No More Learning

move. «One group succeeds another,
and not a single figure appears in any
Felix Holt, the Radical, by George of them, though it be ever so far in the
Eliot (Mrs. Lewes). (1866. ) As a background, which is not perfectly drawn
picture of upper middle-class and indus-
and perfectly colored. ”
trial English life of the period of the
Reform Bill agitation, this book is unsur-
First Violin, The, a noteworthy mu-
passed. If the critics who set George sical novel by Jessie Fothergill (1877),
Eliot highest as a delineator of character describes the romantic experiences of an
find the story clogged with moralities, English girl, May Wedderburn, while
and hindered by its machinery, the crit- she is studying music in Germany. Al-
ics who value her most for her pictures though the plot is somewhat conven-
of life and nature rank Felix Holt' tional, a certain freshness or enthusiasm .
among her best achievements. It is in the composition of the book endows
bright in tone, it shows little of the it with vitality. The heroine leaves
underlying melancholy of George Eliot's home to avoid marriage with
a Sir
nature, and its humor is rich and per- Peter Le Marchant. She is enabled to
vading. Its hero, Felix Holt, is a young do this through an elderly neighbor,
workman whose capacity might attain Miss Hallam, whose sister has been
anything, if his overpowering conscience the first wife of Sir Peter, and has been
would let him conform to the ways of a cruelly treated by him. As Miss Hal-
comfort-loving world. But he is as much lam's companion, May goes to Elberthal
re-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
on the Rhine near Cologne, one of those and run away, taking refuge in the de-
little German towns given up to music. serted Dench house (the estate of Sir
On the journey thither, Miss Wedder- Charles Henry Frankland), where they
burn is separated by accident from her are found and returned to the village
traveling companions. A good-looking by Horace's uncle and Sam Lawson,
stranger comes to her assistance. He the village do-nothing, a quaint charac-
proves to be Eugen Courvoisier, first ter whose droll actions and sayings en-
violin in the orchestra, a
man about liven the whole book.
whom is the fascination of mystery. Tina is then adopted by Miss Mehit-
Taking offense at a supposed discourt- able Rossiter, daughter of the former
esy of the beautiful young English girl clergyman of the parish, while Harry is
whom he had protected, he refuses to under the patronage of Lady Lothrop.
recognize her. She, for her part, is al- On Easter Sunday, the children, with
ready in love with him. By the kind- Horace, are taken in her great coach, by
ness of Miss Hallam, she remains in Lady Lothrop, to Boston, where they
Elberthal to have her voice cultivated, attend service at King's Chapel, and
and her lessons in music and in love meet prominent people in the city.
go on until the happy ending of the They make the acquaintance of Ellery
story. Her love is put to the touch by Davenport, a former officer in the Con-
the supposed dishonor of Courvoisier, tinental army whose characteristics closely
but bears the test without failing. "The resemble those of Aaron Burr. He rec-
First Violin) abounds in dramatic de- ognizes the Percivals as belonging to
scriptions of musical life in a small an excellent family, and finally secures
Rhine city, and makes the reader pleas- a valuable English inheritance for the
antly at home in middle-class German children. Henry, after leaving college,
households, where he learns to respect, returns to England to manage his estate,
if he does not admire, middle-class Ger- and finally takes orders in the Church
man respectability and calm content. of England. Tina is married to Ellery
If the book has the sentimentality of Davenport; but immediately after the
youth, its romance is altogether innocent ceremony Emily Rossiter, whose myste-
and pleasing.
rious disappearance some years before
was a cause of intense grief to her fam-
Old Town Folks, by Harriet Beecher ily, returns from Europe, confronts El-
Stowe. This work was published lery, and tells how he allured her from
The scene is Old Town; the home to live with him out of wedlock.
time, a period just succeeding the Revo- Tina adopts Emily's daughter, and goes
lution. A description of Natick, the old abroad with her husband. After their
Indian Mission town, and its famous return to America, Ellery devotes him-
Parson Lothrop, — whose stately bear- self to public affairs, and is eventually
ing, whose sermons in Addisonian Eng- killed in a political duel. Two years
lish, and whose scholarly temperament, later, Horace Holyoke is united to his
marked him as a social and intellectual first love, Tina. The story chiefly lives
leader,– introduces the story.
in the character of Sam Lawson.
