12 Ood tiOD® W@[pOgDd BAYOU TRISTE—A STORY OF LOUISIANA —by Josephine Hamilton Nichols. Illustrated. Price, $1.50. Publishers, A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. For sale in Raleigh by Alfred Williams & Co. Miss Nichols has written a charming Southern story in which is portrayed the pleasant relations that subsist in many homes in the South between the negroes and the white people. As the years pass, while there is no abatement of amicable relations between the race§ in the South, there is less and less of that knowledge and peculiar good feeling that exis'ed in slavery or upon the great plantations. Miss Nichols has portrayed the old tiihe relationship with the fidelity possible only to one who has been in touch with life on the Louisiana plantation. She un derstands the negro dialect and renders it perfectly. The book, charming and delightful, as a picture of the South, has a deep interest in the well told love story for which the picture of old conditions is an admirable setting. Eminent critics have said that the re viewer who gives the plot or the end of a love story ought not to be tolerated. Therefore we leave to thfc reader the pleasure of reading, each for himself or herself, the unfolding of tpe charming story which Miss Nichols has written. It will entertain and delight all who are so fortunate as to follow it through the skilful telling. Bayou Triste will have more than or dinary interest to the readers of this paper from the fact that its author is a sister of Mrs. J. R. Young, wife of State Insurance V’cmmissioner Young, oi B.il eigh. COMFORTING WORDS FOR SOR ROWING MOTHERS, compiled by Gertrude Benedict Curtis. Price uO cents. Publishers: Fleming H. Revell Company, Chicago. The compiler of this little book is well remembered in Raleigh. She is the daughter-in-law of Rev. A. W. Curtis, and with her husband spent last winter in this city. She lost both her children in Japan, her own health was shattered, and she had to return to America to re gain her health. She prepared the book, out of her own nebd of comfort, for sor rowing mothers. Some of the poems art, her own, others are poems and extracts from “hearts that have passed through the furnace of trial and bereavement and are thus made able to comfort those who are in any affliction.” One of the best poems is by Mrs. Curtis. It is: “I entered once a school-room filled with noise, Os thrice a score of happy girls and boys: One face so passing lovely seemed to me It stamped itself upon my memory. But when I went again it was not there, Instead, I saw a little empty chair. The teacher in my face the question read, “Promoted to room above,” she said. “Within my home there stands an empty chair, The child it held is now no longer there; The dimpled hands and face I used to kiss, The clinging arms, the fond embrace, I miss. No voice I hear, from morn till night in play, No little footseps in my home all day. The child I love is gone—but oh, not j dead “Promoted to the room above” instead! FAVORITE NOVELS OF NOVELISTS (From Tit-Bits.) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is generous and candid enough to declare that he finds al- { most as much pleasure in reading a good ! novel as in writing one; and his taste | lies chiefly in the direction of fiction of i past generations, “If you ask me to name the novel which in my opinion is without a rival,” he says, “ I should j without hesitation say ‘The Cloister and j the Hearth,’ a story which, long as it is, ! has genius on every page of it. The | second page I should award to Scott, his ‘lvanhoe’ for choice; and among, recent ! works of fiction Barrie's books have given me most pleasure.” Os the last generation of story-writers i there was perhaps no better critic than James Payn, who divided his allegiance equally between Soott, LAckens, and Thackeray. “To my mind Ivannoe,’ ” he once said, ‘‘is the greatest novel in our language and the oneMhat will live the longest; but it has a formidable rival in ‘Vanity Fair,’ and perhaps in ‘David Copperileld,’ and “Martin Chuzzlewit.’ ” ! The late Sir Walter Besant always found a fresh charm in “Lorna Doone,” j which he considered quite the best novel of his time. He had also a great admir ation for Hardy's “Toss of the D'Urber villes” and Meredith s “Richard Fever- j el”; Indeed, with the single exception of j Lorna Doone,” Sir Walter, like so many j excellent judges, held that Meredith is ! head and shoulders greater than any oth er recent writer of fiction. Mr. Meredith, however, while admiring Sir Walter Resant’s books, awards the palm among his rivals to Thomas Hardy, many of whose books, such as “Far from the Madding Crowd,” and “Under the Greenwood Tree,” he finds unfailingly delightful. t)f the giants who are gone he holds Scott, Thackeray and Dickons unapproachable. Mr. G. A. Henty, the author of so many charming stories for young and ! old, admits that among all the books of j modern writers that have given him | pleasure he is most indebted to "Lorna Doone.” Mr. Rider Haggard, among liv ing writers, admires none more than Mr. Stanley Weyman, whose “Gentlc «man of France” he considers a master piece of fiction. He is also a great ad mirer of Conan Doyle, and considers that that clever and popular story-teller has never written anything to equal "The White Company,” a verdict which Sir Arthur himself indorses. Miss Marie Corelli confesses a liking for Marion Crawford's Italian stories. She places the author of ‘‘Doctor Clau dius” at the head of present-day story tellers; but her. real heroes in fiction are George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte, Scott and Dickens. Edna Lyali has a similar affection for Dickens, whose '“David Copperfield” she knows from cover to cover. Scott's novels she loves, especially “Rob Roy"; and among the other books which hold a high place in her regard are “Silas Mainer,” ‘‘Esmond,” and Mrs. GasKell's “Cran ford." Mr. Christie Murray he has spent his happiest reading hours with Charles Reads’s Cloister and the Hearth;” but in very close rivalry he places “David Copperfield” and '‘lvanhoe,” while he pleads guilty to an affection for “Tom Jones.” Mr. George Gissing’s favorite authors are Charlotte Bronte, Meredith and Thomas Hardy, in the order named; and of all their works he loves best “Vil lette,” “Richard Feverel,” and “The Re turn of the Native”; and the late Mr. R. L. Stevenaon, whose taste in fiction was as indisputable as his gift of writing it, placed Scott at the head of his favorite novelists, with “Guy Mannering,” “Red Gauntlet” and “Rob Roy” as his best stories, and of later works of fiction he had the highest opinion of Thackeray’s “Esmond” and George Meredith's “Rich ard Feverel.” The Literary Outlook. (BY HERBERT BREWSTER.) The manuscript of a part of General De Wet’s history of the Boer war, reach ed this country only the other day, and it is now being considered for publica tion in book form here. It is understood that Archibald Constable & Co. have se cured the entire rights for England and America, and the arrangements which are new being entered into in this country are, of course, being made w’ith them. Those who have had a look at the manu script speak very highly of it. However, the sale of the book in this country will necessarily be much more limited than in England. Dr. Doyle's most excellent histyry of the Boer war did not have a sale here, though it must be admitted that Dr. Doyle’s attitude fav ored the English, and probably the ma jority of American readers would in cline rather to the version of the Boer side, such as that of General De Wet’s. Krueger's .memoirs will be published not only in this country and England, but in almost every country in Europe. Contracts were made only a few days ago for Norwegian and Danish translations of his work. No recent work of any kind has attracted so much attention as these recollections, and they probably deserve all that has been given them. The edi tions in all countries will be out in two weeks. Miss Mary Johnston evidently does not believe that the day of historical novels is over, and we are not at all sure that it is for such as write like Miss Johnston. “Sir Mortimer” is the title of her next story, which is to run serially through one of the magazines before it makes its public apearance between book covers. All that is told of the story at the pres ent time is that the period in which the action of the plot, takes place is that of Queen Elizabeth. The heroine is a lady in-waiting at the Court and the hero is a young officer in Sir John Ncvil’s fleet. Miss Johnston spends most of her time in her Virginia home. She writes slowly and the typewriter comes in for the