Life — April 13, 1893 — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LIFE A REMEDY FOR THE SPIRITS. I F anybody is suffering from an acute attack of high spirits and has been given up by the doctors and really begins to look about for a remedy, he might do worse than to peruse the short stories by Mr. F. J. Stimson, as collected in “ In Three Zones " and * The Sentimental Calendar” (Scribners). “In Three Zones” is a brand new book just out. “ The Sentimental Calendar" has been out for some time, but be- ing now newly set forth in a fresh cover, it deserves re- newed attention. There are twelve tales in it, one for each month, with an introduction to explain what Major Brandy- ball meant when he called them “ funny stories,” and they are assisted and set off by thirteen meritorious head-pieces by Mr, F. G. Attwood. The stories are not all such very sombre reading. The nar- rative of Mr. Pillian Wraye’s experiences in the effort to raise the Devil is not without diverting passages, and there is some actual fun in the “ Diary of A Hong-Kong Mer- chant.” But “ The Bells of Avalon,” and “ The First Love- Letter,” and “ Bill Shelby,” are fit to do the work of an im- paired liver in the organization of any reader. There are other tales that calm the spirits without depressing them. Such are, the drama of the ‘‘ Two Passions and a Cardinal Virtue,” the narrative of the engaged gentleman who had the unspeakable misfortune to meet his affinity in a summer hotel, the story of the letter that never came (at least not until a long time afterwards) and that of “ Mrs. Knollys” who had to endure a coolness of forty-five years duration, between herself and the husband whom she loved. These last four middling sorrowful stories are especially worthy of attention. In particular the one about “Our Consul at Carlsruhe,” (the man who met his affinity) should be read by all young men, and engaged young men especially, not only because of its merits as a tale, which are unquestionable, but for the lesson it teaches of the hazards which beset the interval prior to a man’s wedding day, when he is neither bond nor free, but a prey to all the disadvantages of both conditions. It is bad for a married man to meet his affinity, but the law is on his side, and he can turn upon her savagely and shoo her off; but for one who is merely betrothed, it is —well, it must be about what Mr. Stimson describes, and the victim is fortunate, indeed, if nothing worse happens to him than a consulship. As for the story of “ Mrs, Knollys,” no one who reads that can ever quite forget it, and it is high praise to say that. “In Three Zones " has as much variety to it as its com- panion volume, but it is all packed into three stories, all good and all interesting, but extremely different. Dr. Materialismus” is a story of the State of Maine, uncanny, metaphysical and tragic. “An Alabama Courtship,” is a hundred pages long, and lively and amusing all the way. “Los Caraquenos" is a Central American story and is so sad that when you have read it you will be ashamed to remember that you ever smiled or made a joke. Yet you will be glad 1read it, for it is worth the anguish and the time, even t.ough, as a rule, you do not like sad stories. There is one thing that is to the credit of the gloomier narratives in both of Mr. Stimson’s volumes, and that is that all the people in them, who have unlucky experiences, are fairly grown-up. Not an innocent has been slaughtered in either book, and after all the slaughter of innocents is the only literary crime against the spirits that is intolerable. Doesn't Mr. Stimson do a literary crime of another sort, though, when he speaks of “a stream which smells nastily?” If that is bad writing, as 1 believe, it is a flaw in a remarkably able and workmanlike literary exhibition. ELS. M. NEW BOOKS. New York: OUT.OF THE JAWS OF DEATH. By Frank Barrett. Cassell Publishing Company. The Patimy est. By Gilbert Augustin Thierry. New York: Cassell Publishing ‘ompany, How to Know the Wild Flowers, By Mrs. William Starr Dana, trated by Marion Satterlee. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Daily Dinners. By Nancy Lake. London and New York: Frederick Warne and Company. The Reverend Melancthon Poundex, Robert J. Belford. A Little Minx, By Ada Cambridge. Company. Illus- By Donn Piatt. Chicago: New York: D. Appleton and CONCLUSIVE. Nervous Old Party: WALL HE BITE? Nervy Salesman: THEY AIN'T NO BITE TO IT. N.O. P.: Wutat's 17s NAME? MAROUERITE. O. P.: BUT IT’S HEAD 1S SO LARGE. ‘. A SIGN OF ONUSUAL INTELLERGENCE. 0. Pt WHat 18 17? N.S: A TOY TERRIER. 0. P.: 1S 17 PURE BREED? N.S.: ITOUGHTER TER BE, I RAISED IT FROM A TOY MERSELF ! comicbooks.com