« Lady» Lothrop, the parson's wife,
at the time of her marriage stipulated Count Robert of Paris, by Sir Walter
that she should be permitted to attend
Scott The scene is laid in Con-
Episcopal services on Christmas, Easter, stantinople during the reign of Alex-
and other great days of the church. ius Comnenus (1080-1118). The hero
Horace Holyoke, nominally author of the is a French nobleman who with his wife,
book, is left an orphan when a
Brenhilda, has gone on the first Crusade
boy. He tells how the views of Cal- (1196-99). While dining at the palace they
vinists and Arminians, and great ques- are separated by the Emperor's treachery,
tions of freedom and slavery, were freely and the Count is thrown into prison, from
discussed at the village gatherings.
which he releases himself with the assist-
Henry and Tina Percival, English or- ance of the Varangian Hereward the
phans, were consigned respectively to Saxon. Brenhilda, in the mean while, is
old Crab Smith and to Miss Asphyxia exposed to the unwelcome attentions of
Smith, illustrations of the malign influ- the Emperor's son-in-law, Nicephorus Bri-
ence of a misplaced adherence to the ennius, whom she challenges to combat.
old theology. The children are ill-treated When the time for the duel comes, Count
in 1869.
(
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
139
Robert appears himself; in the absence ! latter had disinherited the father of Con-
of Briennius Hereward engages him and ingsby for marrying an amiable girl of
is overcome, but his life is spared in return less exalted station than his own. Their
for his past services. While the interest orphan son is now entirely dependent on
is centred in the fortunes of the hero and
his grandfather. Lord Monmouth, though
Hereward, these are closely connected with showing little affection for the boy, is gen-
the conspiracy of the false philosopher erous to him. He sends him to Eton and
Agelastes, Briennius, and Achilles Tatius, to Cambridge, and has him often visit
the commander of the Varangian Guard, him at his town-house or his Castle. These
to dethrone the Emperor. The plot is visits bring the boy in contact with many
exposed by Hereward, who refuses all re- interesting persons, such as the fascinat-
wards, and joins Count Robert and Bren- ing Sidonia, in whom Disraeli paints his
hilda, in whose maid he has discovered his ideal Jew; the Princess Colonna, and her
old Saxon love Bertha. Other characters stepdaughter Lucretia, whom the Marquis
introduced are Anna Comnena, daughter marries; the Duke (who has been identi-
of Alexius and author of the Alexiad; fied as the Duke of Rutland), the sub-
the Patriarch of the Greek Church; Ursel, servient Rigby (in whom John Wilson
a former conspirator; Godfrey of Bouillon, Croker is supposed to be portrayed), and
and other leaders of the Crusade. Many a host of personages of high degree with
historical facts are altered for artistic ef- imposing titles.
There are
more than
fect. At the time of the story Anna was threescore characters in the book, and
only fourteen instead of over thirty, and part of its popularity came from people's
was not the heiress to the throne. The interest in identifying them with men
conspiracy anticipates her later attempt to and women prominent in English social
overthrow her brother John, and substitute and political life. Sidonia, the brilliant
her husband. The most striking scene is Jew, is said to be either Disraeli himself
the swearing allegiance by the Crusaders or Baron Alfred de Rothschild. Lucian
to the Emperor as overlord, in which Gay is Theodore Hook, and Oswald Mill-
Count Robert defiantly seats himself on bank is W. E. Gladstone. The Marquis
the throne with his dog at his feet. The of Monmouth is the Marquis of Hertford,
story was, with (Castle Dangerous,' the and Coningsby himself has been variously
last of the Waverley novels, having ap- regarded as a picture of Lord Littleton,
peared in 1831, the year before the au- Lord Lincoln, or George Smythe.
thor's death.
Some of the charm of Coningsby has
passed away with the waning interest in
Coningsby, by Benjamin Disraeli, Lord the political events which it describes.
Beaconsfield, published in 1844, when Its satire, however, is still keen, particu-
Disraeli was thirty-nine years old, was larly that directed against the Peers.
his sixth and most successful novel.
three months it had gone through three House of the Seven Gables, The, the
editions, and 50,000 copies had been sold
in England and the United States. It romances, follows the fortunes of a de.
was a novel with a purpose: the author cayed New England family, consisting of
himself explained that his aim was to four members, — Hephzibah Pyncheon,
elevate the tone of public life, to ascertain her brother Clifford, their cousin Judge
the true character of political parties, and Pyncheon, and another cousin, Phæbe, a
especially to vindicate the claims of the country girl.
