lenda, and to work among her own people. serving merely as a cloak for their am-
With Lady Mildred's consent she takes bition. There are many touches of the
up her abode in Hoxton, and on the first author's characteristic wit and irony. He
day of her sojourn there finds accidental tells of the woman who wrote domes-
proof of the fact that she is Beatrice El- tic novels to prove that she had no sense
dredge. Nevertheless, as Polly she goes of humor); and makes certain wealthy
on with her work, in order to help Milenda Jews say with apparent unconsciousness,
and two young sewing-girls, who live that they are obliged to abandon a favorite
## p. 150 (#186) ############################################
150
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
((
resort because so many Jews go there. ” year of trial, that the ascetic retirement
The book raises problems that it does from the world is not the true religious
not solve; but the masterly and sympa-
ideal for him. The thought, too, of Glory
thetic exposition of the Jewish tempera- mingles ever subtly with the thought of
ment invites a better comprehension of God. Meanwhile, she has had some hard
that wonderful race.
knocks in the struggle to get on the stage
and show her unusual powers. She be-
Colon
lonel's Opera Cloak, The, a novel comes a music hall singer, to John's great
by Mrs. Christine Chaplin Brush, distress, and for a long while he keeps
was published in the No Name Series, away from her and her fashionable
in 1879.
It is an example of the lightest
friends. But his desire to save Glory's
kind of fiction, handled with grace and soul — and to win the girl herself — leads
skill, and in a happy spirit of comedy. him to a declaration, and he finds he is
The originality of the book lies in the loved in return; but she is unwilling to
choice of the hero, the Colonel's Opera give up her profession and associate her-
Cloak, a large blue coat lined with scar-
self with him in his work. She makes
let and having gilt clasps. This cloak
a brilliant début as a star on the regu-
is the property of Colonel St. John, a lar stage. Father Storm breaks down as
Southern gentleman ruined by the war.
a hermit and a crusading Christian, and
He does not appear in the story, but ends in failure. The details of London
the cloak plays a prominent part in life are spectacular, and the object of
the fortunes of his family. After it has the book seems to be to show the inad-
been in pawn on one occasion, its return equacy of London churches to save the
to the bosom of the family is thus de-
city.
scribed:-
“Pomp opened the door. The cloak Casa Braccio, by F. Marion Crawford,
lay on the steps, like a lost lamb come was published in 1896, and is one
back to the fold, or a prodigal son, or a of the author's stories of Italian life.
shipwrecked mariner.
(O massy gra-
Angus Dalrymple, a young Scotch physi-
cious! ) said Pomp, bearing into the
cian, falls in love with a beautiful nun,
family circle in the front parlor, where
Sister Maria Addolorata, who is of the
all the gas-lights were blazing, and the distinguished Roman house of Braccio.
shades were still raised.
(Massy gra-
She is in a convent in Subiaco, near
cious, Miss Leslie, what you tink? Dat Tivoli. Dalrymple persuades her to run
ar op'ra cloak's done come ob hisself,
off with him, and they fly, pursued by
paid his own pawn ticket, an' done rung
the curses of Stefanone, the peasant father
de bell! I see his brass knobs a-wigglin' of a girl whose hopeless love for Angus
when I opened de do'. De days ob de leads to her suicide. The scene then shifts
mir'cles am returned. )
to Rome, seventeen years having elapsed.
Dalrymple appears with his daughter
The
The Christian, by Hall Caine, published Gloria, the mother having died. Gloria
in 1897, is a romance of to-day. For is very beautiful and sings superbly. She
the most part the scene is laid in Lon- is loved by two men: Reanda, a gifted
don. The main characters are Glory
Italian artist, and Paul Griggs, an Amer-
Quayle, the granddaughter of a Manx ican journalist. She marries the former;
clergyman, and John Storm, the son but after a while leaves him and lives
of a nobleman and nephew of the prime with Griggs, gives birth to a child by
minister. Glory has actor's blood in her him, and kills herself. Before her death
veins; John is a religious enthusiast she writes to Reanda, confessing to him
whom his father, disappointed in his that she deplores having left him and
choice of life, disinherits.
The girl
has always loved him. The letters con-
goes to London as a hospital nurse; the taining the admission are sent by Reanda
man, as assistant clergyman of a fash- to Griggs, out of revenge, and break his
ionable church. But she is soon tired heart, for he has idolized Gloria. Mean-
of a life she is unfitted for, and longs while the father, Dalrymple, is at last
for pleasure, change, excitement; while tracked down and murdered by Stefanone,
he is sickened at the worldliness, fraud, the peasant of Subiaco, in a church where
and pretense of West End piety, and the Scotchman was musing on his wife's
resigns his position to join a monastic memory. The first half of the novel is
brotherhood, - finding, however, after a much the best.
## p. 151 (#187) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
151
Carissima, The, by the lady who chooses Child of the Jago, A, by Arthur Mor-
-Malet,
rison, published in 1896, is a sadly
and who is a daughter of Charles Kings- realistic sketch of life among the slums
ley, — is a character-study of a most of London. The Jago is a name given
subtle description. The heroine, Charlotte to certain streets in the neighborhood of
Perry, affectionately called Carissima, is a Shoreditch, East City. The author knows
«modern ”young woman, very pretty and the district from residence there, while
charming, apparently full of imagination he was in the employment of a humani-
and sympathy, and a lover of all things tarian society. The child is Dicky
true and beautiful. She is engaged to Perott, whose father, Josh Perott, is a
Constantine Leversedge, a manly, straight- thief, bruiser, and murderer, who ends
forward, honest Englishman, who has on the gallows. The lad is bred to vice
made a large fortune by hard work in as the sparks fly upward, and what few
South Africa, and who adores his beautiful feeble efforts he makes towards a better
fiancée. At the Swiss hotel, where Lev- life are nipped in the bud.
Yet he has
ersedge and the Perrys are staying, she his own queer, warped code of ethics;
meets an old friend, Anthony Hammond, and when he is stricken down by a knife
who tells the story,
Hammond finds in a street row, dies with a lie on his
out that Leversedge is suffering from an lips to shield the culprit. Dicky feels
extraordinary obsession or incubus; he is that on the whole, death is an easy way
haunted by a dog, which he had once out of a sorry tangle. The Jago scenes
killed. He never sees it except at night, are given with photographic distinctness,
and then he sees only its horrible eyes; the dialect is caught, the life both es-
but he can feel it as it jumps on his ternal and internal — sordid, brutal, in-
knees or lies against his breast in bed. credibly vicious, yet relieved with gleams
Hammond advises him to tell Charlotte and hints of higher things — is depicted
of this apparition, and she accepts the with truth and sympathy. The study of
revelation with great courage, professing Father Sturt, the self-sacrificing clergy-
her willingness to help her lover to drive
man, is a very suggestive setting forth
the horror from his mind. She declares of the difficulty of helping these demoral-
her only fear to be that instead of con- ized human beings. The story is one of
quering the hallucination, she may, after
great power, very sombre and painful,
her marriage, come to share it. Lever- but valuable as a statement of the real
sedge offers to give her up; but she conditions among the lowest class of
bravely sticks to her promise, Leversedge
telling her that if the grisly thing finds
her out, he will freehere by taking his Maureen's Fairing, by Jane Barlow
. the after the wedding, This of eight
she cries out in terror that she sees the short stories, descriptive of Irish peasant
dog. Her husband, horror-stricken that life, first appeared in 1895, and its title
what he dreaded has happened, yet im- is that of the first story. Maureen O'Dell
plores his wife to stay by him, to help is a blind girl with a brother Rody, who
him fight the spectre; certain that to- is not too bad-manin' a poor lad what-
gether they may lay the ghost. Then she ever, but sorra the ha'porth of use.
tells him that she will not remain; that Moonin' about the place from mornin'
she does not love him; that she has lied till night; but rael good he is to Mau-
about the dog, playing a trick to get rid
He'd be hard set to make more
of him. The trick is successful, for the of her if she could see from this to the
next morning Leversedge's body is found land of Agypt and back again. It is
in the lake. The Carissima assumes the his custom to sit with her and watch
properly becoming attitude of despair, but the wild rabbits coming out to play in
it is plain that she will marry another the dusk, but he tells her they are fair-
lover. The book displays a skillful intri- ies. On the night on which the story
cacy of subordinate causes and effects, but begins, he tells her they are holding a
its chief interest lies in the study of the cattle fair, no less, wid every manner of
Carissima, who seems an angel but who little baste a-dhrivin' out to it, only the
is “top-full of direst cruelty. ” Lucas
«
quarest little bigness on them that ever
Malet's workmanship recalls Henry James, you beheld. There's a drove of bullocks.
and the book has its charms in spite of The whole of them 'ud trot aisy on the
the unattractive plot.
palm of me hand. But what 'ud you
London poor.
reen.
