Life — September 22, 1904 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

Correspondents may treat the subject in any way they prefer, humor- ously or seriously. All communications to be addressed to the Editor of Lire. HERE is every indication that Irving Bacheller's Vergilins, a Tale of the Coming of Christ, is to be one of the best This outlook would be amusing, were it not deplorable. Amusing, because the book, which is a featherweii romance of the courts of Augustus Casar and Herod the Great, is plainly addressed to that public which P, T, Barnum knew so well and pleased so cleverly, but deplorable because the story is covertly sensual, historically mislead- ing, and in its denouement smugly blasphe- mous sellers of the season, We have heard so much of the American novel,” and have been so con: ly put off with more or less excellent set- tional character studies, that an attempt like Robert M. Lovett's Richard Gresham is rendered doubly encouraging. The story of Richard, man and boy, is a well ed and most readable piece of fiction, and, while it is by no means the * great American novel,” it is greater than many, and more synthetically American than most of its fellows great ant Mr. Whittaker and Mrs, Whittaker and the Misses Whittaker, the chronicle of affairs makes up The Little Vanities of Mrs, Whittaker, by John Strange Winter, are middle-class Londoners seen at close range from a middle-class standpoint. Now to over- look the prairie one must at least climb and while the Whittakers would be enlivening if seen through the eyes of a satirist, or a philosopher, or a student of comparative humanity, they are, when viewed from their ‘own level, spontaneously and naively banal. whose *LIFE- Are Three American Women Out of Five Disappointed in Their Husbands ? fF OR the best answer to this question, contained in five hundred words or LIFE will give fifty dollars. There is a growing tendency to describe as “ summer fiction” things which are not worth reading in cold weather, As a matter of fact, however, the taste for drivel isan evergreen, not a deciduous growth, and real summer fiction belongs to an entirely different order, of which Cynthia's Rebellion isanexcellent example. It is a bright summer comedy by a new writer, Mr, A. E. Thomas, and suggests the early style of Mr. Hope. The Book of School and College Sports is a volume of description, of general instruction, and of reference, by Ralph Henry Barbour It deals with football, baseball, track athletics, is illustrated by hotographs and numerous diagrams, and in- cludes the rules of the games and records of past events, Mr. E. Phillips Oppenheim’s latest novel, Anna the Adventuress, shows that he has quite mastered his new metier—-the writing of polite sensationalism for popular consump- tion, ‘The story,and praise can go no higher, combines the breathless excitement of a serial in the Fireside Companion with the perfect breeding of The Ladies’ Home Journal. tennis, lacrosse and hockey We note a volume upon Physi! Training for Children by Fapanese Methods, by H. Irving Hancock, Mr. Hancock has already published similar guides for men and for women, and the present adaptation either proves that he is a most enthusiastic apostle of Jiu-Jitsu, or that, having struck a good thing, he is very providently pushing it along. J. B. Kerfoot, Vergilius,a Tale of the Coming of Christ. By Irving Bacheller. (Harper and Brothers. $1.50.) Richard Gresham. Ty Robert Morss Lovett. (The Macmillan Company. $t.s0.) The Little Vanities of Mrs. Whittaker, By John Strange Winter. (Funk and Wagnalls Com- $1.0.) Cynthia's pany Rebellion. Wy A. E (Charles Seribner’s Sons. $1.50.) The Book of School and College Sports: By Ralph Henry Barbour, (D. Appleton and Com- pany. $1.75.) Anna the Adventuress. heim. Thomas, By E. Phillips Oppen- (Little, Brown and Company. $1.50.) Physical Training for Children by Japanese Methods. By H. Irving Hancock. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.25.) An Experience. 8 Nie is a man ahead of me. I am ured this afternoon, and slightly irritable. I am anxious to get home where I can rest. I wonder if I know the man ahead of me? Yes. His name is Jones, Jones is a story-teller and recounter of reminis- cences. It wouldn’t do to catch up with him. I never realized before that Jones was such a slow walker My house is four squares down the street and his is five I must go slower. Now we are going along about even. I like Jones, but it would be a strain to meet him just now. I would have to gather myself for a mental effort. I would have to slap him on the back and ask him things I don’t care a hang about. Then Jones might begin one of his stories. Hello! I'm gaining on him again. What in the devil's name makes him go soslow? Perhaps he hears me com- ing. Maybe he’s laying for me. I never knew before how hard it is to slow down from my accustomed walk. Well, I'll keep it up. I'll get within a reasonable distance of Jones, and then stop short and wait. It’s easier to do that. But suppose he should hear me com- ing? He would naturally turn around and wait for me. Better stop now and give Jones a chance to get away. I'll be hanged if I can stop. I'm too nervous to stop. I'd like to build a fire under Jones. I'll be up to him in a minute, curse him. No, I won't, I'll loiter. I'll dawdle. Jones, I'll get even with you for this —for keeping me away from all the comforts of my own home just when I need it most. There! Gaining Whew! This is warm work. But | must stop. I wél/ stop. UN— “Hello, Jones, old man! Didn't you see me coming? Why in thunder didn’t you wait for a fellow?” on him again. Tom Masson. comicbooks.com