At the time the story opens
Tories. Incidentally he wished to empha- Hephzibah is living in great poverty at
size the importance of the church in the the old homestead, the House of the
development of England, and he tried to Seven Gables. With her is Clifford, just
do some justice to the Jews. The story released from prison, where he had
opens in the spring of 1832, on the very served a term of thirty years for the
day of the resignation of Lord Grey's supposed murder of a rich uncle. Judge
ministry. This gives Disraeli a good op- Pyncheon, who was influential in obtain-
portunity for a dissertation on the politics ing the innocent Clifford's arrest, that
of the time, including the call of the Duke he might hide his own wrong-doing, now
of Wellington to the ministry. The seeks to confine him in an asylum on
hero, Coningsby, at this time a lad of ten, the charge of insanity. Hephzibah's piti-
is visiting his grandfather, the rich and ful efforts to shield this brother, to sup-
powerful Marquis of Monmouth. The port him and herself by keeping a cent-
In


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140
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
one
man
shop, to circumvent the machinations of her on board the yacht that is his home.
the judge, are described through the While cruising off the Skelligs, they res-
greater portion of the novel. The sud- cue a raft-load of perishing people, who
den death of the malevolent cousin frees have escaped from a burning vessel.
them and makes them possessors of his Dorothea nurses
whom she
wealth. A lighter episode of the story is considers a sailor, but who proves to be
the wooing of little Phæbe by Holgrave, Mr. Giles Brandon. On his recovery he
a lodger in the old house. The House invites Dorothea and her brother to his
of the Seven Gables) has about it the home, where she meets Valentine, Mr.
same dreamy atmosphere that envelops Brandon's volatile young stepbrother.
Hawthorne's other novels. The usual He is very friendly to Dorothea, and
background of mystery is supplied in the makes love to her in jest, which finally
hereditary curse resting upon the Pyn- becomes earnest, though he makes no
cheon family. Hephzibah, the type of pretense at passion. As his health is
ineffectual, decayed aristocracy, the sen- delicate, he is going to settle in New
sitive feeble Clifford, the bright little Zealand, and begs Dorothea to marry
flower Phoebe, are prominent portraits him and accompany him. Being aban-
in the author's strange gallery of New doned by her uncle and brother, and
England types.
having no friends, the girl consents, but
on the wedding day Valentine does not
Europeans, The, an early, novel of
appear. He has fallen in love with
Henry James, describes the sojourn
another girl, and wishes to break the
of two Europeans, Felix Young and his
engagement with Dorothea, who is nat-
sister the Baroness Münster, with Ameri-
urally shocked, though fortunately her
can cousins near Boston. The dramatic
effects of the story are produced by the
heart is not deeply involved. Mr. Bran-
don shows her all sympathy, and soon
contrasts between the reserved Boston
explains that he has loved her from the
family, and the easy-going cosmopoli-
beginning, but has supposed that she
tans, with their complete ignorance of
cared for Valentine. She can hardly ac-
the New England temperament. To one
cept him at once when she has just been
of the cousins, Gertrude Wentworth, the
ready to marry another, but as her feel-
advent of Felix Young, with his foreign
nonchalance, is the hour of a great de-
ings subside she grows really to care for
him, and they are married in the end.
liverance from the insufferable boredom
of her suburban home. To marry Young, Egoist, The, by George Meredith, pub-
she rejects the husband her father has lished in 1879, is a fine illustration of
chosen for her, Mr. Brand, a Unitarian a complete novel without a plot. It is a
clergyman, who co oles himself with study of egotism. The egoist is Sir Wil-
her conscientious sister Charlotte. The loughby Patterne, of Patterne Hall, a con-
novel is written in the author's clean, summate young gentleman of fortune and
precise manner, and bears about it a rank, whose disposition and breeding make
wonderfully realistic atmosphere of a cer- him only too well aware of his perfections,
tain type of American home where plain and of his value in the matrimonial mar-
living and high thinking are in order. ket. He determines to choose his wife
The dreariness which may accompany prudently and deliberately, as befits the
this swept and garnished kind of life is selection of the rare creature worthy to
emphasized.
receive the gift of his incomparable self.
ff the Skelligs, by Jean Ingelow.