## p. 152 (#188) ############################################
152
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
In
at sea.
her;
sense
suppose they've got be the way of cat- income by great skill at écarte. At
tle pens? The peelin's of the apple you nineteen she inherits a large fortune
had aitin' here last night. ” Rody's de- from an uncle, and the scene changes.
scriptions are interrupted by the arrival The Howards return to their native land,
of Christy M'Kenna, who unwittingly de- where Linda is quickly launched into
stroys Maureen's belief in fairies and in society, and sought after by the match-
Rody as well, by speaking of the rab- making mammas of penniless sons.
bits. Grieved at his mistake, he tries to the social experiences that follow, she
atone for it by describing his adventures discovers that life when one has heaps
Then he makes her a fairing,” of money is quite as difficult an affair
or present, of a shell he had picked up as when one has to count every shilling.
on the beach at Jamaica, and promises This early story reveals the qualities
to come the next day and show her which have made Mr. Norris so success-
others. A few weeks after, Mrs. O'Dell ful a novelist. He sees life from the
in telling of her good luck says: “Good- point of view of the man of the world,
ness help you lad, sez I, and what at all but without cynicism or superciliousness.
will you be doin' wid only a dark wife His personages are lifelike, his dialogue
to keep house for you? And sez he to is always good and often brilliant, his
me, Bedad ma'am, I'll tell you that aisy, story comes from the natural evolution
if you'll tell me what I'm to do widout of his characters, his insight into human
for me soul to the saints, if I know, nature is keen, he is often witty and al-
be any manner of manes. ) »
ways humorous. In no
an imi-
tator, Mr. Norris's style and manner
Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs.
remind one of Thackeray, chiefly per-
Aleshine, The, by Frank R. Stock-
haps in the ease with which each artist
ton. This chronicle sets forth the curious
handles his material.
experiences of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Ale-
shine; two middle-aged widows, from a
little New England village, who, having Heart of Midlothian, The, by Sir
Walter Scott. "The Heart of Mid-
«means," decide to see the world and
lothian,' by many called the finest of the
pay a visit to the son of one of them,
Waverley novels, was published anony-
who has gone into business in Japan.
mously in 1818. It takes its name
On the steamer crossing the Pacific they
from the Tolbooth or old jail of Edin-
meet a young Mr. Craig, who tells the
story. The two ladies and Mr. Craig are
burgh (pulled down in 1815), where
Scott imagined Effie Deans, his heroine,
cast away in most preposterous circum-
to have been imprisoned. The charge
stances, on a lonely isle in mid-ocean.
against her is child murder, from which
Many of the scenes, like the escape from
she is unable to clear herself. Her half-
drowning of the two widows, are of the
sister Jeanie, though loving her devot-
very essence of true humor, of a gro-
edly, on the witness stand cannot tell
tesque form; and the story-teller's inven-
But
tion never once flags. The tale presents,
the lie which might save Effie.
when sentence of death is pronounced
intentionally of course, neither evolution
nor climax, but only a succession of the
on the unhappy girl, Jeanie shows the
oddest incidents. It is a good example
depth of her affection by going on foot
of Stockton's unique method of story-tell-
to London to get a pardon from the
King, through the influence of John,
ing – the matter extremely absurd and
Duke of Argyle. The latter obtains an
the manner extremely grave, the narra-
interview for her with Queen Caroline
tive becoming more and more matter-of-
and Lady Suffolk, and though at first the
fact and minutely realistic, as the events
case seems hopeless enough, she procures
themselves grow more and more incred-
the pardon. Before Jeanie has reached
ible.
home, Effie (whose pardon carried with
He
eaps of Money, by W. E. Norris, it banishment from Scotland) has eloped
1877, was the earliest of that clever with George Staunton, her lover. The
author's stories, and won instant favor sisters who had last met when Effie was
from competent critics. The heroine, sitting on the bench of the condemned,
Linda Howard, an earl's granddaughter, do not meet again for many years, when
spends her young life wandering about Effie reappears as Lady Staunton, a
the Continent with her somewhat dis- woman of fashion. Her husband has
reputable father, who ekes out a slender succeeded to a title, and no one but her
## p. 153 (#189) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
153
ness
success.
sister knows her as the former Effie labyrinth of events; but the interest lies
Deans. By a strange combination of cir- in the development of character under
cumstances, Jeanie, now married to a conditions supplied by an untried en-
Presbyterian minister, learns that Effie's vironment. The scope of the book is
son is alive. He had been given by wide and the detail extremely minute.
Meg Murdockson, who attended Effie in
her illness, to an unscrupulous woman. His Father's Son, published in 1896,
Sir George Staunton, on learning these
by James Brander Matthews, is a
facts, anxious to discover his son, traces
novel dealing with the latter-day aspects
him to a certain troop of vagabonds, of
of Wall Street speculation, the social
which Black Donald is chief. In an af-
influences directly or indirectly traceable
fray growing out of the effort to arrest
to the spirit of respectable gambling. A
Black Donald, Sir George is shot by a
stern father of Puritan stock, uncom-
young lad called “the Whistler,) who
promisingly orthodox, even harshly just
to himself and others, in all other mat-
later proved to be the lost son. Lady
ters but those associated with deals in
Staunton, overcome by the tragedy, after
futures and in the stock market gener-
vain efforts to drown her grief in so-
ciety retires to a convent in France.
ally, has a son who inherits from his
Although she takes no vows, she remains
mother a disposition facile, impression-
there until her death. Her influence at
able, morbidly sensitive to moral ques-
court accomplishes much for the child-
tions, and devoid of the iron strength of
ren of her sister Jeanie. The husband
will that has produced his father's busi-
of the latter, Reuben Butler, has been
The son, gradually dis-
given a good parish by the Duke of Ar-
covering his father's inability to see or
gyle, whom Jeanie Deans's heroism had
confess any moral lapse or dishonesty
in business methods that trade upon un-
made a friend for life.
(The Heart of Midlothian) is notable
certainty and just cleverly evade legal
for having fewer characters than any
responsibility, gradually disintegrates
others of Scott's novels. It has also a
throughout morally and goes to ruin.
smaller variety of incidents, and less de-
The stress and stir of a great city mir-
scription of scenery. One of the most
rors itself here, as in Mr. Matthews's
other efforts in fiction,– (The Story of a
remarkable scenes in all fiction is the
meeting of the two sisters in prison un-
Story and Other Stories ); Vignettes of
Manhattan); and (Tom Paulding,' an
der the eyes of the jailer Ratcliffe.
The plot was suggested to Scott by
excellent boys' tale, full of interest for
the story of Helen Walker, who unable
younger readers.
to tell a lie to save a sister's life, really | His Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke.
walked barefoot to London, and secured This thrilling tale, which was pub-
a pardon by the help of John, Duke of lished in 1876, sets forth the working
Argyle.
and results of the English system of
transportation. It is the story of a con-
Dr. Sevier, by George W. Cable (1882), vict in Australia. It opens in England.
is one of the author's group of stories In 1827 Lady Devine confesses to her
of life in New Orleans. The time of the husband that he is not the father of her
action is just before the war, when the son, now 22 years old, who is the child
city was at the height of its prosperity.
of Lord Bellasis. Her husband agrees
Dr. Sevier, the brusque, laconic, skillful, to keep her secret if her son Richard
kind-hearted physician, is less the central quits the house forever. Richard is sup-
figure than his young beneficiary, John posed to sail for India in a ship which
Richling, the son of a rich planter, who is burned, with all on board; but in
having estranged his family by marrying reality, on leaving the house he stum-
a Northern girl, has come to the me- bles over the dead body of Bellasis, is
tropolis of the South to earn his living. discovered beside it, accused of the mur-
The struggle of the Richlings, unequipped der, and transported to Australia, where
for the battle of life, against poverty
he suffers tortures as a convict, escapes,
and sickness, forms the plot of the story, and is recaptured several times. During
which is glowing with local color and one of these escapes he saves the life of
filled with personages peculiar to the Lieutenant Frere and Sylvia Vickers,
place and time. T is no plot in the set on shore by mutineers to die. Once
sense of a complicated play of forces, or in safety, Frere takes all the credit to
## p. 154 (#190) ############################################
154
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
now
himself; and Rufus Dawes, as Richard
is
called, is again imprisoned.
