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Show t ' ; RECENT FICTION .v j . "The Mask." By Florence Irwin. This noval, unexpectedly somewhat amateurish in that the author makes her point and then proceeds to enlarge en-large upon it, is an illustration of the results of goodness, firm principles and "standing by steady" upon a man, sybaritic by nature, easily discouraged, dis-couraged, indolent and addicted to liquor and gambling, as exerted through his wife character. It is a tale that is emotionally interesting. Alison Terry is one of the three daughters of a country clergyman. She marries a man of the type indicated above, suffers the usual disillusionment, disillusion-ment, masking her disappointment from the world, and emerges from txnrmrl. . t .1 nabKuj, li lUllJJUldUL III HilVlUg IJ1HUO H man. body and soul, out of the unpromising un-promising material in her husband. While the trend of the story is to I show the power of good, the danger is that young and innocent girls, believing believ-ing in the strength of love, may be encouraged to undertake a reformation reforma-tion akin to that Alison effected and ! find their efforts vain. For the things that come easy to the novelist are much more difficult in real life. "Running Free." By James B. Connolly. Con-nolly. Mt. Connolly, whose, specialty is tales of salt water liio, has gathered half a score of his strays into this volume. Some .of them iilustrate the courage of the men wno man our ships; others concern, the great merchantmen mer-chantmen that facilitate the exenange of commodities, but whatever iJo theme they have the human interest that appeals. The fresh wind blows ! through them, and a genial kind ofj nautical humor permeates them. : 00 |