In describing the successive courtships by
which the egotism of the egoist is thrown
and has been much praised, though its
into high light, Meredith presents a most
rambling and disconnected style makes
natural group of fair women: the brilliant
Constantia Durham, Clara Middleton the
it very different from the intense and
analytic novel of to-day. There
“dainty rogue in porcelain,” and Lætitia
bright dialogues and good descriptions,
Dale with “romances on her eyelashes. »
the scenes at sea and in Chartres Cathe-
The curtain falls on the dreary deadness
dral being especially well done.
of Sir Willoughby's incurable self-satis-
faction.
Dorothea Graham loses her mother in
early childhood, and comes into the care Gran
randissimes, The, by George W.
of an eccentric old uncle, who keeps her
Cable. The Grandissimes, whose
in school for nine years, and then takes fortunes are here told, are
one of the
O,
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
141
leading families in Louisiana. The head line, and of her cousin Gabrielle, who
of the family is Honoré, a banker. He shares her home. The Comte de Sa-
has an older half-brother, a quadroon, of vigny, a young nobleman whose pride
the same name,
to whom the father in the untarnished record of his family
leaves the bulk of his property. For a is a distinguishing characteristic, and
long time there has been a feud between whose regard for truth is as pronounced
the Grandissimes and the De Grapions, as its absence is in Renée, asks and
heightened, eighteen years before, by the obtains her hand in marriage. Fearful
killing in a duel by Honoré's uncle, of losing him, she conceals the fact that
Agricola, of Nancanou, the husband of her uncle, who has been instrumental in
Aurora, the last of the De Grapions. bringing about the marriage, is living
The cause of the duel is a quarrel over under an assumed name and is a con-
a gambling debt, which involves the loss victed forger. Moved by the latter's
of Nancanou's whole estate. At the threats, she persuades her husband to
opening of the story, Aurora and her make him steward of his vast estates.
only daughter, Clotilde, are living in It is her life of duplicity, her anxieties,
carefully concealed poverty in New Or- fears, and the betrayal of her husband's
leans, in an apartment belonging to the faith, with which the story deals. The
elder Honoré. Joseph Frowenfeld is a truth is finally discovered, and a long
young German-American, who, without period of restraint, separations, and un-
his knowledge, has been nursed during kindness, ensues, ending at last in the
a fever by the Nancanous.
The story
serious illness of the young wife. The
develops the friendship of Honoré the reconciliation of Renée and the Comte
younger with Frowenfeld, their falling in is finally perfected in the rose garden,
love with mother and daughter, and the which gives the title to the story, - a
course of their wooing. Other characters bower of roses attached to the old châ-
prominently connected with the story are teau of Lestourde, the Comte's ancestral
the former domestic slave, Palmyre; Phi- home.
losophe; Dr. Keene, a friend of Frow- The story is delightfully told, in a
enfeld's; and Raoul Innerarity, the clerk perfectly natural style, and the charac-
of Frowenfeld and a typical young Cre- ters stand out in lifelike reality. Bits
ole. The final reconciliation of the hos- of local color, descriptions of the social
tile families and the marriage of the and family life of provincial France,
young people are brought about by the glimpses of Biarritz, Pau, Bayonne, and
intervention of the fiery old Agricola. other well-known places, are pleasing add-
The book is of special interest in show- itions to the central theme.
ing the attitude of the Creole population The story begins and ends with sun-
toward this country at the time of the shine; for as the author says, “Some
cession of the Louisiana Purchase to the lives are like sonatas: the saddest, slow-
United States. Its character-study is est part is in the middle. »
close, and the sub-tropical atmosphere of
place and people well indicated. It was
Heir
eir of Redclyffe, The, by Charlotte
Cable's first novel, being published in May Yonge, is a sad but interest-
1880.
ing love story, and gives a picture of the
home life of an English family in the
Rose
ose Garden, The, by Mary Frances country.