Sylvia, recovering from fever, forgets
everything, and marries Frere, believing
him her savior. Rex, a fellow-convict,
discovers Dawes's identity, escapes to
England, impersonates him, and enjoys
his wealth, Sir Richard having died
before he could disinherit him. Lady
Devine discovers the imposture, and tells
him that Richard was son of Bellasis
and heir to nothing. He confesses that
he too was the son of Bellasis, and com-
mitted the murder for which Richard
suffers. Sylvia learns to know her hus-
band's cruel nature, and sails for Eng-
land. Richard escapes, secretes himself
on board the same ship; a storm arises;
he tries to save her, but they perish to-
gether.
after graduating from the medical school,
becomes a struggling doctor. McGregor,
visiting his nephews, is shocked by what
he hears of Thirlmore's church, and is
charmed with Trent's little daughter
Jean, who reminds him of his idolized
sister of the same name. He alters his
will, in which he had bequeathed his
wealth to the prosperous minister, and
transfers his property to Trent to be
held in trust for Jean. At his death,
Trent's family acquire the comforts so
long denied them. Thirlmore's church
breaking up soon afterwards on account
of financial difficulties, he retires with
his wife to the Vermont farm, there to
pass the remainder of his days. The
chief motive of the book seems to be
a study in heredity, and a certain re-
pulsion exercised upon each other by
relatives through the very characteris-
ties which they derive from their com-
mon ancestry.
His
is Majesty Myself, by W. M. Baker.
This clever and striking story was
originally published in the No Name)
series in 1879. It attracted unusual at-
tention, partly because it was supposed
to portray the character of a preacher
who was at the time making a sensa-
tion by his somewhat extravagant meth-
ods of preaching. Donald McGregor,
arriving in New York a poor Scotch
immigrant, prospers by industrious at-
tention to business, and sends home for
his two sisters, Elspeth and Jean. Jean,
his favorite, marries Stephen Trent, a
planter, who takes her to his South-
ern home. Elspeth soon after marries
Mr. Thirlmore, a Vermont farmer, who
shortly dies, leaving her a widow with
one son; and McGregor, selling his city
business, settles down on the farm with
her. Mrs. Trent also has a son about
the same age as her sister's, who is
left an orphan at the age of sixteen,
and is taken by his uncle to his North-
ern home.
The two cousins develop
opposite characteristics: Trent is emo-
tional and sensitive, while Thirlmore is
dull, undemonstrative, self-seeking, and
obstinate. The cousins prepare for and
enter college together, at Old Orange.
After their graduation they meet and
marry two sisters, Peace and Revel Van-
dyke. Thirlmore, whose sole aim is self-
advancement, enters the ministry; and
being called to the city, builds up a
large parish, attracting audiences, appar-
ently by his utter lack of reference to
the Bible in sermons, nd by
discourses on popular matters. Trent,
Hon.
on, Peter Sterling, The, by Paul Lei-
cester Ford (1896), is a distinctly
American novel. As a political story, it
shows a grasp on municipal politics; and
as a novel, insight into the human heart.
It introduces its hero as a Harvard stu-
dent in the early seventies. His father
has been a mill overseer, and Peter does
not belong to the fashionable New York
set, to which he is admitted through a
favor which he has done by chance for
Watts d'Alloi, its leader and the hand-
somest man in his class. In spite of
striking differences in character and cir-
cumstances, the two become firm friends.
Soon after his graduation, Peter falls in
love; but when he is refused, persuades
himself to be the cheerful best man at
the lady's wedding. He begins to prac-
tice law in New York, gains clients
slowly, becomes favorite with his
neighbors, and enters politics, becoming
in time a (boss. ) But Peter is a boss »
with clean hands and a pure heart, and
the aim of the author is to show what
might be accomplished in politics by
men of this high stamp. Nor in his
new employment does Peter neglect his
profession. On the contrary, he rises to
great dignity and a large income. The
character of Peter Sterling is finely
drawn, and many of the minor actors in
the story are true to life: Miss De Voe,
Ray Rivington, Dorothy Ogden, Bohl-
man the brewer, Dummer his attorney,
and the various politicians in whom
a
## p. 155 (#191) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
155
to
on
many persons will recognize real por- | Lºv
ove and Quiet Life, by Walter Ray-
.
mond. The scene of this pleasing
story is laid in the little village of Sut-
Roman
oman Singer, A, by Francis Ma- ton, Somersetshire, in the early part of
rion Crawford. (1884. ) Nino Car- this century. James Burt, a retired cler-
degna, the Roman singer, is the adopted gyman of gentle breeding, leads a life
son of Cornelio Grandi, who tells the of solitude and study, his only compan-
story. Cornelio is the last of the Conti ion being his daughter Marion. A young
Grandi, and has been forced to sell clergyman named Percival is called to
his estate at Serveti and pursue a pro- the parish in the village, and his mod-
fessor's life at Rome. Nino has the ern ideas arouse suspicion in the minds
audacity to fall in love at first sight of the simple villagers, who believe him
with Hedwig, daughter of Count von be a papal emissary in disguise.
Lira. Won by the beautiful tenor voice, During this period of unpopularity he
Hedwig fully returns his love. They is championed by the Burts, and falls in
arouse the suspicions of the father, a love with Marion, who does not recipro-
(cold, hard, narrow man, who secretly cate his affection, but gives her heart to
carries his daughter to an obscure castle a young man named Hensley, who has
in the Abruzzi.
recently come, a stranger, to the village.
Nino searches Paris and London in Hensley's agreeable manners and knowl-
vain for a trace of Hedwig. Meanwhile edge of the world at first appeal to Mr.
his father gets a hint of the probable Burt, as well as to his daughter; but be-
whereabouts of the Liras, and imme- fore long he learns through Percival that
diately starts a search for them. Hensley has led a life of dissipation and
Careful inquiries extract the desired in- is addicted to gambling. He breaks the
formation. He takes up his abode near news to Marion, who confesses her love
the castle, and at last, by enormous for Hensley. Her father then tells her
bribes to a servant, secures an inter- the sad history, which she has never be-
view with Hedwig. From her he learns fore known, of her own mother, who
of her great unhappiness; of her father's ran away from her home with one of
purpose to keep her a prisoner until her husband's trusted friends. Marion,
she consents to marry Benoni, a rich shocked at this disclosure, agrees to give
Jew; and of her own determination up her lover, and prepares to devote her
never to yield.
life to her father. Soon after this Mr.
When Nino arrives he seeks the count, Burt dies, and Marion's thoughts again
and asks for his daughter's hand. He revert to her lover Hensley; but she
is refused, and thereupon determines to finds that he has betrayed a young vil-
take her away without her father's con- lage girl, whom she takes under her pro-
sent, if it is her own wish. Hedwig tection, and relinquishing all thoughts of
succeeds in escaping to Nino by an un- marriage, devotes herself to the care of
used stair and door. On mules that are the woman and her child. Mr. Percival
in readiness they climb the Abruzzi to still loves Marion, and would gladly
points that horses cannot reach. After marry her; but she prefers to live on
being married at a little village in the with the memories of her first and only
mountains, they return to Rome, where love.
there are interesting scenes with the In this story the author has shown
old count, who refuses to be reconciled, himself a faithful student of the West
and with Benoni, who turns out to be Country folk, and he has presented a
insane.
truthful picture of a phase of English
The story ends with the prospective life which he realized to be rapidly pass-
return of Grandi to his old estate at ing away. He has gone straight to na-
Serveti. The charm of this book is ture and to human life for his material,
in its good, healthy romance,
its hon- has searched for the old and quaint, and
est, straightforward love-making with- has presented nothing that he has not
out mawkish sentimentalism. With its found. The work is refreshing, and
strong Italian atmosphere, and its in- characterized by keen penetration, hu-
genious situations following one another mor, and delicacy of touch, and is en-
in quick succession, it carries us quite dowed with rare tenderness. It was first
out of ourselves. The characters are published in 1873. He has since written
strongly and consistently drawn.
the novel (Misterton's Mistake. )
## p. 156 (#192) ############################################
156
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
Cranford, by Mrs. Gaskell
. Cranford and is sent to a city school to complete
is a village in England (identified her education. Among her suitors is
as Knutsford); and the story of the quaint Murray Bradshaw, a lawyer possessed of
old ladies there-- who scorned the «vul- the secret that under an old will she is
garity of wealth and practiced elegant | likely to come into a large fortune. He
economy)— is told by Mary Smith, a plots to win her, but is balked by Profes-
sympathetic and discerning young person sor Gridley; and she gives her love to
from the neighboring town of Drumble. Clement Lindsay, who joins the army
During her first visits in the village stately and rises to the rank of Colonel. During
Miss Deborah Jenkyns is alive; but the war she goes with him to the front;
afterwards she dies, leaving her gentle and “In the offices of mercy which she
sister Miss Matty to battle with life and performed (in the hospital)
its problems alone. Miss Matty lives the dross of her nature seemed to be
comfortably, and is able to entertain
burned away.