great burden of her composition. She has re cently directed the dramatization of her story "Audrey” which has just opened in New York City. The following story by E. C. Gilmore is an interesting addition to what has been said and written about Hall Caine’s having first introduced the Pope into a play, in his version of “The Eternal City.” “All this poppycock talk about The Eternal City being the first play that has ever contained a characterization of a Pope of Rome is amusing to me. I have good reasons for knowing that it is nothing of the sort. Away back in the middle '7os, when I was managing Ni blo's garden, we had one of those ex- j perienees which L am not likely ever to j forget. Dion Boucicault, then at the ] height of his fame, had just finished his | famous run in ‘The Shaughraun.’ He wrote a new play which, although I won’t be positive of, however, the pope was the principal Character in the play, and Boucicault played the role himself. ! At the first performance, although the play met with little popularity, there was no hostile demonstration. But the next morning the newspapers opened fire on us with a unanimity which was awe inspiring. The second night the house was packed, and in all my experience I have never witnessed such a scone of pandemonium. In spite of the fact that he Avas the popular idol of the day, Boucicault was literally hissed off the stage. But the actor was game and in sisted upon giving another performance. It Avas our third and last for that night ; the audience almost tore the seats out. and then I stepped in. and, wishing to protect my furniture as well as my star, insisted upon an immediate change of bill. To his dying day Dion Boucicault never forgot that experience.” Mrs. Mary Stewart Cutting has done a notable series of stories in her “Little Stories of Married Life,” recently pub lished and has, by the success which the tales liaA'c made, placed herself in the position which she has both striven for and feared for years. “It is so hard to strike ten twice,’ she explains. One docs not need to be told that Mrs. Cutting has been through all the suburban ex periences and has lived the married life with which the hook deals. Five of her six children are living; her husband died nine years ago, and since then she' has been trying to write the stories Avhieh she says she was always making up to herself. Before her marriage, she wrote a few poems which appeared in Lippin* cott’s Magazine signed Mary Stewart. Later on she wrote a number of children’s stories for a small church paper. “Writing for children,” says Mrs. Cut ting, “I found an excellent education, as one is obliged to be clear and con cise. But it was about seven years ago that I begun to turn my attention se riously toward Avriting. It was slow and discouraging. By dint of hard work I got one or two stories accepted by dif ferent leading magazines and papers. Try as hard as I might I could never get two articles accepted and sent, and sent and wrote, always expecting a refusal and with fresh determination to succeed each time all manuscripts came back to me. About three years ago I wrote “Their Second Marriage” Avhieh was published in one of the magazines. Before long I found this was giving me a reputation and since then I have Avritten only stories of married people. “I do not write a story quickly. I THE NEWS AND OBSERVER, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1002 have to dive into it —and I can never write any outside of it beforehand. I ha\ T e the climax in mind from the very first and that is always clear to me if nothing else is. The people I write about become entirely real to me. Once I wrote a murder and detective story, and never wanted to again—it was so horrid to live with such dreadful people.” Mrs. Cutting has, in fact, made her reputation in a practically new field— she has begun her stories Avhere other writers leave off. Marriage is a very general experience and the married peo ple live with as much energy and ac tivity as bachelors and maids, or the boys and girls, yet in fiction they gener ally cease to be once the marriage cere mony is performed. The stories in the present collection seem to reveal the very heart of domesticity, but, in every instance it is the married life that one likes to think is truly representative, the married life Avhose problems and