Peard, is a modern love-story, the Sir Guy Morville, the attractive young
of which is laid in Southern hero, leaves Redclyffe after the death of
France. Renée Dalbarade, young his grandfather, and becomes a member
French girl, who has been brought up of his guardian's large household. Many
by an indulgent mother, and given a incidents are related of his life there
superficial education in boarding- with Laura, Amy, and Charlotte, their
school, is the heroine. She has never lame brother Charles, and his own se-
been taught the value of sincerity; but, date, antagonistic cousin, Philip Morville.
inheriting the moral weaknesses of her At the end of three years he and Amy
mother, accepts the pleasing fabrications confess their love for each other; but as
of society as a necessity, and shuns truth he is still a youth, no engagement is
for its unpleasant aspect. She is, how- made, and at the advice of his guardian
ever, charming and lovable; the idol of he leaves Hollywell. Philip wrongly
her mother, of the quaint maid Jacque- | suspects Guy of gambling, and tells his
scene
a
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142
SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
а
guardian his suspicions. Guy has paid able as possible in order to get her best
his uncle's gaming debts, and when called expression. Thus poor little Guenn, the
upon for an explanation he is too gen- belle of Plouvenec, learns to love him;
erous to clear his character at his un- and when he departs for Paris without
cle's expense.
He is banished from time for a farewell to her, she is heart-
Hollywell, and returns to Redclyffe at broken. The tragical end of the story
the end of the Oxford term. At Red- follows naturally. The charm of Guenn)
clyffe Guy bravely rescues some ship- is its strong local color. The very work-
wrecked men after a storm at sea, and ings of the Breton mind are shown in the
before long his reputation is restored superstitions of the people and their bond-
by his uncle. He returns to Hollywell, age to tradition. The artist friends of
finds that Amy has been true to him, Hamor are well painted, as are the various
and they are married. They go abroad village people, Mother Quaper, Mother
for their wedding journey; and after a Nives, Madame of the Voyageurs, Jeanne
few weeks of mutual happiness, they Ronan, and the fishermen, good and bad.
learn that Philip is sick with a fever in Among all the characters the most digni-
Italy. Guy overlooks past injustice, they fied, the noblest, is Thymert, «recteur
go to him, and Guy nurses him through des Lannions,” an ideal parish priest.
severe illness. He takes the fever
himself and dies shortly afterwards, leav: Guerndale, by F. J. Stimson (“J. S. of
ing Amy to mourn his loss for the rest Dale»). (Guerndale) is the story
of her life. The story ends with the of the life of Guyon Guerndale recounted
marriage of Philip and Laura, who had by his friend John Strang of Dale, au
long been secretly engaged; and as Guy's early playmate and sincere friend. Guy
child is a girl, Philip inherits Redclyffe. is a silent, dreamy boy, whose life from
The two characters which stand out the first is overshadowed by hereditary
in the book are Guy Morville, generous, ill-fortune, which has clung to the family
manly, bright, and of a lovable disposi- of Guerndale since their ancestor, Sir
tion; and Philip, stern, honorable, self- Guyon brought disgrace upon his house
esteeming, and unrelentingly prejudiced by murdering his companion, Philip Sim-
against Guy,- until Guy's unselfish no- mons, during a quarrel about a diamond
bility of conduct forces him to humble that had been dug up while they were
contrition.
delving for precious metal. John Sim-
(The Heir of Redclyffe) is the most mons, Philip's father, had accompanied
popular novel Miss Yonge has written. Sir Godfrey Guerndale, as his trusted
It was published in 1853.
servant, when that disappointed supporter
of the Stuarts sought refuge in the New
Guenn, A Wave of the Breton Coast, World, and gave his name to the country
by Blanche Willis Howard, 1883, was settlement in Massachusetts, which was
received as the best story of the author long known as Guerndale and then as
of (One Summer,' nor has she since writ- Dale. From the time that Sir Godfrey's
ten anything to surpass it. The scene is worthless son, Sir Guyon, committed his
laid in the ancient town Plouvenec, with crime, the fortunes of the Guerndales
its one irregular street of crowded houses waned; while the house of Simmons
and its old fortress. Guenn herself, though waxed rich and prosperous, and its de-
not seventeen, works with the fisher girls scendants spelled their name Symonds.
of the place, packing sardines at the usine. Young Guy Guerndale has for his evil
Plouvenec has its artist colony, and the genius another Philip Symonds, a gay,
girls add to their scant incomes by serving good-natured good-for-nothing, whom he
as models. Guenn, however, refuses to admires and idealizes, and who blights
pose to Everett Hamor, a young Ameri- his life by marrying Annie Bonnymort,
can, who has set his heart on painting the woman Guy is passionately in love
her graceful figure and her great masses with. Annie has been Guy's companion
of brown, shining hair. At last, won by and playmate from childhood, and his
his kindness to her deformed brother Nan- one aspiration has been to win her for
nic, and influenced by her father, Hervé his wife. He is rudely awakened from
Rodelle, who covets her earnings, she his dream by hearing of her engagement
consents to pose.