The conflict of mingled
her friends in a genteel way, until the lives in her blood had ceased. ) Dr.
bank fails, and then she is obliged to Holmes's characteristic wit is shown in
keep a little shop and sell tea. In the end many of the shrewd sayings of the kindly
her long-lost brother Peter comes home old Professor and other characters, and
from India with money enough to enable his delightful enthusiasm makes the book
her to live as becomes a rector's daughter.
146
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
are
Child
inevitable end. This was one of the first Luther and Friedrich next enter an Au-
books on New England life Miss Jewett gustinian monastery, where they struggle
wrote; and it was published in 1877, when hard to destroy their worldly ties, Fried-
she was only twenty years old. The book rich being especially beset on account
has done for the region it describes some- of his love for a young girl named Eva.
thing of what Irving's writing did for Rising rapidly, the two friends
the Hudson River.
intrusted with a mission to Rome. The
hildren of the Soil, a novel of mod-
,
lives of the easy-going monks distress
them; finally the selling of indulgences
ern Polish life, by Henryk Sien-
brings Luther to outspoken denunciation
kiewicz, was published in 1894. The
of the abuses of the Church. In this
plot centres itself in the career of Pan
Friedrich supports him, and both are ex-
Stanislas Polanyetski, a man of wealth
communicated and thrown into prison.
and education, who at the age of thirty
Luther escapes, and appeals to the peo-
«wanted to marry, and was convinced
ple with his new doctrine that personal
that he ought to marry. ” The story
responsibility to God is direct, without
opens with his business visit to the
mediation of priests. This teaching is
estate of Kremen,-on which he has a
proclaimed broadcast, and Luther be-
claim,- the home of a relative, Pan
comes an object of fear to Rome; but he
Plaritski, and his daughter Maryina. He
lives to the age of sixty-three, and dies
falls in love with Maryina; but the re-
a happy father and husband, having es-
fusal of her father to pay his debt to
poused Catherine von Bora, a former nun.
Polanyetski causes misunderstanding be-
Friedrich, after many hindrances, marries
tween the latter and the young girl, and
Eva. The book is written with an effort
they are alienated for the time being.
Their reconciliation and marriage are
after the archaic style, and has much of
the simplicity and directness of the old
brought about by a little invalid girl,
Litka, who loves them both, and who
chronicles. Its point of view is that of
evangelical Protestantism, and it lacks
wishes to see them happy. After his
the judicial spirit that would have pre-
marriage, Polanyetski conceives an un-
sented a true picture of the time. It is
worthy attachment for the wife of his
friend Mashko, but finally overcomes
interesting, however, and has proved
a very great favorite, though accurate
temptation. The book closes upon his
happiness with his wife and child. There
scholarship finds fault with its history.
are interesting side issues to the story,
involving questions of property, of the Nick of the Woods, by Robert Mont-
gomery Bird, M. D. This is a tale
social order, of marriage. The work as
of Kentucky during the dark and
a whole, although realistic,
sane in
bloody” days, and was especially popu-
spirit, genial and broad in its conception
lar about the middle of the nineteenth
of life and character. Maryina is one of
century. A play, founded upon this
the most finished of Sienkiewicz's types
narrative, was received with boundless
of noble women.
applause, held the stage (a certain
Chron
hronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta grade of stage) for many years, and
Family, by Mrs. Elizabeth Charles. was a forerunner of the dime novel in
These chronicles, dealing with the period stimulating an unhealthy desire among
of the Reformation in Germany, are boys to run away from home and go
written chiefly by Friedrich and Else, the West to kill Indians.
eldest children of the Schönberg-Cotta From that fateful day in his boyhood,
family. Their father is an improvident when he saw his home destroyed and
printer with eight children to provide for. his relatives and friends brutally butch-
Martin Luther, adopted by their aunt ered by red fiends, Nick devotes his life
Ursula Cotta, is prominent throughout. to revenge. Eventually he kills every
The chronicles open with the efforts of member of the band of Indians that
Friedrich and Else to understand the desolated his home, while hundreds of
Romanist religious life, and their brave other savages also fall by his hand. He
efforts to hold the family together. The marks each victim by a rude cross cut
family, which is very religious, sends the upon the breast. The red men look
eldest son, Friedrich, to the University of upon him as the Jibbenainosay, an Ind-
Erfurt, where Luther has already shown ian devil; believing that such wholesale
great promise. In fulfillment of vows, slaughter, by an unseen and undetected
## p. 147 (#183) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
147
foe, must be the work of supernatural
powers.
The author has been taken to task by
critics who complain that he pictures
the red man upon a plane far below
that of the noble savage described by
Cooper and others. Bird replies that he
describes the cruel, treacherous, and
vindictive Indian as he exists, and not
the ideal creation of a novelist. Ex-
perienced frontiersmen, with practical
unanimity, indorse the estimate of In-
dian character presented in this book;
but it must be said that neither portrait
of the North-American Indian does him
justice. Perhaps some educated Red
Man will one day draw the picture of
the frontiersman. ”
advanced modern woman. The heroine,
Evadne, finds herself married to a man
of social position whose past has been
impure. She therefore leaves him, to
the scandal of her friends. An episode
called The Tenor and the Boy, bear-
ing little relation to the main story but
pleasing in itself, is then interpolated: it
narrates the love between a male church-
singer and a lad who turns out to be a
girl, one of the twins in disguise. The
character of these twins, a pair of pre-
cocious, forward youngsters, boy and girl,
is sketched amusingly in the early por-
tion of the story. After the separation
from her husband, Evadne leads a life
of protest against society as it exists,
and her sorrow and disillusionment prey
upon her health to such an extent that
her complex nervous system suffers from
hysteria. Dr. Galbraith, the physician
who narrates this phase of her career,
becomes her husband; and in his pro-
fessional care and honest love Evadne
bids fair to find both physical and moral
peace. The novel is too long, has grave
faults of construction, and contains ma-
terial for three separate stories and a
tract on women's rights. But it was at
once recognized as a sympathetic pres-
entation of some of the social wrongs
of women.
East Lynne, by Mrs. Henry Wood, ap-
peared in 1861. Its scene is laid in
the England of the present time. Lady
Isabel Vane, early orphaned by the death
of a bankrupt father, who has been com-
pelled to sell East Lynne, his ancestral
home, is loved by both Archibald Carlyle
and Francis Levison; the former as noble
as the latter is base. She marries Car-
lyle, but is persuaded by Levison that
her husband is unfaithful to her. His in-
sidious slanders so work upon her mind
that she presently elopes with him; but
being at heart a good woman, she leaves
him, and after a few years obtains an en-
gagement as nurse to her own children.
She returns disguised to her old home,
where her husband has married again, and
where she becomes the devoted attendant
of the young Carlyles, The dénouement
clears up her husband's apparent infidelity,
reveals Levison to be a murderer, and
discloses to Carlyle the identity of Isa-
bel, whom he has thought dead. Her suf-
ferings break her heart, and upon her
death-bed she receives his full forgiveness.
The plot, though impossible, is well man-
aged and made to seem credible, and there
are several strong and touching situations.
The dominant tone of the book is distinctly
minor. Although it has little literary
merit, it secured immediate popularity,
has been through many editions on two
continents, and proved extremely success-
ful as an emotional drama.
Miss
(iss Brown, by Violet Paget («Ver-
non Lee”). The object of this satir-
ical novel is to expose the falseness of
the æsthetic ideal and its tendency to
debase all who follow it; and it aroused
the indignation of all the «æsthetes. "
Miss Brown herself is a girl endowed
with great beauty, who is discovered by
Mr. Hamlin, an artist and poet of high
reputation. At the time when he finds
her, she is a nursemaid in the family of
another artist in Italy, belonging to the
same school. Mr. Hamlin determines to
save her from the commonplace career
before her. He therefore settles on her
a fourth of his income, leaving her free
to marry him or not after she has been
educated. She goes to a school in Ger-
many, where she receives instruction in
the usual learning and accomplishments.
Mr. Hamlin himself instructs her in his
school of poetry, and writes to her long
letters filled with his theories on art and
life. Work as hard as she can, out of
her love and gratitude for Mr. Hamlin,
she cannot become the asthete that he
desires. After she discovers the true
He
(eavenly Twins, The, by Madame
Sarah Grand, published in 1893, is
the novel which brought the author into
notice and aroused great discussion for
and against the book. It is a study of the
## p. 148 (#184) ############################################
148
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
stands for maņliness rather than for con-
science, and Clara for incarnate good.