trials are only to be solved by the abid ing affections of the contracting parties. The book leaves a very pleasing sense of satisfaction with the reador. “The recent book which comes to mind in this connection —perhaps because of contrast, is R. V. Risley s “The Life of a Woman.” The latter story—a long one—treats of married life in the su burbs, but it is rather a psychological study of the woman than an exposition of married life itself. As a sample the following attack of the wife’s friend on the husband is given: “J>o you mean to tell me.” she ha rangued him, “that you prefer this mean, dishonest, gossiping, stupid, infinitely commonplace country suburb, full of fools, to the city—any city—where men and women live instead of female asses and masculine pumpkin heads? Good God! I’d rather live in a slum than in a place like this, Avhere the tOAvn lives to cheat you and the fools in the resi dence districts live because they are country mad! Do you know what effect this sore of thing has on the mind of even an ambitious woman? Look around you—some of these poor provincialized vegetables might have been women —wo- mch with women’s life, and vivacity, and gayety, and charm, and helpfulness, and beauty. What are they now? They are out of touch with life, so prematurely aged and yet so immature that they Avould be burdens to any city man I know. “If their husbands Averen’t half mad Avith the ‘country,’ and as dull as a computing automaton, they would feel it, too! But you can see the effect even on the men, the effect of being provin cialized. Are the old residents here like city men? Have you ever stood in the Grand Central depot and watched the su burbanites come in? Have you seen the difference between the men and women of the suburbs and those of the city? I don’t say it is not all right for the aver age, the typical, for the great mass of people who make up what they call the ‘public;’ but for a woman like Barbara, who is not ordinary, who is not medi ocre, it’s madness and God’s own Avaste.” Coupled Avith interest in Dickens’ works has always remained an interest in his manner of life. As a result new facts are constantly coming to light. Martin Harvey, the English actor who increased his fafne tremendously in presenting "The Only Way,” and who is now in this country, recently added some valuable Dickensiana. “It is not generally knoAvn that Dick ens Avas an excellent actor. He Avould often appear in the characters he had created in his books, and called for the highest praise from his contemporaries. Since I have been performing his Sydney Carton in ’The Only Way’ I haA’o been brought into close association and friend ship Avith the Dickens family and natur ally have learned many interesting inci dents and facts about the great novelist which, I believe, are not generally known. “It was while Dickens Avas playing oc casionally in ’The Frozen Deep’—a dra matization of Wilkie Collins’ Avork—that the idea first came to him of making ‘A Tale of Two Cities, into play. For he always considered this his finest work. “But nothing Avas over done in the matter by Dickens, and, though other dramas have been written on the sub ject, it remained for Freeman Will’s Avork to become popular. Henry Dick ens, son of the novelist and a well known English lawyer, has often told me how much he wishes that his father had seen this performance of his favorite character. “Tlie great success of ‘The Only Way’ in England suddenly brought the sale of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ to a considerable item, and the publishers have told me they could follow the provincial tours around England by their books of sales. “Miss Dickens, granddaughter of Charles Dickens, has essayed the part of Sydney Carton in private theatricals, and I have a treasured photograph of her on my mantelpiece in the character. So, too, Gen. Ibtden-Powell can lay claim to having performed it, for that officer, during the siege of Mafcking, was for ever entertaining his garrison, and it is said the versatile general gave a fine ptr formance of Carton.’ Among the congratulatory letters , President Wilson received on his inaug uration as president of Princeton uni versity was one from Laurence Hutton, the well-known author of “Literary Landmarks,” addressed to “Professor Woodrow Wilson, Library Place—with a better place in Prospect.” The street in which President Wilson lives is called Library Place, some distance from the official residence of the university presidents, an ancient stone mansion situated in .the university grounds, known as “Prospect.” S. Weir Mitchell, in spite of his 72 years, is still actively at work along many lines. A new essay, “Heroism in Every-day Life,” will appear next month. THE HISTORICAL NOVELIST. Writing to the editor of Leslie’s Monthly apropos of a story for that ma gazine, Emerson Hougli pays his com pliments to the historical no\'elist. “It’s a phrase I resent,” he says, “and the much-abused term was unknown Avhen I began “The Mississippi Bubble., Besides my book is history, not the jingle jangle of twenty-four hours' sword play, the history of an epoch which passes up the great valley of Truth, as do the iron threads today along the valley of the great Father of Waters. I began the book really Avhen, as a child, I came on a ropy of Henry Hoavc’s once-famou£ Avork. ‘Historical Collections of tin* Great West,’ and before I had finished V Avith it I simply read that volume of? the face of the earth, for our old hoiustead now contains no trace of it-” THE DECEMBER SMART SET. The Smart Set for December opens Avith “Winning Him Back,” by Anita Yivanti Charters, in which the author has achieved that most difficult of liter ary tasks, a story in which true humor is sustained from the first page to the last, Avithout any interval of dulness. The plot is as simple as it is ingenious and distinctive, while the characters are sketched Avith consummate skill, so that their eA'ery Avord and action are con vincingly human. The rare merit of this story deserves highest praise. WROTE A BOOK WHILE WAITING FOR HIS WIFE. Madame de Genlis, in a Avork on “Time,” tells us that the famous Chan cellor D’Aguesseau, observing that his wife always delayed ten or twel\ T e min utes before she came down to dinner, and, reluctant to lose so much time daily, began the composition of a work Avhieh he prosecuted only while thus kept wait ing. At the end of fifteen years, a book in three quarto volumes was completed, Avhieh ran through thrqe editions, and Avas held in high repute. Madame de Genlis profited by this example. Having to wait at the dinner hour in the Palai3 Royal for Madame de Chartres, who was always fifteen or twenty minutes late, she utilized the time by copying a se lection of pooms from eminent authors. It is told of a German critic that he could repeat the entire “Iliad” of Homer with scarcely an error. Hoav many years, think you, did he spend in depositing the immortal epic in his brain? Years ho had not to spare, cr months, or weeks, or even entire days, for he was a physi cian in the full tide of practice; but he contrived to store in his memory the twenty-four books of the old beard of “Scio’s rocky isle” in the brief, dis connected snatches of time Avhile hur rying from one patient to another. Dr. Mason Good, a celebrated English phy sician, performed a similar feat, hav ing contrived to translate the whole of Lucretius during his long walks in Lon don to visit his patients.—William Matthews, in December “Success.” CAUTION. This is not a gentle Avord —but when you think how liable you are not to pur chase for 75c. the only remedy universal ly known and a remedy that has had the largest sale of any medicine in the Avorld since 1868 for the cure and treatment of Consumption and Throat and Lung trou bles without losing its great popularity all these years, you will be thankful avg called your attention to Boschee’s Gor man Syrup. There are so many ordinary cough remedies made by druggists and others that are cheap and good for light colds, perhaps, but for seA’ere Coughs, Bronchitis, Croup—and especially for Consumption, Avhere there is difficult ex pectoration and coughing during the nights and mornings, there is nothing like German Syrup. Sold by all druggists in the civilized Avorl-d. { G. C. GREEN, Woodbury, N. J. Kellam Cancer Hospital 12tb and Bank Sts., Richmond, Va. —WE CURE— Cancers, Tumors and Chronic Sores Without the Use of the Knife. ALL EXAMINATIONS FREE Come and see what we have done, and are doing. If then you are not satisfied that we do all we CLAIM, we will pay all of your EXPENSES. itOTftlL DR ‘ S * RAPPOf?T * (-'* Durharn > * K. C. ■■■. Refracting Optician. Glasses