Hamor never makes to his friend Philip, who desires her
love to her, but he is a man of charming money. Guy leaves America, and spends
individuality, who makes himself as agree- several years at the universities abroad.


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
143
Choi
more
He meets Annie and realizes that she is changed since the days of his bachelor-
unhappy, while she for the first time hood. Instead of speculating on the soul-
understands by intuition his unconfessed ful subjects which agitated his mental
love for her. Guy and his devoted friend, faculties at that time, he finds himself
Norton Randolph, join in the Turko-Rus- hopelessly entangled with the butcher,
sian war; and Guy, after displaying great the baker, the candlestick-maker, the
valor, is severely wounded in the second school-teacher, and the clergyman, and
assault of Plevna. While convalescent, is particularly interested in the size of
news reaches him of the death of Annie; his quarterly bill for boots and shoes.
and he succumbs to the shock and ex- The experiences of the couple when they
pires soon after, having made one final are first married and go to housekeeping
effort to hurl away the ill-fated diamond are described in an amusing way, and
which has been bequeathed to him, and the trials caused by Mary Ann and the
which proves to be but a crystal after cook are most realistic. A clever point
all.
In his creation of Guy the author in the story is where a second wedding
has embodied the spirit of chivalry journey is undertaken, but under decid-
which he claims still lives, though dis- edly different conditions, as there are
guised in the garb of modern civiliza- now four vigorous children to be left be-
tion. (Published in 1882. )
hind. The husband and wife anticipate
the freedom from care which their out-
hoir Invisible, The, by James Lane
ing will afford them; but while deriving
Allen, appeared in 1897, and is one
enjoyment from the trip, they both ac-
of his most popular and pleasing stories.
It was enlarged from an earlier story
knowledge that they are counting the
called John Gray. )
days until their return home. The re-
Its scene is the
flections close with the hope expressed
Kentucky of a hundred years ago. The
by the head of the family that the child-
hero is John Gray, a schoolmaster and
ren may be as happy as he and his
idealist, who, disappointed in his love
wife Josephine have been, despite the
for Amy Falconer, a pert, pretty, shallow
fact that their careers have been SO
flirt, gradually comes to care for Mrs.
much
Falconer, her aunt,
commonplace and prosaic
noble woman
in reduced circumstances, who with her
than they had anticipated in their youth-
ful days. The Reflections) were pub-
husband has left a former stately home
lished in 1892, and followed by The
in Virginia and come to live in the Ken-
Recollections of a Philosopher,' which
tucky wilderness. She loves him in re-
continue the family chronicles.
turn with a deep, tender passion that has
in it something of the motherly instinct
of protection" but, her husband being Ki
idnapped, by Robert Louis Steven-
was published in 1886, when
alive, she conceals her feeling from Gray
the author was thirty-six, and was his
until after he has departed from Lexing-
seventh work of fiction. In his own
ton and settled in another State. She
opinion, it was his best novel; and it is
then writes him to say she is free - and
generally regarded as one of his finest
he replies that he is married. But he
performances in romantic story-telling.
tells her in a final letter that she has
The full title reads: Kidnapped: Being
remained his ideal and guiding star to
Memoirs of the Adventures of David Bal-
noble action. The romantic atmosphere
four in the Year 1751); and the contents
and the ideal cast of these two leading
characters make the fiction very attract-
of the tale are further indicated on the
ive; and the fresh picturesque descrip-
title-page, thus: “How he was kidnapped
tions of pioneer life in Kentucky give
and Cast away; his Sufferings in a Des-
ert Isle; his Journey in the Wild High-
the tale historical value.
lands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck
Reflections of a Married Man, by Rob- Stewart and other notorious Highland
ert Grant. These entertaining “re- Jacobites; with all that he Suffered at
flections » chronicle in a humorous man- the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Bal-
ner the various experiences. perplexities, four of Shaws, falsely so called. ” David,
and amusing episodes, which occur in on his father's death, visits his uncle near
the daily life of a married couple at the Edinburgh, and finds him a miser and
present day. The husband reflects that villain, who, to get rid of his nephew,
at the age of thirty-five, being happily packs him off on the brig Covenant, in-
married, bis entire point of view has tending to have him sold in America.