It is a book of profound interest and of
high literary rank.
Chevalier d’Auriac, The, by S. Leav-
character of Hamlin, the thought of mar-
rying him is revolting to her. She turns
for interest to her cousin Robert, a radi-
cal, interested in the welfare of the
lower classes. She now studies political
economy with greater fervor than ever
went to the art and poetry of Burne-
Jones and Rossetti. She sees, with de-
light, Hamlin's growing attachment to
another girl; but his failure to win her
results in his utter debasement. Miss
Brown then, in a spirit of self-sacrifice,
claims Hamlin's promise to marry her,
and allows him to think that she loves
him. The character of Miss Brown, al-
ways a noble-minded and simple woman,
is a strong and forcible creation, stand-
ing out vividly in the midst of her weak
and emotion-loving companions. (Pub-
lished in 1884. )
Cecil Dreeme, by Theodore Winthrop,
(1862,) by its brilliancy of style,
crisp dialogue, sharp characterization, and
ingenuity of structure, won an immedi-
ate popularity. Robert Byng, the hero,
returning from ten years of study in Eu-
rope, meets on shipboard a remarkably
accomplished and brilliant man, Dens-
deth, to whom he is much attracted,
while conscious at the same time of an
unacknowledged but powerful repulsion.
Byng settles himself in rooms in Chrys-
alis College, a pseudo-mediæval building
which houses an unsuccessful university
and receives lodgers in its unused cham-
bers. On the floor above Byng is Cecil
Dreeme, a mysterious young artist, who
is evidently in hiding for some unknown
reason.
Densdeth takes Byng to renew
an old acquaintance and friendship with
the Denmans, a rich and important fam-
ily. Mr. Denman and his only living
child, the beautiful Emma, are in deep
mourning for the younger daughter,
Clara; who some months before, when
about to be married to Densdeth,-a
marriage believed to be most distasteful
to her, - is believed to have wandered
from home while delirious from fever,
and to have been drowned. These are
the characters, who, with John Churm, -
an old friend of Byng's father, and a
fellow-lodger in Chrysalis, and to whom
the Denman girls have been like adopted
children, - carry on the story. A definite
plot is worked out with adequate skill,
but the strength of the story lies in its
fine insight and spiritual significance.
As Densdeth stands for evil, so Byng
Scene, France at the
end of the sixteenth century. The hero
tells his adventures as a soldier and lover
in the days of the white-plumed King
Henry of Navarre. He rescues the hero-
ine-a lady of high degree - from im-
prisonment and possible death, and wins
her love, though the King himself is a
rival for her favor. The Huguenot Henry
appears at his best in relinquishing her
to this loyal and valiant though modest
supporter, in his struggle for the French
throne as first of the Bourbon line. The
author, who is a British army officer
in the India service, weaves into the
romance many true names and historic
events, showing thorough acquaintance
with provincial French scenes of the pe-
riod, as well as with old Paris houses,
streets, and neighborhoods. He has
written also (The Honour of Savelli,
and other tales.
Chien d'Or, Le, by William Kirby,
was published in 1877, and is a
story of life in Quebec about 1748, at
the time that war was raging between
Old England and New France, as Can-
ada was then called. The Chien d'Or is
the name of the large trading-house of
the Bourgeois Philibert, a man much
beloved by the people, and one of the
leaders of the “Honnêtes Gens,” the
party opposed to the corrupt govern-
ment. This house was a formidable
rival of the Grand Company, owned by
the wealthy and dishonest government
officers under the Intendant, François
Bigot; who, clever but unscrupulous and
unprincipled, spends his time carousing
with his boon companions. Into this
dissolute company he draws Le Gardeur
de Repentigny, handsome and generous
but easily entrapped. The author gives
a vivid description of the corrupt and
dissolute viceregal court of Louis XV.
in New France.
Damn
amnation of Theron Ware, The, by
Harold Frederic, appeared in 1896,
and is a brilliant realistic study of mod-
ern American life. Theron Ware, a hand-
some and eloquent young preacher, is
placed in charge of the Methodist church
at Octavius, New York State. Needing
## p. 149 (#185) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
149
summer.
money, thirsting for fame, and quite with her, and with whom she spends the
ignorant of his own limitations, he plans
Meantime Claude, having also
to write an epoch-making book upon found out the truth, falls deeply in love
Abraham. His damnation comes to him with her, and finally marries her. The
in the form of self-knowledge, through plot is so ingeniously managed that it
his acquaintance with a beautiful woman. seems entirely plausible; the studies of
The book belongs in the ranks of real- London wage-earners and London slums
ism, but of the true realism that is in- are faithful, without being too repulsive;
terpreted through the imagination.
and the tone of the book is cheerful, while
many social problems are touched in the
Chevalier of Pensieri-Vani, The, by
The
course of an entertaining story.
Henry B. Fuller. This story, the
(Children of Gibeon) has proved one of
scene of which is laid in Italy at the
the most popular of Besant's novels.
present time, is the record of the delight-
ful rambles of the Chevalier, a dilettante
in the fine arts, who finds his chief pleas. Children of the Ghetto, by I. Zang-
will. This book was published in
ure in exploring Italian treasures of lore,
1892, and is, as the author says, “in-
nature, and art. His title, “cavaliere,” he
tended as a study, through typical figures,
receives from the Queen in recognition of
a magnificent performance on the organ,
of a race whose persistence is the most
remarkable fact in the history of the
in the cathedral of Orvieto. This is Mr.
world. ). It is divided into two parts, the
Fuller's first book, written at thirty-two.
Its brilliant Italian atmosphere makes it
first of which gives the title to the whole,
and describes life in the London Ghetto,
delightful.
its sordid squalor and rigid ritualism,
Children of Gibeon. Walter Besant's combined with genuine religious faith
(Children of Gibeon, like his (All and enthusiasm. The wretched inhabit-
Sorts and Conditions of Men,' deals with ants, huddled together in misery, and
society in both the West and East Ends constrained to keep many fasts not pre-
of London, and their relations to each scribed in the calendar, are still scrupulous
other. A rich widow, Lady Mildred El- about all the detailed observances of their
dredge, adopts the two-year-old daughter religion, and bound by a remarkable loy-
of a former servant, to be brought up with alty among themselves. A good example
her own daughter. The children are of of their subjection to form is shown in
the same age, and look so much alike that the rigid but kindly Reb Shemuel, who
Lady Mildred conceives the idea of calling would give the coat off his back to help a
them Valentine and Violet, and keeping needy Jew, and yet could ruin his daugh-
them and the world in ignorance as to ter's whole life on account of an unim-
which is Beatrice Eldredge, the heiress, portant text in the Torah. The second
and which Polly Monument, the washer- part, (Grandchildren of the Ghetto,' de-
woman's daughter, a secret which is to velops some of the characters who are
be revealed when they are of age. At children in the earlier portion, and also
twenty they are introduced to Polly's introduces us to the Jew who has ac-
family; her mother being then in an alms- quired wealth and culture, while retaining
house, her brother Joe a plumber, Sam a his race characteristics. This division
board-school teacher, Milenda a sewing- of the book deals rather with the prob-
girl, and Claude a young lawyer and uni- lems of Judaism, both of the race and
versity man whom Lady Mildred has edu- of individuals. It shows the effects of
cated. Violet is filled with the fear that culture on different types of mind, and
she shall turn out to be the sister of these
gives us the noble aspiration of Raphael
dreadful people; but Valentine, who is Leon, the profound discontent of Esther,
sure that she herself is the real Polly, the fanatical zeal and revolt of Strelitski,
wishes to go to live with her sister Mi- and the formalism of the Goldsmiths,
lenda, and to work among her own people. serving merely as a cloak for their am-
With Lady Mildred's consent she takes bition. There are many touches of the
up her abode in Hoxton, and on the first author's characteristic wit and irony. He
day of her sojourn there finds accidental tells of the woman who wrote domes-
proof of the fact that she is Beatrice El- tic novels to prove that she had no sense
dredge. Nevertheless, as Polly she goes of humor); and makes certain wealthy
on with her work, in order to help Milenda Jews say with apparent unconsciousness,
and two young sewing-girls, who live that they are obliged to abandon a favorite
## p. 150 (#186) ############################################
150
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
((
resort because so many Jews go there. ” year of trial, that the ascetic retirement
The book raises problems that it does from the world is not the true religious
not solve; but the masterly and sympa-
ideal for him. The thought, too, of Glory
thetic exposition of the Jewish tempera- mingles ever subtly with the thought of
ment invites a better comprehension of God. Meanwhile, she has had some hard
that wonderful race.
knocks in the struggle to get on the stage
and show her unusual powers. She be-
Colon
lonel's Opera Cloak, The, a novel comes a music hall singer, to John's great
by Mrs. Christine Chaplin Brush, distress, and for a long while he keeps
was published in the No Name Series, away from her and her fashionable
in 1879.