made to fit all sights by one who iswetlknown and reliable; one who under stands the eyes their defects and their rela tion to human ills- Office 115 W Main St- The North Carolina Hot Springs! The Mountain Park Hotel. HOT SPRINGS - - - - N. C. Hot mineral drinking water and baths, with temperature rang-' ing fi cm ninety-six to one hundred and ten degrees. Strongly Alka line, and Nature’s Specific for Rheumatism, Gout, Sciatica, and all kindred troubles. There are no cases which they will not greatly re lieve. and few which they will not positively cure, if faithfully used. These springs are in the grounds of the MOUNTAIN PARK HOTEL ' \ a hostelry with accommodations for three hundred guests, and New, Modern, Elegant. Situated in a park of one hundred acres, on the banks of the French Broad River, thirty-five miles west of Asheville, on the main line of the Southern Railway, surrounded by some of the grandest mountains east of the Rocky Mountains. No humidity, no fogs. A delightful home for the pleasure-seeker, an Eden for the rheumatic, No healthier, no more delightful place in the world Write us for lllustrted Booklet, with analysis and testimonials. HOWELL COBB, Prop. MGZLEY’S LEMON ELIXIR. Regulates the Liver, Stomach, Bowels and Kidneys For billiousness, constipation and malaria. For indigestion, sick and nervous headache. For sleeplessness, nervousness, heart failure and nervous prostration. For fever, chills, debility and kidney disease, take Lemon Elixir. Ladies, for natural and thorough organic regulation take Lemon Elixir. 50 cents and SI.OO a bottle at drugguists. Prepared only by Dr. H. Mozley, Atlanta, Ga. I have been a great sufferer from dyspepsia for about fifteen years, ,n -V trouble being my liA'er, stomach and boAA'els, Avith terrible headaches. Lemon Elixir cured me. My appetite is good, and 1 am Avell. 1 had taken a barrel of other medicine, that done me no good. CHARLES GIBHARD. No. 1513 Jefferson St., Louisville, Ky. MOZLEY’S LEMON HOT DROPS. Cures all Coughs, Colds, Sore Thro at, Hoarseness and Bronchitis. 25c at Drugists. I A Happy Horae is Where Contentment Reigns Supreme. J We Can Help Your make Your Home Pleasant During the Winter Months. Our Stock of Wood Burning Heating Stoves l Is the Largest in the State. . The WIZARD AIR-TIGHT, made in three sizes, most attractive ever ottered, 1 An ornament to any parlor is the EXCELSIOR g AIR-TIGHT. Combines neatness, economy and durability. For the dining room, bed rooms, and any room, if a medium- S priced stove is desired, we call your attention to our HAGEY KING H HEATER. We do not hesitate to say it is the best, the cheapest and | safest quick heater ever offered. Made in five sizes. For prices and an opportunity to inspect the stoves, write for H circulars or call at store, No. 224 Fayetteville street. We have in our employ expert Stovo Mechanics. Stoves put up I free of charge. Full line of Cook Stoves, Coal-Burning Stoves, Fur t lICLCCS E I HART-WARD HARDWARE COMPANY, j | Successors to Julius Lewis Hardware Co., I RALEIGH, N. C. | Please Write. We are Independent of any Monopoly. National Oil Company NORFOLK. VA. WHEN IN NEED OF OILS OR GREASES OF ANY KIND FOR ANY PURPOSE We SELL—Cylinder oil, valve oil, engine oil, dynamo oil, loom oil, aptndle oil, machine oil. harvester oil, cotton gin oil, car oil, floor oil, signal oil, belt oil, castor oil, harness oil, cup grease, axle grease, car grease, belt grease. Coal tar, roof paint. Oil and gasoline tanks. Trices and samples gladly furnished for the asking. Works: Henry Street and N. &W. R. R., Lambert'* Point Track, Norfolk. Va., P. O. Box 130. ! .sa®*—.ST. MARY’S SCHOOL i, '«tuußys>. % J RALEIGH, N.C. v ♦ * The Sixty-first Annual Session begins September ISth. The Easter ♦ J Term begins January 28th. X X St. Mary’s School offers instr uction in the folloAving departments: The X T Preparatory School, the College, the Art School, the Musical School, the Y X Business School. X ♦ There are two hundred and forty-eight students, representing nine dio- ♦ Y coses. Faculty of twenty-five. Much of the equipment is netv; eight new Y * pianos bought this year. X ♦ St. Mary’s Kindergarten is lo eated in the center of the city under Miss ♦ X Louise T. Busbee’s charge. X For Catalogue, address, REV.*T. D. BRATTON, D. D. X

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view