BOOKISHMESS THE "THE PLAINS," AS SEEN BY STEVENSON. HE thing which stands out clearest in Stevenson's "Across the Plains, with other Memories and Essays" (Scribner), is that from 1879, when the first of them was written, to 1888, the date of the last (all before his Samoa departure), there is great gain in dignity of style and variety of expression. When he wrote "Across the Plains" he was still mainly engaged in seeing things, and not in describing them; he saw a great deal then, he felt acutely, he was easily depressed and easily elated. Now he perhaps would find his greatest pleasure in embroidering these impressions, and welding them artistically. As it stands, with no pretense to be other than "leaves from the note-book of an emigrant," it is a most vivid picture of the four or five large impressions of landscape which one gathers through the car windows from New York to San Francisco. You may make the journey in five days or ten, in a Pullman or an emigrant car, and you will gather little more than these few pictures-a day of smiling farms and lovely valleys between the mountains of Pennsylvania; a day of similar farms and buildings, a little newer, and the whole picture flattened out; then miles of very green prairies dotted with smart Western towns; then peaks rising on the horizon, to which the train climbs but never reaches; then a horror of brown and gray, the desolation of a desert of sage-brush and alkali; and in the twinkling of an eye the green Sierras sloping downward to a land of sunshine and flowers. What Stevenson sees besides is people-the Dutch widow, the man from Dubuque, the train boys, the austere conductor, the station loafer, the emigrant with fits, and the man with a goatee who would not allow the cornetist to play "Home, Sweet Home." Then there is a delightful chapter on old Monterey, before the days of the great hotel. * the story of "A Fellowe and His Wife" (Houghton) persuades one bright young woman that there are some interests in life of more account than Art for its own sake, it will have a good excuse for being. Two clever people, Blanche Willis Howard and William Sharp, have written the tale in the form of letters between a German Count and his wife-Mr. Sharp writing the letters of the Countess, and Miss Howard the Count's. This affords some interest in showing how a woman interprets a man's motives in a series of situations which a man has devised for a woman. There is too much fine writing in the story which might have been made effective in one quarter the space. Altogether it is not very agreeable to study a beautiful and good woman in a sinister social environment which she does not suspect. The best writing seems to be Miss Howard's and the best character-drawing Mr. Sharpe's, and they can easily surpass themselves in a task that is better worth doing. Merry Tales. By Mark Twain. New York: Charles L. Webster and Company. Mrs. Lygan. By Shirley Brooks. St. Paul: The Price-McGill Company. The Foresters. By Alfred, Lord Tennyson. New York: Macmillan and Company. Nevermore. By Rolf Boldrewood. New York: Macmillan and Company. The Washington Elite List. Washington: The Elite Publishing Company. Abroad and at Home. By Morris Phillips. New York: Brentano's. A Double Life. By Allan Pinkerton. New York: G. W. Dillingham. The Married Belle. By Julie P. Smith. New York: G. W. Dillingham. Her Mistake. New York: G. W. Dillingham. Advertisement: AN EXCEPTIONAL OPENING IT T it is unfortunate for ex-President Beers of the New York Life Insurance Company that he hasn't the Republican party to deal with instead of John A. McCall. The Republican party pays pensions without question-President McCall doesn't. On the other hand it would be well for the national treasury if, in pension matters, we could substitute President McCall for the Republican party. M ISS SUMMIT: Mr. Travers just sent me these lovely violets. He is so generous, and I know he couldn't afford it. The poor, dear boy, I don't see where he gets the money from. DASHAWAY (savagely): I know where he got the money from in this case. CAN SOVEREIGN: Why is Cleveland more popular than Hill with the masses? SECOND AMERICAN SOVEREIGN: Because Hill is a Ruthless partisan and Cleveland PUMPKIN A BABY TERN FROM A BABY BARN OWL FROM FLUSHING LI ROBIN BLACK CRESTED HANDSOME GROW WHEN SPRING ARS NESTS GOODNESS ME! I DONT SEE HOW YOU CAN EAT SUCH SOME SPRING BABIES. THINGS Answers to Correspondents NATIONAL ACADEMICIAN: No, your painting does not injure the canvas. By working in a light tone and by scraping down, after each annual exhibition, the canvas should improve with experience. F. L. S.: Your thoughts are not unjust. A hostess who invites a limited number of guests to her house and neglects to make them acquainted with each other is capable of anything that is ill bred. She would set the dog on you if she thought it was the fashion. LADY OF FASHION: Let your skirts trail by all means. By so doing you accomplish a task neglected by the city. It is sickening to reflect upon the condition of your skirt after a short rip over a city pavement, but if you can stand it the rest of us can. BESSIE G.: No, your fiancé could not successfully sue you for the return of the engagement ring. VOTER Salt Creek is not located on the maps. Perhaps Senator Hill can give you the desired information. LAKEWOOD: We would cheerfully contribute but we don't think either the gold cure or the Pasteur treatment would remove the old gentleman's Clevelandophobia. HUMANE: When Henry Bergh was alive the Fifth Avenue Stage Company took better care of its horses. MISS PINKERLY: Do you know where I can get some cast off neckties for a quilt? MRS. BINGO: Ask Mr. Kingley. I was out shopping with his wife yesterday and she bought him a lot. BRIGGS: Are you going back to the Bangup Hotel this year? "NOW." |