It is an example of the lightest
friends. But his desire to save Glory's
kind of fiction, handled with grace and soul — and to win the girl herself — leads
skill, and in a happy spirit of comedy. him to a declaration, and he finds he is
The originality of the book lies in the loved in return; but she is unwilling to
choice of the hero, the Colonel's Opera give up her profession and associate her-
Cloak, a large blue coat lined with scar-
self with him in his work. She makes
let and having gilt clasps. This cloak
a brilliant début as a star on the regu-
is the property of Colonel St. John, a lar stage. Father Storm breaks down as
Southern gentleman ruined by the war.
a hermit and a crusading Christian, and
He does not appear in the story, but ends in failure. The details of London
the cloak plays a prominent part in life are spectacular, and the object of
the fortunes of his family. After it has the book seems to be to show the inad-
been in pawn on one occasion, its return equacy of London churches to save the
to the bosom of the family is thus de-
city.
scribed:-
“Pomp opened the door. The cloak Casa Braccio, by F. Marion Crawford,
lay on the steps, like a lost lamb come was published in 1896, and is one
back to the fold, or a prodigal son, or a of the author's stories of Italian life.
shipwrecked mariner.
(O massy gra-
Angus Dalrymple, a young Scotch physi-
cious! ) said Pomp, bearing into the
cian, falls in love with a beautiful nun,
family circle in the front parlor, where
Sister Maria Addolorata, who is of the
all the gas-lights were blazing, and the distinguished Roman house of Braccio.
shades were still raised.
(Massy gra-
She is in a convent in Subiaco, near
cious, Miss Leslie, what you tink? Dat Tivoli. Dalrymple persuades her to run
ar op'ra cloak's done come ob hisself,
off with him, and they fly, pursued by
paid his own pawn ticket, an' done rung
the curses of Stefanone, the peasant father
de bell! I see his brass knobs a-wigglin' of a girl whose hopeless love for Angus
when I opened de do'. De days ob de leads to her suicide. The scene then shifts
mir'cles am returned. )
to Rome, seventeen years having elapsed.
Dalrymple appears with his daughter
The
The Christian, by Hall Caine, published Gloria, the mother having died. Gloria
in 1897, is a romance of to-day. For is very beautiful and sings superbly. She
the most part the scene is laid in Lon- is loved by two men: Reanda, a gifted
don. The main characters are Glory
Italian artist, and Paul Griggs, an Amer-
Quayle, the granddaughter of a Manx ican journalist. She marries the former;
clergyman, and John Storm, the son but after a while leaves him and lives
of a nobleman and nephew of the prime with Griggs, gives birth to a child by
minister. Glory has actor's blood in her him, and kills herself. Before her death
veins; John is a religious enthusiast she writes to Reanda, confessing to him
whom his father, disappointed in his that she deplores having left him and
choice of life, disinherits.
The girl
has always loved him. The letters con-
goes to London as a hospital nurse; the taining the admission are sent by Reanda
man, as assistant clergyman of a fash- to Griggs, out of revenge, and break his
ionable church. But she is soon tired heart, for he has idolized Gloria. Mean-
of a life she is unfitted for, and longs while the father, Dalrymple, is at last
for pleasure, change, excitement; while tracked down and murdered by Stefanone,
he is sickened at the worldliness, fraud, the peasant of Subiaco, in a church where
and pretense of West End piety, and the Scotchman was musing on his wife's
resigns his position to join a monastic memory. The first half of the novel is
brotherhood, - finding, however, after a much the best.
## p. 151 (#187) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
151
Carissima, The, by the lady who chooses Child of the Jago, A, by Arthur Mor-
-Malet,
rison, published in 1896, is a sadly
and who is a daughter of Charles Kings- realistic sketch of life among the slums
ley, — is a character-study of a most of London. The Jago is a name given
subtle description. The heroine, Charlotte to certain streets in the neighborhood of
Perry, affectionately called Carissima, is a Shoreditch, East City. The author knows
«modern ”young woman, very pretty and the district from residence there, while
charming, apparently full of imagination he was in the employment of a humani-
and sympathy, and a lover of all things tarian society. The child is Dicky
true and beautiful. She is engaged to Perott, whose father, Josh Perott, is a
Constantine Leversedge, a manly, straight- thief, bruiser, and murderer, who ends
forward, honest Englishman, who has on the gallows. The lad is bred to vice
made a large fortune by hard work in as the sparks fly upward, and what few
South Africa, and who adores his beautiful feeble efforts he makes towards a better
fiancée. At the Swiss hotel, where Lev- life are nipped in the bud.
Yet he has
ersedge and the Perrys are staying, she his own queer, warped code of ethics;
meets an old friend, Anthony Hammond, and when he is stricken down by a knife
who tells the story,
Hammond finds in a street row, dies with a lie on his
out that Leversedge is suffering from an lips to shield the culprit. Dicky feels
extraordinary obsession or incubus; he is that on the whole, death is an easy way
haunted by a dog, which he had once out of a sorry tangle. The Jago scenes
killed. He never sees it except at night, are given with photographic distinctness,
and then he sees only its horrible eyes; the dialect is caught, the life both es-
but he can feel it as it jumps on his ternal and internal — sordid, brutal, in-
knees or lies against his breast in bed. credibly vicious, yet relieved with gleams
Hammond advises him to tell Charlotte and hints of higher things — is depicted
of this apparition, and she accepts the with truth and sympathy. The study of
revelation with great courage, professing Father Sturt, the self-sacrificing clergy-
her willingness to help her lover to drive
man, is a very suggestive setting forth
the horror from his mind. She declares of the difficulty of helping these demoral-
her only fear to be that instead of con- ized human beings. The story is one of
quering the hallucination, she may, after
great power, very sombre and painful,
her marriage, come to share it. Lever- but valuable as a statement of the real
sedge offers to give her up; but she conditions among the lowest class of
bravely sticks to her promise, Leversedge
telling her that if the grisly thing finds
her out, he will freehere by taking his Maureen's Fairing, by Jane Barlow
. the after the wedding, This of eight
she cries out in terror that she sees the short stories, descriptive of Irish peasant
dog. Her husband, horror-stricken that life, first appeared in 1895, and its title
what he dreaded has happened, yet im- is that of the first story. Maureen O'Dell
plores his wife to stay by him, to help is a blind girl with a brother Rody, who
him fight the spectre; certain that to- is not too bad-manin' a poor lad what-
gether they may lay the ghost. Then she ever, but sorra the ha'porth of use.
tells him that she will not remain; that Moonin' about the place from mornin'
she does not love him; that she has lied till night; but rael good he is to Mau-
about the dog, playing a trick to get rid
He'd be hard set to make more
of him. The trick is successful, for the of her if she could see from this to the
next morning Leversedge's body is found land of Agypt and back again. It is
in the lake. The Carissima assumes the his custom to sit with her and watch
properly becoming attitude of despair, but the wild rabbits coming out to play in
it is plain that she will marry another the dusk, but he tells her they are fair-
lover. The book displays a skillful intri- ies. On the night on which the story
cacy of subordinate causes and effects, but begins, he tells her they are holding a
its chief interest lies in the study of the cattle fair, no less, wid every manner of
Carissima, who seems an angel but who little baste a-dhrivin' out to it, only the
is “top-full of direst cruelty. ” Lucas
«
quarest little bigness on them that ever
Malet's workmanship recalls Henry James, you beheld. There's a drove of bullocks.
and the book has its charms in spite of The whole of them 'ud trot aisy on the
the unattractive plot.
palm of me hand. But what 'ud you
London poor.
reen.