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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
son.
mance.
In a
On shipboard he falls in with Alan, the twenty. In “Sortes,” at a New-Year's
dare-devil Jacobite, one of the most spir- party, Faith, who is a New England
ited and vivid characterizations of Steven- maiden, draws this oracle: -
David espouses the Stuart cause,
« Rouse to some high and holy work of love,
and in company with Alan has a series
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know. ”
of lively experiences narrated with great
swing and color. The fight in the round-
The story tells how she fulfilled this
house of the brig, the Aight in the
condition, and what was her reward.
heather from the red-coats of King
Her haps and mishaps, her trials and
George, and other scenes, are conceived
tribulations, her sorrows and her joys
and carried out in the finest vein of ro- (including two lovers who may be placed
After these wanderings, David,
in either category, as the reader pleases),
circumventing his rascally uncle, comes
are duly recorded, together with the ex-
into his own.
periences of her immediate circle. The
story is brightly told, and the desirable
Captains, Courageous, by Rudyard element of fun is not wanting. It is a
Kipling, published in 1897, is a study
good Sunday-school book, if Sunday-
in the evolution of character. The hero is
school books are meant to influence the
an American boy, Harvey Cheyne, the
behavior of the secular six days.
son of a millionaire, a spoiled little puppy,
but with latent possibilities of manliness Jan Vedder's Wife, by Mrs. Amelia
smothered by his pampered life. A happy Barr, is a story of life in the Shet-
accident to the boy opens the way for the
land Islands fifty years ago.
It is highly
development of his better nature.
dramatic, with a delightful breeziness of
fit of seasickness he falls from the deck atmosphere. The personages feel and
of a big Atlantic liner, and is picked think with the simple directness that
up by a dory from the Gloucester fish- seems a result of close contact with na-
ing schooner We're Here, commanded by ture. Jan Vedder, a handsome young
Disko Troop, a man of strong moral char- sailor, «often at the dance, seldom at
acter and purpose. This skipper is un- the kirk, marries Margaret, the daugh-
moved by Harvey's tales of his father's ter of rich Peter Fae. He is clever but
wealth and importance, nor will he con- self-indulgent, and fettered by inertia;
sent to take him back to New York until while Margaret is exacting, selfish, self-
the fishing season is over; but proposes satisfied, and thrifty to meanness. He
instead to put the boy to work on the needs money, and when she refuses to
schooner at ten dollars a month. This help him, draws her savings from the
enforced captivity is Harvey's regenera- bank without her knowledge. Then
tion. He learns to know the value of Margaret returns to her father's house,
work, of obedience, of good-will. He is and refuses to see him. From this point
sent back to his father as a boy really a double thread of interest attracts the
worth the expense of bringing up. Mr. reader, who follows the separated for-
Cheyne returns good office with good tunes of Jan and Margaret through
office by securing Troop's son, Dan, a years of unhappiness, poverty, and dis-
chance to rise as a seaman.
trust. The moral of the story is the
The simple story is told with a direct- danger of the sin of selfishness; and
ness and clarity characteristic Kipling, when the offending Adam is whipped
who appears so little in the pages of the out) of two struggling souls, the reader
book that they might be leaves from life shares their happiness. The local color
itself. The strength and charm of the is vivid, and the story delightfully
story lies in its rare detachment from simple.
the shackles of the author's personality,
and in its intrinsic morality. It is un: Metzerott, Shoemaker, a novel, by
Pearson Woods. The
marred by one dogmatic line, yet it is
permeated by an ethical atmosphere.
events of this striking socialistic story
Like the plays of Shakespeare, it is right-
take place within the last twenty years,
eousness.
in the American factory town of Mickle-
gard. Thoughtful discussions of
Faith Gartney's Girlhood, by Mrs. A. ligious and socialistic problems bring
D. T. Whitney, is a story for girls, together men of divers stations and
containing a record of their thought and varying opinions: Karl Metzerott, free-
life between the ages of fourteen and thinker, who intends to see the United
re-


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SYNOPSES OF NOTED BOOKS
145
impatient with the existing order, espe-
cially with the upper classes. The story
opens with scenes amidst the country
gentry and their dependents. Marcella
becomes engaged to Aldous Raeburn,
the son of a nobleman, but breaks the
engagement, partly through the influ.
