Recent Fiction, Part III [pp. 327-333]

330 kecent hction. [Sept.
ers' understanding thereof. Told at Tyxedo' of the aristocratic sentiment, and the had
and Tltii-teui' are both of this class. The taste of much of the horse play, is unpleasfive stories in Told at Tiixedo are linked ant. The author has undeniably much
together by a thread of narration about the brightness and a very pretty and pathetic
people who tell the stories, who are at the touch on occasion, but it is becoming evitime staying at a club house at Tuxedo dent that the promise which this once gave
Park; three of the five are Californian in is not to be fulfilled.
subject, and written with enough knowl- Two more volumes of stories are translaedge of the ground to indicate that the au- tions, and each in its way something of a
thor had not been a mere tourist here. All classic. Tales before Szi~per is scarcely a
are told cleverly; one is intentionally collection, containing only Gautier's "Avasomewhat cynical and flippant in matter and tar" and Menmee's "Venus of Ille."
manner, the others in varying degree senti- The "proem" by Mr. Saltus with which
mental. Thirteen takes its name from the the tales are "delayed," as the title-page
numbe'r of stories. Indeed, its full name is and cover somewhat affectedly put it, is a
Thirteen Stories of tbe ~`ar West. The brief critique of the two writers, ingenious,
"far West" in this case means Colorado epigrammatic, rather French in its own
and New Mexico chiefly, with a little of manner, luminous in a certain sense, but
Hawaii. The author says that the stories dimly luminous, bright rather than clear;
are "reports of actual experiences, written it characterizes "Avatar" and "The Venus
up from his note-book, with such changes in of Ille" in striking phrases, which the
names, places, and minor incidents as his reader remembers, indeed- but which he
personal safety seems to require." This does not find to have much relation to the
may be accepted as true, with the aid of the tales themselves. The one he calls "a
conjecture that the author's share in the dream in black and white;" yet to turn
"actual experience in several cases con- to the other is "like passing from high
sisted of sitting in some social circ]e of the noon to twilight." It was hardly worth
far West and putting into that note-book the while to delay these two powerful stories for
"actual experiences" there narrated. He the proem. Whether it be`~ in black and
has evidently more than a cursory knowl- white" or not, "Avatar" is certainly like a
edge of the region he describes, and the vision (rather than a dream) of real love and
stories are bright and readable, marred only unconquerable purity, smiting through and
by that irresistible imitation of Bret Harte dissolving the illusions of passion. The
that so besets writers of Western stories. weird machinery of Oriental witchcraft,
kegin'ental Legends3 is by "John Strange which chances to fall in with the fashion
Winter," aiid therefore, i~ need scarcely be of the moment, and may catch the gensaid, is made up chiefly of stories of the eral reader's interest more, is merely subflirtations and jests of young British officers, sidiary to the central situation, the purely
in barracks and in India, interspersed with natural and altogether credible one of
touches of serious love and of tragedy. Prascovie's unconscious protection through
They are not as good as his - or her - the purity of her own love. "The Venus
previous stories of the sort; and the flip- of Ille" goes into no such depths, but is a
pancy of the love affairs, the heartlessness very strong and ingenious story - unfortu 1Told at Tuxedo. By A. M. Emory. New York: G. P. nately anticipated to most people who read
Putnam's Sons. 1887. For sale in San Franeisee by
Samuel carson & co. 4Tales before Supper. From The'opbiie Gautier and
2Tbirteen Stories of tbe Far`vest By Forbes Heer Prosper M(nmc-e. Told in Engiisb by Myndart Vereist and
mans. Syracuse: c. w. Bardeen. 1887. delayed wilb a proem l)y Edgar Saltn.~. New York:
3Regimental Legends. By 5oj~n Strange`vinter. New Breutmios. 1S87. For sale in Sni Francisco by John w.
York: Harper & Brothers. lSS~. Roberts & c~.