## p. 152 (#188) ############################################
152
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
In
at sea.
her;
sense
suppose they've got be the way of cat- income by great skill at écarte. At
tle pens? The peelin's of the apple you nineteen she inherits a large fortune
had aitin' here last night. ” Rody's de- from an uncle, and the scene changes.
scriptions are interrupted by the arrival The Howards return to their native land,
of Christy M'Kenna, who unwittingly de- where Linda is quickly launched into
stroys Maureen's belief in fairies and in society, and sought after by the match-
Rody as well, by speaking of the rab- making mammas of penniless sons.
bits. Grieved at his mistake, he tries to the social experiences that follow, she
atone for it by describing his adventures discovers that life when one has heaps
Then he makes her a fairing,” of money is quite as difficult an affair
or present, of a shell he had picked up as when one has to count every shilling.
on the beach at Jamaica, and promises This early story reveals the qualities
to come the next day and show her which have made Mr. Norris so success-
others. A few weeks after, Mrs. O'Dell ful a novelist. He sees life from the
in telling of her good luck says: “Good- point of view of the man of the world,
ness help you lad, sez I, and what at all but without cynicism or superciliousness.
will you be doin' wid only a dark wife His personages are lifelike, his dialogue
to keep house for you? And sez he to is always good and often brilliant, his
me, Bedad ma'am, I'll tell you that aisy, story comes from the natural evolution
if you'll tell me what I'm to do widout of his characters, his insight into human
for me soul to the saints, if I know, nature is keen, he is often witty and al-
be any manner of manes. ) »
ways humorous. In no
an imi-
tator, Mr. Norris's style and manner
Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs.
remind one of Thackeray, chiefly per-
Aleshine, The, by Frank R. Stock-
haps in the ease with which each artist
ton. This chronicle sets forth the curious
handles his material.
experiences of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Ale-
shine; two middle-aged widows, from a
little New England village, who, having Heart of Midlothian, The, by Sir
Walter Scott. "The Heart of Mid-
«means," decide to see the world and
lothian,' by many called the finest of the
pay a visit to the son of one of them,
Waverley novels, was published anony-
who has gone into business in Japan.
mously in 1818. It takes its name
On the steamer crossing the Pacific they
from the Tolbooth or old jail of Edin-
meet a young Mr. Craig, who tells the
story. The two ladies and Mr. Craig are
burgh (pulled down in 1815), where
Scott imagined Effie Deans, his heroine,
cast away in most preposterous circum-
to have been imprisoned. The charge
stances, on a lonely isle in mid-ocean.
against her is child murder, from which
Many of the scenes, like the escape from
she is unable to clear herself. Her half-
drowning of the two widows, are of the
sister Jeanie, though loving her devot-
very essence of true humor, of a gro-
edly, on the witness stand cannot tell
tesque form; and the story-teller's inven-
But
tion never once flags. The tale presents,
the lie which might save Effie.
when sentence of death is pronounced
intentionally of course, neither evolution
nor climax, but only a succession of the
on the unhappy girl, Jeanie shows the
oddest incidents. It is a good example
depth of her affection by going on foot
of Stockton's unique method of story-tell-
to London to get a pardon from the
King, through the influence of John,
ing – the matter extremely absurd and
Duke of Argyle. The latter obtains an
the manner extremely grave, the narra-
interview for her with Queen Caroline
tive becoming more and more matter-of-
and Lady Suffolk, and though at first the
fact and minutely realistic, as the events
case seems hopeless enough, she procures
themselves grow more and more incred-
the pardon. Before Jeanie has reached
ible.
home, Effie (whose pardon carried with
He
eaps of Money, by W. E. Norris, it banishment from Scotland) has eloped
1877, was the earliest of that clever with George Staunton, her lover. The
author's stories, and won instant favor sisters who had last met when Effie was
from competent critics. The heroine, sitting on the bench of the condemned,
Linda Howard, an earl's granddaughter, do not meet again for many years, when
spends her young life wandering about Effie reappears as Lady Staunton, a
the Continent with her somewhat dis- woman of fashion. Her husband has
reputable father, who ekes out a slender succeeded to a title, and no one but her
## p. 153 (#189) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
153
ness
success.
sister knows her as the former Effie labyrinth of events; but the interest lies
Deans. By a strange combination of cir- in the development of character under
cumstances, Jeanie, now married to a conditions supplied by an untried en-
Presbyterian minister, learns that Effie's vironment. The scope of the book is
son is alive. He had been given by wide and the detail extremely minute.
Meg Murdockson, who attended Effie in
her illness, to an unscrupulous woman. His Father's Son, published in 1896,
Sir George Staunton, on learning these
by James Brander Matthews, is a
facts, anxious to discover his son, traces
novel dealing with the latter-day aspects
him to a certain troop of vagabonds, of
of Wall Street speculation, the social
which Black Donald is chief. In an af-
influences directly or indirectly traceable
fray growing out of the effort to arrest
to the spirit of respectable gambling. A
Black Donald, Sir George is shot by a
stern father of Puritan stock, uncom-
young lad called “the Whistler,) who
promisingly orthodox, even harshly just
to himself and others, in all other mat-
later proved to be the lost son. Lady
ters but those associated with deals in
Staunton, overcome by the tragedy, after
futures and in the stock market gener-
vain efforts to drown her grief in so-
ciety retires to a convent in France.
ally, has a son who inherits from his
Although she takes no vows, she remains
mother a disposition facile, impression-
there until her death. Her influence at
able, morbidly sensitive to moral ques-
court accomplishes much for the child-
tions, and devoid of the iron strength of
ren of her sister Jeanie. The husband
will that has produced his father's busi-
of the latter, Reuben Butler, has been
The son, gradually dis-
given a good parish by the Duke of Ar-
covering his father's inability to see or
gyle, whom Jeanie Deans's heroism had
confess any moral lapse or dishonesty
in business methods that trade upon un-
made a friend for life.
(The Heart of Midlothian) is notable
certainty and just cleverly evade legal
for having fewer characters than any
responsibility, gradually disintegrates
others of Scott's novels. It has also a
throughout morally and goes to ruin.
smaller variety of incidents, and less de-
The stress and stir of a great city mir-
scription of scenery. One of the most
rors itself here, as in Mr. Matthews's
other efforts in fiction,– (The Story of a
remarkable scenes in all fiction is the
meeting of the two sisters in prison un-
Story and Other Stories ); Vignettes of
Manhattan); and (Tom Paulding,' an
der the eyes of the jailer Ratcliffe.
The plot was suggested to Scott by
excellent boys' tale, full of interest for
the story of Helen Walker, who unable
younger readers.
to tell a lie to save a sister's life, really | His Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke.
walked barefoot to London, and secured This thrilling tale, which was pub-
a pardon by the help of John, Duke of lished in 1876, sets forth the working
Argyle.
and results of the English system of
transportation. It is the story of a con-
Dr. Sevier, by George W. Cable (1882), vict in Australia. It opens in England.
is one of the author's group of stories In 1827 Lady Devine confesses to her
of life in New Orleans. The time of the husband that he is not the father of her
action is just before the war, when the son, now 22 years old, who is the child
city was at the height of its prosperity.
of Lord Bellasis. Her husband agrees
Dr. Sevier, the brusque, laconic, skillful, to keep her secret if her son Richard
kind-hearted physician, is less the central quits the house forever. Richard is sup-
figure than his young beneficiary, John posed to sail for India in a ship which
Richling, the son of a rich planter, who is burned, with all on board; but in
having estranged his family by marrying reality, on leaving the house he stum-
a Northern girl, has come to the me- bles over the dead body of Bellasis, is
tropolis of the South to earn his living. discovered beside it, accused of the mur-
The struggle of the Richlings, unequipped der, and transported to Australia, where
for the battle of life, against poverty
he suffers tortures as a convict, escapes,
and sickness, forms the plot of the story, and is recaptured several times. During
which is glowing with local color and one of these escapes he saves the life of
filled with personages peculiar to the Lieutenant Frere and Sylvia Vickers,
place and time. T is no plot in the set on shore by mutineers to die. Once
sense of a complicated play of forces, or in safety, Frere takes all the credit to
## p. 154 (#190) ############################################
154
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
now
himself; and Rufus Dawes, as Richard
is
called, is again imprisoned.
Sylvia, recovering from fever, forgets
everything, and marries Frere, believing
him her savior. Rex, a fellow-convict,
discovers Dawes's identity, escapes to
England, impersonates him, and enjoys
his wealth, Sir Richard having died
before he could disinherit him. Lady
Devine discovers the imposture, and tells
him that Richard was son of Bellasis
and heir to nothing. He confesses that
he too was the son of Bellasis, and com-
mitted the murder for which Richard
suffers. Sylvia learns to know her hus-
band's cruel nature, and sails for Eng-
land. Richard escapes, secretes himself
on board the same ship; a storm arises;
he tries to save her, but they perish to-
gether.
after graduating from the medical school,
becomes a struggling doctor. McGregor,
visiting his nephews, is shocked by what
he hears of Thirlmore's church, and is
charmed with Trent's little daughter
Jean, who reminds him of his idolized
sister of the same name. He alters his
will, in which he had bequeathed his
wealth to the prosperous minister, and
transfers his property to Trent to be
held in trust for Jean. At his death,
Trent's family acquire the comforts so
long denied them. Thirlmore's church
breaking up soon afterwards on account
of financial difficulties, he retires with
his wife to the Vermont farm, there to
pass the remainder of his days. The
chief motive of the book seems to be
a study in heredity, and a certain re-
pulsion exercised upon each other by
relatives through the very characteris-
ties which they derive from their com-
mon ancestry.