ence of Wharton, a brilliant socialistic
demagogue. She goes to the city, and
by her intercourse with the poor, through
her work as a trained nurse, she learns
the difficulties in the way of enforced
social reform, and gradually comes to a
clearer appreciation of her early mis-
takes and the noble character of Al-
dous; with the result that she finally
returns to him. The novel contains
graphic sketches of the state of the
lower classes in England, rural and
urban, one of the dramatic incidents of
the plot being the trial and execution of
the poacher Hurd. The scenes in par-
liament, too, where Wharton's knavery
is exposed, are powerfully realistic and
effective. Marcella evolves into a noble
type of the higher womanhood, and the
story is one of the strongest and most
successful Mrs. Ward has written.
States of America one great commune;
Dr. Richards, who cannot believe in a
«God who leaves nine-tenths of his creat-
ures to hopeless suffering,” but who,
after his own wearisome illness and the
death of his crippled boy, begins to
understand that God has sent pain to
teach him; the Rev. Ernest Clare, who
sacrifices salary to opinions, and who
hopes to see the day when the Golden
Rule will be the socialist's motto); and
jolly Father McClosky with a heart full
of charity and good-will toward all men.
Metzerott's young wife has worked her-
self to death under the scourge of pov-
erty, leaving an only child, Louis, his
father's idol. Affairs begin to go better
with the shoemaker after a time, and in
conjunction with the Price sisters, poor
sewing women, and Anna Rolf, widow
of a broken-hearted inventor, he founds
a co-operative establishment which pros-
pers and becomes a feature of the city.
Now and again during the narrative the
love affairs of the young people come to
the surface, and the reader learns how
persistent Franz Schaefer won Polly
Price; how Gretchen, «to whom nothing
ever happened,” narrowly escaped ruin,
but was rescued and married out of
hand by the devoted Fritz Rolf; and how
millionaire Randolph's coquettish little
daughter, Pinkie, loved, then scorned,
then loved again, handsome Louis Met-
zerott, only to lose him at last. Mean-
while the seethings of discontent are at
work among the people. A disastrous
flood, from the bursting of a millionaire
club's fish-pond dam, incenses them; and
the death of poor, overworked Tina Kel-
lar, just as she might have enjoyed her
first taste of prosperity, provokes an out-
break. A furious mob, headed by Met-
zerott, marches to the house of Ran-
dolph, intent on destroying it and him.
But almost at the outset, a missent bullet
strikes down Louis Metzerott, and ends
the demonstration. The unhappy shoe-
maker is crazed with grief over his son's
death; but finally, through a hope of
rejoining him hereafter, is induced by
Clare to acknowledge a belief in God.
Marcella, by Mrs. Humphrey Ward, is
the writer's fourth novel, and was
published in 1894, when she was forty-
three years of age. It is the story of the
life of the heroine from her girlhood, when
she has vague dreams of social amelior-
ation, is ignorant of facts and unjustly
Deephaven, by: Sarah Orne Jewett.
Deephaven is an imaginary sea-
port town, famous for its shipping in the
old days, — like so many towns along
the northern coast of New England, -
and now a sleepy, picturesque old place
in which to dream away a summer. Kate
Lancaster and Helen Denis, two bright,
sympathetic girls, go to live in the Bran-
don house there; and the story tells of
the glimpses they get into New England
life, and the friendships they make, dur-
ing that summer. Mrs. Kew, of the
lighthouse, is the most delightful charac-
ter in the book, although Mrs. Dockum
and the alert «Widow Jim” prove to be
interesting neighbors. Mr. Lorimer the
minister, his sister Miss Honora Carew
and the members of her household, repre-
sent the gentlefolk of the town, and vis-
ionary Captain Sands, Isaac Horn, and
kind-hearted Danny the seafaring ones,
— not without Jacob Lunt condemned
as unseaworthy. ” Old Mrs. Bonny lives
in the woods beyond the town; and Miss
Chauncey, a pathetic old lady who has
lost her mind, lives alone in the village
of East Parish. When the leaves have
fallen and the sea looks rough and cold,
the two heroines close the old house and
return to their homes in the city,- the
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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
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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.