Life — February 24, 1898 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

A. THE EPISCOPAL SERVICE 18 THE MOST HEALTHC. IGGS: I see they have the Stars and $ es tloating y Hall to-d: Yes. There must bean American vis- iting the city Grices An Archdeacon on the Quar- ter-Deck. HOSE people who are always keeping a telescopic eye on the “present ten- dency” of American fiction—as though it were an individual with a moral nature— must get considerable satisfaction from certain signs of the times as to increasing breadth of treatment and serious value of subject. The Cross-roads style of fiction, with its painstakin boration of the infinitely little, has had its di Village gossip and family squabbles have ceased to be consid- ered matters of supreme importance as literary material, Some very good writers, mostly men, have gone to work with in- dustry and good taste to explore the his: tory of the country and make it the basis novels, That ‘King Noanett,” “Hugh Wynne,” and the short stories of Clinton Ross have succeeded in winning apprecia- tive audiences, is ample encouragement to others to weave American bistory and tradition intoftiction, Thomas Nelson Page's “Red Roc! is another example of an obscure period of history furnishing a dra- matic setting for a novel of serious impor- tance. It is probable that the present gen- ONE GETS MORE EXERCISE eration of readers will get its idea of Re- construction from Red Rock” rather than from the histories, * ° * VIGOROUS specimen of American his torical fiction from e is For Love of Count cribper), by Cyrus Townsend Brady. This fs for the most part a sea story—one of the most ditli- cult forms of fiction, To read on the title- page that the author is “Archdeacon of Pennsylvania” does not lead one to expect any great amount of realism in the fights, But Mr. Brady was an Annapolis man before he became an archdeacon, and knows much about a man-of-war as he does of a diocese. Besides, the famous Indian fighter, Captain Sam Brady, was one of his forebears, and his spirit crops out in the story with evident pleasure. When the archdeacon takes b the quarterdeck the ship mov story with it. The sea fights are convinc- ing to a landsma er the naval experts may say of them, The narrative is happily free from the unintelligible jar- gon that is usually considered an impor- tant part of sea stories, The famous battle of the Yarmouth and Randolph is the great scene of the novel, and is most stirringly pictured, On land the author follows the Trenton- Princeton campaign, and makes a dramatic chapter out of the death of Mercer. When real men, like Washington and Paul Jones, appear in the narrative, they do not seem to be lugged in, but are a significant part of the plot. Of course it is a love story. No hero ever went through the adventures and tor- tures inflicted in all historical novels with- out a faithful heroine to inspire his courage and support him in dire adversity, If heroines were held accountable for all the sea place on and the —whate' THAN AT OTHER PROTESTANT CHURCHES bloodshed that they have inspired in fiction, their reputations as sympathetic saints would be ruined, The fact seems to be that no man of fine instincts can slay people ruthlessly unless he is tremendously in love with a tender-hearted woman, ‘This novel is first of all a patriotic story, and the patriotism is not of the blustering sort, but is founded on bigh ideals of char- acter and conduct in private and public affairs—whieh is the only kind of patriotism that is of any importance to level-headed people, Droeh, The Path to Success. “© DOUBLE Murder!” “Suicide!” “Poison!” “ Arson!” “Death His Bride!” “Dead Man's Messag Slave!” rthquake!” Wave!” “Crushed to Death by Cable Car!” How to Run a Private Bar! “Prize Fight: Makes a Strange Woman in Hypnotic Tranc “smallpox!” “Ty phus!” Death! fan with Poison in His Breath! Pretty Actress Breaks Her ~ Russell Sage on ‘ How to Beg?!” + Frightful Deluge!” “ Holocaust!” “Railroad Smash-up, Ninety Lost!” “Cut in Two by Whirling Saw!” “Woman Smashed Her Husband's Jaw!” d Baby!” “Armless Man!” Strychnine Put in Milking Can!” “How I Murdered Ninety Men!” “Raving Dog that Mangled Ten!” “Woman Sampson!” “ Man Ate Glass “Blown to Atoms!” “Killed by Gas That's the kind of stuff we know Makes the Yellow Papers go. MeLandburgh Wilson, “Poor White “Landslide!” “Tidal Romance!” “Spott