Life — April 21, 1904 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

AS an all-around mental tonic there are few better contemporary formulas thar James Huneker's critical essays, Imaxina- tion, a wide mental sympathy, a tremendous gift of expression, and withal an antiseptic grace of self-quizzical humor that saves him at the last from taking either him- self or others in too deadly seriousness, are their chief ingredients, His Over- tones. A Book of Temperaments is ¢ lightfully stimulating, from his gen inely: glowing enthusiasm for Richard Strauss to his attempt to persuade him: self that he admires that artistic beast, George Moore. There are certain insects that periodic~ ally suspend the normal functions of life, and, deliberately gorging themselves upon selected raw material, turn for the nonce into factories, They are the pro- totypes of the modern historical novelist. The Harvesters is the result of this form of activity on the part of Aubray Lan- ston, Beau Brummel, his fat friend, the First Gentleman of Europe, and other old matter have been macerated and molded into new form—a papier-machi romance. It is far otherwise, however, with Mrs. Henry Dudeney’s novel, The Story of Susan. A tale of early Vie- torian days this, with a haunting old- fashioned sachet, the scent of honest pollen, and no rank counterfeit of syn- Mrs. Dudeney’s touch is s deep, and, to quote Susan's own Methodists, she ‘has the root of the matter in her.” thetic science, light, but she much-heralded cataclysm, the eneral European war, ever be- falls, how will the presses supply the volumes of information, his- torical, statistical and prophetic, which are now war's inevit- le concomitants ? At present Japan has the stage, and a new edition, in one huge volume, of Mrs. Hugh Fraser's Lesters from Japan, affords the best kind of browsing to the fashion- ably curious. Mrs, Fraser spent three years at the British Embassy in Tokio, and wasted none of her opportunities as an observer of Japanese officialdom and “top-side” society, Lafcadio Hearn’s new book, Aveaidan, is also in good season, This contains more of his ec- lectic translations from Japanese ghost lore, much that is dull, but several frag- ments of great beauty, and emphasizes his temperamental and literary qualifica- tions as an interpreter of the Orient. AMELIA WAS LOVED BY TWIN 1 eY COMPLETELY CUT OUT ALL THE Os. BUT AMELIA WAS LOT TO MARRY THEM DOTM, 90 SME STILL MANGS AROUND AT MER MO"S. FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE ST. PETER LOOKED GROUCHY, SAID HE: “COE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE MRATR StH 5 MERE'S THIS FLIP NEW YORK KID, WITH A THT TO IS 13, ASKING ME TO GIVE HIM A MIGHT-KEY !? HE THOUGHT HE KNEW BEST. BILLY'S WIYE HANDED MIM _A TENSPOT, SHE TOLD 1M TO PLAY A LONG SHOT. NE PLAVED A BUT A LONG SHOT ROMPED IN. WHAT M18 WIFE HAD TO SAY WAS A LOT! VORITE TO WIN, It would hardly seem that the experiences of a wandering promoter and engineer in the unknown and uncared-about regions of Cen- tral America would catch or hold the interest. Yet a volume by Francis C, Nicholas, called Around the Caribbean and Across Panama, hides somewhere in its unaffected narrative the secret of tempting the reader to follow on and on to the end, where he will find himself with a clearer idea of tropical wildernesses than he ever had before. The smartest bit of advertising of the year is found in the title of what is called the personal pronoun novel— /, in Which a Woman Tells the Truth About Herself, ‘The improbable is always alluring; moreover, the book is not a bad bit ot fiction. The authorship is said to be a mystery, but we are in- clined to believe, since it is evident from the text that a woman did not write the story, and quite certain that no man could have written it, that the author is Edward Bok J. B. Kerfoot. Overtones. A Book of Temperaments, Wy James Huneker. (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.25.) The Harvesters, By Aubray Lanston. (RL H, Russell.) The Story of Susan. By Mrs. Henry Dudeney. (Dodd, Mead and Company $1.50.) Letters from Japan. By Mrs, Hugh Fraser, (The Ma€millan Company. $3.00.) Kwaidan. By Lafcadio Hearn. (Hough- ton, Mifflin and Company. $1.50.) Trownd Caribbean and teres Panama. My Francis C. Nicholas, (H.M Caldwell Co $2.09.) Lin Whick a Woman Tells the Truth About Herse(f. (D. Appleton and pany. $1.90) No Live-Pigeon Shoots for Jersey. T is announced at this writing that the Legislature of New Jersey will be called to meet in special session to pass a law pro- hibiting the use of live pigeons in shootin matches. Such a law was passed by the New Jersey Assembly at the late session, but was smothered in committee in the Sen- ate by William Howard Crosby Jackson. Jackson promised David Baird, legislative agent for a couple of gun clubs, that he would not report the bill to the Senate, and he didn’t. The session closed without the bill being passed. Bat immediately a how! went up all over Jersey. The Jerseymen want that bill to become a law, and the Gov- ernor is going to try to gratify them This is delightful. It is a case of the people beating the lobby, which is gratifying. And on its merits the bill ought unquestionably to be passed. There is no excuse for live-pigeon shoots, That sort of Dird slaughter is disgusting, Moreover, in these parts it is outgrown. No decent sports: man countenances it any longer. Clay pigeons answer the purposes of marksman- ship perfectly well, and sportsmanlike per. sons prefer them. William Howard Crosby Jackson over- did his job, and is said to be repentant. Faugh ! comicbooks.com