His
is Majesty Myself, by W. M. Baker.
This clever and striking story was
originally published in the No Name)
series in 1879. It attracted unusual at-
tention, partly because it was supposed
to portray the character of a preacher
who was at the time making a sensa-
tion by his somewhat extravagant meth-
ods of preaching. Donald McGregor,
arriving in New York a poor Scotch
immigrant, prospers by industrious at-
tention to business, and sends home for
his two sisters, Elspeth and Jean. Jean,
his favorite, marries Stephen Trent, a
planter, who takes her to his South-
ern home. Elspeth soon after marries
Mr. Thirlmore, a Vermont farmer, who
shortly dies, leaving her a widow with
one son; and McGregor, selling his city
business, settles down on the farm with
her. Mrs. Trent also has a son about
the same age as her sister's, who is
left an orphan at the age of sixteen,
and is taken by his uncle to his North-
ern home.
The two cousins develop
opposite characteristics: Trent is emo-
tional and sensitive, while Thirlmore is
dull, undemonstrative, self-seeking, and
obstinate. The cousins prepare for and
enter college together, at Old Orange.
After their graduation they meet and
marry two sisters, Peace and Revel Van-
dyke. Thirlmore, whose sole aim is self-
advancement, enters the ministry; and
being called to the city, builds up a
large parish, attracting audiences, appar-
ently by his utter lack of reference to
the Bible in sermons, nd by
discourses on popular matters. Trent,
Hon.
on, Peter Sterling, The, by Paul Lei-
cester Ford (1896), is a distinctly
American novel. As a political story, it
shows a grasp on municipal politics; and
as a novel, insight into the human heart.
It introduces its hero as a Harvard stu-
dent in the early seventies. His father
has been a mill overseer, and Peter does
not belong to the fashionable New York
set, to which he is admitted through a
favor which he has done by chance for
Watts d'Alloi, its leader and the hand-
somest man in his class. In spite of
striking differences in character and cir-
cumstances, the two become firm friends.
Soon after his graduation, Peter falls in
love; but when he is refused, persuades
himself to be the cheerful best man at
the lady's wedding. He begins to prac-
tice law in New York, gains clients
slowly, becomes favorite with his
neighbors, and enters politics, becoming
in time a (boss. ) But Peter is a boss »
with clean hands and a pure heart, and
the aim of the author is to show what
might be accomplished in politics by
men of this high stamp. Nor in his
new employment does Peter neglect his
profession. On the contrary, he rises to
great dignity and a large income. The
character of Peter Sterling is finely
drawn, and many of the minor actors in
the story are true to life: Miss De Voe,
Ray Rivington, Dorothy Ogden, Bohl-
man the brewer, Dummer his attorney,
and the various politicians in whom
a
## p. 155 (#191) ############################################
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
155
to
on
many persons will recognize real por- | Lºv
ove and Quiet Life, by Walter Ray-
.
mond. The scene of this pleasing
story is laid in the little village of Sut-
Roman
oman Singer, A, by Francis Ma- ton, Somersetshire, in the early part of
rion Crawford. (1884. ) Nino Car- this century. James Burt, a retired cler-
degna, the Roman singer, is the adopted gyman of gentle breeding, leads a life
son of Cornelio Grandi, who tells the of solitude and study, his only compan-
story. Cornelio is the last of the Conti ion being his daughter Marion. A young
Grandi, and has been forced to sell clergyman named Percival is called to
his estate at Serveti and pursue a pro- the parish in the village, and his mod-
fessor's life at Rome. Nino has the ern ideas arouse suspicion in the minds
audacity to fall in love at first sight of the simple villagers, who believe him
with Hedwig, daughter of Count von be a papal emissary in disguise.
Lira. Won by the beautiful tenor voice, During this period of unpopularity he
Hedwig fully returns his love. They is championed by the Burts, and falls in
arouse the suspicions of the father, a love with Marion, who does not recipro-
(cold, hard, narrow man, who secretly cate his affection, but gives her heart to
carries his daughter to an obscure castle a young man named Hensley, who has
in the Abruzzi.
recently come, a stranger, to the village.
Nino searches Paris and London in Hensley's agreeable manners and knowl-
vain for a trace of Hedwig. Meanwhile edge of the world at first appeal to Mr.
his father gets a hint of the probable Burt, as well as to his daughter; but be-
whereabouts of the Liras, and imme- fore long he learns through Percival that
diately starts a search for them. Hensley has led a life of dissipation and
Careful inquiries extract the desired in- is addicted to gambling. He breaks the
formation. He takes up his abode near news to Marion, who confesses her love
the castle, and at last, by enormous for Hensley. Her father then tells her
bribes to a servant, secures an inter- the sad history, which she has never be-
view with Hedwig. From her he learns fore known, of her own mother, who
of her great unhappiness; of her father's ran away from her home with one of
purpose to keep her a prisoner until her husband's trusted friends. Marion,
she consents to marry Benoni, a rich shocked at this disclosure, agrees to give
Jew; and of her own determination up her lover, and prepares to devote her
never to yield.
life to her father. Soon after this Mr.
When Nino arrives he seeks the count, Burt dies, and Marion's thoughts again
and asks for his daughter's hand. He revert to her lover Hensley; but she
is refused, and thereupon determines to finds that he has betrayed a young vil-
take her away without her father's con- lage girl, whom she takes under her pro-
sent, if it is her own wish. Hedwig tection, and relinquishing all thoughts of
succeeds in escaping to Nino by an un- marriage, devotes herself to the care of
used stair and door. On mules that are the woman and her child. Mr. Percival
in readiness they climb the Abruzzi to still loves Marion, and would gladly
points that horses cannot reach. After marry her; but she prefers to live on
being married at a little village in the with the memories of her first and only
mountains, they return to Rome, where love.
there are interesting scenes with the In this story the author has shown
old count, who refuses to be reconciled, himself a faithful student of the West
and with Benoni, who turns out to be Country folk, and he has presented a
insane.
truthful picture of a phase of English
The story ends with the prospective life which he realized to be rapidly pass-
return of Grandi to his old estate at ing away. He has gone straight to na-
Serveti. The charm of this book is ture and to human life for his material,
in its good, healthy romance,
its hon- has searched for the old and quaint, and
est, straightforward love-making with- has presented nothing that he has not
out mawkish sentimentalism. With its found. The work is refreshing, and
strong Italian atmosphere, and its in- characterized by keen penetration, hu-
genious situations following one another mor, and delicacy of touch, and is en-
in quick succession, it carries us quite dowed with rare tenderness. It was first
out of ourselves. The characters are published in 1873. He has since written
strongly and consistently drawn.
the novel (Misterton's Mistake. )
## p. 156 (#192) ############################################
156
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on
Cranford, by Mrs. Gaskell
. Cranford and is sent to a city school to complete
is a village in England (identified her education. Among her suitors is
as Knutsford); and the story of the quaint Murray Bradshaw, a lawyer possessed of
old ladies there-- who scorned the «vul- the secret that under an old will she is
garity of wealth and practiced elegant | likely to come into a large fortune. He
economy)— is told by Mary Smith, a plots to win her, but is balked by Profes-
sympathetic and discerning young person sor Gridley; and she gives her love to
from the neighboring town of Drumble. Clement Lindsay, who joins the army
During her first visits in the village stately and rises to the rank of Colonel. During
Miss Deborah Jenkyns is alive; but the war she goes with him to the front;
afterwards she dies, leaving her gentle and “In the offices of mercy which she
sister Miss Matty to battle with life and performed (in the hospital)
its problems alone. Miss Matty lives the dross of her nature seemed to be
comfortably, and is able to entertain
burned away.
The conflict of mingled
her friends in a genteel way, until the lives in her blood had ceased. ) Dr.
bank fails, and then she is obliged to Holmes's characteristic wit is shown in
keep a little shop and sell tea. In the end many of the shrewd sayings of the kindly
her long-lost brother Peter comes home old Professor and other characters, and
from India with money enough to enable his delightful enthusiasm makes the book
her to live as becomes a rector's daughter.
